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Mangos With Chili Presents Beloved: A Requiem for Our Dead in the Bay Area Tonite & Nov. 15th

7 Nov 2009

MWC_Front_Vert2 Porque we remember our loved ones from our familias and community everyday and porque the mujeres that are involved in the creation of this project are beautiful and kick culo.

Mangos With Chili: the floating cabaret of QTPOC bliss, dreams, sweat, sweets & nightmares
proudly presents the premiere of:

BELOVED: A Requiem for Our Dead
because we refuse to forget you

Featuring:
Nalo Hopkinson
Charleston Chu
E. Rose Sims
SoliRose
Nico Dacumos
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Ms. Cherry Galette
and more

With video by Storm Florez, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Kortney Ryan Ziegler, and more

November 6th and 7th, 8PM
The Lab
2948 16th St
San Francisco, CA 94103
$12-16, no one turned away for lack of funds

November 15th, 8PM
Hechos en Califas Festival
La Pena
3105 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
$12-16, no one turned away for lack of funds

In this highly anticipated premiere of the newest Mangos With Chili production, we invite you to join us at the crossroads for a night of conjuring, memory, mourning and celebration. Through elegies of story, song, dance, drag and more, the Bay Area’s noted and notorious queer and trans people of color performance crew will honor our erased, fallen and slain queer and trans people of color family lost to hate crimes, war, colonization, and genocide. We will celebrate our queer legacies and the ways we’ve found to survive through the beautiful resistance of memory, and whisper stories about grief, loss, healing, sweet darkness, and walking between worlds towards rebirth.

Beloved: A Requiem for Our Dead will feature the brilliance and blaze of renowned Caribbean speculative fiction storycrafter Nalo Hopkinson; multimedia invocation performance art heart wrench by playwright and poet Nico Dacumos; In Memoriam, a new collaborative dance theater work by Charlston Chu and Cherry Galette; ancestral prayer/spoken love letter by writer and theater artist Rose E. Sims; a mixed media jazz dance cabaret extravaganza by Charleston Chu, an autobiographical musical journey traversing the Middle East and African Diaspora by virtuoso trio SoliRose; the powerful truth renderings of queer Sri Lankan writer and performer Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha; and the premiere of Moorish Salt a burlesque-dance theater/ritual performance art piece by fusion dance artist and theater-maker Cherry Galette.

Mangos With Chili is a Bay Area based arts organization committed to showcasing high quality performance of life saving importance by queer and trans artists of color to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. Founded in 2006 by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Ms Cherry Galette, Mangos With Chili has performed to sold out houses across North America, wowing audiences in world class theaters, underground performance spaces, bars, and campus halls, with their high intensity, breathtaking performance, politics, and storytelling craft, reflecting the lives and stories of queer and trans people of color, while making art that speaks out in resistance to the daily struggles around silence, isolation, homophobia, and violence that QTPOC face. Mangos With Chili is a fiscally sponsored project of the San Francisco based arts organization CounterPULSE, which provides space and resources for emerging artists and cultural innovators: www.counterpulse.org. Mangos With Chili is supported by the Horizons Foundation, the Astraea Foundation, and the generous support of our community of donors.

Both venues are wheelchair accessible. The show contains material of adult nature. Parental discretion advised. Please refrain from wearing scented products to ensure that audience members and performers with multiple chemical sensitivity can attend.

For more information:
mangos.with.chili@gmail.com
mangoswithchili.wordpress.com

Maine Voters Said Yes on 1 and Yes to Marriage Inequity

3:32 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Family| GLBT| Immigration| Maine| Politics · 5 Comments

4 Nov 2009

5450_109742748525_105762473525_2307856_7278867_n In more bad election news, yesterday voters in Maine said yes to Question 1, overturning the state’s marriage equality law.

Prerna Lal at Dream Activistreminds us how this ties into the immigration issue:

Why should an average non-gay DREAM Act student care about my queer rants? Because like your families, like the Mejia-Perez family, our non-straight families are also scrutinized, separated and pulled apart since the law refuses to recognize them and grant them full and equal rights. Quite like President Obama delivered change for your families and has yet to deliver, he is also largely ignoring LGBT families.

When you do eventually gain the right to vote on other types of families at the polls, just remember what your own family, especially those who lived in mixed-status families, have had to endure. After that, question your ‘faith-based leaders.’ Ask them why they exclude same-sex families when they talk about ‘family unity?’ The Catholic Church, on one hand, stands up strong for the rights of undocumented workers. On the same page, it denounces civil rights for gay couples. Ask your pastors and priests, your clergy and pundits whether ‘God’ would deport a gay immigrant over a straight immigrant. Ask them whether some rights are more important than others. Ask them to support all families.

Health Reform for Latinas Should Include Not Being Shackled While Birthing

27 Oct 2009

shackles Yesterday, la Macha told us how today is the National Call in Day for Women of Color to Demand Health Care Reform (have you called yet?). And while immigrants have been used as scapegoats, not much attention has been paid to the access for immigrants, especially immigrant women who find themselves detained while pregnant, women like Juana Villegas DeLaPaz who we wrote about last year.

Seems like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who revels in terrorizing Latino communities, wants to make sure that even infants entering into this world know their place in his eyes. From Latino Politico:

During her second night behind bars, the bleeding started. On the morning of October 14, she felt contractions. Her hands and feet shackled, she was in labor and ushered into a paramedic’s van by a detention officer who restrained her to the stretcher.

“That’s not necessary,” the paramedic told the officer.

“It’s my job,” the officer responded. The guard was a Latina.

She thought she would be released from the shackles once she arrived at the hospital, but she wasn’t.

The officer chained her ankle to one leg of the hospital bed.

A nurse requested that she be freed to get a urine sample. But the officer suggested instead that her bed be dragged over to the bathroom.

Later she was changed from her jail uniform into a hospital gown.

“The officer chained me by the feet and the hands to the bed,” she said. “And that’s how my daughter was born.”

It is the lives of women above that make me keep repeating why the issues of immigration reform, health care reform, and prison reform all work together. It is why I am not a reformer because the reform movements tends to separate the issues into neat little blocks. I think of those who cried victory when Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287(g) contract was modified to only include checking the status of those in jail, those in jail like the woman forced to give birth in chains.

Protests at University of California Campuses

1:01 pm By la Macha · California · Comments Off

25 Sep 2009

In the face of huge budget cutbacks that many argue are little more than an effort to privatize public foundations, the students and faculty in the University of California system protested in huge numbers yesterday.

Daniella, a petite second-year Latina undergraduate sitting quietly in the shade echoed what many making the rallying calls were articulating. “My whole life I wanted to come here. If they increase the fees I will have to drop out. We have to fight this.”

via the LA Times

Among those in the crowd was third-year psychology major Vico Melgoza of Santa Ana. He said he was skipping two classes today to be there. “This is more important. That’s my personal belief,” said Melgoza, 21, adding that he was worried about how fee increases will affect not only his future but also future generations of low-income students. The fee hikes and cutbacks, he said, “are beating the people who are already beaten.”

From Time

The demonstrations did not disrupt schoolwork. A spokesman for UC President Mark Yudof said most classes were held and that “most of the action was at the rallies.” But there will be more rallies. Protest organizers at Berkeley said that discussions are under way for a march on Sacramento that would include participants from the UCs, the 23-campus Cal State University system and the states’ junior colleges. “This is just the beginning,” says Miller. “It’s a wake up call to students about what is happening to their education.”

Vivir Latino will keep you updated to future happenings!

Gay Marriage in Maine: Will Prop 8 Repeat Itself?

11:31 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| GLBT| Justice| Maine| society · 1 Comment

17 Sep 2009

Back in April, we told you about how Maine had just become yet another U.S. state to legalize marriage between two people of the same sex, and that was something to celebrate — back then, that is. As has been the case in many states passing such legislation, the backlash is strong and often catches us, who are busy celebrating, off guard.

Such was the case in California and that intricately mobilized hate campaign had serious consequences. And the same is beginning to play out in Maine, where the fate of gay marriage is now in the hands of voters, who will be asked to cast their ballot for or against Question 1, an initiative that if passed would overturn the law. Playing dirty apparently pays, and it appears that gay marriage opponents in Maine have figured that out, as this is what the citizens of that state are currently getting on their TV screens:

Funny, that “gay marriage will be taught in schools” ~~rhetoric~~ lie was precisely the “gota que colmó el vaso” in the California Prop 8 debate. Many believe that inserting that little piece of bigoted dishonesty is what put on the fence voters on the side of voting against civil rights for Californians:

Very original Maine homophobes! Luckily, gay marriage supporters have put together some great ads of their own, taking the high road and showing what “family values” are really all about. Check them out after the jump.

Prison Riot in California

3:34 pm By la Macha · California| Controversia| Violence · 2 Comments

9 Aug 2009

art.prison.fire.newspro CNN is reporting that serious rioting broke out at the California Institution for Men in Chino, California last night.

More than 250 inmates were injured in a riot that erupted overnight at the California Institution for Men in Chino, a spokesman said Sunday.

Flames leap from a housing unit at a prison in Chino, California, on Saturday night.

Fifty-five inmates were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries, said Lt. Mark Hargrove, prison spokesman.

None of the facility’s employees was hurt in the melee, which broke out at about 8:20 p.m. Saturday at the Reception Center West facility, Hargrove said. The situation was under control by 7 a.m. Sunday, he said.

The scene of the violence was the medium-security housing facility with seven units, each of which houses about 200 inmates, he said.

Some 80 officers responded to the riot, during which a housing unit was heavily damaged by fire, he said.

Guards used pepper spray, “less lethal force, and lethal force options” to regain control, Hargrove said in a written statement.

The institution was placed on lockdown pending an investigation of the cause of the fighting, and visiting privileges were suspended.

I have friends that are both prison guards and prisoners. So when I hear news like this I get very anxious. I want both the guards and the prisoners to be safe, and yet it always seems like it’s the prisoners that are subject to “lethal force options.”

I hope that all involved people, including the prisoners, are ok. That everybody survived with the least amount of trauma.

Sarah Palin Resigns

4:47 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Alaska| Bizarro| Chismes| Controversia| Politics · 3 Comments

3 Jul 2009

One big WTF comin’ right atcha, dontcha know:

Damn…that was some weird, incoherent rambling. But the real question here is: WHY? And why NOW?

On the eve of the 4th of July…that ain’t very patriotic, Sarah!

What are your theories dear readers?

Via / HuffPost

Wisconsin Debates Drivers Licenses for the Undocumented

23 Jun 2009

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When you think of progressive policies around the treatment of undocumented immigrants, you might think of cities like San Francisco. You wouldn’t necessarily think of America’s heartland, but that’s just where an important issue is being raised and rallied for. A plan included in the Wisconsin state budget this month which would allow for undocumented immigrants to be able to obtain drivers licenses (actually referred to as “drivers license certificates”) is currently being debated in the state legislature.

A coalition of dairy farmers, police and Latino advocates are making a final push to convince lawmakers to create a new driver’s card for illegal immigrants.

The advocates held a press conference Monday at the Capitol to push for the cards they saw lowers insurance rates and will improve the safety of Wisconsin roads.

They also say in difficult economic times, it would bring in over a million dollars to the state budget and help farmers get workers to the farms.

The Assembly passed the measure as part of a budget bill, but the Senate has rejected it.

The two sides will try to reconcile the bill this week.

Proponents say that the bill would make roads safer, as those without licenses are driving anyway, and a driving certificate will help ensure they adhere to traffic laws. On the other side, opponents counter that this will send a message to undocumented people that “it’s OK to break the law”.

Currently, only one state allows undocumented immigrants to obtain licenses: Utah.

Via / WSAW and Channel 3000

Villaraigosa Bows Out, Won’t Run for Governor of California

6:53 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · California| Los Angeles| Politics| society · 1 Comment

22 Jun 2009

Along with celeb Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, L.A.’s Latino mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (and co-star of telenovela-like love dramas) had his sights set on becoming the Governor of the great state of California, but today has announced that he’s bowing out:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on national television today he would not be running for California governor in 2010 after flirting with a bid for higher office for months.

Elected to a second, four-year term in March, the mayor told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he wanted to devote his full attention to Los Angeles, which is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades.

Villaraigosa’s decision adds a dash of clarity to the race for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination which, at the moment, appears will be between state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Brown has yet to say if he will run, while Newsom already has announced his candidacy.

The L.A. Times attributes the bow-out to the Mayor’s low approval ratings – 55% on the job he’s currently doing as mayor in L.A. — and the fact that historically, Los Angeles mayors have had a very hard time at gaining support in their quest for Governor of California. Oh, and the $530 million deficit for the city in fiscal year 2009.

Meanwhile, Mr. Villaraigosa was just re-elected as Mayor of the great city of L.A., which apparently means he has a lot of trabajo to do.

Any L.A. reader want to let us know the real deal? Is L.A.’s crisis just an excuse? Did Villaraigosa ever even have a chance to be governor? What’s his report card for L.A. looking like? Let us know in the comments.

Via / Los Angeles Times and Politico

Raid in Sheriff Joe’s Country Leaves a 9 Year Old Girl Without Parents

10:35 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Family| Immigration| arizona| children · 6 Comments

19 Jun 2009

I cannot wrap my mind around a few things at play here.

One, how anti-immigration activists can dehumanize the children of immigrants and immigrant children to the point that leaving a child without parents is ok. Or that a 9 year old’s murder is ok.

I also cannot understand how President Obama can keep postponing meetings on immigration and legislators drag their feet as if people are not being killed and children aren’t being left as defacto orphans by immigration enforcement.

Older Entries

Link Cariño | Hissip: [...] Who’s your mama? [...] [...]

la Macha: I agree totally with you bubbles. [...]

Bubbles: Re: "Many women have mental, emotional instabilities which cause them to end up in abusive relations [...]

la Macha: and whaaaa? women who have mental health issues are suddenly to blame for getting beaten? [...]

la Macha: gabriel--i don't agree with you that women have a submissive nature--but that's ok, I guess. I agree [...]

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