Actresses (from left), Andrea De Anda, Lluvia Almanza and Paloma Pelayo are las vecinas, three characters that represent Chicano culture familiar to El Pasoans. (Kimberly Garcia/Borderzine.com)

Electra is a vieja from ancient Greece, suffering like a Chicana in East LA

EL PASO – Las vecinas walk in, brooms in hand, gossiping about neighborhood happenings like a scene straight out of a novela, only this time the situation comes not from television but from ancient Greek drama. This rendition of the Greek classic tragedy Electra, opened at the Theatre and Dance Department at the University of Texas at El Paso March 13 for a four-day run with a twist. According to director Rebecca Rivas, playwright Luis Alfaro used the Greek tragedy as a skeleton for Electricidad, his Chicano rendition of the classic, by placing it in an East L.A. barrio and infusing Chicano culture into his work. “He allows our culture to bleed in,” said Rivas, “and it forms it’s own really funny and heartbreaking play.”

The plot of Electricidad is the same as its ancient counterpart. The themes of revenge and family are there, but there are a few differences.

Richard Yanez Celebrates the Sun City with his Writing

EL PASO – Cross over Water, the latest novel by Richard Yanez, captures the essence of the wayward El Pasoan – always feeling out of place outside of his home city and yet striving to achieve more than the city has to offer. “We’re survivors, resilient and proud in spite of our flaws.” Yanez spoke of El Pasoans. “You know El Pasoans because they are both glad they’re out but sad that they haven’t yet been back.”

Yanez, an El Paso native, uses this novel to bring the local creative writing landscape a tale of a young man named Raul who grows along the border, lives among relatives, loves women, and takes to his heart the sensations only this city could bring him. He often struggles with the sensation that he is stuck in place, or, as Yanez often metaphorically conjures, feels as though he’s drowning. “I nearly drowned when I was ten years old,” Yanez said “and I used that as a metaphor for the ways I could be drowned culturally, personally, and psychologically.”

This is Yanez’s second book.

The Chicano Movement — alive and evolving

EL PASO, Texas — El Movimiento, also known as the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, was the empowerment of Mexican Americans in the 60s and 70s. Almost a half century later, Chicanos, Latinos and Hispanics continue to fight a struggle, but at times it does not have the same clout as it once did. “There were several arenas that took on a voice back in the late 60’s and early 70’s,” said Benjamín Sáenz, department chair for Creative Writing. “There was a literary movement that involved many writers, mostly poets…and then there was a purely political movement.”

Sáenz, a writer and professor at UTEP, said he was very much involved in the fight and highly political during those times. “We move forward all these years—after the civil rights movement and we talk about the Chicano Movement, but there is no movement per se.

Life’s little things carry loads of meaning for Dagoberto Gilb

EL PASO, Texas – Dagoberto Gilb creates colorful images with a few words, drawing scenes in an audience’s imagination like a skilled painter. The El Pasoans present at a recent lecture here are his canvas and also his inspiration. This border city in the Chihuahuan desert is the main setting for many of the stories written by this internationally published author. “I have written 72 short stories and all of them except for three are set either in El Paso, or L.A.,” Gilb said. For the first time since he wrote Pride a feature in the Texas observer in 2001, Gilb, read it here, where it originated.

Pat Mora’s love for words spreads a river of literacy

EL PASO, Texas — Award-winning writer Pat Mora is a jack-of-all-trades. She writes poetry, books for adult readers, inspirational books for children and young adults and is a dedicated advocate for reading and literacy. Open any of her works and you are taken on a journey that flows like water, bringing freshness to a reader’s mind. Her works are important to the border community. They paint a picture of the region’s Hispanic culture for those who are not familiar with the border.