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Volume 72, Issue 49,
Friday, October 27, 2006
News Poet honors native ancestors during on-campus reading by CYNTHIA BRUM
With a theme of war, feminism, patriotism and love, renowned Hispanic poet and activist Lorna Dee Cervantes honored her heritage and commented on the future Wednesday at the Architecture Building as she read from her new book, Drive: The First Quarter. Known for her activism and outspokenness about the war in Iraq, Cervantes read from her poem "Ten One Line Poems to America." "America, grief is a many splintered thing / America, don't build me a country to mourn," she read. Cervantes began her reading with the poem, "For My Ancestors Adobed in the Wall of the Santa Barbara Mission," which is about the Chumas, an American Indian tribe from southern California. Evidence of the tribe's existence was discovered in the 1970s during the renovation of a mission. As she read from her poem dedicated to her ancestors, Cervantes shook a replica of a traditional Chumas rattle in the shape of a bird. Cervantes' first book was published in 1991, and although she has only written three volumes of her own poems, her work can be found in many literary books and anthologies. Cervantes also contributes her editing talents to various novels and poetry journals. The presentation included poetry readings by students Yolando Guillermo and Radames Ortiz and UH lecturer Elisa Garza-Leal. The event was hosted by Nuestra Palabra, a Houston Hispanic literary group, and the UH Center for Mexican American Studies. Nuestra Palabra is celebrating nine years in Houston. Tony Diaz, the moderator for the evening, encouraged those in attendance to try their hand at writing. "If you don't sit down and write that poem, it will not get written," Diaz, director and founder of Nuestra Palabra, said. Before Cervantes began her reading, the crowd was serenaded by a mariachi ensemble from the Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts center. The mariachi performers are from area high schools and learned their craft through the MECA center, which has been in Houston for longer than two decades. The event was transmitted live on KPFT-FM, which is the station that broadcasts Nuestra Palabra's show every Tuesday from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Diaz ended the evening by encouraging the audience to support literary arts. "We all owe somebody something," she said. "Somewhere somebody inspired us, gave us a book or called us a writer. And somehow they lead to who we are today." Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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