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! :)

Love letter to my friends :)

Happy Birthday my loves :)

My friends birthdays got me thinking about a lot. This is part of the last months that I will be living in Vegas. And I hope that I leave Vegas with many loved ones in my heart. I hope that they all know how speacial they are to me and how they have helped me become the person that I love.
Anita has given me words and theories to articulate my pain, fears and loves. She has supported and motivated me to finish my undergraduate degree even when it felt impossible. She has given me the words from Gloria, Cherrie, and Yosso. So that I don't feel so alone.
 Nolito has shown me how to be me even if my jokes don't make sense to everyone. He has given me the courage to speak when I thought my words might not be valued. I owe my Vegas crew my heart because they have taught me to heal, love and to forgive. They are the reasons why I fell in love with activism.
Thank you Anita, Nolo, Joanna, Claudia, Adan, Jasmine, Jose Manuel, Kenia, Maria G, Maria C, Karina, Hugo, Destiny, Jairo, Fatima, Gracie, Justin, Jorina, Jenni, Danielle, and to the many more people who have helped me in developing my self.

Pocas Pero Locas is an even that UCIR does to raise funds and consciousness :) This is our second annual Pocas Pero Locas event! 

Mal Xochil and Rico (me) performed Bird Flu at the Pocas Pero Locas event! It was all Mal Xochil, she had the dance moves and beautiful outfits! I was very thankful to have been able to perform with her :) 

"Our education is under attack what do we do... FIGHT BACK!"

April 26th, 2011- Students take over Tuscon school board.

Saving Women Studies at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)



Hung 500 letters of support in the FDH!

On Thursday April 28th 2011, a group of about thirty students and supports including myself met at the CBC to organize a student action to stop the elimination and merge of the Women's Studies Department. The proposed elimination from the Dean of liberal arts was suggested because of the horrible cuts that UNLV is experiencing. Students, Faculty and community members have stepped up and have made their voices loud and clear for the dean to hear that even though women studies does in fact have the lowest amount of majors, it is only a reflection of the resources that the university has provided for the women studies department. Women’s studies excel in retaining students and creating safe spaces for marginalized students. It is one of the only programs at the university that takes diversity and consciousness raising as a number one priority. Students from Spectrum, ROAR, MEChA, and other organizations that focus on raising consciousness have worked with women studies and have had support where the overall university was lacking. It is obvious though that the dean recognized eliminating women studies was not an option. Now many students including myself see merging the women studies department as a personal attack. Mostly because there won’t be any money saved and if saving money was the true reason for eliminating women studies then retaining the autonomy of the department should be the valid reaction to the 2,000 letters of support.

This video is from last years budget cuts at the University of Nevada Las Vegas!

Gardening in Vegas

Tonopah Community Garden

This last weekend a group of us went to check out the Tonopah Community Garden (TCG) and I have to say it was an amazing experience. Sometimes living in the city, I feel out of touch with reality. I feel like I'm drowning in consumerism and I just need something to hold on to. This project is real and definitely needs more help. The mujer that is responsible for making the garden has big plans.
The TCG can really be a project that creates a strong community in Vegas. I'm going to try and make it every Saturday from 9am to 1pm. Try and come! They are currently working on the Permaculture section. Its time to learn and relearn how to garden and how to give back to the land that we have been taking from over and over again. Its time to relearn how to thank the land and to give back as much as we take.

Dreaming of an alternative

I'm up pretty late/early however you want to look at it. I am a pretty active person when it comes to organizing within the community but after hearing Andrea Smith speak at the Living Without Borders encuentro I've been challenging myself on a whole other level. How can I build coalitions in my community, how can I turn my activism into something that I can actually get something out of. I find myself obsessing to finish the next project (marcha, conference, org) that will hopefully bring me closer to my vision of social justice only to find myself in an activist fatigue. I feel no closer but further away from what I want and it can get depressing. So how can i use what "Andy" said and live the revolution?
There was another presenter as well. She goes by the name of Flor and she challenged me on multiple levels. This mujer spoke to me about letting go of the privileges I have in the western world. She asked us (those who are documented living in the US) to visualize ourselves letting go. Would we do that in order to create this "borderless world" or this "el mundo zurdo". I feel like she was asking all the question we have been avoiding to answer, consciously or unconsciously.
I have to change the way I organize.

Action against SB1070

STOP SB1070

The picture to the right is a picture of the demonstration MEChA de UNLV did on the Las Vegas Strip on July 29, 2010. This went on along with many other actions around the nation that wanted to voice their opinion about the hateful migration laws in Arizona. The shirts spell out "STOP SB1070" and on the back of the shirts it reads "END RACISM". My group walked through the strip and stopped every five minutes to explain what SB1070 is and how it is affecting marginalized communities and further privatizing the land. These are the kind of actions that get attention in Vegas. Our group has done similar actions that get some press but are usually forgotten and doesn't reach public eyes. We made the casinos, the tourist, the workers see our message. Laws like SB1070 is what is full of hate. These are the kinds of laws that uphold and create systems of oppression.

Living Without Borders Conference

The United Coalition for Im/migrant Rights will be hosting the 2^nd annual Living Without Borders encuentro in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was developed to inspire participants to dismantle oppressive divisions within society, eradicate discrimination, and mobilize the community through transformative education.
If have questions or want to register they have a website- www.livingwithoutborders.org

Here is a picture of the organizers of the last conference in 2008: