Palabras del Mundo Zurdo

"Our education is under attack what do we do... FIGHT BACK!"

2011-05-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

April 26th, 2011- Students take over Tuscon school board.

Saving Women Studies at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)

2011-05-04T00:47:00.000-07:00

Hung 500 letters of support in the FDH!

On Thursday April 28th 2011, a group of about thirty students and supports including myself met at the CBC to organize a student action to stop the elimination and merge of the Women's Studies Department. The proposed elimination from the Dean of liberal arts was suggested because of the horrible cuts that UNLV is experiencing. Students, Faculty and community members have stepped up and have made their voices loud and clear for the dean to hear that even though women studies does in fact have the lowest amount of majors, it is only a reflection of the resources that the university has provided for the women studies department. Women’s studies excel in retaining students and creating safe spaces for marginalized students. It is one of the only programs at the university that takes diversity and consciousness raising as a number one priority. Students from Spectrum, ROAR, MEChA, and other organizations that focus on raising consciousness have worked with women studies and have had support where the overall university was lacking. It is obvious though that the dean recognized eliminating women studies was not an option. Now many students including myself see merging the women studies department as a personal attack. Mostly because there won’t be any money saved and if saving money was the true reason for eliminating women studies then retaining the autonomy of the department should be the valid reaction to the 2,000 letters of support.

2011-05-03T01:48:00.000-07:00

This video is from last years budget cuts at the University of Nevada Las Vegas!

Gardening in Vegas

2011-02-21T20:15:00.000-08:00

Tonopah Community Garden

This last weekend a group of us went to check out the Tonopah Community Garden (TCG) and I have to say it was an amazing experience. Sometimes living in the city, I feel out of touch with reality. I feel like I'm drowning in consumerism and I just need something to hold on to. This project is real and definitely needs more help. The mujer that is responsible for making the garden has big plans.
The TCG can really be a project that creates a strong community in Vegas. I'm going to try and make it every Saturday from 9am to 1pm. Try and come! They are currently working on the Permaculture section. Its time to learn and relearn how to garden and how to give back to the land that we have been taking from over and over again. Its time to relearn how to thank the land and to give back as much as we take.

Neon Jumpsuit- Poem

2011-02-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

Neon Jumpsuit
By: Chanclita

To my lover:

... I am restlessly turning in my bed
over and over again I turn
I make my mind wonder in every direction
but it always seems to find its way back to you

I visualize a scenario
....
you call me with an empty voice, i can hear that you don't really know what to talk about
your just calling cause you know I'm expecting it

"hey, I'm back, I just called to let you know"

I'm thinking to myself. She is probably tired and doesn't want to talk.

"I missed you"

then you reply because its expected

"I miss you too womyn"

I just start crying and the tears start falling and some how i am able to mutter out

"I cant do this anymore"

Those five words is what i feel, its what i visualize myself saying over and over again.

There is a battle going on everyday. People trying to survive in this piece of shit society.

This relationship has made it hard to survive in this battleground
I've been attacked by family by those i thought i knew best, betrayed by my brother, his words left a wound that still stings
every time the word fruit or fairy leaves his lips.
but how could i blame him. He is growing up in a house where my dad who in every way has been assimilated.
he wears camouflage from the head down. has stripped himself of everything that he was brought up to be ashamed about.
He will not speak spanish
he will not be poor
he will not be brown
he will not be queer
His kids will not speak spanish
will not be poor
will not be brown
will not be queer
we will not be gay

I see his pain and I feel pain when i see him give up a piece of himself.

You see... me coming out was like me going onto that battleground wearing a neon jumpsuit.
...he didn't want to be near me, he didn't want anything to do with me

because then everything that he has denied, every piece of himself that
he has changed to survive in this society would be compromised- I was stripping him of his camouflage

It is so easy to love you but painful and hard to live in this love with you.
and i know it is hard for you too

but i wont say those words to you
because unlike my dad... I'm learning to fight back,
I know people who fight oppression daily and have faced it head on even when they were the ones perpetuating it
I don't want to just survive womyn, i want to live
I've found life in your writings, in your voice, in your kiss
I refuse to be invisible... to sacrifice who i am so i can just live comfortable

I am poor
I am brown
and I am queer

I hope i never take off this neon jumpsuit...

Dreaming of an alternative

2011-02-15T03:45:00.000-08:00

I'm up pretty late/early however you want to look at it. I am a pretty active person when it comes to organizing within the community but after hearing Andrea Smith speak at the Living Without Borders encuentro I've been challenging myself on a whole other level. How can I build coalitions in my community, how can I turn my activism into something that I can actually get something out of. I find myself obsessing to finish the next project (marcha, conference, org) that will hopefully bring me closer to my vision of social justice only to find myself in an activist fatigue. I feel no closer but further away from what I want and it can get depressing. So how can i use what "Andy" said and live the revolution?
There was another presenter as well. She goes by the name of Flor and she challenged me on multiple levels. This mujer spoke to me about letting go of the privileges I have in the western world. She asked us (those who are documented living in the US) to visualize ourselves letting go. Would we do that in order to create this "borderless world" or this "el mundo zurdo". I feel like she was asking all the question we have been avoiding to answer, consciously or unconsciously.
I have to change the way I organize.

Action against SB1070

2010-08-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

STOP SB1070

The picture to the right is a picture of the demonstration MEChA de UNLV did on the Las Vegas Strip on July 29, 2010. This went on along with many other actions around the nation that wanted to voice their opinion about the hateful migration laws in Arizona. The shirts spell out "STOP SB1070" and on the back of the shirts it reads "END RACISM". My group walked through the strip and stopped every five minutes to explain what SB1070 is and how it is affecting marginalized communities and further privatizing the land. These are the kind of actions that get attention in Vegas. Our group has done similar actions that get some press but are usually forgotten and doesn't reach public eyes. We made the casinos, the tourist, the workers see our message. Laws like SB1070 is what is full of hate. These are the kinds of laws that uphold and create systems of oppression.

Living Without Borders Conference

2009-10-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

The United Coalition for Im/migrant Rights will be hosting the 2^nd annual Living Without Borders encuentro in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was developed to inspire participants to dismantle oppressive divisions within society, eradicate discrimination, and mobilize the community through transformative education.
If have questions or want to register they have a website- www.livingwithoutborders.org

Here is a picture of the organizers of the last conference in 2008: