“Where do you work to look at animals and hug them?

Photo by Erika Andrade

El Abrazoo”

And another for consolation:

“What did the corn tortilla tell the wheat tortilla?

No te agüites”

One usually doesn’t attend a poetry reading expecting to hear jokes— unless you’re coming to hear Javier O. Huerta, that is.

Huerta’s jest transforms into “authentic wit” in his poetry, as Stalina Villareal, faculty scholar intern at Houston Community College-Southeast and Huerta-joke-impersonator said when introducing the poet to a filled Angela Morales Lecture Hall one Monday evening in September.

Huerta is the author of Some Clarifications y otros poemas, a poetry collection published in 2007 by Arte Público Press and 31^st Chicano/Latino Literary Prize winner. His forthcoming title, American Copia, is to be published April 30, 2012 by the same press.

Huerta is currently working on his doctorate in English at the University of California, Berkeley and received his Creative Writing MFA from the Bilingual Program at The University of Texas at El Paso. He is a native of Nuevo Laredo but considers Houston his second home. He is an alumnus of the University of Houston and Houston Community College-Southeast.

“Houston is where my family is,” Huerta said, describing his presentation as a “homecoming.”

Huerta’s apparent simple jokes reflect the straightforwardly smart writing style in Some Clarifications y otros poemas. The combination of two languages to create a pun shows his appreciation and acrobatics with words, which he uses to create a bigger message in his poetry.

“Jokes are similar to poems in their structure, in the surprise factor,” he said. “A joke ends with laughter or an ‘I get it’. A joke closes at the end. There’s a start in a poem’s end.  A good poem should open to other interpretations.”

The mixture of languages in his writing also reflects Huerta’s intention to join the Chicano Literature tradition. In his 43 poem collection for example, half of the poems are in Spanish. Huerta teaches a course at UC Berkley called “Documents and Literature of the Undocumented” which focuses on writers who were, or choose to write about undocumented immigrants. Though he has been a naturalized citizen since 2000, Huerta first crossed the U.S. border undocumented at 8-years old.

“I still feel part of the immigration community,” he said.

His collection acknowledges moments in immigrants’ lives with poems like “Coyote,” “El indocumentado le canta a México,” “amnesty,” and “Blasphemous Elegy for May 14 2003,” in which he pays respects to the immigrants that asphyxiated to death in a tractor-trailer in Victoria.

Huerta knew he wanted to write when he took creative writing courses in his mid twenties at UH. Before then, the closest he came to creative writing was when crafting corridos when he was young and raps in high school.

He attributes his time earning his MFA at UTEP as the turning point in his writing career, where he surrendered himself to the writer’s life and met friends from other cultures who spoke different “Spanishes,” which led him to further appreciate language and cultures.

“MFA programs are increasing. I think Chicanos and Latinos are being part of that,” said Huerta. “There are more poets writing today, more voices, and many experiences.”

As opposed to many emerging writers, who have an anxiety to find their voice, Huerta describes his work in Some Clarifications as an imitation of greater poets. He finds readers usually admire a writer’s work, rather than the writer himself, and in this collection he chose to borrow the forms of his favorite poets. Through writing he hopes readers will have a connection to his work and seeks recognition from established writers.

“I want non-poets to get the same feeling I get when I read poets that I admire. I would hope that poets that come later, a younger generation, will find something in my work,” Huerta said. “I want the respect of other poets, my classmates; the respect of older established poets.”

Huerta’s advice to writers or one who is thinking of pursuing a writing career is to focus on short-term goals, meet them and keep long-term goals in mind. Writers should know that one failed project could lead to a successful but that there will be rejection.

“You have to promote your own work,” he said. “Don’t reject yourself and find people to believe in you. You can’t do it on your own.”

Huerta is community oriented and is opposed to the notion that a writer must be a loner.

“Writing requires a community,” he said, “it requires trust to share your work.”

Where are Huerta’s short-term goals leading him? He is revising his upcoming book American Copia, which his author biography claims would be his “epic masterpiece.”

“Is it?” he responded with a laugh. “I don’t think that is attainable in this life and age.”

The book was born from the sentence he wrote to obtain his citizenship: “Today I’m going to the grocery store.”

Basing himself on the tradition of the epic poem to catalog, and the premise that there are an “abundant number of ways of expressing an idea,” Huerta compiled his grocery store experiences, added his friends’ and family’s and made up the rest. The style of American Copia will differ from his first poetry collection, though he still considers all he writes poetry.

“My first book is tight, the images are direct,” Huerta said. “American Copia is more loose, it takes time to wander…and space to explore.”

Ampudia listens with interest as Casarez explains details in the Anthony Graves case Photo by: Erika Andrade

If you want to commit a murder make sure you are white, have a fat wallet for a good legal defense and kill a person of color, recommended David R. Dow, the moderator of Black, Brown and Invisible: Minorities on Death Row, a roundtable discussion about the death penalty at University of St Thomas on Sep 22.

“80 percent of the people who are put to death in the United States are put to death for killing a white person,” said Dow, law professor at the University of Houston, death row attorney and founder of the Texas Innocence Network, “Of the last 30 defendants who have faced the death penalty in Harris County, 27 of the defendants have been people of color. Three of them white.”

On Wednesday, Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer were executed 4 hours apart from each other; Davis in Georgia and Brewer in Texas.

“When Brewer was executed, he became the third white death row inmate in Texas who was executed for killing a black person, the second was Lee Taylor and the first is Larry Hayes,” Dow said.

According to Amnesty International, “the majority of death row defendants have been executed for killing white victims, although African-Americans make up about half of all homicide victims.”  Their data shows that since 1976, 77 percent of homicide victims were white, 15 percent African-American, 6 percent Hispanic and 2 percent other.

Roundtable participants, Ricardo Ampudia, author of “Mexicans on Death Row”; Scott J. Atlas, attorney and former lead counsel in the death penalty case for Ricardo Aldape Guerra; and Nicole Casarez, law professor at the University of St. Thomas, attorney and former lead counsel for Anthony Graves’ death penalty case agreed racial bias influences death penalty convictions.

The panel first focused on the international impact of the Ricardo Aldape Guerra case, a Mexican national wrongfully sentenced to death for the murder of a Harris County police officer in 1982. Evidence surfacing when Scott Atlas came to his defense in 1992, demonstrated that police intimidation and prosecutorial misconduct in the original trial caused the jury to convict Aldape based on his illegal immigration status.

“(The case) represented a clear example of how, through errors in legal proceedings, there exists the possibility of innocent people being executed,” Ampudia said.

Only through the involvement of then former Mexican Consulate and Atlas did the Harris County district attorney’s office ask the state court to dismiss the charges against Aldape in 1997, 14 years after being incarcerated.

“Aldape provided the humanistic profile of a fact that many perceive exclusively as a difference of opinion,” Ampudia said.

The panelists presented the case of Anthony Graves as another example of the racial flaws in death penalty convictions.  Graves had been convicted of killing a 45-year-old mother, her 16-year-old daughter and four children under the ages of 9. Though Anthony always proclaimed his innocence, “his case is a little bit different because Anthony is African-American, and his victims or the victims of the crime were also African-Americans,” Casarez said.

Atlas explains his involvement in the Ricardo Aldape Case Photo by: Erika Andrade

Based on the lack of evidence against Graves and the key witness recanting, Casarez was successful in obtaining a reversal of his conviction in 2006.  Casarez said, “I thought Anthony was going home. Texas decided it would re-prosecute Anthony based on the same old terrible evidence.“

Casarez continually referred to the similarities between Graves’ case and Davis’ execution, despite his claims of innocence and several witnesses having recanted their testimony. “It was a miracle, an absolute miracle that it came out right and that’s scary,” she said about the Graves case.

Graves was finally released in October 2010, after being declared an innocent man and spending 18 years in jail. Casarez fought persistently to get the state to compensate Graves and help him reintegrate into society.

The statistics and exonerations show the system is flawed and based more on the race of the victim than the heinousness of the crime.   Based on these facts, more thought needs to be put into how the United States proceeds with capital punishment.

“There are serious violations of the human rights of persons facing the possibility of being executed for having committed a crime that our society has judged to be ‘serious’” Ampudia said, “Do you really feel that the harm done by a criminal, whatever the seriousness of the crime, is remedied by executing him or her inside the death chamber?”

Article written by: Ruth Muñoz and Erika Andrade

Con una sonrisa pícara, Ampudia contesta la pregunta de un miembro de la audiencia. Foto: Erika Andrade

Después de asistir el jueves 22 de septiembre a la presentación Black, Brown and Invisible: Minorities on Death Row, una discusión sobre las minorías bajo la pena de muerte, tuve la oportunidad de entrevistar brevemente a Ricardo Ampudia, periodista, diplomático y ex cónsul general de México aquí en Houston.

Ampudia, autor del libro Mexicanos al grito de muerte, acaba de publicar la traducción de este título en inglés como Mexicans On Death Row. Con el apoyo de Arte Público Press, la Universidad de Houston, St. Thomas University, Texas Innocence Network y Houston Art’s Alliance, Ampudia y otros tres panelistas señalaron los defectos del sistema de pena capital en los Estados Unidos.

Los panelistas reconocieron que muchos países en desarrollo no implementan la pena de muerte por falta de fondos para mantener a los convictos mientras esperan su ejecución. Muchos de los países que aún implementan la pena de muerte tienen un gobierno totalitario, lo cual hace irónico que una democracia como los Estados Unidos aún sostenga esta práctica.

La presentación atrajo a personas de diferentes edades, razas y nacionalidades.  La audiencia se mostró seria pero receptiva y respetuosa a las opiniones tanto de Ampudia como a las de los otros panelistas.

Ampudia es reconocido por el cónsul general de México, Dr. Luis Malpica y de La Madrid. Foto: Erika Andrade

Ampudia fue reconocido por el Instituto Mexicano (Mexican Institute of Greater Houston) por ser un miembro fundador del Instituto Cultural Mexicano de Houston (Mexican Cultural Institute of Houston) en 1991.  A continuación se presentan las preguntas que le hice al licenciado Ampudia y sus respuestas, un tanto parafraseadas pero sin afectar el significado original de sus palabras:

1ra pregunta: En su libro, Mexicans on Death Row, usted presenta una cara humana en el caso de Ricardo Aldape Guerra, un tema que sólo parece ser controversial por la polaridad de opiniones públicas. ¿Qué efecto tuvo su participación en el caso de Ricardo Aldape en su opinión sobre la pena de muerte?

Ricardo Ampudia: El caso de Aldape es un ejemplo de como un sistema judicial puede fallar. El era inocente, condenado sólo por buscar a un responsable. Su caso demuestra como un ciudadano estadounidense como Scott Atlas pudo defender a un ilegal acusado por asesinar a un policía.

2da pregunta: Usted escribió este libro no para cambiar la opinión de sus lectores, sino para proveerles  figuras, hechos e información para que puedan llegar a una mejor conclusión sobre el sistema penal. ¿Usted cree que algún día la pena se revocará en los países que aún la implementan?

Ricardo Ampudia: Poco a poco se está aboliendo la pena de muerte. La pena de muerte no baja la criminalidad en esos países que la implementan. La pena no le va a quitar el impulso criminal a un homicida.

3ra Pregunta: México prohibió la pena de muerte por completo en el 2005. Muchos gobiernos practican la pena de muerte durante la guerra para proteger a su país. Usted mencionó en su presentación que la mayor razón por la que escribió y tradujo este libro fue para señalar el error irrevocable que sería re-implementar la práctica en México, aún en el caos que está causando el crimen organizado en ese país. ¿Cuál cree usted que sería el método más efectivo para combatir el desorden en México?

Ricardo Ampudia: La pena de muerte no sería eficaz para controlar el crimen organizado en México: por cada “drug lord” (capo de drogas) hay cinco bajo su liderazgo. Aunque mates al jefe, siguen existiendo y creciendo los otros carteles. El problema se pudiera resolver con un sistema más eficaz de seguridad en el país y culturizando al pueblo mexicano.

4ta Pregunta: ¿Cómo se pueden mejorar las relaciones entre Estados Unidos, México y los ciudadanos de ambos países?

Ricardo Ampudia: La relación entre los dos países debería ser multi-temática e inter-regional. México no se debe tratar solo por un tema en la agenda: no se debe tratar solo por el narcotráfico. Los Estados Unidos no debería dejar que una parte de la agenda ensucie los demás. Los dos países deberían ser vecinos que se complementan, al igual que los habitantes que viven al borde de los 30,000 km de sus fronteras. Estos ciudadanos mutuamente se prestan, adoptan e influyen las costumbres en ambos lados de la frontera.

Para obtener más información sobre Mexicans on Death Row y obtener una copia del libro visite la página de Arte Público Press aquí:

http://www.latinoteca.com/code/artePublicoPress/Publications/showBookDetails?code=5489.

Yes, sometimes we want to go back and wrap ourselves in the comfort of childhood. When our smiles and laughs were more sincere than cynical. When you would wake up in the middle of the night to your parents’ arguments in the living room, and you’d have no choice but to poke your sleepyhead out the door, because watching meant you could intervene if you had to. You knew your power as a child.

When you turned 10, or maybe it was as late as 13, you realized the beauty of becoming an adult. You discovered individuality outside family.  You practiced mathematics with your parents’ flaws. It was incredible how easy they multiplied. You applied world history terms at home—those tyrants. You found hobbies to keep you busy, struggling for identity outside home.

You went to college, sniffing the environment and letting your lungs fill with freedom. Here was your chance to be independent and irresponsible for once, to try your skills as a chemist and experiment. Here was the time for self-absorption and discovery.

I can honestly say I’ve always had issues defining “family.” The word usually triggers the smothering sensation of a scarf wrapped around too tightly. Family is an entity much stronger than government: we can’t escape being members and, once in, we must contribute to its prosperity and survival or watch our own blood disperse.

Just as we resent some scenes in which our parents were the villains, every good kid has also hurt their parents. We don’t realize this growing up; we spend much of our teenage mediocre wisdom accusing our parents of being too strict, too old-fashioned, or too demanding. I’m not saying there are not careless parents; I’m saying we should come to appreciate good ones.

After dating I hope you have learned how relationships work, and how much work it takes to sustain them.

The custom of building families is ancient. Despite shift in lifestyles, traditions and mindsets, it appears having a family is the ultimate purpose of our existence. Or is it?

After growing up within a dysfunctional family, many people my age, including me, shrink at the thought of becoming parents, and I suspect it is for fear of “screwing up” someone mentally.

We are young and uncertain, but self-conscious. Because we want to avoid the drama played out by our own parents, we are likely to choose our partner wisely.

Although we are outgrowing sexist customs from the age of Pancho Villa, there are still double standards in older generations that hinder a happy marriage and that doubtlessly were the cause of midnight arguments.

With dating experience, I hope you have learned to discard someone who degrades or mistreats you before jumping into anything more serious, like marriage.  Never go back to a person who does not believe in Saint Monogamy. Please use protection if you practice polygamy. Children deserve stable families.

We can’t escape our biological family, but we can definitely choose with whom, when and if we will create our own. Instead of being resentful, we should appreciate our parents’ attempts to stay together for us kids, despite their differences. After all, not all our comrades were as fortunate to grow up with two parents.

Photo by: Erika Andrade/Xpozure

Assignment: (Erika Andrade) Norman Rockwell took photos to makes his iconic paintings. Let’s do the opposite and recreate a painting, artwork, or iconic photo.

Remember the time when going through the family photo album was a private and personal experience?  Before the big leap in digital photography or social networking, when the only people that could see your baby pictures were those who came into your house and, after much defeated resistance, dating partners?

Yes, I am sure you remember. And I am sure we still keep some personal things private, like our social security number and our blood type, but social networking has unquestionably impacted our culture.

I am not going to defend or condemn the creation of social networks because that argument is null and void since those babies are full grown. I am more interested in the effect having an account has on a person.

First, social networks breed addicts. We know who we are. We know that under cleaning, browsing Facebook is the second best form of procrastination on the list, and justify the need to “know what’s going on in my friend’s life” as a legitimate reason to be logged on instead of studying for a test:  Because who knows what we did before the invention of Facebook to update ourselves on other’s lives; we might have only cared for those closest to us and given them a call, but oh, goodness save us from such un-philanthropic nature!

And who here does not think, “That would make a good update” while flipping thoughts through your head—admit it, you do! If not think it, you just grab your phone and update it.

Second, social networks have made us either open, or indiscreet, depending on your view. Alongside the addiction, there’s an anxious need to want to post everything online because “friends might be interested.” Yes, we know of that one person who went to the doctor and of the graphic, unnecessary details of the operation because a) he’s either a very good writer, or b) he posted the picture.

We know who let the dogs out, the cat in, broke the blender, and cheated on his girlfriend. And maybe that’s what keeps us hooked? What of those who use their profile as a place to broadcast confessions? Yes, no need to go to church on Sundays because sins are now admitted through the Facebook wall. And who needs hours talking in therapy; when one can just non-aggressively, self-defeatedly vent with acronyms such as “FML” online?

Three, social networks have made entertainers and advertisers of individuals. All members do it, consciously or subconsciously: we try to put our best show forth, because these pictures are going to be seen by my 800+ friends. Really, what’s the point of taking a picture of oneself having fun if there’s not going to be an audience to appreciate the happiness?

If anything, social networks are the internet version of reality television. Common folk are making videos; posing like models; publishing blogs just like the big guys. And this is a big opportunity, if the material put out is of some quality. But we know many times it is not. But for every artist there is a fan, and who am I to say what is worthy or not?

Four, social networks have made us more tolerant, or disillusioned, depending on your view. These are real people with real feelings you are stalking, excuse me, browsing, so it is obvious that you will not judge them as harshly as say, celebrities or politicians, who are public figures. Sometimes, no matter how offensive the quote or distasteful the picture, you realize this is his Facebook or MySpace and as long as Tom or Mark allow it, so must you. Or, you stare, question, and cry for the apparent pitfall of humanity.  “The internet equals pornography” a friend told me, referring to the way people portray and sell themselves on their profiles.

While you may still drip in nostalgia while right clicking your mouse instead of turning the page of your photo album, it is evident that social networks have effects further than the web and influence our life and culture. While most of us are not exposing ourselves like porn stars on our pictures, I think it is wise to watch our reputation and not let our internet fame ruin our private careers.

We must remember there is a life to live outside of social networks, and that all must not be told; despite the fad, we have a right to remain private.

Karina at Houton Ballet practice photo by: Amitava Sakar

Everyone watched. Her tutu bounced to the rhythm of her tip-toed dance. She could not hear the music over her own heart-pounding but carried on the performance because she had memorized the steps. She could not make out her family in the crowd, but she knew they were present. She let go within herself and danced.

Karina González, soloist dancer for the Houston Ballet started her career at 7 years old when her first performance in front of an audience confirmed her calling.

“I loved the feeling of being onstage,” she said, and from that moment she has continued to develop and excel in her career.

González’ latest debut was in Marie Antoinette which she performed for the first time since joining the Houston Ballet in 2010. She related her experience with this performance.

“Almost all the dancers know and feel familiar with the ballet, so as a new member it was challenging to learn and try to fit in with them,” she said.

Despite the technical setbacks, she enjoyed watching “how the principal character develops her role,” she said. “It is very artistically demanding so I feel lucky to be next to such great artists.”

González was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Prior to her move to Houston, she trained at the Gustavo Franklin Ballet School in Caracas, dancing professionally with Ballet National of Caracas and Tulsa Ballet Theater in Oklahoma, where she reached the rank of principal—the highest position within a professional dance company—in 2007.

She is a silver medal winner of the New York International Ballet Competition. González has danced principal roles in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Andre Prokovsy’s The Great Gatsby, as well as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and The Sleeping Beauty.

González’ favorite role has been Juliet in Romeo and Juliet because she could relate to the character and transferred the feelings to the audience in her performance.

“The most challenging aspect for me is to get a role that feels natural and makes the audience feel what I am feeling at that moment,” she said about leading a career in dance.

Karina Gonzalez and Robert Arold in rehearsal Photo By:Amitava Sarkar

Heavily technical roles are also a challenge. Her role as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, for example.

“The role is one of the most technically demanding classical ballets; you need to be vulnerable and evil…Technically it is difficult from beginning to end, so I think it would be one of the most difficult roles that I have done,” she said.

González prepares and gets into her roles through rehearsal, coaching and effort. The same elements contribute to her success, plus a little bit of luck.

“I will say what got me here today is working hard, the teachers and coaches that believed in me, giving me many opportunities along the way, and being in the right place at the right time,” she said.

To relax after rehearsals and performances, González likes to sleep, talk to her family back home, listen to Spanish music, watch TV and go to the movie theater. As a dancer who has performed abroad, González does not feel a difference in spectators’ response.

“I really believe that if you do your best and give a good show the audience will enjoy it wherever you are,” she said.

www.houstonballet.org for ticket info.

The break between graduation and finding that higher-paying job has allowed me to sow buttons, rearrange my room, practice my photography, socialize with friends, take a road trip, cook for myself, rediscover the iron, lose the dark circles under my eyes, laugh at Mexican soap operas but also frown in utter confusion at my future.

My biggest mistake prior to graduation was not having a plan after the ceremony. I set a goal to graduate within four years or I would be an utter failure to myself— how, why, don’t ask.

I only changed my major once—from print journalism to creative writing—in my transition from San Jacinto College to UH. You may imagine my anxiety at possibly delaying graduation to “find myself”.

I always enjoyed writing, and I realized that to be a journalist you must be a reporter first, which (don’t tell potential employers) I am not. However, to my surprise, making up people is also a challenge, though much less intimidating than talking to real aggressive ones. So I am currently in the limbo of being stuck between fiction and reality.

Maybe it was a rash decision only to finish on time, but I can honestly say my last two years of undergraduate study were by far more enjoyable and less draining than my initial two. I figured out what I was doing the last semester of college, and by then it was time to jump into the work force as a “professional” – another period of identity crisis I hope to decipher soon (though it would sadly eliminate 50 percent of my writing prompts).

I had my suppressed suspicions which I am confirming presently and should emphasize – a liberal arts degree will not land you a job right out of college. No particular degree will actually, and that is the reason why your job search should be aimed at your interests and skills rather than your degree, though they usually are related. You are mostly likely to persuade employers to hire you and be motivated to start working if you are interested in the position rather than pointing at your degree to justify why you applied.

I was one to visit the University Career Services counselors both when changing my major and job searching. Both instances have been helpful, so if you are confused or job hunting, you should definitely pay them a visit at www.career.uh.edu and then in person. The counselors made it clear that you should not feel constrained when choosing a major or a job, since you are unlikely to stick with the same interests for the rest of your life.

Being in limbo between practical and imaginative is a good thing because employers in many areas look for people who can function in both realms, which most of us are capable of doing, though we lean one-sidedly.

The trap I fell into while job browsing was comparing qualifications and responsibilities with my writing experience in the classroom. Eventually we have to turn from our academic mentality and switch to hands-on experience.

Beware about the time you take to relax after graduation; lack of productive activity can lead to lack of motivation. If that dream job seems to still be in the fantastic world, get your hands muddy with some internship experience while earning money from a part-time job. After some frustration, I landed an internship with Arte Público Press which I am looking forward to, not only because it will increase my productivity but expose me to books, authors and the publishing industry thus increasing my knowledge in an area related to my degree and career goals.

While you intern and before applying for positions, perform informational interviews to ensure you will love in practice what you do in theory. Take your bachelor’s job experience to decide whether your master’s will be related or not. Most importantly, measure success in your personal terms; you will feel more at ease with your decisions.