Category — Local event

New book forthcoming by Erika Lee and Judy Yung.  Dr. Yung is scheduled to talk about her work on the book October 5 at 6 pm at SJSU King Library. Flyer here:  www.sjsu.edu/faculty/kathryn.blackmerreyes/AngelIsland.pdf

The immigration station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, in use from 1910 to 1940, has often been called the Ellis Island  of the West. But to what extent is the Pacific gateway a junior version of the storied immigration station that sits next to the Statue of Liberty in New York’s harbor?

If Ellis Island remains the iconic symbol of American immigration, Angel Island represents a more complete history of America’s diverse origins and the government’s diverse policies that welcomed some and excluded others.

That fascinating history is the subject of “Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America,” by historians Erika Lee and Judy Yung, both descendants of Angel Island immigrants, and published on the occasion of the station’s 100th anniversary. Lee and Yung offer a kaleidoscope of immigrant portraits that bring history alive, and, in the process, demolish many myths and stereotypes about Angel Island and American immigration in general.
Readers who already know that Angel Island differed from Ellis Island because the former was built to process Chinese immigrants and the latter for Europeans will be surprised to learn that non-Asians comprised fully one-third of those seeking entry through Angel Island before the 1920s.

According to the authors’ research, about 1 million people passed through the Angel Island station: foreigners and citizens, arrivals and departures, immigrants and deportees. “Angel Island” tells the stories of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and South Asians, as well as Mexicans, Russians, European Jews and Filipinos who were processed through the station. Their stories testify to the great diversity of American immigration.

Story continues at SFGate

Students at Cal State East Bay designed and carried out a “limpia” ritual (cleansing) of Warren Hall on May 4th of this year.  In this student-directed film of the event, you’ll see the students walk through Warren Hall with eggs “collecting the negative energies” of the building, then convening downstairs on the plaza for discussion, dance, venting, and finally, the destruction of the eggs.  The event merges the curanderismo practice of natural healing with student protest and self-preservation in the face of the budget situation.  It’s a powerful film, about ten minutes.

I’d like to share here an interview and discussion that the Social Science 195 Spring class did with Dr. Angela Valenzuela, Professor of Education and Director of the Texas Center for Educational Policy at the University of Texas, Austin.

Dr. Valenzuela spoke with us about the concept of “subtractive schooling,” a critique that traditional schooling divests Mexican and Mexican-American youth of “important social and cultural resources, leaving them progressively vulnerable to academic failure.”  She goes on to discuss several new projects, including the National Latino Education Research & Policy Project (NELRAP) that seek to address these kinds of consistent inequalities in American education.

Click here to see the interview on the SJSU server (or click image)

Some excerpts:

On Mexican identity: “We have been traumatized in this society, and we continue to be traumatized, harmed, because of the languages we speak, the identities that we hold….virulent campaigns that don’t ever seem to stop, against Mexican immigrants, and Mexicans in general, by association….”

“Where is that common discourse, within the mass of silent people, where is that discourse that is really trying to reach out for fairness within this system?”

Demographics: “What people need to know and understand, lead on, is that the way that Texas looks now demographically is the way the whole nation will look in 2050.”

The next step: “A systems approach, a systems analysis. We have many piecemeal programs…we have the intellectual knowhow. We really don’t need another study that shows us bilingual education works if it’s well-funded, well-trained, well-staffed. Now it’s about leadership, critical, respectful partnerships…. We need to work together to change systems….”

See the interview here

Are you man enough to walk a mile in her shoes?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
4:00pm – 7:00pm
Plaza de Cesar Chavez, Downtown San Jose

See young men walk a mile in heels to raise awareness about Sexual Assault!  The YWCA of Silicon Valley hosts this unique event during Sexual Assault Awareness Month to call attention to these statistics:  one-in-three women and one-in-five men, regardless of socio-economic status, will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

This event is a light-hearted approach to a very serious subject and is also a fundraiser for our local YWCA’s  local rape crisis center. Donations are not required to walk, but every little bit helps.

Registration for the event begins at 4PM. The walk will start at 5:00. Shoes WILL be provided, but show up early. The walk route parades through downtown San Jose, culminating at the California Theatre on First Street. There will be a reception to follow.

Also, don’t forget, AfricanAmerican scholar/activist Angela Davis will be speaking the same evening at Morris Daily Auditorium!

If that’s not enough to pique your interest, here’s a few more facts why you should walk, and ladies don’t worry. Only the guys need to wear heels. ;) [Read more →]

March 24 – Liz Burke,  “Classism: How it Effects Our Lives at MOSAIC: Cross Cultural Center  at 5 p.m.

April 7 – Andrew House,White Privilege:  Identifying & Understanding at MOSAIC: Cross Cultural Center.

Tune in to hear bell hooks interviewed on 99.5 FM WBAI Pacifica Radio Thursday, March 18 at 12 noon to 1pm EST. She’ll be promoting her newest book, Teaching Critical Thinking (Routledge, 2010).  WBAI is New York’s Pacifica radio station, accessible online.

Join us for a wonderful afternoon talk with sex educator Carol Queen!   Writer and cultural sexologist Carol Queen offers observations about women’s sexuality and discusses key issues like information, desire, boundaries, support, and communication — including specific tools that may help any woman learn what she wants for her sexuality, and move toward achieving it.

Carol Queen is a writer, speaker, educator and activist with a doctorate in sexology.  She has a long history of organizing in local and international lesbian/gay communities, including co-founding one of the first gay youth groups in the United States.  She is a worker/owner at Good Vibrations, the women-owned, worker-owned sex toy and book emporium, where she directs Continuing Education for the staff. She also organizes workshops at The Center for Sex and Culture, a non-profit sexuality education center which my partner Dr. Robert Lawrence and I have spent the last several years organizing.

The multialented queen writes explicit fiction and memoir, essays, commentary, analysis, book and film/video reviews, reportage, and interviews.  She publishes a sex and relationship advice column which is available at the Good Vibrations Magazine.

Please join us Wednesday at 1:30-2:45 in Engineering 189.

Related links:
www.goodvibes.com
www.sexandculture.org
www.carolqueen.com

Students Majoring in any of the Social Sciences are Invited to Apply for
Spring 2010 College of Social Sciences Scholarships
(DEADLINE: 3/25/10, to WSQ 103)

Seven scholarships will be awarded to students majoring in the Social Sciences.  Both undergraduate and graduate students may apply.  Last year’s scholarship recipients are not eligible to apply for any of these scholarships during Spring 2010.

• SJSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION DEANS’ SCHOLARSHIPS (2) • $1,250  (The SJSU Alumni Scholarship is awarded to a student only once during their academic career at SJSU.  This scholarship will be disbursed Fall 2010 and is only available to students enrolling at SJSU for Fall 2010. Scholarship applicants must demonstrate community service or participation in student organizations.)
• GERALD WHEELER SCHOLARSHIP (1) • $1,000
• CHARLES BURDICK SCHOLARSHIPS (1) • $1,000 (student must demonstrate financial need based on the 09-10 FAFSA – FAFSA must be on file in the SJSU Financial Aid Office)
• INEZ AND DONALD BURDICK SCHOLARSHIPS (1) • $1,000 (student must demonstrate financial need based on the 09-10 FAFSA – FAFSA must be on file in the SJSU Financial Aid Office

Application available here in MSWord format or here in PDF format [Read more →]

Come learn how SJSU Women’s Studies alumni are making change in local communities with Noemi Teppang, Lindsey Mansfield, and Margie Strubel.  From 10:30 – 11:45 in MLK Library rooms 255/257

Womyn United:  International Womyns’ Day Marcha & Festival 2010

March begins 11am at Roosevelt Park, continues down Santa Clara and First Street to the Biblioteca Latinoamericana.  Festival from 1 to 4pm with vendors, food, and entertainment.

Participating Organizations: Cihuatl Tlatocan (MAIZ), FOCUS-SV, Silicon Valley
DEBUG, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, Women’s International League for Peace and  Freedom , San Jose CodePink, SJSU WoWi (Womyn on Womyn’s Issues), Santa Clara County’s Office on Women’s Policy,  LGBTQ Youth Spaces, SOMOS Mayfair, Cardea Center for Women, Bay Area Radical Women, SJSU Women’s Studies.

Cihuatl Tlatocan  is a women’s based mass organization whose vision seeks the liberation of Mexican womyn at an individual and community level, in a collective struggle towards social change and is a member organization of the MAIZ Alliance  (Movimiento de Accion, inspirando Servicio). Questions?  Cihuatl.Tlatocan@gmail.com

Download flyer here (click on image to see fullsize)

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