23. Rezar por cucharas: Prayers for the Stolen de Jennifer Clement

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50 LIBROS/ 50 BOOKS: Mujeres y sus historias
“We were like rabbits that hid when there was
a hungry stray dog  in the field,
a dog that cannot close his mouth…”
Jennifer Clement
 

Recién terminé de leer Prayers for the Stolen de Jennifer Clement y no puedo dejar de pensar en ese camino emocionalmente sinuoso que la autora tuvo que recorrer. Después de pasar diez años entrevistando a mujeres que de un modo u otro han sido víctimas de la violencia, ya sea porque perdieron a sus hijas, porque terminaron en la cárcel o porque sobrevivieron uno de los tantos eventos de esta larga narco-guerra en México, para Clement no había más remedio que la novela. Esta novela. “The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl” dice Ladydi una jovencita que explica cómo su madre le corta el cabello corto, cortísimo y le pone carbón en la cara y los dientes para que se vea fea. Verse fea puede ser su salvación.

You read me right. We abhorred Salvadorans

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By Kay Bárbaro

D.C.’s SALVADORAN INGREDIENT: Salvadorans now comprise 40% of the still-small Hispanic population (9%) here in the nation’s capital, with next-to-no local political influence. At the Democratic mayoral candidate forum involving eight candidates (no Hispanics) last month, two-thirds of the 111 Latino caucus members supported incumbent Vincent Gray, whom voters hoisted onto a greased rail out of town when his term expires in January,2015 while winner Muriel Bowser, who outpolled Gray in the total community 44-32%, didn’t even gain single–digit support. Wrong horse, paisanos. Back in 1987, when Salvadorans were starting to bail out of their embattled homeland, a Washington Post survey found that their exodus to the USA in the previous five years had doubled. (Yet only 5% of those who applied for U.S. asylum received it vs.

South by Southwest (SXSW) sounds a double vibe — the frightening and the fantastic

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AUSTIN – The smell of booze, sweat and vomit grow stronger as I get closer to 6th street, which is the city’s urban core located downtown that is historical and filled with entertainment in Austin, Texas.Nonetheless, the different types of people, the friends that surround me, the free shows and certain films that I want to see outweighs the repulsiveness of it. South by Southwest or as it is commonly known as SXSW is a set of film, interactive, and music festivals and conferences that take place early every year during March in Austin. I’ve gone every year since 2011 and I noticed that each year after that, the people have become more obnoxious because of the free alcohol that’s available practically in each venue. RSVPing is important in this festival, for example Fader Fort is an invite-only installation at SXSW that is a four-day party event that is sponsored by Levi’s and is, by far, the most popular because of the amount of famous people it brings. This year it brought Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Gorillaz and many more.

El enredo de Obamacare en Texas me está ahogando y sigo sin seguro médico

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EL PASO — Tras la extensión de días para inscribirse a el famoso Obamacare, aún sigo en busca de una buen seguro médico que pueda cubrirme.En mi búsqueda de algo “bueno, bonito y barato” he tenido varias dificultades. Soy una estudiante de tiempo completo, con un trabajo de medio tiempo, una que otra deuda, con algo de apoyo económico de parte de mis padres pero tratando de convertirme en una persona económicamente independiente. Lo cual significa que necesito algún seguro médico que me pueda cubrir lo “básico”. El comienzo de mi búsqueda para la perfecta cobertura para mis necesidades médicas me ha causado muchos dolores de cabeza. Todo comenzó cuando fui a un foro estudiantil que se llevó a cabo en la universidad donde estudio.

22. Ru, Kim Thúy

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50 LIBROS/ 50 BOOKS: Mujeres y sus historias
“We often forget about the existence of all those
women who carried Vietnam on their backs while
their husbands and sons carried weapons on theirs”. Kim Thúy
EL PASO — En francés, ru significa pequeño arroyo y, también, un fluir, una descarga —de lágrimas, de sangre, de dinero. En vietnamita, ru signfica canción de cuna,  arrullo. Ru de la escritora vietnamita-canadiense Kim Thúy es un profundo arroyo de lágrimas, miedos, memorias rodeando la vida de Nguyên An Tinh una niña que, junto con su familia se ve obligada a escapar de su natal Vietnam a Malasia para llegar a Canadá como meta final. Esta novela está lejos de ser una canción de cuna y, sin embargo, pareciera escrita para arrullar.

Tim Wise — The white perspective on racial discrimination

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EL PASO — My curiosity as to what an antiracist activist was compelled me to attend an open lecture given by writer and scholar Tim Wise. I sat patiently among faculty and fellow students with the expectation that my curiosity would be satisfied. I was not disappointed. Wise appeared confident as he made his way to the lectern after a very charitable introduction and quickly launched into the evening’s volatile subject matter—racism. According to Wise, people of color fear talking about racism in front of white people, which was a revelation I found surprising given the existence of rap music.

Documental vuelve a encender debate sobre la muerte de Rubén Salazar

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By Kay Bárbaro

Read this story in English

WASHINGTON — A pesar de la convicción declarada del productor de Hollywood, Phillip Rodríguez, con respecto a que el homicidio de Rubén Salazar, director de noticias de KMEX TV (Los Ángeles), cometido hace 44 años, fue un accidente, dos públicos independientes —uno en Washington, D.C., y otro en Long Beach, California— que vieron el preestreno del documental de 54 minutos, no concuerdan con él. Algunos dijeron, además, que aunque trató de hacer un caldo de cultivo para exponer un mal, solamente logró un refrito para la televisión. El programa, Rubén Salazar: Man in the Middle, saldrá a nivel nacional el 29 de abril por la red pública de televisión, PBS. Respondiendo a la invitación de PBS, 125 personas valientes —incluyendo las del equipo del Hispanic Link, el reportero Aaron Montes y el editor Charlie Ericksen, acompañados por Peter Copeland, quien formó parte de la fundación de periodismo de Scripps-Howard—, se aventuraron la noche del 27 de febrero, con temperaturas bajo cero, a ver el documental en el auditorio del Museo de Arte Americano, del Instituto Smithsoniano, en el noroeste de Washington, D.C.

En la otra costa, con temperaturas más cálidas, el profesor y activista Armando Vásquez Ramos invitó a un grupo de 350 jóvenes universitarios al teatro de la California State University, Long Beach, el 10 de marzo, y poco después 100 invitados asistieron a la recepción y discusión que siguió. Al productor del documental, Rodríguez, se le unió Phil Móntez, gran amigo de Salazar, jubilado recientemente de su cargo de director regional de la costa oeste para la U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

21. La ridícula idea de no volver a verte, Rosa Montero

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50 LIBROS/ 50 BOOKS: Mujeres y sus historias
“Esto es lo primero que te golpea en un duelo:
la incapacidad de pensarlo y de admitirlo”. Rosa Montero
EL PASO — Mi hermano murió en octubre del año pasado. Esta se siente como la primera vez que lo dije en voz alta, lo dije en un tono formal, como si mi cabeza y mi alma entera hubieran procesado ya un hecho así. Lo cierto es que no, lo cierto es que aún ahora cuando hablo de ello me obligo a hacerlo con naturalidad, me resisto a que mi voz se rompa, a que se denote qué siento verdaderamente. Fingir que no duele.

Documentary revives debate over Rubén Salazar’s death

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By Kay Bárbaro

Lea esta historia en español

WASHINGTON — In spite of independent Hollywood producer Phillip Rodríguez’s stated belief that the killing of KMEX-TV (Los Angeles) news director Rubén Salazar 44 years ago was accidental,  two separate audiences – in Washington, D.C., and Long Beach, Calif. — that previewed his 54-minute television documentary, beg to differ. Where there was grist for an exposé, a TV rehash resulted, some say. The program — Rubén Salazar: Man in the Middle — is scheduled to run nationally April 29 on the Public Broadcasting Service network. Responding to PBS invitations, 125 brave souls, including Hispanic Link’s reporter/editor team Aaron Montes/Charlie Ericksen along with Scripps-Howard Journalism Foundation member Peter Copeland ventured into the sub-freezing night of Feb.

Honoring our past to inspire our future: Rubén Salazar

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EL PASO — UTEP’s Centennial is an important time to look back at the past, reflect how we got to where we are today, and honor those who carried the torch but could not be here to celebrate with us. 

If he were still alive, Rubén Salazar would be one of the alumni for whom the Miners would roll out the red carpet.  The man after whom the Rubén Salazar Spanish-Language Media Program in UTEP’s Department of Communication is named and the only UTEP alumnus to be featured on a US postal stamp, Salazar was a pioneering journalist whose shocking and mysterious death at an anti-Vietnam War march in August 1970 drew attention to the civil rights struggles of people of Mexican heritage in the US. On April 29th, PBS will air filmmaker Phillip Rodriguez’s new documentary “Ruben Salazar:  Man in the Middle,” but the UTEP, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez communities will have an opportunity to see the film even earlier, at an April 9 screening at the UTEP Union Cinema.  Rodriguez will join El Paso icon Rosa Ramírez Guerrero, Texas State Senator Jose Rodríguez, KHOU 11 News Border Bureau Chief Angela Kocherga, and Borderzine’s Zita Arocha for a discussion after the 6 pm screening, which will be moderated by Bob Moore, editor at The El Paso Times. The film uses never-before-seen footage, interviews, and excerpts from Salazar’s private writings to tell the story of how a socially-aware journalist went from bylines to headlines. Many students will find echoes of their own lives in Salazar’s story.

“‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free”

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MIMBRES, NM — I first fell in love with this Shaker song at an ill-fated wedding in Glenwood, NM, in a small church with an old piano many years ago. All I knew about the Shaker religion was their furniture, not their beliefs. Furniture built to last, unadorned, simple but beautiful. This song, written by a Shaker elder named Joseph Bracket in 1848, has been performed by many artists over the years, including Aaron Copland (Appalachian Spring, 1944), Jody Foster (Kung Fu), Sydney Carter (Lord of the Dance, 1963), Weezer, R.E.M., Judy Collins, Jewell, Toy Dolls, and Yo-Yo Ma at President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, even though it was too cold to really perform it. Unlike other religions that expound a philosophy of “be fruitful and multiply,” Shakers believed in celibacy, which probably explains why there aren’t more of them.

My inspiration for photography and for music were together in a long forgotten space in Washington, D.C.

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Before the concert: Photography

WASHINGTON D.C. — I was not expecting this. How could it be that my inspiration for photography and for music were there hand in hand in a room long forgotten? There he stood and their faces looked past him, as if time stood still for just them. Of course, a photograph captures the essence of a certain place in time, but it also resonates and almost comes back to life when the time-stamp machine prints its thumbnail. Mike Mitchell, a photographer who had captured the way the U.S. public saw The Beatles when they first arrived in Washington D.C., was 18 years old and effectively preserved the moment. On Feb.

We are who we are, and all we could be

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MIMBRES, N.M. — We like to label people outside ourselves and our inner circle of family and friends in neat, non-overlapping categories. This is an us v. them exercise. In order to accomplish our goal, we have to ignore the fluidity and subtlety of identity. We crash through all sorts of logic gates, mixing skin color or other visible personal characteristics with birthplace, language, religion, education and social class, citizenship. Fine distinctions are unnecessary when we are busy lumping people.

Holding on and letting go — the old fountain pen writes of connectedness, collaboration and shared promises

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FALLS CHURCH, Va. — When I was in Junior High School my parents and I had a yearly ritual beginning with the first September of the Seventh Grade. I got to pick out a new Esterbrook fountain pen. Learning to fill it with ink, the blue black river of unshaped words, was a thrill I obviously have not forgotten. Just me, and a blank piece of paper, and my pen working together to find out what I was thinking about.

Original Time magazine cover with Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto.

Mexican government payments to Time Warner Inc. stain the journalistic integrity of the legendary magazine

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EL PASO — As I woke up this past Tuesday I went through my regular routine of reading the news of the day on my smartphone. I skimmed over the spam known as CNN, and then checked NPR and Reuters’ headlines, but that particular day I came across a very interesting looking Al Jazeera English article titled “TIME magazine’s ‘Saving Mexico’ issue prompts backlash.”

The image of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN), who in my photographer’s opinion seemed photoshopped in order to look more presidential, filled the TIME’s cover page. But what struck me with an immediate sense of indignation was the cover article’s title: “Saving Mexico.”

There he was, a man whose political party was caught buying votes and still won the presidency, a man interconnected with ex-President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who had one of Mexico’s most tarnished presidencies in history. This man Peña Nieto, the current president of my home country, is not someone I could ever trust. Setting aside the fact that his so called reforms jeopardize the entire country, disregarding the fact that after 75 years of sovereignty he is selling out our oil reserves to foreign investors, my immediate disgust shifted toward the TIME publication and the article written by one of their chief foreign correspondents, Michael Crowley.

What would Jane Austin make of all this?

Actually… Like… Because… Whatever

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MIMBRES, N.M. — Some phrases and meanings of words come into sudden use, mutate and spread geographically, linguistically, and socially, almost like a communicable disease. They go viral. Years ago, words like segue, meme, trope, zeitgeist… were not popular words; they were hidden in obscure academic texts. And then, they went viral. Some words become popular for a while and eventually wear themselves out and became consigned to trivia games.

(Diana Amaro/Borderzine.com)

El comer es cultura — estamos sacrificando la salud por la sal, el azúcar, y el sabor

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EL PASO — No cabe la menor duda de que estamos viviendo en un país que se considera el primer país del primer mundo. Pero, ¿lo que comemos realmente es de primera calidad? ¿Está la FDA realmente protegiendo a los consumidores de alimentos, o la economía de las grandes compañías? Tampoco me cabe la menor duda de que la comida es uno de los componentes más importantes de nuestra vida. Como así lo explicaron en una rueda de conferencias, que tuvo lugar en el Rubin Center de la Universidad de Texas en El Paso,  los  Drs.

Alber Camus in 1957. (©Robert Edwards, via Wikimedia Commons)

El genio de Camus

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I
La superficial creencia de que Albert Camus fue mejor periodista que ensayista, mejor ensayista que dramaturgo y mejor dramaturgo que novelista empezó a propagarse cuando su cadáver aún no se enterraba en Lourmarin. Incluso en los obituarios más elogiosos, sus detractores empezaron a reprocharle la extrema claridad de sus ideas, juzgando que tanta claridad no podía congeniarse con una profunda reflexión. Al respecto, Susan Sontag, en su reseña de la publicación en inglés de los Carnets, 1935-1942 de Camus (The New York Review of Books, septiembre de 1963), fue así de categórica: “But was Camus a thinker of importance? The answer is no. Sartre, however distasteful certain of his political sympathies are to his English-speaking audience, brings a powerful and original mind to philosophical, psychological, and literary analysis”.

President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 28, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)

State of the Union — Sad symbols on Capitol Hill

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EL PASO — I wanted to cry after hearing Obama’s speech the other night. Two persons symbolized the state of the union for me — Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg and his commander in chief Barack Obama. A massive road bomb in Afghanistan blasted shrapnel into Remsburg’s brain leaving him partly blind and paralyzed and in a coma for months. He struggled to stand and salute his commander at the joint session of Congress as Obama praised his courage and endurance. “Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg never gives up, and he does not quit,” Obama said.

College grads struggle to find jobs in a tight economy but networking helps

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EL PASO – As a recent college graduate and member of the millennial generation, as the news media calls us, I, like many others, have “struggled” and weathered various trials and tribulations to try to find a job in my field of communication and news media. Before even graduating I was sending out resumes, scouring the Internet, asking anyone who I thought would lend a “helping hand” to help me find a job. I even volunteered for over two years for free with no fringe benefits. It was certainly tough for me to find anything permanent or even that paid. I had followed what I believed was a tried-and-true approach to obtaining a professional career in the communications field.

Cecilia Muñoz, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council. (www.whitehouse.gov)

Hispanics are tired of Obama’s lip service on immigration reform

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By Kay Bárbaro

For Borderzine from Hispanic Link

WASHINGTON – WE’RE STILL WAITING:  Cecilia Muñoz, longtime vice president of the National Council of La Raza whose appointment in Jan. 20, 2009, to President Obama’s initial cabinet was seen as a payoff to the Hispanic community for its huge role in Obama’s winning a front-door key to the White House. This, we and many others innocently believed, would ensure that el presidente nuevo would move quickly to make good on his repeated promises to end our undocumented immigrant agony by delivering genuine immigration reform legislation. Did he? Of course not.

Here to make the border safe again. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

Fin del viaje por la frontera Texas-México

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La frontera central México-Estados Unidos: El Paso, Texas y Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
Lo que sigue es el último episodio del viaje por la frontera Texas-México que realicé con mi amigo, el periodista Sergio Chapa, a mediados del año pasado. Hoy describiré nuestra experiencia en las ciudades de El Paso, Texas y Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Este último tramo resultó ser uno de los más interesantes de nuestro recorrido fronterizo. La importancia de la frontera central México-Estados Unidos es evidente desde que uno se va acercando a la ciudad de El Paso, Texas. La frontera “central” —como le suelo llamar yo a la zona de El Paso-Ciudad Juárez— es una zona de gran desarrollo económico, de evidente complejidad y sobretodo de contrastes.

Mural at the Stanton Street Bridge in downtown El Paso. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

Last stop, El Paso and Ciudad Juarez

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I’m going to admit now. There is no way to describe El Paso in a single blog but I’ll try my best. With close to one million residents, El Paso is the biggest city on the Texas side of the border. But it’s also filled with many contrasts making it one of the most complex and intriguing. The border city is home to four international bridges and one international railroad crossing.

BLDG 6 Coffee Roaster is located at 11385 James Watt B-6 on the east side of El Paso. (Photo courtesy of Paulina Salazar)

BLDG 6 Coffee Roasters: Las delicias del café de especialidad y algo más

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De boca en boca

EL PASO – BLDG 6 Coffee Roasters es un café de “especialidad”, como se les llama ahora, donde además de disfrutar de la mejor taza de café que se han tomado en un buen rato, pueden aprender un poco sobre los orígenes del café, lo delicado que es su cultivo y la importancia de apoyar a las comunidades rurales en su camino hacia la excelencia. El café se encuentra en medio de bodegas, al este de la ciudad, cerca de la transitada Lee Treviño, es pequeño, con mucha madera y metal en una combinación moderna que invita a sentarse a leer un buen libro y degustar una verdadera taza de café preparada en esa impresionante máquina semi-automática, la Marzocco Strada, especial para capuchinos y lattes. Especialmente interesante es el sistema de goteo (drip) en una especie de matrices que parecen salidas de la clase de química y la, cada vez más popular, prensa francesa. Paulina va de un lado a otro con su pequeña báscula, pesando los granos de café individualmente, con sus pequeños relojes para medir exactamente el tiempo que se debe dejar reposar el agua en un recipiente moderno que indica la temperatura exacta en que debe utilizarse (191 F). Paulina es la muy joven dueña, quien inició su aventura empresarial de la mano de su padre, quien al ver que compartían su pasión por el buen café, después de pasar una temporada en Minneapolis, Minnesota, pensó que quizá este era un buen camino para su hija.

Blimp used for border security just west of Marfa. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

El trayecto de Presidio al El Paso, Texas: Una tormenta en el camino, la guerra por el agua y los puentes del futuro

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Ahora contaré mis impresiones sobre el último tramo de nuestro viaje por la frontera México-Texas. Dejamos Presidio con dirección hacia las ciudades de El Paso, Texas y Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua). Este episodio es corto, pero interesante. Al salir de Presidio (Texas) hacia el norte, tomamos la carretera 67 que nos llevaría de nuevo a la ciudad de Marfa —aquella ciudad donde pudimos apreciar, por la noche, una misteriosas luces bajo un gran cielo estrellado. En ese trayecto el paisaje estuvo dominado por montañas.

Storm clouds rolled in from the mountains and then over Highway 90. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

Highway to El Paso

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After several days on the road, Lupita and I realized that we had fewer days ahead of us than behind us. It was more than 100 degrees when we left the Rio Grande River plain in Presidio. But it was a steady climb into the mountains as we headed north on U.S. Highway 67 back to Marfa. In the rear view mirror, storm clouds could be seen coming in over the mountains of Mexico. The wind was picking up and the higher the elevation, the cooler the temperature.

Borderzine's director, Zita Arocha, welcomes participants to the 2013 Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy. (©Borderzine.com)

Borderzine 2014: Something tells me we’re in for something good

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Dear Borderzine friends,

As we begin 2014, I’m delighted to share with you changes and opportunities that are ‘a coming.’ They include a collaborative education-news media venture that builds on the successful McCormick funded Immigration Reporting Institute held at UTEP last fall, as well as a new look and redesign for our website and continuation of two successful grant-funded training workshops. The Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy for journalism teachers from Hispanic serving colleges returns to the UTEP campus for a fifth year, and Borderzine will host an 11th annual Journalism in July workshop for high school journalists, also supported by the Dow Jones News Fund. We are also excited by plans for Borderzine to provide a weekend of training for local media professionals on how to use digital media production to create journalism content.  Watch for details soon. McCormick Immigration Reporting Institute

Before going into more detail for 2014, I’d like to reflect on the successful Immigration Training Institute for 19 professional journalists and freelancers from the U.S. and the El Paso community.  The journalists (which included two UTEP multimedia journalism students) engaged in hands-on training in how to use research tools for immigration reporting, learned the ins and outs of immigration policies and efforts at reform, took a tour with the Border Patrol and visited the border fence that divides the Anapra community near downtown El Paso. Although the training was important, to me the real impact began after the journalists left town and started writing immigration stories about their hometowns.  Their articles, as well as those written by UTEP students in an investigative reporting class last fall, are being republished in Borderzine.

Mexican flag inside an American flag

Adaptándose de mal manera a la frontera

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EL PASO — Muchos socialistas frecuentemente se refieren a los países del mundo como “una gran familia”. Visto desde esa perspectiva, podríamos asumir que cada país, como si fuera una persona en la familia, tendría su personalidad propia y en el caso del continente americano, Estados Unidos juega el papel de el “exitoso” hermano mayor. Los hermanos mayores definitivamente son una de las primeras influencias en nuestra vida, para bien o para mal, en especial para los jóvenes sin guía como lo es México que en su adorar ciego del “sueño americano” ha perdido su propio sueño, rechazando su identidad milenaria y prostituyendo sus valores sociales. Irónicamente en la frontera México-E.U. donde altos muros intentan fútilmente separar la identidad de ambos países, se presenta el porcentaje más alto de mexicanos que adoptan una falsa identidad americana, creando así una tercera identidad entre dos países. Casi todos los países tienen fronteras con otro, pero no en todos los casos se presenta este mismo fenómeno.

Maxey Scherr, a 33-year-old El Paso attorney, will be campaigning against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). (peter svarzbein / www.mongovision.com)

El Paso woman running for the U.S. Senate stands for women and minorities

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EL PASO — One El Pasoan said she’s tired of Texas being on “Cruz control,” so she has decided to run for a U.S. Senate seat, the first from this region to take the step. Maxey Scherr, a 33-year-old El Paso attorney, will be campaigning against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). But however hungry she may be, the odds are not in her favor. Cornyn, a Houston native, has held office since 2002 and does have more than 10 years of government experience versus her zero. Scherr, an El Paso native, kicked off her campaign Dec.