Mural for Vegas Roots Garden

  

We (UCIR) submitted this sketch to the Vegas Roots Garden and got accepted! I am so excited because I have been wanting to work on a mural for a really long time. I feel that everything that I love and wanted to do in life is aligning and I am very grateful for all of these opportunities to work on projects that incorporate my Muxerismo and Joteria identity :)

I will keep the blog updated with the mural process and any additions to the original sketch. Thank you Joanna Nunez for sketching up Jose Manuel's and our ideas!!

Muxerista and Joteria Activism!!

*Mini documentary that Nolo and I did!

Remembering first Queer experience in the flesh:

So, I just got back from my first NAACS conference (March 14th-March 18th 2012, Chicago) and it was both an amazing and heavy weekend with many outcomes. My group presented on our Joteria activism and how we have successfully organized in Las Vegas around intersectional struggles. Joanna Nunez and I have been designated as the LBMT co-chairs, Nolo and I have finally finished our mini documentary and I was able to travel around Chicago with all of my amazing loves!!

We did an awesome job on our workshop!! About 5 people came but our workshop was at 8am and 11 other workshops were also going on at that time. So if you think of the people who slept in and then the people who had to pick from 11 other workshops, 5 is a huge number! It was an amazing feeling to share all the work we have done. Especially to a group that will appreciate it and see your work as valuable.

As for the "heavyness" I wanted to discuss, it came from the microagressions that were constanly being thrown at us throughout the time we stayed in the hotel. Even when we did succeed in creating a space that felt "safe" inside of the presentations, our group was expereicing these microagressions on the way to our room, during breaks and even during the banquet. They were constant rememinders that we did not belong at that hotel and that we could not fit in. I just remembering feeling the negativity from this environment and I am happy to have gone with the group that I did because I know that we were able to understand the complexity of the situation and find ways throughout the event to send love to eachother and to claim a space.  

*Hopefully we will be able to post the mini documentary on here soon!

Listening to Latinoamerica and remembering

I put this song on repeat all the time... I just get lost in the imagery, sometimes I can remember the sounds on the streets, and I can feel the energy from the people. And I can still remember the taste of my favorite soup. I made sure to ...memorize la sopa de mani, incase it was on a menu or I heard the people saying they were serving it. It is like I time travel and I start to feel the burn in my legs from the never ending curves from the road. And I smile thinking of the swaying bus that I spent endless hours on. Even though I felt nauseous I would still stare out the window. I spent half the time thinking, “I can’t believe I am really here” and the other half knowing exactly where I was. It was the most beautiful experience and I can’t help but share this video yet again! :)