juan felipe herrera; buddy collette; save the peaks
Three events that I want to share from last week:
1. Juan Felipe Herrera at South Pasadena Library
Author Juan Felipe Herrera gave a beautiful talk in which he communicated a complex, radical analysis of Chican@ identity, borderspace, and immigrant experience, on multiple registers that simultaneously addressed young children, adolescents, and adults. Using sharp wit, linguistic humor, and a cheeky, rasquache-style performativity, Herrera had the audience of all ages and ethnicities rolling with laughter and connecting on some difficult issues. Afterward, Sesshu Foster introduced me to Herrera, and he graciously gave me a signed copy of his fantastic new book, 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border, published by City Lights Press. The book is thick, and it collects tons of his writings over the past 35 years or so. As Sesshu noted, though, this is only a tiny sampling of the voluminous work that the prolific Herrera has published during this period. According to Herrera, another collection is forthcoming soon. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any recording devices to this, so no audio or photographs. Read the book, and if you have the opportunity, go see Herrera read his work.
1. Juan Felipe Herrera at South Pasadena Library
Author Juan Felipe Herrera gave a beautiful talk in which he communicated a complex, radical analysis of Chican@ identity, borderspace, and immigrant experience, on multiple registers that simultaneously addressed young children, adolescents, and adults. Using sharp wit, linguistic humor, and a cheeky, rasquache-style performativity, Herrera had the audience of all ages and ethnicities rolling with laughter and connecting on some difficult issues. Afterward, Sesshu Foster introduced me to Herrera, and he graciously gave me a signed copy of his fantastic new book, 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border, published by City Lights Press. The book is thick, and it collects tons of his writings over the past 35 years or so. As Sesshu noted, though, this is only a tiny sampling of the voluminous work that the prolific Herrera has published during this period. According to Herrera, another collection is forthcoming soon. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any recording devices to this, so no audio or photographs. Read the book, and if you have the opportunity, go see Herrera read his work.
2. Buddy Collette at the Southern California Library
Legendary jazz musician and composer Buddy Collette shared stories about his work with Charles Mingus and others, segregated musician unions, and integration of the L.A. Symphony, at this talk on Saturday. Afterward, a small jazz combo of Collette’s friends played a few standards with the precision, wit, and grace of true pros.
An audio recording of Collette’s talk can be heard by clicking here. [mp3; 19:21; 17.7 mb]
Legendary jazz musician and composer Buddy Collette shared stories about his work with Charles Mingus and others, segregated musician unions, and integration of the L.A. Symphony, at this talk on Saturday. Afterward, a small jazz combo of Collette’s friends played a few standards with the precision, wit, and grace of true pros.
An audio recording of Collette’s talk can be heard by clicking here. [mp3; 19:21; 17.7 mb]
3. Save the Peaks panel discussion at Self-Help Graphics
Saturday night at Self-Help Graphics, a distinguished panel of Native American activists and organizers spoke about the efforts by developers to expand recreational skiing facilities on the sacred San Francisco peaks in Arizona, and their current 9th District Court appeal in Pasadena (happening today) to overturn a previous ruling in favor of the Save the Peaks Coalition. The panel, made up almost entirely of women who ranged all ages from adolescents to elders, eloquently and forcefully addressed issues of neocolonial globalization, global warming and pollution, sustainability and consumption, and local organizing efforts toward sovereignty and global transnational solidarity, among many other topics.
An audio recording of the panel discussion and Q&A session can be heard by clicking here. [mp3; 01:28’29; 81 mb]
Saturday night at Self-Help Graphics, a distinguished panel of Native American activists and organizers spoke about the efforts by developers to expand recreational skiing facilities on the sacred San Francisco peaks in Arizona, and their current 9th District Court appeal in Pasadena (happening today) to overturn a previous ruling in favor of the Save the Peaks Coalition. The panel, made up almost entirely of women who ranged all ages from adolescents to elders, eloquently and forcefully addressed issues of neocolonial globalization, global warming and pollution, sustainability and consumption, and local organizing efforts toward sovereignty and global transnational solidarity, among many other topics.
An audio recording of the panel discussion and Q&A session can be heard by clicking here. [mp3; 01:28’29; 81 mb]
posted by kualyque at 16:15
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