S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today we're talking about the meaning behind this year's Chicano Park Day. Then a new book explores Chicano identity. And two of the authors join us to talk about it. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. Chicano Park Day pays tribute to those who've paved the way and fought to get the park built.
S2: We're all trying to keep the legacy of the community alive because those were our elders.
S1: Then the book Somos Chicanos reflects the fullness of the Chicano experience. That's ahead on Midday Edition. This Saturday is the 55th annual Chicano Park Day commemoration. It's organized by the Chicano Park Steering Committee , who are the main stewards of the park. Multiple generations are continuing to build on its legacy and advocate for the needs of the community. I'm here with Josephine Talamantes , one of the co-founders of the park. She also co-founded the Chicano Park Steering Committee and founded the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. Josephine , it's great to have you here.
S2: Well thank you. I'm so excited to be here. And I'm so excited that we're celebrating 55 years of Chicano Park Day.
S1: What a milestone. Okay. Well , the theme of this year's celebration is 55 and still Alive.
S2: Um , that the work that we've done over the last 55 years is still in place , and that the murals are as beautiful as ever. We're commemorating the celebration of a community's effort at self-determination , and the murals reflect the history of the community. The museum , the Chicano Art Museum and Cultural Center continues to preserve those local histories through our archives. We've developed the archives at the museum so students can do research , and that we could take it a step further and start documenting a lot of the elders that are still alive and preserving that history in our archives for future generations. To maintain the legacy of Chicano Park and the community of Logan Heights.
S1: Well , I mean , how are you continuing to highlight artists in the community ? I mean , you know , Chicano Park is art. It is. You know , the murals make it. Talk to me a bit about that.
S2: Well , the murals absolutely tell the story and reflect the history that we've experienced over the years. When all of this was coming down , there were no cell phones. There were no , uh , Palm Pilots. There was no , uh , super information highway , if you will. It was murals. It was silkscreen posters. It was commemorative speeches that really spread like wildfire to keep us all going forward. And that's pretty much how it is today , although the next generations have taken it to social media. So there's a whole new effort of preservation , uh , within the museum , we again , through our archives , are preserving history , but we also , uh , show local artwork. Um , we have exhibitions in our local gallery , uh , every two months. Um , We just transitioned from once a month to every two months in our main gallery. We have the collection of Richard Favela , who is a co-founder of the Royal Chicano Air Force that's land based in Sacramento but is an internationally known artist collective and are also our muralist in Chicano Park. They painted murals back in the 70s. So we're very excited about art in particular and history in terms of preserving our local history and our authentic history , rather than someone else interpreting our history for us , because that's usually how it goes in this case. We are preserving our own history , documenting it , and making it available for the next generation to maintain the legacy of Chicano Park and the history of Logan Heights.
S1: You know , in addition to preserving history.
S2: Now , that sounds kind of a long term , but you have to understand that when the powers that be were recognizing our community , they didn't pay much attention. And our community experienced and still experiences quite a bit of racism and discrimination. So in that process , the making of art and I don't mean just visual arts , but the making of art in general , music , corridos , songs , poetry , dance all tells the story that ties in to our effort of preserving within our archives. That's how we documented our history. That's how we told our stories. I'll just repeat it again. There was no super information highway at the time. So it was the visuals. It was the poetry. It was the storytelling that kept us alive within each other and to the public at large. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S2: I have , uh , that's kind of a hard answer for me because , uh , they're in many different categories. For example , the one that tells the story of Chicano Park , and it shows the history of the community coming together , jumping on on the the tractor that the Cacho family from , uh , South Bay sought after. The the workers pulled out and took their bulldozers away. The Cacho family , under the direction of Delia Cacho and her brother , who just recently passed. Sent the tractors down so that we could till the land. And we began working the land and preserving it for ourselves. So it's it's it's all part and parcel of the process and it's the history. So that that mural. That's right there is an important one. The other one for me is the like , what's on the other side of the Virgin Mary ? And it was painted by Susan Yamagata. Aesthetically , it's a nice mural. All the murals are very nice , but it tells the story in a different way. It's the like , which is one of the goddesses of of the Americas. However , back in the 90s , the KKK came through and threw paint at that mural through paint at the kiosk in the center of the park. And what was easy on the park on the steps of the kiosk. We could repaint that , but the mural itself had to be dealt with. And basically Susan came in and she said , I'm leaving the paint drippings in there. I'm incorporating it into the mural so that it tells the story that we will never forget. That we are still being targeted by people outside the community that do not appreciate our history. So those two are kind of part and parcel for me in terms of the messages. But if you're looking at aesthetically , I mean , there's so many beautiful murals that have that were developed in the last year. I could go one by one , but I think they're all beautiful. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Yeah they are.
S2: So we were just told , we need to move , you know , through eminent domain. People knocked on your door , you got to leave. And they didn't even offer market value prices for our properties. So we were forced out of the community. And at that time , the elders started asking for green space because we knew , well , you know , the houses are gone and those houses had somewhat of green space. There was nothing left. And so we began asking and , you know , we thought it was going to happen because we were trying to put faith back into government. And unfortunately , one day , Mario Solis was walking through the neighborhood on his way to City College to take a class , and he saw the bulldozers there leveling the land. He got so excited. And you know , this is the history we always tell. He ran and said , yay , you're building our park. And the workers said , no , we're leveling this land to make a parking lot because this is going to be the headquarters or a substation of the headquarters of the California Highway Patrol station. He was in such shock that he ran through the neighborhood to a lot of the elders that were around and told them , they're not building our park. He ran up to City College , where I was in a class , uh , given by Gil Robledo. Uh , was teaching a class , and he came in and told us that that they were not going to build our park community got up. And you have to realize at that time , there were many , many returning Vietnam vets. There were many of us that were young. Attending community colleges. There were many , even from the shipbuilding industry , that were around , and we went down and occupied the land. And it was immediate. You know , it's a funny thing. Like you say , these days , social media can get the word out. I can tell you that within a couple of hours , there were at least 300 to 500 people there just by phone calls at that time. And , you know , the murals started up afterwards. At that point , we were just really bent on preserving the land and making a park. So we occupied the land for 12 days. That evening , April 22nd , 1970 , we formulated the Chicano Park Steering Committee in the home of of an elder , Senora Gomez. We were in her home , and at that point the steering committee was formulated to negotiate with the powers that be to obtain the land.
S1: I mean , you know what ? There's a big lesson to take away from that story of of how Chicano Park came to be. And that people have really gotten comfortable at this moment in time. Pointing fingers and placing blame rather than making change happen.
S2: And I thank Tommy Camarillo for her due diligence in serving the community for over 40 years to maintain Chicano Park Steering Committee , um , to its position that it still holds as recognized as stewards of Chicano Park. The difference between Chicano Park Museum and and the steering committee is that we are a 501 C3 , and the steering committee is a grassroots community , um , organization that serves as the stewards. And I can tell you in the history of preservation , the steering committee has been critical under the leadership of Tommy Camarillo. Thus , the museum has been able to secure all of those documents for future generation to maintain the legacy of Chicano Park. You can't really mobilize unless you've got some kind of consistent leadership. So look at Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. They're still going strong because they have an issue to to deal with , um , relevant equal pay and justice for those working to serve us our food to to to really honor those people that do that work because a lot of our own citizens will not do that work. And my fear right now is that with all the changes that are being made , is that food prices are going to go crazy , and we don't have consistent workers in the fields anymore. But to maintain a consistent effort of mobility , there has to be a really strong leadership to begin with. And the focal point of preservation has to be articulated to the point that the community supports it. And I think that is what we've preserved in Chicano Park. You have to remember that our little area of San Diego is recognized as the third most polluted site in the state of California. And , you know , we didn't even know that. We just knew that , you know , many of us were getting sick. So when you have consistent leadership dealing with issues , People follow. People read. People get engaged. People talk to city council members. We step out of our comfort zone to preserve the little that we have. And you know , that was a learned lesson for us because through the process of eminent domain , we lost three fourths of our community. We didn't even have a voice. We were 20,000 residents before the San Diego Coronado Bridge and the Interstate five. We you know , we didn't have access. They knocked on our door and told us to get out , and we got out.
S1: Well , and now gentrification continues to be a threat.
S2: And then you have those that live in the community that recognize Recognized. If properties keep being increased , they're not going to have access because three fourths of our community live under the line of poverty. And if we can't rent and if we can't purchase , then we're losing , you know , we're we're being distributed to other parts of the community in order to exist. So it gentrification is is difficult within our cultural district. And I don't know if you know this , but we have in the state of California , there are 14 identified , recognized cultural districts done through the legislature of California. And the resources go through the California Arts Council. They're identified 14 in the state , three of which are in San Diego , and that is Barrio Logan , that is Balboa Park and the Oceanside City District. The rest of the 11 are spread out throughout the state. But we're losing , you know , every time the landowners where those businesses are. Decide to increase the rent , we lose. You know they're there. They're banking on more tourism coming. And , um , these people just being able to accept and internalize these exorbitant fees without recognizing that most of our our businesses on Logan Avenue are small businesses and can't really afford to adjust to that level of increase. We've lost. We've lost. Salud. We lost a border x the Chicano Art Gallery. We've lost a number of different businesses through gentrification. And then you have people coming in saying , I'm going to do this in this community because they don't have it when they're outsiders. They don't even know that we do have whatever they're proposing to put into our community. And , you know , they make a mockery of the people who live here. And I think that's the problem that we've had to deal with regard to gentrification. Again , it's a dichotomy. On the one hand , is it good ? On the other hand , is it bad ? You know. Where do you fit in the middle that everybody can have a win win situation. And at this point it's been lopsided to say the least.
S1:
S2: They have not left. Many of the people that are on the steering committee are residents of the neighborhood. They still live here. They're still preserving the park , as you'll see on Saturday. It's going to be a beautiful celebration with thousands of people coming , and it is what it is. It's just difficult legacies. Many , many of the elders have tried to identify the next generation to take over. We have a new director at the museum , you know , Valerie Hymas is a very young graduate of the University of San Diego , doing an excellent job for our community. We have the radio station looking at how to preserve the legacy of serving youth. We have a number of sites that are trying to identify the next generation to preserve the legacy of the neighborhood. It gets really difficult because a lot of the elders are leaving us. I mean , that's why we're trying to collect stories as fast as we can of their memories again. You know , we were we were we were boxed in and we didn't have access to public interaction with the Interstate five. And is my understanding through my research that the initial road that the Interstate five was going through was not cleaving Logan Heights , it was going around the back way through the old 101 that went in front of the shipbuilding industry , but instead , the powers that be felt that our community because we were brown. This is my feeling. And we were being attacked by the police constantly , and we were being harassed because we weren't white. They felt it would be important to just divide up the community. So , you know , I think the preservation , the next generation is coming in. A lot of youth are coming in to try to support. You will see quarterly cleanups at the park , because sometimes the park is not clean to the expectation of the community. You will see Easter egg giveaways for for Easter Sunday. You'll see Christmas giveaways , gifts for the kids , you. You'll see all kinds of activities of the neighborhood standing up and serving itself. That's the I guess that's the best way I could describe it. And hopefully the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center is partnering with all of these entities. That includes Union Barrio. The Brown Berets. The Chicano Park Steering Committee and all these other entities , the VFW and their services. You know , we're all trying to keep the legacy of the community alive because those were our elders.
S1: Right ? Wow. 55 years of advocating for the community and still going. Congratulations on the milestone again. Thank you. I've been speaking with Josephine Talamantes , co-founder of Chicano Park , the Chicano Park Steering Committee , and founder of the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. The commemoration for Chicano Park Day will take place this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center will also partake in the festivities , and will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.. We'll have more details on our website. Josephine. Thank you so much.
S2: Thank you for covering us.
S1: Coming up , the book Somos Chicana explores the fullness of the Chicano experience.
S3: For me , this anthology really gives us permission to explore the fullness of our humanity. And for me , that's been very liberating , very powerful and very healing.
S1: Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Somos Chicanos is a collection of stories and written work from over 80 writers exploring what it means to be Chicana. Today , I'm here with two local poets featured in the book , Natalia Rivas and Gaby Moreno. They'll actually be doing some readings of their own work at the Chicano Park Day commemoration this Saturday. Natalia and Gaby , welcome to you both.
S4: Thank you for having us.
S1: It's so good to have you both here. Brenda Vega is also with us. She worked on Somos Chicanos and founded Riot of Roses , which published the book. And she joins us virtually from Los Angeles. Brenda. It's great to have you here , too.
S3: It's wonderful to be here. Thank you so much for having us.
S1: All right. Well , to start , how do you define what it means to be Chicano ? Brenda , I'll start with you on that one. Absolutely.
S3: Absolutely. Thank you for that question. You know , so many of us can answer that question in different ways. For me , what being a Chicana means is proud daughter of a Mexican immigrant , also a proud daughter of a Chicana , born and raised in Watts , California , someone who identifies politically , radically , and also spiritually. Um , I happened to be in Washington , DC this weekend and they asked how identity might shift from place to place. But for me , Chicana , all day long , I'm a Chicana in Los Angeles. Or if you take me to San Diego , or if you take me to Washington , D.C. very proud of my heritage and my roots and and particularly proud of my culture and my family.
S1: All right. Natalia.
S5: Well , I had to learn about my culture in a roundabout way. I come from a bad background. I really didn't have a mother figure. But when I went to high school in Roseville , California , there was a group of guys there called the Brown Berets , and they started telling me all this great. I think I was like 13 , and they were telling me about taking pride of an indigenous roots , taking pride of of of our skin color. I think that we have created so much that I should be proud of , that I am proud of. So I'm proud of my culture. I'm I'm proud that I'm American and and a Mexican , which makes me Chicana automatically by birthright. Uh , and grateful for all the other generations of Chicanos that came before me. So I'm a very proud Chicana.
S4: I kind of echo the same thing that Brenda and Natalia said. But yeah , it's like , for sure. Like my identity , like being Mexican American , is like the duality. Uh , because I never sometimes , like they say , like , uh , either you're too brown for the Americans or you're too American for , like , the brown people. Like when I would go to Mexico , like , I felt like I didn't belong either , because my , like , Diaz would be like , why are you speaking English ? But that's where I felt comfortable. Um , because either even though Spanish was my first language. As soon as I learned English , I kind of just started just speaking mainly English , like I would do Spanglish. But when I would go to Mexico , I realized , like , I would just kind of like feel safe speaking English more because I felt like I was going to be called like a poacher for not speaking the proper Spanish. And so I felt like I never fit in so Chicana like , even though it comes like the history of the name , it was a derogatory name. I love that we made it into a positive thing. So for me it's like the duality of who I am and it also being proud and changing the negative connotation that Chicano used to mean to something like more powerful because we changed the narrative of what it meant.
S1:
S3: And we're in National Poetry Month , so a lot of our poet contributors are getting attention. But it's also , you know , fiction writers , nonfiction writers. And what what the book intends to do is to explore our Chicana identities. It's I've been saying lately , you know , we're not a monolith. We are a multiplicity of experiences. We explore , you know , different messages about race and culture , class , you know , economic sexuality or spirituality. And what I really love about the power of this book is that we're not stereotyped. You know , we're kind of blowing open those stereotypes that a lot of , I think narratives , you know , in literature and in the arts would want to put Mexican American women in. So for me , the this anthology really gives us permission to explore the fullness of our humanity. And for me , that's been very liberating , very powerful and very healing. Right.
S1: Right. It's like , you know , you have to tell your own stories , right ? You can't let it. You can't give anybody else the pin. You know. And , Gabby. It's not often that books like this one come out that really highlights so many Chicano voices.
S4: So one. The Chicano experience and then two , being a woman is to like double the color minority. But I would say marginalized communities. Um , because our stories , like I said , are never told. So I was like , oh , this is beautiful. Like to be able to like like Brenda said , it's we're all so different. We've all had different experiences. It's not just one way that the Chicano experience is. So even I myself , when I was reading some of the poems in the book , I was like , oh , wow. Like , because there's light skinned Chicanos , there's dark skinned brown. So I was like , oh yeah , like a lot of people just kind of see , like as a one way thing. But it even opened up my mind and even even more as well. So I love that. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Natalia.
S5: They said it a lot. They said that a lot. What I believe as well. I think that the voices in the book represent families , represent our our culture in a really incredible way. The one poem that really struck out at me. I was reading it yesterday. It was about self-hatred , not realizing that it's self-hatred because of who we are. And that blew my mind. That was like , really a great poem. Yeah. Yeah.
S1: Well , I mean , speaking of what's in that book , you both prepared something short to read , and I'm hoping you can introduce us to it. Natalia. I'll have you start.
S5: She was a Pachuca looking. She had the hairdo and the dress and all of that. When I met her and she was amazing and she told me about our lineage. My mother never taught me any of this. It was my aunts and my grandmother that did reveal it. But she had mental health issues and she tried to commit suicide. And this is about one of the attempts. A rustle of butterfly wings harmonized , reminding me that my journey isn't over. Rainbows. Silk rebozo wraps me in memories. The hot steam rises. Powerful sin of corn tortillas. Fresh , warm , bubbling scent of wet dirt after a rainy day. It was about 1955. I was about 4 or 5 , a warm Roseville day. My grandmother stood behind me. Her faded floral apron flapped in the summer breeze as the car approached. It was turquoise and white , round headlights and curvy lines delivering Her Majesty. Wow.
S1: Wow. That's powerful. The memories and even the smells. The smells really take you back to to a place. Gabby , what about you ? Yeah.
S4: So this one's not in the anthology either. Um , this is generational curses. Um , I wrote this , or it's actually a song. Um , so I made it into a poetry book. Um , and put some of my lyrics. So this is generational curses. My parents worked tireless hours. My grandparents told us the world was ours. My ancestors give me superpowers. Never been afraid. I ain't a coward. Always been a leader , never a follower. More of a fighter than a lover. A genius. Don't judge a book by its cover. I was a poet waiting to be discovered. Realized being different is what made me unique. Then I stopped caring about what people think. I'm following my dreams. I'm doing me a strong , beautiful , Mexican independent woman who's been through things. Never let it define me or break me. But I've changed. I've become a better meme. A queen born in 89. Still in my prime. Breaking generational curses. One day at a time I finally found my purpose. I'm just trying to survive. I'm ending all these cycles and curses I used to feel hopeless. Till I bloom like a lotus salute.
S1: Very good , very good. We kind of touched on this earlier , but.
S4: I do for sure not not like being boxed in. That's one thing I always say for me , I think is just in a way , my identity plays a role in how I write. I never realized it until like maybe a couple months ago when I did something else , like some sort of art piece , and someone asked me like , oh , how does your identity play a role in , like , your art ? Um , and the different various art forms that you do. And I was like , oh , I never really thought about it because it's just like even this one , this poem , it's talking about my roots , Routes. But I have other things that I talk about too. Like mental health is another thing. So for me , I think I'm just like trying to be free as far as like when I'm writing my things. I don't even think about that , that stuff , because some of the stuff that I say might be even more open to outside of the Chicano experience. Like like I said , mental health is a topic that a lot of people can relate to as well. So at least for me , I think that's the way I. I try to avoid being like pigeonholed or like boxed in is trying to write about various things that I deal with , that it's a human experience , not just the Chicano experience.
S1: Right ? Just really being authentic to your own story and your your experiences. Did you have anything that you wanted to add ? Natalia.
S5: I didn't really have a a pattern to follow. I started writing in high school , and then in my early 20s , I used to be part of groups in San Francisco. School. I was some really powerful pope in their time , and , uh , they accepted me , and it was incredible. And , uh , so I've always written really with hard , not hard images with a lot of really detailed images in order to produce a feeling or a reaction or just a memory for other people. Yeah. Yeah.
S1: Well , Brenda , I want to turn to you because you founded Riot of Roses publishing house a few years ago. In a way , you're you're really carving another space for representation in the Chicano community.
S3: It's it's very few of us that make it to , you know , the big five publishing house or to , You , um , you know , poet laureate levels , which is what makes this anthology pretty incredible. We have our national poet laureate , Ada Limon , in it , and I think it's like six other poet laureates from across different cities in the United States. For me to kind of touch back on your question about being pigeonholed , sometimes we just have to make our own spaces , right ? So that we can be the fullness of who we are. Right ? As as women , as Chicanos , as human beings on this planet. And so when I started the house , I started it because I wanted to publish my own work , and I wanted that work , that book , to be in the library system. And so for that , you have to go about it a certain way. But then I saw that my community was calling me to task as a publisher , you know , asking me to , you know , widen the tenets of of what I was building with my own work. And , you know , in terms of community building as well. And so it's been it's been an amazing fun like , really hard journey , to be honest. You know , being a publisher and a writer simultaneously. Sometimes I feel like , you know , I have a machete in my hand , and I'm going through a jungle and trying to create a path. But it's been incredible to walk alongside these , these women because they're they're doing the same thing. And we're working together , you know , and so our impact when we work together is that much greater. And not just the women in the anthology , but also the other writers that I've had the opportunity to to work with and publish. It's been it's been an honor and it's been a fun adventure. And I've grown a lot in the last three years , that's for sure.
S1: Still to come , we continue our conversation about the Chicano experience and all of the ways it's expressed through art.
S3: A friend of mine actually calls it like the Chicano Multiverse , which is fun for me to to think of because it's it's we're not just doing one kind of art more.
S1: When KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. We're talking about the book Somos Chicanos , with San Diego poets Natalia Rivas and Gaby Moreno. Also Brenda Vaca , writer and founder of Riot Rosa's publishing house. So I want to talk about the community that's come out of the book.
S5: I just started writing again about four years ago , and then I got published really quickly. And it's been a wonderful experience. Incredible , right ? Um , for me , meeting the poets in these different venues that I've attended has been so loving and so welcoming and so empowering that I just carry that with me when I write , you know , because I do want to have that strong. Uh , like I just wrote a poem about bazookas. You know , nobody writes about Pachuca as they write about , but chuckles. So , uh , and I can't wait to read it on , uh , Saturday. All right. Yeah.
S1: That's great.
S4: Like , it's kind of like an extended family. Like. Like she said , we got to go to the the book launch that was in LA. Um , then we had something here at Chicano Park , at the Cultural Center. So that was really amazing to like , meet some of the I'm slowly meeting a lot of these poets , like 80 plus. And we've only met like probably like a portion of them. But it's been in. Yeah , it's been inspiring because it's all levels of writers from like , like said Polaroids to the to all the way to like starting level. Um , and even like , all ages too. That's another thing that's like been really empowering and inspiring to see , because not only the younger generation is really awesome to see , but also even the older generation , because I'm like , I hope I'm like at that age when I'm older and I'm still doing something creative , you know ? So yeah , that's been beautiful to see.
S1: Oh , and you're also a hip hop artist.
S4: I had put it on the back burner. And then I had entered the poem for Somos Chicanos at the beginning of last year and not thinking anything of it. But then once it got chosen and we , I started meeting all these poets , it kind of like kind of lit a fire back into me. And , um , it inspired me because I was kind of in a creative , right , a little bit on the music side , and I hadn't written , um , as like I used to. And this kind of motivated me to start writing more , and even , um , inspired a poetry book that I just dropped , like an independent , uh , book called The Anxious Poet. So for sure , it has inspired me to , like , keep writing , to now take it seriously because it's it is a gift that I do have. And the fact that I'm part of this with all these creatives , it's kind of like inspired me to like keep going. Mhm. Yeah.
S1: Like just working in the creative world. You know you mentioned being multigenerational and building that community. Yeah. Um do you feel like your work reaches , um , various generations ? Yes. It transcends.
S4: Yeah , exactly. And I think even hip hop being a vehicle or like rap , um , it's a different audience to that I can tap into. And then the fact that I in both in my poetry and my music , I write in English and Spanish. So that's like a wider , even audience. And then just the different age audience too. So a lot of it , the way I write is like a rapper. And I never thought that rap used to be poetry until like when I read like Tupac's The Rose That Grew from the concrete and I was like , oh , this is poetry. NAS has taught classes. So I was like , yeah , rappers are poets. And then I started calling myself a poet because at first I didn't think it was because of different things that people say , oh , it's not , but it is. It's like an art form. And so , yeah , that's how it's played a role for me.
S1: Yeah , indeed.
S5: I use a lot of imagery when I write , and I also like slang a lot , so I include that in my poetry. And I also like that I'm teaching history. I wrote a poem about other us. I wrote two poems about other ones in the book , but the second one is about the struggles they had to be who they were , and they were very powerful women who took a negative and empowered themselves and empowered their children , you know , to be more. And then I also , uh , the imagery that I have can be kind of funny sometimes. And when I read my poetry , people respond verbally to me , and I love that , I love that. So yes , it resonates with several age groups , right ? Yeah.
S1: You know , it's so healing and empowering to see yourself represented in the pages of a book.
S5: Oh my God , it was so amazing for me to be part of this. It's like the gift from the heavens , so to speak.
S1: Well , yeah. I mean , Somos Chicanos has gotten a lot of love across the country.
S5: I love that. I love that so much. And I want to see other women And not stick with the standard and push themselves. What they want to do. Because that's what I'm doing right now. Since I started writing again , I found out more about myself and more of what I can do. And so I'm exploring all the venues. I tie in indigenous with modern , with a history from Mexico kind of stuff. That's kind of the kind of imagery that I like. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S3: I've been a friend of mine actually calls it like the Chicano multiverse , which is is fun for me to to think of because it's it's we're not just doing one kind of art. Um , I spent some time , I think I mentioned just a bit ago in Washington , D.C. over the weekend , we did a reading at the American Poetry Museum and connected with different artists out there. From the Chicano experience and beyond. And it just to see the different modalities of art. You know , the music , the dancing , the visual art , photography , you know , the different genres of writing. It excites me and it inspires me. It has me being really introspective these days about , you know , where I want to take my art next as well , or what kind of work , you know , as a publisher. Do we want to continue to amplify ? You know , where do we want to push the boundaries ? And I think especially right now , the climate is such that wants to silence us or have us , you know , keep us hidden or keep us undocumented. And for me , I just feel like the flame under under my tail. Right. To just keep going , to keep , um , to keep expanding. Right. And to keep multiplying. In in the different work that we're doing and to , to also connect with future collaborations. Um , I love these women over here in San Diego. They're doing incredible work. They're going to do awesome at Chicano Park Day on Saturday. It's you know , we wish we could be in all these places , but we can't. But it's wonderful to see that it's happening. It it , um , it encourages me and it helps me get up , you know , from bed in the morning. I feel motivated more than anything because of the work that I see all of these writers and artists doing. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Gabby , I'll give you the final word here. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. I think , uh , I mean , they said pretty much everything that I wanted to say too , but yeah , I agree with like , hopefully this opens the door , like this type of book to have more of these stories told by our people. And like Brenda said , especially right now with the political climate , how everything's going on is when we need it the most is healing. Because I believe music , art , creativity is like really healing for all of us. And so I hope it just opens doors and we're all , like I said , the multiplying. Like we're going to be at Chicano Park Day. That's another thing that , you know , kind of happened , uh , between me and Natalia meeting. And so I hope it just kind of keeps growing from there.
S1: All right. I've been speaking with Brenda Vodka , writer and founder of Riot of Roses publishing house , and poets Gaby Moreno and Natalia Rivas. You can see Gaby and Natalia read at the Chicano Park Day commemoration this Saturday. Thank you all so much for joining us. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
S3: Thank you.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
