Category — Local event

Always Something There to Remind Me: The Politics of Memory in Latin@ & Asian American Queer Writers
Guest speakers:  Shani Mootoo, Manuel Munoz, Felicia Luna Lemus &
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 6:00pm
Margaret Jacks Hall, Bldg. 460, Terrace Room

Guest Speakers: Shani Mootoo, Manuel Muñoz, and Felicia Luna Lemus.
For more information, visit Always Something There to Remind Me

See speakers bios below….

[Read more →]

From the Gilroy Dispatch:

Community Solutions, the largest nonprofit human services agency in southern Santa Clara County, will celebrate strong women in history with its production of “Historias de Mi Madre IV: A Feminist Anthology.” The bilingual play explores the role of women during important historical events.

During the 2009-10 fiscal year, Community Solutions provided services to 716 domestic violence victims, 150 sexual assault survivors and five victims of human trafficking. Services include emergency confidential shelter, legal advocacy, court accompaniment, peer counseling, case management, safety planning, and resource and referral.

“This year, our goal is to highlight the strength, courage and determination inherent in all women,” stated Rosa Revuelta, Sexual Assault and Prevention Services Manager for Community Solutions. “We want to honor and celebrate not just famous women in history, but the female heroes all around us.”

The play will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 6, at the Gavilan College Theatre, 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd.

A $10 donation may be made at the door but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Due to mature content, the play may not be appropriate for children. For information regarding Historias de Mi Madre IV, call (408) 776-6294.

via GilroyDispatch.com | Community Solutions play celebrates women in history.

We had Professor Rue directing a play in Santa Cruz (The Rabbit Hole), and now we have a former WOMS student appearing in a burlesque/cabaret show, The Street, at the Pacific Cultural Center!  The amazing Rachelle Campillo writes:

Dear Friends and Family,
I will be appearing in THE STREET a cabaret/burlesque style show with a live 7 piece band, fun costumes and dancing.  The show will be at the Pacific Cultural Center at 1307 Seabright Ave (at Broadway) Santa Cruz , CA 95062.  Shows will be Saturdays September 25th, October 2nd, and October 9th with a 6:30 AND 9:00pm performance each night.

The regular ticket price is $19.00 which includes complimentary beverages and dessert during intermission.  Our producer is offering the cast and crew the ability to offer family and friends a special rate of $12.00 per person.  You can get this special rate by going online @ brownpapertickets.com or by contacting 800.838.3006 using the special discount code “Fox” for the $12.00 rate and click show additional prices.  You can also purchase tickets (cash only) 30 minutes prior to opening with a copy of this letter and get the discount price, however we are likely to sell out and therefore cannot guarantee there will be an available seat.  This rate is extended to your friends and family that you bring to the performance as well.  For more information you can facebook ArtAvant, email artavantlive@yahoo.com or call Fox Whole Productions @ 831.662.3691.  We look forward to playing with you!!!

Love,
Rachelle Campillo
Assistant Director

Update for students:  Maribel Martinez notes, “We will have discounted tickets for SJSU students who would like to attend but are unable to due to financial issues. Please contact me at cccac@as.sjsu.edu subject “Dolores Huerta Tickets” to have your name placed on the will call list . Be sure to include your name, email, and phone number. Thank you.”

Mark your Calendars!

The legendary activist Dolores Huerta will be in conversation on the SJSU campus to discuss current events and their impacts on the fight for Chicano equality in America. Joining her on the panel will be Thomas A Saenz, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s President and General Counsel, along with three members of the band Ozomatli, who have been designated official United States Cultural Ambassadors. Moderating the panel will be National Public Radio’s Richard Gonzalez.

The event, sponsored by the Student Union and hosted by Maribel Martinez of the Associated Students Cesar Chavez Community Action Center, will benefit the Center for Steinbeck Studies and the Mexican Heritage Corporation.

An Evening with Dolores Huerta, “By the Time We Got to Phoenix: SB 1070 and the New Chicano”
Thursday, September 23, 7:00pm
Morris Dailey Auditorium
Tickets: $15 General Admission, $10 Students (ID Required)

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.