Friday, April 14, 2006

Este y Eso

Manuel Ramos


CISNEROS NAMED FIRST GLORIA E. ANZALDÚA DISTINGUISHED LECTURER
The University of California, Santa Cruz, reports: "Acclaimed Chicana author Sandra Cisneros, whose book The House on Mango Street is required reading in classrooms across the country, will give a public reading at 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 30, at the Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville.

Cisneros will be accepting the first annual Gloria E. Anzaldúa Distinguished Lecture Award, presented by the Chicana/o Latina/o Research Center (CLRC) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Tickets are available through the UCSC Ticket Office at (831) 459-2159 http://events.ucsc.edu/tickets. General admission ranges from $20-$45 per ticket; admission for students and seniors ranges from $15-$35. In addition, premium seats will be available for $100 per ticket. The event is a fundraiser that benefits UCSC's Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program, which pairs students with faculty mentors who provide input, guidance, and encouragement as they open the 'pipeline' to higher education for young Latinos.
...
The Gloria E. Anzaldúa Distinguished Lecture Award honors the work of one of the first openly lesbian Chicana writers. A Santa Cruz resident, Anzaldúa published essays, poetry, short stories, interviews, anthologies and children's books and was considered a bold feminist thinker and social activist before her death in 2004. She wrote the landmark Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, which was named one of the 100 Best Books of the Century by Hungry Mind Review and Utne Reader. Anzaldúa was awarded a posthumous Ph.D. in literature from UCSC."

OPPORTUNITIES
Dark Discoveries seeks stories to 5000 words in the dark mystery or horror vein. Original ideas, new twists on old conventions are welcome. The stories should "examine the darker side of the human condition." Twenty-five dollars per new story plus two copies, or $15 for reprints that have not been seen widely plus two copies. Submit by regular mail or electronically. More info on the website.

Getting Even: Women's Tales of Revenge, an anthology edited by Mitzi Szereto, will be published by Serpent's Tail, London. Deadline is August 1. Submit stories in hard copy, include author bio and email address. Contact info on the publisher's website.

AN UNPUBLISHED POEM
Another oldie from my ragged poetry folder - not sure of the year.

ZAPATA POSTER by Manuel Ramos

Zapata watched.
Through years of motion and energy
fused together in a hazy clump of time
remembered as the movement by shaggy comrades.

Zapata watched.
Sad-eyed peón prophet
frozen by Casasola at the instant of fame
unspoken threats from the sword at his side
dressed to the nines in his charro outfit
proudly clutched the carbine
his answer to those who failed to respond
his answer, finally, to all questions.

Zapata watched.
Rips and tack holes, fading brown tone
taped, repaired
from dormitory to duplex to apartment
then hidden in the attic of the new house
among the buttons, signs
unfinished petitions
not yet discarded
hard to do looking
Zapata in the eye.

Zapata watched.
The evening news, a night like any other
stories of corporate plunder
another struggle crushed
children gunned down by an automatic rifle
in their schoolyard
or crack bought with the dreams of their mothers.

Zapata watched.
Under a swinging bulb, shadows flew across
pink insulation packed tightly along the floor
disturbed by middle-class sneakers
the poster rolled across the junk
cobwebs and dust witnesses
tears fell in the attic of the new house.

____________________________
Gracias to Ted Schmidt, Library Director of the Loveland Public Library, for the nice review of Brown-on-Brown.

Later.

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