When I began blogging I don’t even remember the word “monetizing”. I wanted to extend my reality in the hopes of making connections and conversations with others and I wanted to write. I always wanted to write and blogging first for myself and then for VivirLatino was a way for me to do it. But 2012 is not 1998, 2000, or even 2008. Non-profits don’t take the risks with their budgets the way they did in the pre and post-Obama glow. Gone are the days when I would/could make a few hundred dollars a month blogging. The other blogueras, ambitious women, mamis, activists, fashionistas, and foodies all seemed a little shocked when I told then that I was lucky if I made $50 a month.

That’s not to say I haven’t had opportunities and experiences. Because of my work on VivirLatino I have written for local and national publications, been on tv and on the radio and been given awards and scholarships. But I still couldn’t afford my small one bedroom apartment.

After attending the White House Briefing and portions of the retreat, I was more crystal clear than ever that my job, my role isn’t to be a mouthpiece for a political administration nor a brand spokes mami. But I sure am a mouthpiece for my own experiences as a struggling working single Latina mami and my vecinas and if there is one thing I can sell shamelessly is the fact that I am pretty damn valuable. I don’t begrudge anyone the right to make a buck, to feed their families, to go after their ambitions. Hell here at VivirLatino we have reviewed tech, tequila, films, and music. But that’s not the heart and it always needs to come from there.

At the LATISM Top Blogueras Retreat, I saw a wide range of types of bloggers at the Top Blogueras retreat (with the glaring exception of bloggers reppin LGBTQ gender non-conforming sites). What I took away is that yes I am different and that yes I need to be a better business person and value my skills more. Can I do that from a place of love and justice? It’s the only way I know how. I let go of some judgements as people who have been reading the site for a long time reached out to me in support. I agreed to come to the retreat but with many reservations in my heart and in my head but I left with a deeper respect for my own work.

What I took away from the experience is that I have a unique voice and I just need to get better at some business prac

And she would be taking questions. Those who have been reading VivirLatino or following my work know that I have written here and in other places about Muñoz and the role she plays as a Spanish language cheerleader for President Obama’s immigration polices. I quickly crafted my question in my notebook.

Muñoz opened up the briefing speaking about how important her job was in terms of representing not just Latino interests but all interests and how her position and the positions of so many other Latinas in the Obama administration were proof of the importance and power of the Latino community. Then she took questions and my hand shot up.

“Hi and thank you for taking my question. I’m Maegan Ortiz from VivirLatino.com. Given how you are held up as a role model for Latinas because of your success in the non-profit world and now government, how would you answer critics who question your promotion of policies that have proven to harm Latinas, especially undocumented women, for example survivors of domestic violence being put into deportation because of Secure Communities, the thousands of kids put into foster care because their mothers were deported, and a lack of both real prosecutorial discretion and administrative relief for DREAMers?”

Photo Credit : Chantilly Patiño.

I certainly didn’t expect Muñoz to give an answer any different than what she has said in the media. Many of our readers should be familiar with the talking points : Congress, President has to enforce the law, prosecutorial discretion, limited executive actions available, targeted enforcement. Muñoz didn’t take any further questions and quickly left the briefing room.

The rest of the briefing featured other Latino White House officials, including Julie Rodriguez – the Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement, Alejandra Ceja – Chief of Staff, Office of the Under Secretary, Department of Education, Lisa Pino – Deputy Administrator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of the Department of Agriculture, and Marissa Duswalt – Associate Director for Policy and Events, Let’s Move! Initiative.

Not surprisingly, the goal of the briefing from the perspective of the White House seemed to be to prove/remind the bloggers/media makers what a great job the Obama administration is doing for the Latino community. One handout even read “Hispanic Community Highlights”. The usual stats and talking points were there and I’d be happy to share if people are interested in that level of regurgitation. This isn’t to say that there isn’t good work happening, like efforts pointed out by USDA Deputy Administrator to expand access to food programs like SNAP (food stamps).
\But there remained more questions than answered as the really incredibly diverse range of bloggers lined up to name their issues. This included mamis of kids with disabilities who saw their kids isolated and locked out of services for being disabled and Latino, disabled Latinas themselves, educator and educator parents wondering about bilingual education, racism, and an increase in high stakes testing, cuts to grants for Latinas seeking post-graduate degrees and so much more. The White House pointed to legislation that needed to be passed but was stalled (by Republicans of course). When that wasn’t a fall back position, blogueras were told they were misinformed.

While all the blogueras had different niches, Ana Roca Castro summed up the briefing nicely by saying that yes we all want to be engaged, yes we all want to work for equal access and justice for our communities, yes we need to be more educated as to how systems work so we can engage and fight but no somos titeres, no somos pendejas.

Stay tuned for more notes/reflections about the Latinos in Social Media Top Bloguera Retreat.

Monday morning update: I missed my original flight and was unable to get on any flights last night on standby. I’m en route to the airport again, trying my luck again, hoping I can catch a standby spot. If I don’t make this flight, I likely will not be attending the event

Mala will be in Washington DC for the next two days, as I was selected by Latinos in Social Media (#LATISM) to receive a scholarship to participate in their first Top Blogueras Retreat.

The retreat, sponsored graciously by such outstanding corporations including Johnson & Johnson, Univision, McDonald’s, Mary Kay, Southwest Airlines, Procter and Gamble, Comcast, Fleishman Hillard, Disney/Babble, Macys, Porter Novelli, and Consumer Reports, will include opportunities for bloggers like me, to be mentored. The retreat, organized in partnership with Latina Bloggers Connect, will include a visit to the White House and meeting with such influential advocacy organizations as National Council of la Raza (NCLR).

If all of this sounds like it’s the antithesis of what I’ve been about for my blogging career, it kind of is and that’s precisely why I am going. As a political mami media maker (not a mom

blogger, not even just a blogger) I have covered everything from the Latin Grammy Awards, to the presidential debates, to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Our team coverage has included live blogs of Netroots Nation, The Allied Media Conference, and reviews of films, musical acts, congressional votes and always with big uncensored mouths, always unsponsored, unbought. I am attending this blogeura retreat because as I wrote last year on the 6th anniversary of VivirLatino, the Latino blog landscape has changed and continues to change. Many of my media making and rabble rousing friends have stopped because of shift in the accepted definition of “blogger”. Those of us who found ourselves courted in the pre-Obama era, have felt the walls of the non-profit industrial complex and corporate personhood closing in on us. It’s been a struggle for us to continue. So who are considered the top voices and who is not? What are those voices saying and what does that say about the future of truly independent media?

I and by extension, VivirLatino has had a complicated relationship with non-profits, lawmakers, and companies who want parroting instead of critical analysis. I will be the first to admit that I am a bad capitalist and my personal and business finances are essentially one and the same because blogging is more of an extension of who I am than a separate money making venture. This has led to a less than sustainable career but a career/life none the less and for that reason, with many years of experience under my belt, I claim my position on top shamelessly.

Please follow me here on VivirLatino and on twitter accounts : @vivirlatino and @mamitamala as I look at all these issues. And I want to hear what all of you think about the direction of Latin@ blogging and online media.

For more information about the First-Ever Latina Blogger Retreat, visit http://blogueras.latism.org/

Puerto Rican activist Alberto De Jesus, known as Tito Kayak, announced earlier this week intention to kayak from Venezuela to Puerto Rico. The maritine voyage, to begin on June 5th weather permiting, will row from Venezuela, island by island thoughout the Antilles following the tragectory taken by the indiginous Arawak people who originaly populated the Antillies. This effort will be carried out to honor and bring world attention to the case of the longest held Puerto Rican, U.S. political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera.

Oscar Lopez Rivera has been incarcerated since 1981, convicted of seditious conspiracy by the United States federal government in connection with allegedly being a member of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), a Puerto Rican Nationalist group, armed robbery and other minor offenses. Lopez Rivera was sentenced to 70 years. When other Puerto Rican political prisoners were offered clemency by then President Clinton in 1999, Lopez Rivera declined the offer in part due to the restrictions he was expected to follow upon release.

While Kayak’s act may appear to some as more stunt than political protest, the Jayuya native has been drawing attention to human rights violations by the United States in Puerto Rico for a number years now. The electrician by trade, Kayak co-founded Amig@s del M.A.R. (Movimiento Ambiental Revolucionario) focusing on how U.S. colonialism impacts the environmental health of the island and its people. He was active in the struggle to get the U.S. Navy to stop using Vieques, a small island off the larger Rican mainland, as a bombing range. In 2009 Kayak and other activists were detained, had their materials confiscated, and ultimately were deported from Trinidad when they tried to attend the Summit of the Americas – where Puerto Rico was not officially represented. In 2007 Kayak made the connection between occupied Puerto Rico and occupied Palestine and found himself arrested in Puerto Rico and Israel.

Part of the issue is a lack of admitting that there are human rights violations happening in the United States by the United States government. Kayak’s act is not a solitary one. A number of Puerto Rican organizations have campaigns to draw attention to Lopez Rivera’s incarceration. The National Boricua Human Rights Campaign has been conducting a 31 Days for 31 Years multimedia educational campaign featuring videos of individuals in Chicago sitting in a cell, approximately the same size as the one Lopez-Rivera currently is held in Terra Haute, Indiana, for 24 hours for 31 days. On May 29th, the anniversary of Lopez-Rivera’s arrest, ProLibertad will be holding a vigil in el Barrio, NYC.

S-Comm is a Department of Homeland Security program that requires states to identify immigrants for deportation. While NY governor Cuomo and other governors across the country have expressed concerns regarding the difference between what how DHS says the program is implemented and what statistics show regarding the deportation of non-criminal undocumented immigrants. There have been mixed messages and allegations of a cover up regarding the mandatory nature of the program. The intense roll out of the program despite complaints and protests seems to make the mandatory nature of the program clear.

Given the latest report of racial profiling by the New York City Police Department which showed that 87 percent of those stopped were blacks and Latino, the implementation of S-Comm especially in urban areas with large immigrant populations is extremely concerning. Immigrants account for more than one-third of the city’s residents and 29% of all voters in New York.

While the federal government attempts to make an example of Arizona by challenging parts of SB1070 in the Supreme Court and by suing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for racial profiling, it continues to fast track a program that has contributed to racial profiling.

While its arguments in front of the Supreme Court last week against parts of Arizona’s SB1070 were more about asserting the DOJ’s power to enforce immigration laws than insuring the rights of others, especially Latinos, race and ethnicity was an unspoken subtext.
Most recently the U.S. Justice Department kept the pressure on Arizona by targeting Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Following a breakdown in negotiations pushing for his police department to be monitored because of racial profiling allegations, yesterday the department announced its intent to sue. The DOJ is seeking to federally monitor Arpaio’s practices including targeting Latinos (or those perceived as Latinos) for unjustified traffic stops and arrests and prioritizing low level immigration offenses over investigating a backlog of sexual assault cases.

While federal oversight of Arpaio’s office is long overdue (just do a search with Arpaio’s name in our own search box to see for yourself), the question that remains unanswered is how to we get the Federal Justice Department to monitor themselves?

So far the Federal Justice Department has refused to investigate the death of Anastasio Hernández-Rojas or any other death that has occurred on the U.S. Mexican border at the hands of Border Patrol. Some organizations, politicians like Senator Robert Menendez, Reps. Raul Grijalva, Xavier Becerra, Jared Polis and Lucille Roybal-Allard, and individuals are putting pressure on Attorney General Eric holder to open an investigation of all killings committed by the Border Patrol since 2010. Yesterday the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security also demanding an investigation into border patrol related deaths.

If the Department of Justice is interested in doing more than just flexing it’s muscle to show states Federal supremacy, than it needs to take a look at how the U.S. Border Patrol treats both U.S. and Mexican citizens like Anastasio. Otherwise it’s hard to believe that Eric Holder is interested in anything resembling justice.

M: Just like the synopsis of Gabi grabbed your attention Bianca, the synopsis of Babygirl piqued my interest and brought out many conflicting emotions even before I saw the film.

For as long as she can remember, Bronx teenager Lena has watched her young man-crazy single mom Lucy waste her time on a series of less-than-perfect boyfriends. And even though she should be paying attention to the neighborhood boys’ flirtations herself, Lena has been spending most of her time being the mother Lucy forgets to be. But when Mom’s latest boy toy Victor quickly proves to be her worst suitor yet, Lena sets up a trap to expose him for the creep she thinks he is.

Set in the uneasy but rhythmic streets of the Bronx, this unassuming story of a passionate Puerto Rican family comes to life with authenticity and just the right amount of restraint and naturalism. Irish-born director Macdara Vallely captures a vivid portrait of a young mother and her daughter both coming of age while crafting a likeable yet shifty character in Victor…

M : While not a Bronx Rican, as a single Queens Rican mami to daughters, including one teen, I felt defensive watching the character of Lucy constantly having to defend herself against the slut label. Where with Gabi I questioned if mami’hood and sexuality were portrayed as opposites, here it seem clear to me that single mami’hood and sexuality = puta’hood.

B: Word. That’s how the story/film begins: with her fighting with her “baby’s father” who is abusive and who she has to call the police on to remove. We see Lena find Lucy in the bathroom fixing her make-up and it seems that this interaction is so normalized for her, she cares about her appearance and that seems to be an attempt for the viewer to make a connection to her questionable choices and lackluster parenting style. We see Lucy as a pathetic, lonely, and sad-I-don’t-have-a-man woman which impacts her ability to be a parent.

M: I think it’s useful to recognize that this film, unlike Gabi, was not written and directed by a Puerto Rican. The director and writer,Macdara Vallely, is an Irish man who has lived in the Bronx for the almost 10 years and is married to a Puerto Rican woman. In an interview I read, Vallely said he was inspired by witnessing a man hit on a woman and her daughter on a subway. How interesting that he made the behavior of mother and daughter seem almost pathological while O felt Victor was portrayed as more complex.

B: Yes the point of view is not one that is contrived and not at all authentic from our point of view as women, Puerto Ricans, and always seen as sexually available. You see the many layers of the women characters in Gabi, but not so much with the women characters in Babygirl. A man, Victor, becomes the center of their story together and what ends up creating a riff in their mother-daughter relationship. As if this is the one thing (out of the tons) that would impact a mother-daughter the most. Men are the center of all the women characters lives: the boy child Lucy has and that requires Lena to care for on a regular basis, the local boy interested in Lena, and Victor. Interesting how these two men, one who doesn’t even speak, takes up so much of their attention and lives.

M. Essentially this is a coming of age story but whose coming of age seems to be a question. Is it Lena – struggling between two women – her mother and her friend who are portrayed as not having her back when it comes to boys and men? Or is it Lucy who is portrayed as a failure as a mother for not balancing her desires with her role as a mother and provider forcing the “babygirl” – Lena into early adulthood and situations.

B. Yes! I think some may see this as a clever and thoughtful way of having us question who is coming of age. But I, as a Puerto Rican woman, find this to not be clever at all and pretty condescending and infantilizing.

M. I feel like I should talk about what I did like about the film. I did appreciate the use of Spanglish in the film. I loved the soundtrack, and I loved seeing local talent like Flaco Navaja and Sandra Rodriguez. I loved that the Bronx was actually used to film the movie especially the inclusion of mass transit since really so many stories do happen there.

B: Yes there were definitely elements that I thoroughly enjoyed. Seeing Navaja in a role that is very much a villain, one I haven’t seen him in before as the last time I saw him was in East Willy B, was nice. I liked that Lena had supportive people in her life when she needed them, although she didn’t reach out to them until later, it was nice to be reminded of that support. Plus, I liked how Lena’s resistance was presented, especially during her interactions with friends and the boy who showed interest. Her “talking back” were powerful scenes for me, yet I think some folks may see them as Lena acting out and being disrespectful versus her standing up for herself and what she believes she needs.

M. I felt like the relationships between women, specifically Latina women, were really one dimensional. You have the perceived dysfunction between Lena and her mother where the mother is too much of a friend, where we see Lena taking care of her brother as a problem, and where a mother can’t be trusted to have her daughter’s back and vice-versa. You have the betrayal and back stabbing over a man between Lena and her friend. Basically Rican women will choose their man over their mother, daughter, friend and the men – well they will be the saviors or the escape.

B: This film would not pass the Bechdel Test (as problematic as that test is) the fact that the women in the film don’t talk to one another about anything other than men is telling (and such a part of the fact that men were a part of creating this film). I’m reminded of the work of Oscar Lewis and his “culture of poverty” in La Vida. This narrative is kind of like the new/21st Century version of La Vida and that’s gross and dehumanizing.

M: Look as a woman who was a young single mother and now as a single mami to a teen, it’s hard and I think that the film tried to show that but in the worse way possible. Towards the end of the film when Lucy says she’s going to change, it’s not believable because Lena is left in the kitchen making her own food and then there’s that shot of Lena behind the window guards referencing some sort of imprisonment. Do single Rican mamis make mistakes? Yes. Does this mean there are no victories, triumphs, or that we and our daughters are doomed? No. We hear that message enough already.

B: When Lucy goes searching for Lena after kicking her out (over a man) she only goes up to other men in the street asking if they have seen Lena! Even though this film is supposed to be about Lucy and Lena, it is really about men. And, I’m ok with having stories about men, just not by having our lives be the stage for sharing those stories. It’s a reminder that we are still not valued, and that’s a narrative I can do with out because we already live and survive that on a regular basis!

Bronx, NY – A group of Bronx residents will gather on Monday, May 7th, at 3:30pm across the street from Lehman High School and march to the 45th NYPD precinct to file a lawsuit against two police officers accused of harassment against Lehman High School student Malik Ayala.

Ayala, 16, became the target of police harassment in the hallway of his school, while waiting to take an exam. Ayala was engaged in conversation with some of his fellow students, and demands were made for his ID, records, and documents, first by Peace Officers, then by his Dean and then by the NYPD. Ayala was told that the literature he planned to hand out to fellow students was illegal because it had the Black Panther logo. He was then issued a summons for disorderly conduct. As a result of the time he spent with officers, Ayala was forced to miss that very important examination.

Less than two weeks later, Ayala noticed a young man being arrested in the subway and began to record the police actions with his cell phone. Officers demanded to see the phone, slammed him against the wall, and searched him despite Ayala’s refusal to agree to let them do so, which was his legal right. Once again, Ayala was served with a summons for disorderly conduct.

This is not a unique case. Local youth, predominantly of color, often go through the same experience daily in their schools and communities. On Monday May 7th we will march with fellow students and residents of the Bronx community to file complaints against officers who are harassing youth of color.

In schools where the majority of the student body is comprised of youth of color from working backgrounds, young people are treated not as students, but as criminals. There are metal detectors, peace officers, and the NYPD is called in routinely. Apparently the aim is to condition the students to be subjects of a police state, to create an atmosphere of intimidation and to establish a pipeline from schools to prisons.

Who: People Power Movement, Lehman High School students, members of the Bronx community.
What: March to 45th Precinct in the Bronx.
Where: Meet across the street from Lehman High School, 3000 East Tremont, Bronx NY 10461.
When: Monday, May 7th, at 3:30pm.
Transportation: 6 Train to Westchester Square, or use www.hopstop.com

The music first caught my ears last week on Remezcla (who really is on the cutting edge of releasing relatively unknown but amazing artists).

A quilombo was an autonomous, fugitive settlement founded by ex-slaves and others in colonial Brazil. This album sonically manifests that history by mixing Afro-Brazilian rhythms and traditions like capoeira mixed with electronic elements and hip hop beats.

The album drops May 22nd.

Join us for a panel discussion with lawyers and organizers from THE BRONX DEFENDERS and the JUSTICE COMMITTEE.

CONFRONTING POLICE VIOLENCE IN THE COURTS:

LEGAL STRATEGIES AND LEGAL CLINIC

 May 19, 1-3pm @147 W24th Street, 3^rd floor (1, C/E, or F/M to 23^rd St.)

This workshop will include:

• Pros and cons of filing complaints with the CCRB and IAB
• Individual and class action civil suits
• Organizing for justice
• Lawyers will be present to answer legal questions

To RSVP email: JusticeCommittee@gmail.com.  RSVP highly recommended but not required.

Please note: This workshop is open to Latin@s and other people of color who are concerned about police violence in their communities.

The Justice Committee is a Latino/a-led grassroots organization dedicated to building a

movement against police violence and systemic racism in NYC.