Tag: education

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Book Reviews Current Events Prisons in the U.S. We Became Mexican American, a book

Join Our “Mixer” for Incarcerated Latinos on FaceBook June 28, 2020

Hello everyone,

I am inviting you to join me and my fellow LDO Volunteers who support Latino prisoners in the Monroe Correctional Center (MCC) in Monroe WA. We are doing a “Mixer” on Facebook, June 28th at 3 p.m., via Zoom. Please join us.

The Mixer will offer some informational and cultural activities. I will give a brief overview of our organization (LDO) at the start and two or three formerly incarcerated Latino community members will speak of their experiences. We’re hoping for some music too. So sorry we can’t offer you something to eat and drink!

If you are interested in the general topic of U.S. prisons and/or Latinx issues (culture, history, the Latino experience in the U.S., etc.) you may find our LDO Mixer hour interesting if not beneficial (if you’re interested in the subject of prisons, see my book review of American Prison, in this same blog). The purpose of our Facebook event is to help our communities understand prison realities, attract local volunteers to help with our prison work at the MCC, compile a list of followers and invite donor contributions.

The Monroe Correctional Complex, Monroe WA

LDO refers to the Latino Development Organization of Washington Serving Latinos in the Monroe Correctional Complex. This is the name of our nonprofit organization (501c3), and I am the president. LDO includes a Board of Directors, a small corps of community volunteers, and detainee leaders representing about 40 inmates in the MCC who affiliate with LDO. We appreciate both our community volunteers and the guys inside because without their help LDO would not exist. The photo at the top of this article, taken in 2019, shows some of our LDO detainees and some of our volunteers standing in front of artwork created by MCC prisoners.

The word “development” in the title of our organization was chosen by the LDO affiliated detainees a couple of years ago in one of our meetings. They chose it because they insisted and continue to insist on developing and improving themselves to achieve the fullest rehabilitation possible.

Before the pandemic struck, our LDO organization was building, at their request, a curriculum of educational and self-improvement activities, including guest presentations, short-term classes on psychology, history, art and culture (I gave some) and so on. They had already organized themselves into mentoring groups in art, Spanish, math, etc., as testimony of their own inclination toward self-improvement. Does that impress you? Our LDO guys impress me quite a lot. In any case, we’re preparing to resume our work as soon as possible.

Hope to see you on June 28th at 3 p.m.!

Visit and like us at our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/latinodevelopmentorganization/

And our web page is here: https://www.latinodevelopmentorganization.org/

 

Categories
Book Reviews Humanities Washington Talks Uncategorized

EL CAMINO, A BOOK REVIEW (Life in a Spanish village in the 1940s)

[See Spanish below]

El Camino (Barcelona, Austral/Destino, 2009).  Delibes received several awards in his native land and, based on this novel, considered his best work, these honors, I think, are totally fitting. I discovered him to be an excellent writer and an authority of his fellow Spaniards (he died in 2010).

This 285-page book, edited by Marisa Sotelo, is divided into three parts. The first offers an introduction written by Sotelo concerning the author’s work, she an expert in Spanish literature. The novel itself occupies the second section, and the third takes the form of a curious “Reading Guide” alluding to Delibes’ work, conceived and written by Fernando de Miguel.

El Camino is about the life of three boys living in a northern Spanish village in the 1940s (I discovered a passage that refers to the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s). It unfolded so serenely that I began to judge it as a string of trivial though colorful portraits. Soon, I noticed, however, the way in which the lives of the young characters mirrored more profound reflections about small town life. I found that Delibes handled his written work with impressive mastery revealing both detailed knowledge and amusing portraits of the villagers, like the blacksmith, the priest, the cheesemaker, the godless man, the train station manager, and others.

Delibes did this by following the lives of the three little friends, Daniel, the Owl, Roque the Stooge, and Germán, the Scab, looking especially at their mischief and tomfoolery. This device allows the author to unveil the relations between the adults of the town. For this reason I place  El Camino inside the literary genre that owns the Hardy Boys in the world of English literature, but showing greater literary complexity. His style is simple but solid. It was a delicious read.

Delibes ha sido galardonado con varios premios españoles y, basado en esta novela considerada como su mejor trabajo, pienso que dichos reconocimientos están en lo correcto. Leyendo su libro descubrí que Delibes fue un excelente escritor y conocedor de su país (murió en 2010).

Este libro, de 285 páginas, editado por Marisa Sotelo, contiene tres partes. La primera ofrece una introducción que Sotelo escribe concerniente a la obra del autor. La novela ocupa la segunda sección, y la tercera toma la forma de un curioso “Guía de Lectura” alusivo al trabajo de Delibes, concebido y escrito por Fernando de Miguel.

El Camino trata de la vida de tres chicos, naturales de a una aldea española en los años cuarenta del siglo veinte (descubrí un fragmento que hace alusión a la guerra civil). Esta se desenvuelve tan plácidamente que me pareció, al principio, como un hilo de retratos pueblerinos triviales. Pero pronto me di cuenta de la forma en que dichas efemérides encerraban reflexiones profundas. Es más, hallé que Delibes manejó su trabajo escrito con una maestría impresionante revelando un detallado conocimiento de la vida de los vecinos, tales como el herrero, el señor cura, el quesero, el sin dios, las “guindillas” y las “lepóridas,” y otros.

Pero mas que nada, Delibe protagoniza a los tres amiguitos, Daniel, el Mochuelo, Roque el Moñigo, Germán el Tiñoso, y sigue sus picardías y pillerías, las que corren el velo a las relaciones entre los adultos del pueblo. El Camino pertenece al género de cuentos protagonizados en el mundo de literatura inglés por los Hardy Boys, pero ostentando mayor profundidad literaria. Su estilo es sencillo pero firme. Fue una grata lectura.  [October 2019]

 

Categories
We Became Mexican American, a book

THERE’S A GOOD REASON WHY NOBODY STUDIES HISTORY…

…IT JUST TEACHES YOU TOO MUCH!

This truism is attributed to Noam Chomsky, one of the most celebrated and controversial American intellectuals ever (the quote appears on his FaceBook page, as you can see!). He has been a rabble-rousing thinker and speaker for many years. People with a lot of power (including billionaires, of course) stay away from him, if they know anything about him.

He speaks for the rest of us who live by what we think  and teach–the kind of person dictators hate; I think it’s fair to say that Donald Trump abhors thinkers of any kind.

If this were Germany in the 1940s, Russia in the 1950s, Cuba in the 1960s, or Chile in the 1970s, Chomsky (an intellectual Jew, of course!) would have been thrown out of the U.S. (he’s too famous for anything worse). But guys like me would be on the list to disappear. I say this because this has happened before in the countries cited and many others.

So, beware! Don’t learn too much!

P.S. I thank Dr. Jesus Perez of Cascadia College for directing me to this quote by Chomsky.

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Book Reviews Uncategorized

AMERICAN LIBERATOR: SIMON BOLIVAR, A BOOK REVIEW

Arana, Marie. Bolivar: American Liberator (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2013). Arana took on a major job in writing this one-volume biography of Simón Bolivar, a truly amazing man. He unyoked northern South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador) from Spain in the early 1800s, bringing the kind of independence to these countries that we celebrate in the United States on July 4th. It is a shame that Americans know little about him. By the way, the people of Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, also call themselves “Americans.” They began doing so in the late 1700s, like we did in the United States. (They chafe at our appropriating the word as we do).

Arana tells us that Bolivar was indefatigable in convincing a rabble of peasants and slaves to fight for their “freedom” and “liberty.” He persuaded them that this merited their being uprooted, leaving their families and, in many cases, dying or being killed. This is the biggest lesson to be gained from Bolivar’s life and from this biography: his unrelenting pursuit of independence and republicanism in the face of astonishing odds. Along these lines, too, Arana skillfully describes the astounding trek that he and his bedraggled warriors underwent in crossing the Andes mountains from east to west in order to surprise Spanish troops in Bogotá, and later Lima, and thus guarantee their expulsion from the continent, better than Hannibal and Alexander the Great. George Washington’s exploits, heroic as they might have been, don’t compare given the distances and geographic challenges.

Bolivar’s overwhelming disillusionment over the inability of his compatriots to adopt democratic republicanism is handled quite well by the author. She knowingly deals with the ironic triumph of caudillismo (strong man politics) and cites Bolivar’s own ironic recognition that he was the best example of caudillo rule. His famous phrase, “I plowed the sea,” refers to his failure to establish democratic republics; it fits in Arana’s narrative perfectly along with his famous “Letter from Panama” in which he sees into Latin America’s political future.

The details of Bolivar’s struggles are based on the voluminous letters and speeches he left behind, plus the ample history books written about his life and times. He is, of course, the George Washington of the countries mentioned. It is an easy to read book, for history buffs and scholars as well.

Categories
Humanities Washington Talks United States

MR. TRUMP IS TOXIC TO AMERICA AS WE KNOW IT

I’ve been saying in the past that Mr. Trump is UNFIT as our president. With the headlines of the past few weeks, his UNFITNESS has become more visible than ever, and more dangerous.

Today’s New York Times (see below) includes an opinion piece by a former COMMANDER OF THE UNITED STATES SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND, William H. McRaven, who says what I’ve been saying, but in an eloquent but frightening way. Read the key parts of his column below.

Think about what you read! It’s pretty damned important for us Americans!

“…As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, “I don’t like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!”

“Those words echoed with me throughout the week. It is easy to destroy an organization if you have no appreciation for what makes that organization great. We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. We are the most powerful nation in the world because our ideals of universal freedom and equality have been backed up by our belief that we were champions of justice, the protectors of the less fortunate.

“But, if we don’t care about our values, if we don’t care about duty and honor, if we don’t help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice — what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?

“If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us — where will the world end up?

“President Trump seems to believe that these qualities are unimportant or show weakness. He is wrong. These are the virtues that have sustained this nation for the past 243 years. If we hope to continue to lead the world and inspire a new generation of young men and women to our cause, then we must embrace these values now more than ever.

“And if this president doesn’t understand their importance, if this president doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office — Republican, Democrat or independent — the sooner, the better. The fate of our Republic depends upon it.”

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u.s.-mexico border Uncategorized United States

PERHAPS WE OUGHT TO BRING DOWN THE STATUE OF LIBERTY!

This sorrowful photograph of Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter, Angie Valeria, who drowned recently trying to cross the Rio Grande to enter the United States, published by the New York Times, triggered renewed sympathy for the migrants but criticism by others. 

Dad and daughter drowned
The New York Times, June 26, 2019

The critics viewed the photograph as “thoroughly humiliating [and] (disrespectful)…too…[for] transmit[ting] a message, perhaps convey pain and trauma, [to] make us feel shame and sadness, and thereby ignite change.” (See “’These Are Not Easy Images to Use,’” The New York Times, July 1, 2019, page A2).

Indeed, it ought to ignite change!!! How dare they! Hear ye, ye!

To condemn the photos as “disrespectful” is head-in-the sand nonsense!!! We need to change our country’s immigration policies to prevent the human crises that have been mounting at our southern border. If our reporters didn’t remind us of what is transpiring there, we would never care! Most of us Americans are too far from our own immigration experience, generations away, and we would care little if we weren’t reminded!

So, I congratulate the New York Times editors. I can believe they took a lot of pain and engaged in studied determination to publish this sad photo. And, they did right.

Our immigration policies do indeed require intelligent and humanitarian reform but all we seem to care about right now is to build walls and scare people away from the border by terrorizing them with gestapo tactics. How truly sad this is happening in America! Yes, we need to be reminded of all this! Perhaps these critics, along with our benighted president, should call to bring down the Statue of Liberty! What’s it up for, then???

Statue of Liberty
“Give me your tired and your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be freed…” (Emma Lazarus)
Categories
History of Mexico Humanities Washington Talks We Became Mexican American, a book

Announcing a Centennial Event in our Family

Our family, the Gil Family, immigrated to the United States a hundred years ago! We occupy a place in one of the earliest recorded waves of Mexican immigrants arriving in the United States, those who were pushed out by the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and drawn into California by an economic boom. April 2019 marks a centennial.

Writing by hand, in her late 80’s, my mother (Grandma Lupe) recorded that she and her mother (Great Grandma Carlota) and brother (Uncle Miguel) walked away from the hacienda where they had lived as peasants, near Mascota, Jalisco, on or about April 15, 1919. Mom was 14, Grandma Carlota 39, and our Tio (uncle) 17. They aimed to join our other uncle, Tio Pascual, who had bolted on his own five years earlier, and found himself in Fresno, California; he was 19. After they came together, they moved to San Fernando.

While I’m estimating the actual date they stepped away once and for all, we do know that Mom wrote, with her trembling hand, that on March 19, 1919, they trekked from the Hacienda Santa Rosa to Talpa (a nearby village that venerates a local version of Jesus’s Mary) to say goodbye to Mom’s aunt. After that, they walked away from the hacienda “in April” of that same year. Mom wrote:

“We left before dawn. We passed the village of El Cimarrón while it was still dark and, as we climbed away from it, the glimmer of the morning light began to grow. We all stopped to look back, to take our last look at Santa Rosa as if we wanted to stamp on our memory that  piece of earth that saw our birth, that we’d never forget, and that we grieved to leave behind.” (p. 47)

Take a second look at Mom’s writing above. Not bad for someone who attended only two years of school but kept on writing anyway, in her own way.

 

 

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Book Reviews Humanities Washington Talks Talks and other events We Became Mexican American, a book

Video of Carlos Gil discussing his Humanities Washington talk

In the link below you’ll find a short video clip of me explaining what my Humanities Washington talk (“From Mexican to Mexican-American: A Family Immigrant Story”) offers to the listener. My talks, featured throughout 2019, have already started and, so far, it’s been delightful. See a separate posting for dates and places.

Carlos Gil

 

Categories
Book Reviews Humanities Washington Talks Talks and other events We Became Mexican American, a book

CARLOS B. GIL’S SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS IN 2019

The following talks are sponsored by the Humanities Washington Office:

March 2, 2019           11:00 a.m.      Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner WA

March 23, 2019        1:00 p.m.       Lynden Library, Lynden WA

March 23, 2019        3:30 p.m.       Ferndale Library, Ferndale WA

March 27, 2019         6:00 p.m.       Jefferson County Library, Port Hadlock WA

April 2, 2019             5:00 p.m.       George Public Library, George WA

April 3, 2019             6:00 p.m.       Quincy Public Library, Quincy WA

April 4, 2019             6:00 p.m.       Twisp Public Library, Twisp WA

April 5, 2019             6:00 p.m.       Cashmere Public Library, Cashmere WA

April 15, 2019            10:30 a.m.     University House Wallingford, Seattle WA

April 24, 2019           12 noon          Yakima Valley Museum, Yakima WA

 

 

Categories
Book Reviews Humanities Washington Talks Talks and other events u.s.-mexico border United States We Became Mexican American, a book

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON MEXICAN IMMIGRATION

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON MEXICAN IMMIGRATION TO THE U.S.

 

For the talk, “From Mexican to Mexican-American:

A Family Immigration Story”

By Carlos B.Gil,  Ph.D.

 Humanities Washington Speaker 2019

 

Acuña, Rodolfo.Occupied America (1988). Contentious text.

Becoming American: Personal Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women (2000).

Brown, Theresa Cardinal and Jeff Mason, “Immigration Trends and the Immigration Debate,” Bi Partisan Policy Center, August 2017. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/library/immigration-trends-and-the-immigration-debate/

De la Garza, Rodolfo O. Et al. Latino Voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Perspectives on American Politics (1992).

Foley, Neil. Mexicans in the Making of America (2014).

Galarza, Ernesto. Barrio Boy: The Story of a Boy’s Acculturation (1971).

Gamboa, Erasmo. Bracero Railroad Workers: The Forgotten World War II Story of Mexican Workers in the U.S. West (2016).

Gamboa, Erasmo. Mexican Labor and World War II: Braceros in the Pacific Northwest, 1942-1947 (1990).

Gamio, Manuel. Mexican Immigration to the United States (1939).

García, Mario T. Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology and Identity, 1930–1960 (1989).

Gil, Carlos B. We Became Mexican American: How Our Immigrant Family Survived to Pursue the American Dream (2012, 2014).

Griswold del Castillo and Arnoldo de León. North to Aztlán: A History of Mexican Americans in the United States (1997).

Hart, Elva Treviño Barefoot Heart, Stories of a Migrant Child (1999). Autobiography, south Texas.

Limón, José. José Limón: An Unfinished Memoir (1998?). Late Chicano/Mexican American choreographer.

McWilliams, Carey. North from Mexico: The Spanish Speaking People of the United States (1948 ed.) Old classic.

Ramón, Cristobal and Tim O’Shea. “Immigrants and Public Benefits: What Does the Research Say?” Bi Partisan Policy Center, November 2018. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Immigrants-and-Public-Benefits-What-Does-the-Research-Say.pdf

Ruiz, Vicki L. From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America (1998).

Sanchez, George J. Becoming Mexican American:Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles (1993).

Suárez-Orozco, Marcelo M. And Mariela M. Páez. Latinos: Remaking America (2002).

Young, Biloine W. A Dream for Gilberto: An Immigrant’s Family’s Struggle to Become American (1999). Colombian Americans.