VivirLatino

Living & Luchando la Vida Latin@

Capitalizing on the Mamiverse : Preliminary Thoughts

July 19th, 2011

I came across the article from the Daily Beast as it made it’s way across my twitter stream. The article, titled, Meet the Fútbol Moms, focuses on the launch of a new website targeting mamis, that is Latina moms. The website, Mamiverse, which I have yet to explore in depth, promises to give Latina mamis, a huge demographic, “the Oprah treatment”.

Who said we wanted that?

According to the article, what the Mamiverse wants to do is to prove that all Latina mothers are not undocumented anchor baby makers. Well those words weren’t used. These were:

In a period when American-born Latinas have been caught in the national freakout about “border security,” Mamiverse offers them a new spokeswoman. She’s a particular kind of Latina mom—an English-speaking, all-American gal. “The young, acculturated, affluent, online Latina is speaking English, and is imbibing media in English,” says Rene Alegria, the site’s 36-year-old founder and CEO.

In other word a Latina who is happy to pass? All- American meaning anything but Latin American. The website wants us all to be Gabriela Solis apparently. Oh and Rene Alegria – not a mami.

From the article:

He was born in Tucson, Ariz., in 1975. His family is a case study in the acculturation process he now trumpets. Alegria’s grandparents immigrated from Sonora, Mexico, in 1955 and still don’t speak English. By the time he was 19, Alegria was living in New York and working at the publisher Simon & Schuster…At 25, as a young editor at HarperCollins, Alegria founded Rayo, the first major Hispanic imprint in New York publishing. He insisted that most of Rayo’s books, from authors like Ray Suarez and Jorge Ramos, should be in English…The imprint began producing mostly Spanish-language books. “It ended up being the Telemundo of book publishing,” Alegria moans. He left in 2009.

According to the article, Alegria was “horrified” at the calls for a boycott when Arizona’s SB1070 passed. The Mamiverse – again not started by a mami – is based in Arizona.

The Mamiverse has started with a star lineup of mamis including Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Maria Hinojosa, Daisy Fuentes. It has also started with one exclusive retailer ready to sell to the new demographic- Target.

The end of the article tries to make the Mamiverse political – saying that it is the mamis who will determine the 2012 election.

Alegria thinks Mom will be the one brokering the conversation. “The next César Chávez,” he says grandly, “is going to be a Latina mom.”

Because apparently Latina moms have never done anything politically before this moment.
Based solely on the article (again I have not really analyzed the actual site) it seems the success of the Mamiverse is based on the notion of erasing the idea of otherness which means that any mami who does not fit into this upwardly mobile, English speaking, non-pork eating mold gets further pushed into the shadows.

Pass me the pernil because I am not sitting at that table.

Have you checked out the Mamiverse? Does it represent your mami’hood?

Announcing the Arrival of Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind #3

April 22nd, 2010

I love zines and secretly would love to have someone sit me down and walk me through making one (cuz I’m afraid of effing it up). In the meantime I’m happy to promote the zines of others especially if some of my favorite mamis and rwoc on the planet are a part of them, and yes I include myself.

“Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind” #3 is the third issue of a zine geared toward the non-parent radical community about how to be an ally to the parent(s) and children in their midst.

We made a PDF to better share it, so you can print, and distribute as you like: ithttp://issuu.com/strongwindsahead/docs/don_tleaveyourfriendsbehindzine3.bw.final

You can download the PDF for free pero you can also get a hard copy for $3. Click on the Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind Blog.

Update on the New Mythos Tour

April 7th, 2010

A few weeks ago I shared an exciting project with you, one that gets to the very heart of why I do what I do and how I live. Consider this your update and call for support.

I am writing because I’d like to tell you about a new project I am working on called The New Mythos Project. This project is building a network of phenomenal sistaz who are engaged in social justice work through spiritual and creative ways, in their everyday lives.

I’ve been working with a phenomenal crew of mamaz to identify the variety of communities and movements we are participating in and leading, and what ways we can more fully support ourselves as mamaz, social change agents, artists and truth-tellers.

We come from a variety of different backgrounds, share a variety of lived-experiences and are all interested in learning from each other and growing with each other. We are invested in radical movements AND we believe that there is a radical platform- a new articulation of our age- that we engage in from a holistic, spirit-based place; informed by our ancestors and our visions of our futures. In our lives, work, community care-giving and mama-ing we are manifesting feminist prophecies.

We are invested in building a network to share with other radical m/others, mamis and community caregivers to fortify our collective lives and work. We are excited to continue to learn and grow with you!

To this effect we are all participating, supporting and collaborating in The New Mythos Project— an ongoing national collaboration that began over the past few months and that we are designing to support ongoing participation, networking, visibility raising, resource-sharing and truth-telling between radical m/others, mamis and community caregivers. We are investing in this project to support our communities and ourselves and we are asking for your support to do this!

Mamis Are the Movements : The New Mythos Tour

March 16th, 2010

Mami is a core part of my identity, my life. It seeps into every letter, every post, everything I breath out and take back in. I am proud to announce that we are a part of The New Mythos Tour that is jumping off next week and ask all VL readers and supporters to extend their love and support as well.

Gloria Anzaldua says: “By creating a new mythos – that is, a change in the way we perceive reality, the way we see ourselves, and the ways we behave – la mestiza creates a new consciousness. The work of mestiza consciousness is to break down the subject/object duality that keeps her prisoner and to show in the flesh and through the images in her work how duality is transcended. The answer to the problem between the white race and the colored, between males and females, lies in healing the split that originates in the very foundation of our lives, our culture, our languages, our thoughts. A massive uprooting of dualistic thinking in the individual and collective consciousness is the beginning of a long struggle, but one that could, in our best hopes, bring us to the end of rape, of violence, of war.”

Supporting Radical Mami Media : BFP’s Remembering the Sun Zine

March 14th, 2010

VivirLatino loves independent radical mujer media makers because we are independent radical mujer media makers. A dear amiga to VivirLatino, BFP has just released her second zine, just in time for la primavera : Remembering the Sun.

Written during the time between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, aka The Most Depressing Time of The Year, this zine was motivated by the reality of instability–the need to hold onto something solid, real, loving–even as there seems to be nothing left in the world but desperate and lonely thoughts. Others have made through this darkest of time, and you and I will too. We are not alone.

The sun does return.

The “regular” zine is paper, the “special edition” features a cloth cover (made of old babybfp jeans–to better allow us to remember those days when our own jean knees were muddied and stained with joy) and a solid inner cover to protect the zine.

The regular zine is 1$ plus cost of 1 stamp (.44 cents–or if you just want to round it–but at least .44 cents) for US and 1.60$ for International.

The “special edition” is going to be sold to the first 11 people who make a donation of more than 5$. Postage 1$ for US and 2$ for International. Once the 11 are gone–they’re gone! So order quickly!!

As always–if you feel like donating more, please do so! All money goes towards woc media making (i.e. the costs of this site, of making zines, etc).

Get yours here! Be inspired. I know BFP inspires me.

Who’s Your Mama : Event at Food for Thought in Amherst on November 13th

November 4th, 2009

223 I met the organizer of this event, TK, at the Allied Media Conference this past summer. Another amazing mami media maker puts together an amazing event. Those in the Amherst area represent and support.

NOVEMBER 13, 2009 * 7PM
Food for Thought Books

Please join us for a very special evening of women’s voices and responses to benefit To Tell you the Truth. Featuring Who’s Your Mama: Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers (Edt. by Yvonne Byone) Contributors: JLove Calderon (We Got Issues!/ That White Girl), Marcella Runell Hall Hall (Hip Hop Education Guidebook) and Marla Teyolia (Empowered Mama!). On site childcare provided.

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How Can Mami Movements Move Forward and be Resourced

July 27th, 2009

Crossposted from la Mamita Mala

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This is a continuation of this post, based on conversations had at the Women’s Equity Media Summit with Noemi and BFP.

In all honesty, I don’t even quite remember the questions we were answering pero I know that BFP primarily came up with this:

Multiple Media tools politicized for transformative justice

Are those our resources? Our goals? Part of our vision? Sounds like a plan of attack to me, a way to use our weapons of media, media as defined as how we communicate ourselves to others.

And how are mamis of color movements resourced?

501c3′s are not the only way we seek/need resources or want to be resourced as. We are more than charity cases, communities to be served.

BFP gave an excellent example about how in her hood the only way families, especially Latino families could get services like coats for the winter, was if they fit a certain mold, that is cleaned up and made themselves more presentable, looked deserving of services.

We should not be resourced based on our education but rather on our history of work

Education is a privilege. I personally have two years of college under my belt pero most people won’t even consider me for jobs or my opinion because I had to drop out to take care of my child. Forget the years of experience or how I have personally have helped others get their degrees. Without letters after my name on a piece of paper, I don’t fit in.

We should be resourced in terms of the role we play as part of larger struggles, as part of a continuation of historical lines of struggle.

We should not be tokenized

We should not be expected to compromise our values

We should not feel the need to compartmentalize ourselves

Resourced doesn’t just mean money, it means, especially within the context of online work, linking, citing

we should be resourced by the community, as we are part of the community

How are you resourced vs how you would like to be resourced?

What Do Mami Movements Need?

July 25th, 2009

Cross Posted from la Mamita Mala

100_0149 One of the first spaces I wa in in Detroit was at the Women’s Equity Media Summit. To say that it was an uncomfortable space would be too simple. There was a sense among many of the women of color I was with that we HAD to be there, since many of has had been given some money to help defray our travel costs. We would have been in Detroit anyway for the Allied Media Conference and truth be told we weren’t sure why we had been invited into the WEMS space? What was the mission and what was expected of us radical women of color media makers.

We all conglomerated in one corner of the room, close to the door, forming a protective circle of love and support around each other as other women spilled their female creds on the table, leaving many of us feeling marginalized. What of us who didn’t claim the word woman or the word feminist? What made one a “woman” in that space? Was it being born with a white vagina? Did bringing up these issues make us automatic enemies of the space of chairs and tables that wound around the conference room? What of us who had no interest or desire to be part of a non-profit structure? What of us who didn’t want their money?

What did come out of that space however and many other spaces in the days that followed at the AMC and after, were the gathering of mamis. That’s right, mamis not mommies. I even had to correct the spelling as it was written on butcher paper at the front of the room because for the last almost 12 years (carajo I feel vieja) it has been made clear to me that my experiences are not the ones being blogged about or written about in books. After all it was my mami’hood, with all the sex/gender/race/class/language issues you can pull from that word, that started me seeking others like me through blogging and organizing on the ground.

One of the first exercises I did in my small caucus of three, that included bfp and Noemi, was what do we need in order to do our work, which we translated as what do mami movement’s need. Here is a list of what I came up with:

mami’hood
justicia
not speaking for people
comunidad
multi-lengua’ed
access
accountibility
amor
apoyo
collective
seguridad
multiple points/ways of entry
poesia
arte
sexo
child-inclusive
childcare
sustainability
flexibility

What does your list look like?

VivirLatino Editor la Mala Speaking in Boston Tonite on Mami’Hood

November 13th, 2008

VivirLatino’s own Maegan la Mala is at it again, opening her big Puerto Rican mouth to speak truth and no doubt make someone angry. Tonight I will be in Boston, in an event sponsored by the Center for New Words, speaking about Radical Mami’hood.

Amy Richards & Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz
Radical Mommyhood: A Coversation with Amy Richards and Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz

Thursday, November 13 @ 7:00PM

Arlington St. Church, 351 Boylston St. Entrance, (Corner of Boylston and Arlington), Boston

Join Amy Richards and Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz for a frank conversation on radical mommyhood—how making the decision to have a child impacts who we are and who we want to be (as women, feminists, anti-racists, and artists). We’ll chat about the intersections of feminism and motherhood and how race and class in particular, play an important role in how motherhood is encountered, seen, and experienced.

Amy Richards is the author of Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself, and the co-author of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future and Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism (both with Jennifer Baumgardner). She is co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation and the feminist speakers bureau Soapbox. She lives in New York City with her family.

Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz is a radical Nuyorican mami, blogger, poeta, and freelance writer. La Mala is currently co-Editor of one of the top U.S. Latino blogs, VivirLatino. She is also a contributor on Anti-Racist Parent. Her words , blogging, and opinions have been featured at the Washington Post, The Huffington Post, NPR, and Latina Magazine. Check her out at: http://mamitamala.com/.

It should get interesting….