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Finding Gloria : Nos/otras

8:47 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Media|media justice|Texas|Women · 1 Comment

14 Dec 2009

glzinecover I have been blogging for close to a decade and while doing my own radical women of color media making work have earned a deep respect for fellow rwoc media makers, especially zinesters. Zines still confound me. I can make words, string them into sentences and make them dance to a rhythm on the edge of my lips, but a zine? It is an art I haven’t been able to commit to, even as other amazing mujeres around me have.

This weekend I sat with the comp zine, Finding Gloria: Nos/otras. It was edited by Noemi Martinez and has writings by Elle Gray, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, ire’ne lara silva, Fabiola Sandoval, heather bowlan, noemi martinez and Kamala Platt. Artwork and photos by: Fabiola Sandoval, Celeste De Luna, and Veronica Gomez.

I opened the plain brown envelope as if it were a navidad gift before navidad. Seeing the return address from Noemi, I knew what it was, and I had carried the zine in it’s envelope for a few a few days waiting for a few moments to steal and give the zine the attention it deserved. For days that moment never came, so on my commute to and from tutoring the children of immigrants on the proper use of punctuation, on subway trips above ground and underground, between the mami’hood and the mala’hood, Finding Gloria: Nos/otras found me and each page brought tears to my eyes. The zine, an altar en papel for Gloria Anzaldua, is also an evolution of her legacy. We, the other women, Nos/otras spill stories in pen and ink, draw and photocopy our histories, and paint the future.
Read more…

(Re) Thinking Walking Zine is Here!

1:25 pm By la Macha · Detriot|Media|media justice|Michigan · 1 Comment

9 Dec 2009

My very dear Michigan hermana, brownfemipower, has created a new zine! Modeled on the (re) thinking walking series that bfp and co-collaborator, Jess Hoffman have been working on for the last year or so, the zine is described like this:

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The first zine hand made by brownfemipower, the editorista of the blog, Flip Flopping Joy. Featuring continued commentary in the manner of (re)thinking walking, this zine grapples with brownfemipower’s place as a survivor, Latina, Chicana, immigrant, sexual, organizing, moving mami.

All that for an amazing $1 plus shipping??? I really think you should head over to bfp’s place and check it out!!! Support media making by Latin@s!

VivirLatino’s la Mala Speaking at Organizing 2.0 in NYC This Saturday

10:35 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Events|Immigration|Internet|media justice|New York City · 2 Comments

1 Dec 2009

Organizing20facebook2 Before I was a blogger, I was a young activist. The transition from being “in the trenches” so to speak, to blogging hasn’t been an easy one and a large part of it is due to my status as a single mami. I needed to (and still do) be realistic as to my capacities. Pero deep down I still want to be down on the ground and in the calles. So part of my goal as a blogger has been to make connections between this online media work and what is happening on the ground. Which is why I’m very excited to be participating this weekend in the Organizing 2.0 Conference.

Is online organizing really ‘organizing’? That’s a challenging question for those of us from a labor or community organizing background. That said, online organizing has received a lot of positive attention recently in connection with the presidential elections. What does this mean for our organizations? What skills do we need to share to make the most of no-longer-new online tools for our campaigns in New York?

I’m on a panel on with some of my blogamigos. The panel is People of color/immigrant/non English online organizing (how’s that for a catch-all?). On the panel with me are Liza Sabater from Culture Kitchen/Daily Gotham and Jackie Mahendra from America’s Voice. Not on my panel pero equally una amiga in the struggle is Rachel LaBruyere from Reform Immigration for America who is heading a workshop on mobile phone activism.

The conference is relatively affordable, so if you are in the NYC area this Saturday come through, learn, support, and represent.

Official VivirLatino Statement on Lou Dobbs Leaving CNN

3:37 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration|media justice · 7 Comments

17 Nov 2009

Because everyone else is doing it.

Correction, because everyone else doing it and I want to do it too but a little differently.

Because VivirLatino was reached out by various organizations spearheading the Basta Dobbs and Drop Dobbs campaign to endorse the added pressure on CNN, its advertisers, and Lou Dobbs.

Because Lou Dobbs is no longer on CNN.

Because we’re pretty damn sure that while one platform has closed for Dobbs, the number of hate comments/mail that VivirLatino has received for our coverage of Dobbs and our support for his leaving CNN proves that there is still a public who accepts his distortion of reality when it comes to undocumented immigrants and Latinos as factual news. Dobbs still has daily radio show
broadcast by more than 160 stations as part of the United Stations Radio Networks Inc. He has his lifetime membership to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which put out their own statement welcoming Dobbs’ leaving the news network. Some of the latest political bochinche has Dobbs possibly running for Senate in New Jersey (information gleaned from the NY Post which we will not link to). We should also add that reports have Dobbs leaving CNN with $8 million in severance pay.

Don’t get us wrong. Struggles and movements need victories and this is one and we should celebrate it pero not for too long. Dobbs is already doing the show circuit and he will continue to spew his racist nonsense. The real problem is that his nonsense talks comes at a time when the U.S. Government makes statement after statement about the need for immigration reform, while separating families first and writing legislation later. Pero that’s a whole different post or a dozen.

Video : Lou Dobbs Announcing He’s Outie

7:41 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Media|media justice · Comments Off

11 Nov 2009

I’m formulating thoughts pero for now peace con justicia.

Breaking News: Lou Dobbs Announcing He’s Leaving CNN

7:00 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Media|media justice · 8 Comments

11 Nov 2009

Mad props to the peeps at Basta Dobbs! and Drop Dobbs and the hundreds of thousands who supported the efforts cuz it looks like little Louie is packing up his toys and going home.

Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said.

A CNN executive confirmed that Mr. Dobbs will announce his resignation plans on his 7 p.m. program. His resignation is effective immediately; tonight’s program will be his last on CNN. His contract was not set to expire until the end of 2011.

Mr. Dobbs informed his staff members of his intentions in a meeting Wednesday afternoon. He did not immediately respond to a telephone call seeking comment.

Its not clear if he was forced to resign as a result of all the negative attention he was bringing CNN or if he left on his own.

Damn I wish I had CNN just for tonite.

A Favorite Latina on the Web Needs Our Support

4 Nov 2009

I’m really honored that Guanabee named yours truly one of their favorite Latinas on the web.

Some deal explicitly with Latino issues, some don’t. Some are funny, some are creative, some are activists, all are uniquely amazing, inspiring women who, we think, are some of the best at what they do.

I am especially honored by some of my company on the list, including dear mami amiga, Noemi Martinez of Hermana Resist. As a single mami media maker, I appreciate what Noemi does and understand the struggle it is to express yourself in a given medium with no source of funding and with kids yelling, learning, laughing and getting sick as your background soundtrack. Which is why I am asking you to help my mami hermana.

Why Does Latino in America Equal Spanish Being Criminalized and Pushed Aside

28 Oct 2009

It’s not just immigration that is being criminalized as some people have commented. Any trace of Latinidad deems people as targets for varying forms of harassment ranging from traffic stops, to tickets, to jails, to beat downs, to deaths. While some think that skin color alone can “mark” someone as other, and in this case Latino, language and varying levels of accents also brand. Just look at how much time is spent in this discussion on Latino in America on the issue of assimilation, acculturation and the role of language.

The issue always is how can you speak Spanish and still assimilate/aculturate with the ultimate goal seemingly being not being labeled/identified/called out as “other”. If you are going to insist on speaking Spanish then for everyone’s sake do it at home, where no one else can see or hear you or else face the consequences:

Let us not forget that we started 2009 with someone getting physically attacked while having a cell phone conversation in Spanish.

Sometimes we don’t even need language. Just having a name that could remind someone that you are Latino is enough to get you fired.

Lou Dobbs Invites BastaDobbs to His Show

9:06 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Controversia|Immigration|Media|media justice|TV · 9 Comments

22 Oct 2009

loudobbs After a successful day of events across the country yesterday that coincided with the airing of Latino in America, seems like CNN’s Lou Dobbs realizes that it’s gonna take more than calling Latinos who call him out “fleas” to get rid of us. The producers of Lou Dobbs’ show emailed Roberto Lovato of BastaDobbs to be on the show. Roberto, never one to shy away from a good opportunity, said claro pero on one condition…

Latino in America: the Boot Strap story

8:00 pm By la Macha · Media|media justice · 6 Comments

21 Oct 2009

As you watch the Latino in America tonight, I thought you might enjoy this preview/critique of the show from Color Lines.

Take the story of Cindy Garcia. Having once ditched high school classes, Cindy is now trying to avoid becoming one of the 70 percent of students who don’t graduate from her Los Angeles high school. Although the school board president admits that a school meant to handle 1,500 students actually serves 4,800 students, CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien focuses on Cindy’s real challenge: her family responsibilities. She has a mom who needs her to translate and help at the family store and a young niece and baby brother to take care of. When she ends up pregnant, we know now presumably what Cindy’s real hardship will be.

What’s going to help Cindy finish high school?

O’Brien could have suggested an overhaul of the education system. She could have analyzed the impact of the more recent and severe budget cuts for students. She could have examined why Cindy’s stepfather is in jail (prison industrial complex anyone?) or what the state of reproductive health education is at Cindy’s school, where a number of Latina girls are facing unplanned pregnancies.

But O’Brien skipped these questions and the real world solutions.

We’re told instead is that what Cindy needs to make it is grit, focus, and hard work. In short: her own bootstraps.

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