NP Blog
"Papi" by Luis Ochoa
by Tony Diaz on 08/05/14
NP New Voices: This is Luis's first publication.
"Papi" by Luis Ochoa
“5, 4,
3, 2, 1” the shot goes up before I recreate the sound of a buzzer, the shot
falls, and I revel in the cheers only I can hear. Ever since I could remember I
had been into sports, an interest no doubt instilled by my grandpa. His
favorite sport is Soccer and occasionally he would take me out to the front
yard and kick the ball around. Although he had shown me to ride a bicycle
without training wheels when I was six, I was a bit clumsy when it came to
using my feet. I would trip, slip, or fall at every collision my foot had with
the ball, quickly prompting a “con ganas!!!” from my grandpa or as I refer to
him, Papi. He would eventually grow impatient, and give up trying to make me
into a Futbolista. Although he could not ignite the passion he had for soccer,
in me, he catered to the flame I had for another sport, something more hands
on-basketball!
In our last house, Papi had a basketball goal on
the street curb where he and my uncle would play with others from around our
neighborhood. At my young age it was a spectacle, eight to ten guys crowded in
a two way street, hooping.
Papi stands at only 5’4 and twice the age of
most opponents, but through unconventional ways he was able to win, usually
causing frustration to the other team. He would pass the ball through the legs
of his taller counterparts, and would put a spin on it, so that its direction
deceived its intention and the defender. He would frequently be accused of
cheating, but his maneuvers were well within the rules of the game.
By the time we moved to our new neighborhood I was old enough to play alongside him. He stressed ball movement, not settling for jump shots, and tough defense. And he had his famous running hook shot: he would start at the baseline, run a loop from right to left crossing what would be the paint on an official court, then when he was directly in front of the goal he would jump off his right foot pivoting in the air, hooking his arm over his head, shooting with his left hand. This shot-no matter the opponent, no matter the situation was automatic.
So I mirrored his every move until I too could hone that mighty weapon. It was not long until our driveway became the meeting place for all the kids in the neighborhood. Everyone we played would initially look at us, and see an old, short Hispanic man who spoke broken English, and his not much taller but much fatter grandson, and think their victory was assured. Much to their surprise we won most of the time, and the few times we lost, we still gained the respect of our opponents. Word spread of my Papi like legend. My friends would tell other kids at school how good he was and rumors spread of him being a former globetrotter and that he had played professionally in Mexico, both untrue, but I found them amusing, and I was proud others thought as highly of him as I did.
All respected Papi, but one. Occasionally the neighborhood bully Demarcus would make an appearance, and would not be denied the opportunity to play. He was not very skilled but large and brutish, forcing his way into the paint and fouling on every defensive position, blatantly but would argue if any calls were made. On one of Demarcus’s visits Papi and I had just won when he came in forcibly taking the spot of next up, and so Papi and I were to face Demarcus and his younger brother Petey. The game began as usual, me and Papi moving the ball around a lot and getting good shots. Despite being pounded by Demarcus, we held the lead.
In a scramble Papi and I get switched on our assignments and now he his guarding Demarcus. He charges the lane against the smaller defender and happens to elbow Papi on the chin, no harm is done physically, but Papi is angry, and he tells Demarcus to play clean. He shrugs off the warning and continues his ways. The game is close. We’re tied and need to win by two. At this point Papi had seen or felt all the dirty tricks Demarcus had sent our way, and so he decided to give him a taste of his own.
Demarcus posts up Papi and the two bump and push for position. Right at the climax of one of the collisions Papi slides out of the way. Demarcus, met only by air, falls to the ground.
All those watching laugh as Papi gets the loose ball and scores. Demarcus is infuriated. He gets up in Papi’s face and unloads a series of cuss words, before I can even react to try and stop anything from happening Papi lets loose in some fiery language of his own.
Petey and I separate them before anything happens, but the deed is done, and there is now bad blood. I go over to Papi and tell him let’s get this game over with as soon as possible. I was worried Demarcus would foul Papi to the point of injuring him. My grandpa then calmly says to me, Ok just pass me the ball.
I inbound the ball to Papi, he then drives past Petey but is met by Demarcus at the baseline near the goal.
Papi then dribbles away from the goal, across the lane with Demarcus chasing closely behind. He rises off his right foot pivoting in the air, his left arm swinging over his head like a sickle, the ball leaves his hand just over the outstretched reach of Demarcus, and with deadly accuracy hits the backboard and falls into the net. The game was won, and a separate victory was also had, by shaming Demarcus in front of the neighborhood, Papi made sure that he never visited our drive way again.
So now I daydream of our past conquests, dribbling the ball up and down the street, to the stop sign and back, waiting for Papi to come home, so we can carve a new story to later daydream about. Maybe this time I will have the winning moment.
The Future of History: Happy Gus Garcia Day
by Tony Diaz on 08/03/14
Thanks to our partnership with the Houston Public Library, we are honored to celebrate and archive Gus Garcia Day.
As we make history, we are not only saving history, we are teaching it, too.
Hard copies of the essays published on the NPHistory page will be kept at the Houston Librotraficante Under Ground Library, and also at the Houston Public Library.
That material will be available for teachers at the MASTexas website.
This will also be taught in courses throughout Texas.
Of course, this Chicano Renaissance is built on the shoulders of many who came before us.
It is powerful to be able to be able to document the contributions of many of those who came before us.
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On July 19, 2013 Senate Resolution No. 70 was signed declaring July 27, 2013 as Gus Garcia Day in honor of the late Gustavo "Gus" C. Garcia, an attorney who played a vital role in advancing Tejano civil rights. The 1st Annual Gus Garcia Day celebration was held in Houston, Texas where Senator Sylvia Garcia presented the state-wide proclamation. This event was hosted by the Librotraficantes, a Houston-based organization created to protest the Arizona legislature’s banning of a Mexican-American studies curriculum in Tucson. In addition to the presentation of the proclamation, the Librotraficantes held a book drive for the Gus Garcia Underground Library at Raul Yzaguirre School for Success. This proclamation is housed within MSS 0352 Mexican American Small Collections. [Read more.]
Also, read the Librotraficante post on Gus Garcia Day.
"You need to meet Tony Diaz..." by Xavier Garza
by Tony Diaz on 07/22/14
"You need to meet Tony Diaz..." by Xavier Garza
Back on October 6, 1998 Rene Saldana Jr, Luis Valderas and myself had been booked to perform at the Inter-American Bookfair as part of a three man literary group known as the Three Wayward Vatos. Bryce Milligan who at the time was the director of the bookfair told me you really need to meet this guy… Tony Diaz. “He has something really special going on in Houston. It’s called Nuestra Palabra, and you should really look into it.”
Later that evening I met Tony Diaz and some of the original core members of Nuestra Palabra. Tony talked so passionately about Nuestra Palabra and the power of the spoken word that his vision for what the group would become was contagious.
He spoke of a movement that would change lives, build bridges and preserve our stories for generations to come.
I lived in the Rio Grande Valley at the time, but I so wanted to be part of this group in one manner or another. So when Tony Diaz extended me an invitation to present at one of their literary events I jumped at the chance.
After the date was set I gathered two of my friends from the Valley, and we set off on a road trip to Houston for what would be the first of several readings as part of Nuestra Palabra.
It was through them that I would meet such great writers as Radames Ortiz, Alvaro Saar Rios, Caorlina Monsivais to name but a few. I also met community leaders like Richard Reyes and Macario Ramirez.
As Nuestra Palabra grew so did its impact and influence on the Latino community as a whole, and like all things it began to evolve into something even bigger. It became the foundation for The Houston Latino Book and Family Festival, one of the largest and most successful festivals of its kind in Texas.
It is at this very festival that the foundation for the publishing of my very first book… Creepy Creatures and other Cucuys… would take place. But no matter how big it becomes, Nuestra Palabra always stays true to its core principal… to spread the power of the Latino spoken word.
When those words came under attack by right wing extremists in Arizona who sought to ban Latino authors like Sandra Cisneros and Rodolfo Anaya from their classrooms Nuestra Palabra morphed into Librotraficante… a literary force that smuggled the very books that John Huppenthal had sought to ban. Nuestra Palabra would go on to put those books into the hands of eager young readers.
Today Nuestra Palabra continues to grow in influence. It continues to be the driving force that is fighting to bring Ethnic Studies into the school curriculum. Nuestra Palabra will always give a voice to those whom might otherwise not be heard.
If you have yet to personally experience the power of Nuestra Palabra, then what are you waiting for? I leave you with the same message Bryce Milligan gave me back at the 1998 Inter-American Bookfair. “You need to meet Tony Diaz… he has something really special going on in Houston, it’s called Nuestra Palabra. You should really look into it.”
"How to Become a Star Giant" by Icess Fernandez Rojas
by Tony Diaz on 07/17/14
Beyond the lights there was a row of people I'd never met, strangers with friendly smiles and confused faces. We had never laid eyes on each and some probably knew me by name as a friend of a friend. But know me? Not even a little bit.
In all fairness, I didn't even know myself at that point.
That night in 1997, on the stage of Talento Bilingue de Houston, I wore a pink puffy dress from a second hand store that aspired and failed to be a quincerea gown. On my feet were my dirty tennis shoes and in my head were the first lines of my monologue. I was 19 years old at the time. While other 19 year olds were dancing the night away or studying for a college Algebra test, I made my debut at Nuestra Palabra as a Nuestra Discovery. Pink dress or not, that night was my coming out party as a writer.
I came to the organization after my friend, Russell Contreras “advised” me to go to a meeting. I had learned that I was inflicted with wanna-be-a-writer-its and this was his solution for the disease that I knew would become my demise.
So, I brought my writing to my first Nuestra Palabra volunteer meeting, but instead of talking about writing, we talked about stamps. Yes, stamps. And mail outs and getting the Houston Chronicle to notice what we were doing and work. We talked about work because when you become part of Nuestra Palabra it is work, more work than you can imagine. In the meeting room of TBH, with a mural of the surrounding neighborhood, complete with the Maxwell House Factory in the background, we stamped and placed labels on thousands of postcards announcing the next monthly showcase. Back then Alvaro Saar Rios was a star (did he ever stop being one?) and I remembered thinking that this dude was going places and so was Tony Diaz, who from my point of view was a giant.
From that first meeting I was jealous. I wanted to be a star... and a giant. I wanted to be a star giant because that meant you knew stuff. I knew nothing. Alvaro and Tony knew where they were going even if they didn't quite know how to get there yet. I still got lost driving to and from the University of Houston and was in a perpetual state of being lost, though I didn't know how lost I was at the time. I remembered thinking that this place and these people were a bit of alright but I was searching for an answer whose question hadn't fully formed in my mind yet.
Nuestra Palabra was where to start looking.
I didn't mind all the work. Between the mail outs, moving and arranging the chairs in the auditorium, and setting up the book table in the lobby, all the work was something worth doing. Why? The names on the mail outs looked like mine. The people moving the chairs loved a good story. The books, the beautiful books, they were about something I never read before, about lives I'd lived or was about to live or knew someone who had lived them. While at that point of my life, I knew that there were Latino writers, to me they were more like a myth. It wasn't until I held those books in my hands that I knew that this was real and that I was missing the knowing of something great and wonderful and powerful.
And that's when my writerly education truly began. I learned from the great maestros, the performers and writers that graced the Nuestra Palabra stage. Who gets to say that? How many writers get to say they cut their teeth with an organization that brought Edward James Olmos and Esmeralda Santiago to Houston? Who gets to say that they learned about writing from listening and studying writers in their most infinite of moments, when their words hit their readers' ear drums.
Who gets to point to a writer on stage and say, “That, that thing right there. That's what I want to do for the rest of of my life”?
My time in Nuestra was a time of creative burst. I wrote and performed monologues, plays, and poetry. I became a spoken word poet after that and eventually settled into fiction. When I moved away, I still kept tabs on the organization that I thought of as home. I still visited and listened. I count alums Ramades Ortiz and Lupe Mendez and my friends, and well as Alvaro and Tony. See, once you leave Nuestra, it still stays with you. It's part of your heart beat. It's in the books your read, the song you hear. It's like your first love, you never forget and you always wish it the best.
Since then there have been so many readings, and writings, and even a degree or two or several. (Nuestra has several MFA in writing among its alumni – Tony, Alvaro, Russell, me, and soon to be Lupe Mendez). Nuestra Palabra continues going strong, ensuring that Latino writers and books aren't myths and who we are as a people doesn't become a legend. The organization has become a star giant, it knows what it is, where it's going, and how to get there. It's become a beacon for the lost, a path for the knowledge seekers, and a home for those who want more.
As for me, through the years I've become less lost. I'm not 19 any more. I've long since found the question and the answers I sought when I was younger. But with questions being like mushrooms, more have have sprung up. The difference between me now and me then is that now, I know where to start looking for the answers.
And how to become a star giant.
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Website: http://www.icessfernandez.com
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Nuestra Palabra and Tintero Unite to Air Poetry’s Dirty Laundry
by Tony Diaz on 07/15/14
Mongrel Empire Press Announces New Collection by Natalia Treviño
"These poems air everyone's dirty laundry. These poems run the gamut from
formal to informal, with stylistically thrilling turns of form, turns
of phrases, as well as code-switching. It's rare to find a gifted
storyteller who packs the verbal punch of a poet." -Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante
Norman, OK. November 2013- Mongrel Empire Press, an Eclectic Publishing House specializing in regional and uncommon literary works, is happy to announce the publication of Lavando la Dirty Laundry, a collection of poetry by Natalia Treviño.
Meet poet Natalia Trevino as she presents
LAVANDA DIRTY LAUNDRY
July 23, 5 pm - 7pm
Casa Ramirez 241 W 19th St, Houston, TX 77008.
Free. In conjunction with Nuestra Palabra & Tintero.
As described by poet Wendy Barker, the poems of “Lavando la Dirty Laundry give us the stories of wives, from abuelas and tías in Mexico, figures from Greek epics and the New Testament, as well as from the contemporary narrator who speaks of the sourness of a former marriage and the sweet nourishment of a new one that joins two cultures from opposite sides of the globe.” Sandra Cisneros, author of House on Mango Street and a MacArthur Fellow, praises Lavando la Dirty Laundry, saying, “It is on the white sheets of this book that a woman's most private confessions are transformed from dirty laundry to poetry luminescent as linen on the line.” National Book Award-winning poet Allison Adelle Hedge Coke declares, “Treviño solidly delivers in her debut presentation, an admirable poetic; a knowing we all need, must read.” According to San Antonio poet laureate Carmen Tafolla, “This exquisite collection of poems enchants and exposes, drawing the reader into its center surely, passionately, and as fiercely as a wildfire.” ”These are not safe poems,” says New Mexico Centennial Poet Laureate Levi Romero, “They do not have a safety net or a forewarning and they recall what some would rather forget. They are lessons in the comfort and healing that comes through sharing and telling.”
Born in Mexico City and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Natalia Treviño was raised in Spanish by her parents while Bert and Ernie gave her English lessons on the side. Natalia is an Associate Professor of English at Northwest Vista College and a member of the Macondo Foundation, a writer’s workshop aimed at encouraging non-violent social change. Her poetry has won the Alfredo Moral de Cisneros Award for Emerging Writers from Sandra Cisneros, the Wendy Barker Creative Writing Award, the 2008 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize, and the San Antonio Artists Foundation Literary Award. She lives with her husband, Stewart and son, Stuart just outside of San Antonio, Texas.
For more information on Mongrel Empire Press or to obtain review copies of this title and others, contact the Press by sending an email from the web site: www.mongrelempirepress.org. Mongrel Empire Press titles are available from the Press, the authors, most online bookstores, and selected independent bookstores. Booksellers and gift shops will find Mongrel Empire Press books available through Ingram and Baker & Taylor (all MEP titles are wholesaled at full trade discount, and are returnable). Print-suitable author and book cover images are available on request.
About Mongrel Empire Press
Mongrel Empire Press was established in 2007 with a mission to publish well-written, thoughtfully-considered works across generic and disciplinary boundaries. The Press actively identifies and promotes Oklahoma and regional writers while at the same time making room for outside the region works that, because of their mixed generic, disciplinary, and philosophical approaches, cannot find a home at other presses that have a more narrowly defined mission.
Contact:
Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, Editor
Mongrel Empire Press
http://www.mongrelempirepress.org
