If we do not recognize our humanity in others, we shall not recognize it in ourselves.
~Carlos Fuentes
Recently I have been identified as being diplomatic and idealistic, two adjectives that I would not have chosen for myself. I suppose I continue to have the same self-image I’ve had for some time, without taking into consideration the development my identity has experienced. Identity has always been an intriguing subject. The multicultural identity is fascinating and often overlooked. Why? Perhaps it is a misunderstanding? Perhaps it is easier to understand a clearer, more black and white definition? Or perhaps I am attempting to intellectualize a subject that cannot be understood completely through the intellect and better through instinctive knowledge. So, yes, I suppose that the desire to share the sensitive and cultural experiences of diverse people in a tactful and exploratory manner, with the goal to collectively appreciate all sundry cultures, would then make me an emissary with a tendency to experience life in the pursuance of the ideal global community.
A multicultural identity should be positively recognized, should be appreciated, and should not be denied. Earth is old enough, approximately 4.55 billion years old, and populated extensively, that ethnicities have intermixed and multicultural groups have evolved. Denying their identity and obligating such groups to choose one cultural over another could only cause harm, and has.
Saturday evening I attended the screening of a 1980s documentary, “…and the dead shall rise” produced by Carlos Aceves and Gabriel S. Gaytan from El Paso, Texas. Through film, these activists shared the effort of many Chicano activists in reconnecting with their indigenous ancestors and identity. They focused the film on the affirmations of an 80 year old native leader, Rafael Guerrero, a Yaqui veteran of the Mexican Revolution. Don Rafael prophesied the rebirth of the lost indigenous heritage and traditions in the native communities of the American Southwest and south through the Americas. Indeed, the native dead would rise to give light to the indigenous identity of Aztlán. This declaration would be among his last dying words.
There were two impressions that have stayed with me since viewing this film. First, I was taken back to one of my graduate classes on Chicano literature and the anger I sensed from reading various Chicano poets and writers. I distinctly remember one author, Richard Rodriguez, and his first book, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, and how disturbing it was to read it. Disturbing in its claim that in order be a successful and contributing member of society, a bicultural individual is required to reject one of his cultural identities. The progression of choosing the prominent identity and denying the existence of any other lesser cultural identity is difficult and harmful but must be done, so claims Rodriguez. Eliminate culture, eliminate language, and eliminate history to fully prosper and succeed in another. Furthermore, Rodriguez goes on to claim that it is the parents’ responsibility to select the superior cultural identity for the children in order to spare them the anguish of a multicultural identity. Troubling, to say the least. I cannot accept that a multicultural identity is in any way harmful, less successful, or insignificant as a single cultural identity. In fact, I contend that a multicultural identity has an advantage over other single identities in that it can facilitate the liberated movement between the various cultures without shock, awkward adjustment, or living with that foreign feeling.
Subsequently, a disquieting belief was repeatedly voiced after the viewing of the film, by some panel and audience members. Again, I sensed anger and hatred. The fact that the white man invaded the Americas and raped the native women, giving life to our present day, had a negative resounding torment. A collective pain that made me uncomfortable and defensive. I certainly do not consent to, nor have forgotten, the merciless atrocities and inhumane treatment the native people received from the white man upon their encounter. However, to deny some of us that we are the product of that rape and ask us to repudiate our true multicultural heritage and compel us to choose a somehow better cultural ancestor is just as painful. I advocate for the understanding, the appreciation, and positive mestizaje culture that most of us share today. We have the joy and advantage of being one with many. I can identify with the indigenous as I can with the white man. I can connect with the traditions of the indigenous as I can with those of the white man. And I can certainly communicate with the indigenous as I can with the white man. Anger, I have none. Pain, I have none. Fear, I have none.
I came into foreign language teaching by way of need. As a graduate student working on a Master’s degree in Spanish literature & linguistics, I was awarded an assistantship that necessitated the teaching of Spanish 101, 102, and their accompanied labs. Hijole! Not in my plans. To stand in front of a class, full of mostly freshmen, and teach Spanish vocabulary and grammar to students that were only there because of a degree requirement, talk about hazing! However, I needed the funds to continue my plan. That was, to become a feminist writer, living a single’s life back in Mexico, and giving the Mexican male traditionalist an earful. Ha! If you know me, you know that I have a wonderful partner and we have five stimulating children. I write, however I write to share my culturist views.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed my teaching assistantship. The graduate mentor and director of our group of TAs was phenomenal, Dr. Richard Curry. I am certain he continues to be a unique treasure for the Department of Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M University. Dr. Curry had an intuitive way of knowing each of our diverse personalities and talents and used this knowledge to guide and instruct us in our teaching. He made me realize that although teaching was not in my future’s reality, it lending itself to what was on my agenda. He had my modus operandi pegged. My agenda and manner of working was, and continues to be, the sharing of cultural experiences in order to promote the appreciation of diverse cultures, ethnicities, races, and genders. A cultural experience is not void of the culture’s language(s) and learning a foreign language does not only require the memorization of vocabulary and grammar, most importantly, it requires the experience of the people giving the language life. Hence the ability to teach a foreign language demands a sharing of its culture(s). A quick shout out to Dr. Curry and a caluroso agradecimiento.
Herewith, I will share a cultural experience with you and invite you to join me.
Last weekend I attended a cultural workshop with an intriguing title, Taino 101: History, Myth & Reality. Sponsored by the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center and presented by the center’s director, Dr. Ana María Tekina-eirú Maynard. Tekina-eirú is a blood descendant of the native Tainos from the island Boriken, known as Puerto Rico. She has devoted her energies to sharing her Taino heritage & culture with the Austin community, Central Texas, nationally, and abroad. Together with her Boriken pueblo, she has worked to change the perception that the Tainos did not survive the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Through the 2010 Census the Tainos have made a strong effort to be counted as surviving indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere.
Taino heritage and descendants have grown to an identified 61% Puerto Rican population, and many more unknown, with the sharing of the Taino reality. Since 1992, El Concilio Taíno Guatu-Ma-cu A Borikén, a 501c3, has been working to “bring awareness and increase public knowledge of the Taíno people through education and the restoration and sharing of our culture.” Reviving of the Taino consciousness in Puerto Rico and abroad has given many the opportunity to recognize their roots, to take pleasure in the wondrous traditions passed down through generations, and to return into the Cordillera Central mountains of the island and experience the ceremonial grounds and petroglyphs in mountain caves. To others, El Concilio Taino’s mission gifts the opportunity to share in this indigenous experience and connection between us.
Saturday, August 21, 2010, the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center will again open its doors to the Austin community and share the film premier of “…and the dead shall rise.” A documentary about the efforts of the Chicano Movement to revive the indigenous tradition throughout US communities, “…and the dead shall rise” guides the viewer through the “literal rebirth of practices once thought lost in a remote time.” A panel discussion will follow with the film’s producers, Carlos Aceves and Gabriel S. Gaytán and Dr. Ana María Tekina-eirú Maynard.
 Saturday, August 21, 2010
Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center
701 Tillery Street, Austin, TX 78702
7 PM
FREE!
“La timidez es una condición ajena al corazón, una categoría una dimensión que desemboca en la soledad.” ~Pablo Neruda
 The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís is the children’s book that will take a parent back to the evenings that she shared with her child enjoying a good read. A journey back to the bedtime routine that was shared snuggling and slowing down after a fast-paced day with a book, before kissing her toddler good night. The Dreamer will bring this moment back as it is the book to be shared between parent and child! It will move all that have shared a reading experience with another.
Neftalí is a young, creative, and timid boy coming of age in Chile, having a stern and working-class father, a gentle, loving mother, an older candid brother, and a protective little sister. Neftalí’s imagination is inspired by all his senses, the things he sees, the smells, the sounds. Everything is welcomed into his inner world and lovingly guarded. A finder and gatherer, Neftalí carefully displays all his treasurers in his room. He is a gentle soul that enjoys the world as a marvel and curious place and evades others, especially his father, due to their misperceptions and misguided attempts to pull him out of his dreamy world.
It is possible for a parent to be able to recognize Neftalí in one of their children. Daydreamers, collectors, gatherers, off in their own world, leisurely experiencing its wonders through touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste. It can prove frustrating to a parent in the busy, reality of adulthood. Nevertheless it is during these exasperating moments that we might remind ourselves of the poet within us that is longing to be heard and the poetry that is life, and instead appreciate these moments and that child that has gently reminded us to slow down and enjoy. The Dreamer is the book to start enjoying a shared experience once again with your child.
About the Book
From the time he is a young boy, Neftalí hears the call of a mysterious voice. Even when the neighborhood children taunt him, and when his harsh, authoritarian father ridicules him, and when he doubts himself, Neftalí knows he cannot ignore the call. Under the canopy of the lush rain forest, into the fearsome sea, and through the persistent Chilean rain, he listens and he follows… Combining elements of magical realism and biography, poetry, literary fiction, and sensorial, transporting illustrations, Pam Muñoz and Peter Sís take readers on a rare journey of the heart and imagination.
 Shyness
I scarcely knew, by myself, that I existed,
that I’d be able to be, and go on being.
I was afraid of that, of life itself.
I didn’t want to be seen,
I didn’t want my existence to be known.
I became pallid, thin, and absentminded.
I didn’t want to speak so that nobody
would recognize my voice, I didn’t want
to see so that nobody would see me.
Walking, I pressed myself against the wall
like a shadow slipping away….
~The Poetry of Pablo Neruda
After a full day of collaborative participation and in the spirit of the highly successful ProductCamp Austin, an unconference, I am inspired to join my two companies to strengthen the mission of both and share with a wider audience. I am a culturist, therefore both companies promote and fully support multi-language acquisition and multicultural experiences through the encounter of language and literature, as well as all other forms of art.
But first, a little bit about ProductCamp, it is a participant-centered collaboration in which attendees volunteer to organize, teach, share, present, and moderate the unconference in order to be able to offer itself for FREE to product management and marketing professionals! To boot, the support of valuable and loyal sponsors guarantees a successful day for all involved. This year’s ProductCamp expanded into other professional fields including entrepreneurship, my reason for participating. It is definitely a camp that I recommend should go on every professional’s calendar. The next ProductCamp Austin is scheduled for Saturday, January 15, 2011.
While deciding on ProductCamp sessions in which to participate, a sole thought kept resonating in my mind. This was, to stay true to the company’s mission in communicating meaningfully stories to its audience, clients, and guests. Consequently, to share the missions of Sententia Vera and Dulce Book Shop as one, a new format will bring them into a unified sisterhood.
Now I know what you may be thinking… or questioning. Unified sisters? I’ll be the first to admit that sisterhood can be a little competitive and opposing relationship. I, myself, am sandwiched between two beautiful sisters. Our childhood, although not the norm, was a paradigm of the competitive and opposing nature of sisters. However, as maturity developed and experiences suffered we have become a unified force to consider.
This is where Sententia Vera and Dulce Book Shop have evolved. Two mature and talented sister companies, aware and committed to their unified mission, offering their audiences, customers, and visitors a quality, cultural experience through foreign language, literature, and world art. Visit often, share your experience, and take away a cultured, global appreciation through books, music, and more.
Tune into the New Cultured Experience
Mondays & Wednesdays | Review Days: book, music, film, and cultural event reviewed
Tuesdays & Thursdays | Language, Cultural, & Historical Lesson Days: brief & useful sessions on Spanish language acquisition
Fridays & Saturdays | My Culturist Perspective | Personal experiences & upcoming events
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