World War Two: A Short History

I hope you enjoy this book review which appeared in yesterday's San Antonio Express-News.

World War Two: A Short History

Book Review: Hell Above Earth

I hope you enjoy my book review which appeared in yesterday's San Antonio Express-News:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/books/article/Review-Hell-Above-Earth-3635025.php

OLLU Book Fair

Colegas:


I wanted to extend a special invitation to you to join us on Saturday, March 24 at OLLU for our first Book Fair, in conjunction with our 9th annual Center for Mexican American Studies and Research conference. As you know, we are hosting a Latina Leadership panel (at Thiry Auditorium) on that same date, co-sponsored by MALCS-SA.

The Book Fair will be held from 8:30 to 10:30 Saturday morning at the UWAC Building, across from Thiry Auditorium. We are seeking to draw local residents, particularly area youth and young adults. The Fair is co-hosted by the SAPL and REFORMA (La Estrella de Tejas, San Antonio Chapter) and both organizations will be giving away books to attendees.

We invite you to bring copies of your books for signing and reading excerpts. We will have an open reading session, though we have a few students and alumni who have offered to read their published and/or unpublished works. The Latina Leadership panel will follow this event (10:30 - 11:45). If you think of others who might be interested, please share this invitation with them as well. Thank you for considering this invitation (and late notice ).

Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.

Teresita

Teresita E. Aguilar, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Mexican American Studies and Research
Our Lady of the Lake University
Moye 110
411 SW 24th St.
San Antonio, TX. 78207
(210)-431-4148

Tejano Conjunto Festival

GUADALUPE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

PRESENTS THE 31ST ANNUAL
TEJANO CONJUNTO FESTIVAL EN SAN ANTONIO 2012

Tentative Schedule

Tuesday, May 15/Guadalupe Theatre/10am-12pm/Free for Seniors
Seniors Conjunto Dance
Los Conjunto Kingz de Flavio Longoria
with Rachel Longoria


Tuesday, May 15/Guadalupe Theatre/7pm/Free Admission
The Making of Juanito’s Lab

Producers/Directors Guillermina Zabala and Enrique Lopetegui
discuss the making of Juanito’s Lab, a new documentary film
about Juanito Castillo, the 22-year-old blind button accordionist
and musical wiz-kid konjunto jazz loko karnal de San Anto.
Some footage from the still-in-the-making documentary will be shown.


Wednesday, May 16/Guadalupe Theatre/7:30-11pm/$10 pre-sale $15 at the door
New Directions in Conjunto Music
7:30 Nick Gaitán and The Umbrella Man (Houston)
8:30 Piñata Protest (San Antonio)
9:30 La Santa Cecilia (Los Ángeles)


Thursday, May 17/Guadalupe Theatre/6:30-9pm/$65 & $100**
Special 31st Annual Gala Celebration Dinner & Baile
Honoring the Inductees into the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame
Best of the 30th Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival 2011 CD Release Party
8:15 Bernardo y sus Compadres
9:00 Rick De la Rosa y Los D Boyz


Friday, May 18/Rosedale Park/6pm-12am/$15 per person*
5:30 Opening Ceremonies/Poster Contest Exhibit & Awards
Puro Conjunto Pesado: Dos de Houston, Corpitos y el Valle

6:00 Impozzible (Houston)

7:00 Los Tremendos Cinco (Corpus Christi)

8:00 Los Monarcas de Pete y Mario Díaz (Houston)

9:00 Los Fantasmas del Valle (Mercedes)

10:00 Boni Mauricio y Los Máximos (Corpus Christi)

11:00 Los Dos Gilbertos (Edinburg)



Saturday, May 19/Rosedale Park/1pm-12am/$18 per person*
Puro Conjunto Pesado: Hecho en Tejas
1:00 Student Showcase: Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center * Conjunto Heritage Taller

Conjunto Palo Alto/Palo Alto College * Estrellas de Acordeón/Houston Accordion Performers Palmview High School/La Joya Independent School District

3:00 La Familia Mauricio (Corpus Christi)

3:30 Crystal n The Crew (Pasadena)

4:10 Los Conjunto Kidz (Victoria)

5:00 Susan Torres y Conjunto Clemencia (Austin)

6:00 Conjunto Prestigio (Dallas)

7:00 Edgar Vásquez y sus Muchachos (Laredo)

8:00 Rubén De la Cruz y su Conjunto (Edcouch)

9:00 Joel Guzmán Sarah Fox y Conjuntazzo (Austin)

10:00 Rio Jordán featuring Juanito Castillo (San Antonio)

11:00 Albert Zamora (Corpus Christi)


Sunday, May 20/Rosedale Park/1-11pm/$18 per person*
Puro Conjunto Pesado: Así se baila en San Anto

1:00 Los Padrinos

1:40 Los Hermanos De León

2:40 Eddie “Lalo” Torres y Anita Paiz y su Conjunto

special presentation by Salvador García y Los Pavos Reales

3:40 Lobo IV

4:40 Eva Ybarra y su Conjunto

5:40 Max Baca y Los Texmaniacs

special presentation by Dwayne Verheyden

6:40 Santiago Jiménez Jr. y su Conjunto

7:40 Bene Medina y el Conjunto Águila

special presentation by Nick Villarreal

8:40 Mingo Saldívar y sus Tremendos Cuatro Espadas

9:40 Flaco Jiménez y su Conjunto

10:30 Accordion Conjunto Jam


WORKSHOPS

Saturday, May 19/Guadalupe Theatre/9-10:30am/$40
Accordion Tuning, Maintenance & Repair Workshop
Tim Schofield, Hohner Accordion Repair and Parts Supervisor,
will teach you how to tune the reeds of your accordion and
maintain it in tip-top playing shape. Accordion tuning kits
will be available for purchase. For registration, call 210.271.3151.

Saturday, May 19/Guadalupe Theatre/10:30am-12:30pm/$40
Button Accordion & Bajo Sexto Workshops

Master Button Accordion and Bajo Sexto maestros Joel Guzmán
and Max Baca will conduct this concurrent two-hour workshop.
Basic chords and scales will be explored, along with the playing and
accompaniment of different conjunto rhythms. The two workshops will
come together at the end for an impromptu performance and conjunto jam.
For registration, call 210.271.3151.

* 3-Day Rosedale All-Events Pass
$35 GCAC Members
$40 Non-Members

** $65 Conjunto Music Hall of Fame Dinner & Baile,
plus, a Best of the Tejano Conjunto Festival CD and TCF 2012 Magazine
$100 Conjunto Music Hall of Fame Dinner & Baile,
plus, a 3-Day Rosedale All-Events Pass,
a Best of the Tejano Conjunto Festival CD and a TCF 2012 Magazine

For reservations call 210.271.3151. Limited Seating

For info, 210.271.3151
http://www.guadalupeculturalarts.org/

Book Review--1812:The Navy's War

Here is a link to a book review I wrote that appeaeds in yesterday's San Antonio Express-News:

1812: The Navy's War

Dr. Bernstein Presentation

Dr. Bernstein will discuss the emergence of interracial civil rights activism in mid-twentieth century Los

Angeles. Her work places multiracial communities of the U.S. West at the center of U.S. civil rights history. She will focus on how concerns about 1930s-era Nazi activities in Los Angeles, an increasingly multiracial

wartime community, and fears of Cold War red baiting helped facilitate Jewish Americans’ involvement in

interracial social justice efforts, and how that involvement mattered to the rest of Los Angeles and to the nation.

UTSA
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

MH 2.01.36

Dr. Shana Bernstein is an Associate Professor of History at Southwestern University. Her areas of expertise include 20th century civil rights, comparative race and ethnicity, the U.S. West, the U.S. in the World.

Read more »

Librotraficante Caravan Smuggling Banned Books Back to Arizona Sparks National Movement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Tony Diaz
AztecMuse@aol.com
(713) 867-8943


LIBROTRAFICANTE CARAVAN SMUGGLING BANNED BOOKS BACK TO ARIZONA
SPARKS NATIONAL MOVEMENT

HOUSTON (February 13, 2012) - The Librotraficante Caravan will travel from Houston, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., carrying a payload of contraband books, creating networks of Underground Libraries and leaving community resources in its wake. One of many responses to Arizona’s unconstitutional laws prohibiting Mexican-American Studies, the Librotraficante Caravan has captured the imagination and hearts of activists, writers, educators, and students from all walks of life who want to preserve freedom of speech.

The Librotraficante Caravan launches in Houston at 10 a.m. on Monday, March 12, from Casa Ramirez Folk Art Gallery (241 West 19th Street, Houston, Texas 77008.) It will stop in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas; Mesilla and Albuquerque, N.M., and culminate in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, March 16. On St. Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17, we’ll host a huge literary celebration of El Batallion San Patricio at 6 p.m., celebrating Irish and Mexican collaboration of the past. The caravan celebrates Quantum Demographics, or multifaceted cultural unity, throughout its tour also highlighting African-American and Native American literary contributions along the route. The entire schedule is available online at www.Librotraficante.com.

“Every great movement is sparked by outrage at a deep cultural offense,” said Tony Diaz, founder of Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, which has led the charge, “When we heard that Tucson Unified School District administrators not only prohibited Mexican-American Studies, but then walked into classrooms, and in front of young Latino students, during class time, removed and boxed up books by our most beloved authors - that was too much. This offended us down to our soul. We had to respond.”

Diaz added, “With their record of anti-immigrant legislation, politicians in Arizona have become experts in making humans illegal. We did not do enough to stop that, thus that anti-immigrant legislation spread to other states such as Alabama and Georgia. Now, these same legislators want to make thoughts illegal. If we allow this to happen, these laws, too, will spread. Other branches of ethnic studies will be prohibited, and other states will follow suit.”

With its radio program and blockbuster literary showcases, Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say has 13 years of experience promoting Latino literature and literacy with authors and thinkers from across the country. This once informal alliance of artists, activists, educators, and professionals has galvanized to create cornerstone structures for a network that will remain in place for future causes as well.

The full spectrum of this network links the talents of such people as Genius Mac Arthur Grant recipient Sandra Cisneros, whose beloved novel HOUSE ON MANGO STREET is prohibited in Tucson High School classrooms; Southwest Organizing Project, contributing extensive experience organizing national caravans and publisher of banned book 500 YEARS OF CHICANO HISTORY IN PICTURES; to Unidos, the student group in Tucson that is organizing teach-ins, while still attending classes and pursuing their education.

Banned writers have embraced the caravan and those that will participate along the route include Sandra Cisneros, who kicked off our fundraising efforts by making a generous donation; Guggenheim Fellow Dagoberto Gilb, whose work recently appeared in the New Yorker and Harpers simultaneously; and best selling author Luis Alberto Urrea, with multiple titles found on the banned book list was the first to enthusiastically support the project through Twitter. Other literary giants participating in the Librotraficante Caravan include Rudolfo Anaya, whose seminal novel BLESS ME ULTIMA is banned; Denise Chavez, FACE OF AN ANGEL, who is hosting the caravan in Mesilla, N.M., and who organizes the Annual Border Book Festival; Lalo Alcaraz, creator of the syndicated comic LA CUCARACHA and who coined the phrase “Self Deport”; and Rene Alegria, founder of Boxing Badger Media and www.mamiverse.com, who attended one of the impacted high schools in Tucson. Institutions that have already confirmed to host the caravan include the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas, and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, N.M.

The caravan is intended to:

1. Raise awareness of the prohibition of the Mexican-American Studies Program and the removal of books from classrooms.

2. Promote banned authors and their contributions to American Literature.

3. Celebrate diversity. Children of the American Dream must unite to preserve the civil rights of all Americans.

4. Create a network of resources for art, literature and activism.

Specific outcomes:

1. Underground Libraries: Librotraficantes will donate copies of the banned books a local nonprofit in Houston, San Antonio, Albuquerque and Tucson. These sites will not only be given copies of the banned titles, but from now on, all multicultural authors are encouraged to mail copies of their books to these sites when they are published, so that our community will always have access to our literature.

2. Teach-ins and a Supplanted Book List: Workshops that include free curriculum guides with literary excerpts and lesson plans that can be used in class and immediately applied to other works.

3. Network of Librotraficantes across the country: This is a case of new media saving the classic media of books. Had Arizona done this ten years ago, we most likely would not have heard about it until it had impacted a second generation of youth. However, because of new technologies and the network of writers and activists who are communicating on multimedia platforms, we were not only able to hear about Arizona’s actions, but to also utilize new media tools to organize some classic activist strategies to respond - from now on!

WEBSITES: www.Librotraficante.com and http://www.nuestrapalabra.org/

ORGANIZERS: Tony Diaz, Liana Lopez, Bryan Parras, Lupe Mendez & Laura Acosta

To become a part of history in the making, visit http://www.librotraficante.com/  and click on Donate.

Book Review: The Operators

Here's a link to my book review which appears in today's San Antonio Express-News: The Operators

Book Review: Westmoreland

Here is a link to my latest book review: Westmoreland

Book Review: Blowout!

I hope you enjoy my book review on "Blowout!" which appears in today's San Antonio Express-News.

Anaya Book Review

Thank you to those of you who send me kind comments regarding my book review of "Randy Lopez Goes Home" by Rudolfo Anaya, which appears in today's San Antonio Express-News.

In case you missed it, here's the REVIEW

Fred Burton Appearance

I reviewed his last book for the San Antonio Express-News and really enjoyed it. I hope to be able to read this one soon.

Author appearance 4 p.m. July 9. Barnes & Noble La Cantera. Former counterterrorism agent Fred Burton discusses and signs his new book “Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice.”

Book Review: Neptune's Inferno

Here's a book review of "Neptune's Inferno" that appeared in the San Antonio Express-News yesterday.

Neptune's Inferno Review

Monday's SLHW Meeting

Fellow Writers,

This is just a friendly reminder that there will be a meeting of the Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio at Barnes and Noble, San Pedro Crossing, on Monday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

The meeting with feature a founding member of the Society, Mary Lou Barrera, who will be speaking to us about Public Speaking for Today's Writers. She will walk you from the all important call from your agent to the accolades you will receive once your speech is done.

It is not a simple thing to give a speech as everyone knows; how you prepare is one of the most important factors. Throwing in a barrage of words is not one of them. There are six steps to a successful conclusion. Mary Lou will give you an overview of each step in a fun, demonstrative class-like setting.

Mary Lou was trained in public speaking by instructors from the military. She was attached as a volunteer during the Desert Storm conflict to the 90Th Army Reserve Command. She was instrumental in helping to train a core of women volunteers, and later helped organize husband and wife teams to travel through a five-state area to help form Family Support Groups. She would instruct the group leaders to become advocates for the families left behind while their spouses were at war.

During her tenure at Kelly AFB, while assigned to the Distribution area, she became the Hispanic tour lecturer for visiting dignitaries and military personnel from various South American, Central American and European countries. As time went by, she acquired a modicum of proficiency and became a bilingual tour speaker for several of the buildings in the Distribution area.

Mary Lou advises: When you attend a lecture, you are not expected to become a polished professional speaker. You are not expected to gain perfection through this lecture. Expertise is gained through years of study and application of your knowledge to your area of study.

Keep Writing,
Vince

Conjunto Festival Call for Submissions

From Juan Tejeda:

Camaradas: the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center's landmark 30th Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival en San Antonio 2011 will be held from May 10-15 at the Guadalupe Theatre and Rosedale Park. We are currently looking for literature on conjunto music for possible publication in this year's Tejano Conjunto Festival magazine. If you know of any writers who may have written about conjunto music, poems, short stories, scholarly articles, interviews with conjunto artists, your favorite conjunto recuerdos, etc., please have them send it to me as an attachment to juantejeda@sbcglobal.net Deadline for submission is March 2.

Book Review: A Good Long Way

I hope you enjoy my review of the book, A Good Long Way, that appears in today's San Antonio Express-News.

Book Review: Quixote's Soldiers

Here's a book review I wrote on "Quixote's Soldiers" for NewsTaco.com. I hope you enjoy it.

REVIEW

The Three Kings: A Christmas Dating Story

Spent the weekend reading "The Three Kings: A Christmas Dating Story" by New York Times bestselling author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. It was a book I didn't want to put down! Alisa has captured lightning in a bottle again (The Dirty Girls Social Club) by writing a captivating and delightful story that goes well with the upcoming holiday season.

Book Review: A Salute to our Heroes

Here is my book review of "A Salute to our Heroes: The U.S. Marines" that appears in today's San Antonio Express-News: REVIEW

Book Review: The Moses Expedition

Here's my latest book review which appears in today's San Antonio Express-News. Thank you for all the kind notes.

The Moses Expedition