HispanicNashville.com

Hate crime prevention forum all day at TSU; police, FBI, U.S. attorneys to attend

2012-01-26T05:13:00.001-06:00

Poplar Grove diversity gap prompts zoning change; 18% of FSSD students are Hispanic

2012-01-25T07:16:00.004-06:00

The Franklin Special School District Board voted this month to zone Poplar Grove School, which had previously been open-zoned. The first guiding principle behind the zoning decision was "a reasonable balance related to socio-economic demographics," according to the district's web site.

Poplar Grove is and has been the least diverse school in the district since at least 2004. Diversity goals were set back that were intended to keep Poplar Grove open-zoned. One of the early goals was 50 minority student admissions in the kindergarten class over two years.

In the intervening years, the entire district has probably changed on a number of levels; I noticed from the paper that it has certainly seen an increase in its Hispanic population. The Tennessean reported that in the 2011-2012 school year, 18% of Franklin Special School District students are Hispanic. The number was 9% in 2004.

Poplar Grove, however, has not met diversity goals in the years since then.

Moving away from race due to a Supreme Court decision, according to the Tennessean (the case was Meredith v. Jefferson County, I think), the Board started focusing on low-income student distribution. On that measure, Julie Hubbard reports that Poplar Grove is still the least diverse school in the district, with Poplar Grove's Elementary School being 14% low-income, while Franklin Elementary totals 65%.

The Board saw that gap and called it an "imbalance":

As of September 2011, there were over 50 percentage points between the school with highest number of students on free and reduced lunch and the school with the lowest number. In an effort to correct the impact that an imbalance of socio-economic students brings to schools, the Board turned its focus to developing rezoning scenarios...

The plan ("Scenario 10") will be adopted in stages, to ease the transition. For the 2012-2013 school year, only 7% of the students in the district will be rezoned.

A summary of the plan is available in both English and Spanish.

Cyberchase at Adventure Science Center teaches STEM subjects in both English and Spanish

2012-01-23T22:45:00.002-06:00

Two children watch in wonder at Cyberchase exhibit at Adventure Science Center. Photo by Leslie Rodriguez Photography.

By Javier Rodriguez

On Saturday, January 21 the Adventure Science Center launched a new exhibit called Cyberchase. The exhibit is based on the popular Emmy award-winning PBS KIDS GO! cartoon series and is designed to make math fun. The double positive that this stimulating exhibit offers parents and kids is that it has a fun, STEM-based theme, and the entire exhibit is in English and Spanish.

My wife Leslie and I had the pleasure of touring the exhibit on its opening day, and it’s already an obvious success. Cyberchase was full of kids running around trying all of the different games and puzzles, squealing with delight while they fought off Cyberchase’s villainous character Hacker using math concepts such as place value, algebra, geometry, fractions and probability. Each kid in the room had different degrees of understanding as far as the math is concerned but hey, they were working it out and loving it! Parents were helping kids when they needed it, and the beautiful strength of Cyberchase is that Spanish-speaking parents who don’t have a full command of English can participate too. All of the instructions, storylines and videos have a Spanish translation or Spanish audio option.

English and Spanish signage at Cyberchase.
Photo by Leslie Rodriguez Photography.

This is, of course, a fabulous opportunity for monolingual English parents and children as well. Here, in an environment dedicated to learning-made-fun, kids are not only exposed to math but also to a new language that might possibly wind up being a second (or third, or fourth?) language for them in the future.

The whole Cyberchase experience is based on the acclaimed cartoon, featuring cybersites like Control Central, the Grim Wreaker and Poddleville, all from the show. Cyberchase visitors help the CyberSquad – the show’s heroes – defeat Hacker while “doing” math firsthand. By the end of the visit, kids (and parents!) will have a better understanding of math and more confidence in their mathematical abilities. What better way to encourage a positive attitude toward math among children than to visit Cyberchase where they can use it to protect the virtual universe?

The author, reconstructing Eureeka.
Photo by Leslie Rodriguez Photography.

In eight years of living in this delightful city Leslie and I had never visited the Adventure Science Center, to our detriment. It’s a serious error in judgment, time management or curiosity to live in this city and never go to this wonderful building full of adventures and learning. The center isn’t just for kids – once a month they host a “way late play date” for adults (21+) complete with drink tickets and no children running around. Leslie and I are basically big kids so we fit right in trying out all the exhibits with the kiddos. We highly recommend visiting the new bilingual exhibit (and maybe even working on your own math skills while you help your kids!) and enjoying the rest of what the Adventure Science Center has to offer.

Cyberchase is a temporary exhibit that comes to Nashville via the Children’s Museum of Houston and will be in Nashville until June 3, 2012. Adventure Science Center is located at 800 Fort Negley Blvd. and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $12 for adults; $10 for children ages 2 to 12 and seniors 65+. Certified TN teachers (with active school ID) are free.

Leslie Rodriguez is from Louisville, Kentucky, and Javier Rodriguez is from Punta Arenas, Chile. They love the married life and thought that it would be cool to share some of the things they do, at LosRodriguezLife.com. There, they write about everything from dogs to home improvements to favorite local restaurants. The only consistency throughout their blog is that each post is in two languages – English on the left, Spanish on the right. This is their first post at HispanicNashville.com

R.I.P. Alice Springer, my high school Spanish teacher

2012-01-22T08:48:00.000-06:00

Dr. Alice Springer

Below I have copied and pasted a 2008 tribute I wrote to Dr. Alice Springer, my high school Spanish teacher at Montgomery Bell Academy. At that time, the MBA headmaster had called upon alumni to send in a note of appreciation for Dr. Springer's retirement ceremony. I submitted the tribute by e-mail and was also fortunate to attend the retirement ceremony and congratulate her in person.

A few days ago, on the eve of my departure to South America for work, I learned that Dr. Springer had passed away.

Her memorial service yesterday at Second Presbyterian Church reminded me that I am not the only young man whose life trajectory was moved because of her influence and inspiration. In the eulogy, we heard the story of Taylor Barnett, one of Dr. Springer's former students who uses Spanish in the practice of medicine. As a result, Taylor is able to connect with patients like Rosa, with whom he prayed the Lord's Prayer in Spanish as she faced the birth of a child with Down's Syndrome. Taylor told Rosa "how he had come to speak Spanish, and why he was doing this work" - and Rosa said, in Spanish, "God bless you."

I wish God's blessings over Dr. Springer now that she is in His hands. She made possible so many of my own connections, adventures, and blessings.

Rest in peace.

from: John Lamb
to: Brad Gioia
date: Fri, Jan 11, 2008
subject: tribute to Dr. Springer

So much of my life pivots around Dr. Alice Springer's Spanish classes at MBA. I simply would not have found my wife, my job, and my current place in the community if I had received only a passing knowledge of Spanish at MBA, which of course would be both unthinkable and unacceptable under Dr. Springer.

By directing us to study "religiously," Dr. Springer engaged her students. She sagely warned us that any lesson we missed for lack of study would not as easily be recovered in the future. Her demanding standard was not her only tool, however; Dr. Springer complemented her instruction with a dry wit and exuberant laugh which enriched every classroom experience. Using only three short academic years, Dr. Springer left me connected to the Spanish language forever and enabled me to cultivate precious relationships beyond the English-speaking world.

Dr. Springer's AP exam prep vaulted me into mid-level courses at Texas Christian University, where I devoured the rest of the instruction available to me and ended up with a major in Spanish. I sought after volunteer work with Spanish-speaking constituencies. After college, I moved to Chile for two years, where I picked up not only Chilean slang, but also my Chilean wife. In law school I clerked for the U.S. Immigration Court, and as a practicing attorney I now work directly with my company's Latin American subsidiaries and law firms. I serve on the board of a local Hispanic family advocacy non-profit, and I maintain HispanicNashville.com, an online repository of news related to the Hispanic members of the Nashville community. Our family has attended a Spanish-language church here, and my three-year-old daughter speaks Spanish and English. She asks to visit Chile, where her mother and grandmother were born.

All of the joys I describe above sprang from Dr. Springer's modest Carter Hall classroom, where I first took my seat as a sophomore to tackle a subject about which I knew very little. I consider it muy buena suerte y una muy rica bendición to have been so well taught and so profoundly inspired by the unique, dedicated, and masterful instructor Alice Springer.

TNDP Latino Summit this Saturday to feature Katherine Archuleta, national political director of Obama reelection campaign

2012-01-18T06:39:00.000-06:00

By Miah Castillo

TNDP Latino Summit keynote speaker Katherine Archuleta

The Tennessee Democratic Party is putting on a Latino Summit this Saturday, January 21. Yes, para ti. I quickly understood what a big deal this was after I googled Katherine Archuleta’s name and read her bio. Yeah, she’s the first Latina to hold the position of national political director of a major presidential campaign, but she has also served as the right hand woman to Hilda Solis and Federico Pena. Equally, if not more important, she is the founder of an organization that works on getting more Hispanic voters involved in politics. Increasing civic engagement in our community is crucial, so I am really looking forward to her keynote address.

The TNDP is planning this really nice event to engage and energize the Latino community across Tennessee. This is an opportunity to get more involved in the political process, as Mrs. Archuleta would like you to do. It’s an opportunity to speak up or to listen if that is more your style. It’s an opportunity to tell the Democratic Party what it can do to better represent our community. It’s also an opportunity to hear what we can do as we work for a better life for ourselves and our families. The Latino Summit is an opportunity, don’t miss it!

The Summit will be held this Saturday, January 21, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the United Steelworkers Building, 3340 Perimeter Hill Drive, Nashville, TN, 37211-4154.

The reservation page is here.

Here is the official press release:

Democrats are building a plan to better engage Tennessee’s fast-growing Latino community and they’ve enlisted the help of Katherine Archuleta, the Obama campaign’s National Political Director.

Archuleta, the first Latina to hold that position on a major presidential campaign, will give remarks Jan. 21 in Nashville at the Tennessee Democratic Party’s inaugural Latino Summit.

The summit is the state party’s first step in engaging and energizing Hispanic Tennesseans for the 2012 election season. Members of the Latino and Hispanic community throughout Tennessee are encouraged to attend the free event and offer suggestions for improving community outreach.

Fabian Bedne, the first Latino elected to Metro-Nashville Council, is helping Democrats coordinate the statewide outreach and helped plan the summit.

“The challenges facing Latino Tennesseans and their families are by no means unique; many Tennessee families are working hard to find good jobs, to provide a good education for their children and to make sure their families can see a doctor when they need to,” Bedne said. “However, addressing those issues in Tennessee’s diverse communities may require unique solutions.”

“We hope the summit will be starting place for encouraging more dialogue, engagement and participation in the civic process,” Bedne said. “We’ll only solve the big problems our communities face with more involvement from all our families.”

The Latino population in Tennessee has more than doubled over the last decade, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census.

Ashford Hughes, political director for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said feedback from the summit will be used to craft programs specific to Latinos for voter registration, candidate recruitment and civic empowerment.

Anyone interested in learning more about the TNDP Latino Summit or interested in attending should contact the TNDP by phone at 615-327-9779.

We are fellow Americans, even if the government disagrees; a more intentional use of the word "American"

2012-01-15T09:54:00.000-06:00

Photo by Pen Waggener. Licensed via Creative Commons.

Over the holidays, I read Guy Kawasaki’s book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. As a technical preface, Kawasaki points out that instead of using the words “he/she” or “they” as generic personal pronouns, his practice throughout the book is to use the word “she” when the reference is a positive one. It's to make up for all those years of women being shortchanged in literature.

My advocacy equivalent of Kawasaki's practice is to use the word "American" to describe a person who has lived in the U.S. for a long time, even if she is not a formal U.S. citizen.

If you think about it, we consider people to be Americans, especially those we know personally, when we are aware that they have lived and worked in the U.S. for years. We commonly hold back from calling them "American" if we know they're not formal citizens - even when we believe immigration law unjustly denies them access to citizenship. Some of my readers likely consider themselves American, even if they don't have a visa, green card, or U.S. passport. Their years or even decades in this country are a witness to their American identity.

The reality is that even without permission, people can and do over time become de facto Americans - a status based in reality but not necessarily in law. The government, as is often the case, is slow to adjust to real life.

We as individuals don't have to be slow or willfully ignorant. Updating our collective vocabulary can't make up for all those years of being shortchanged, but both advocacy and accuracy make it appropriate to identify our fellow long-time U.S. residents - and ourselves - with the word, "American."

Related note: I envision that one day the federal government will come around - either as a result of a perpetually available, bankruptcy-type system; or due to a Constitutional amendment like this one:

"All persons having resided in the United States for twenty-one years are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

See also: What Was in My Parents' Souls, by Mack of Coyote Chronicles

Comic: The Optimist

2012-01-13T21:55:00.001-06:00

see more hipster robot webcomics and pixel t-shirts

Gabriela Lira's Nashville story preceded by sunny Santa Monica and a "cheesy pick-up line" that reeled in her Michoacan mother

2012-01-10T02:37:00.000-06:00

Gabriela Lira

Gabriela Lira went to Yale undergrad and got her MBA at Pepperdine ("one of the most beautiful campuses I ever laid my eyes on," she says). Lira, a southern California native, followed her family to Nashville about a year ago. Now a realtor at Village Real Estate, this fairly new Nashvillian told HispanicNashville.com a little bit about her background.

Lira was born and raised in Los Angeles. Spanish was the language spoken at home - and what young Gabriela spoke first:

English is my second language. I learned English at school. At home Spanish was spoken, so that was the language I first learned to read and write. People who know me now don't believe that English is my second language, and Spanish speakers compliment me on my Spanish since I am U.S.-born.

"I come from a big, tight-knit Mexican family," Lira says. Her mother is from the state of Michoacan in Western Mexico, and her father is from the state of Zacatecas, a couple of states to the north. The two met in the U.S. in 1978 "in a grocery store parking lot," according to Lira, "where he used a cheesy pick-up line that somehow worked."

The two had immigrated to the U.S. separately, her mother in 1975, and her father a few years before that. They both came here "in search for better opportunities," Lira tells me. As for her parents' navigation of the immigration bureaucracy:

When they met, my father was a resident. He became a resident because he had a daughter from a previous relationship who was born in the U.S., and back then (I'm guessing) those were sufficient grounds. My mother encouraged him to become a citizen, and she was able to become a resident in 1985 because they married. She remembers this year because it was the year before the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. She became a citizen about 3 years later.

A divorce when Lira was 10 led to her father's return to Mexico in the early 2000's. Her mother and other family members had already relocated to Tennessee by then.

Lira followed them to the Volunteer State last year. The pull to Tennessee was not because of a lack of interest in her home state:

Like most Californians I love the sun, the beach, bike rides on the promenade, and the diversity (both in people and food) that southern California has to offer. I never thought that I would leave Santa Monica. ... I lived nine short blocks away from Ocean Avenue and would wake up every morning to join the cult of Santa Monica runners for a morning jog to the beach. I had a great group of friends, plenty to do, and a blossoming career in luxury real estate. I loved Santa Monica so much that I even decided to stay local for graduate school.

Lira's California resume - in addition to real estate - includes the business of pharmaceuticals, health and wellness. She worked at Pfizer for 7 years, changing jobs after Pepperdine and relocating to San Francisco. Lira was in the City by the Bay when she decided to move to Nashville:

Truth be told, I was missing one huge factor in my life, my family. So after doing a quick SWOT analysis (just kidding) I packed my bags, sold almost everything I owned, and moved across the country to be closer to my family. In hindsight, that was the best decision that I have made in my life thus far. I love the people here, the Southern culture, the scenery, and most certainly being close to my family. I also found a home as a realtor at Village Real Estate Services because my love affair with real estate continues. All in all I am a very blessed lady.

Black Caucus becomes Minority Caucus as Bedne raises profile of Latinos at Metro Council

2012-01-06T06:52:00.000-06:00

Bedne

The 10 members of the Metro Council's Black Caucus have voted to change their name to the Minority Caucus, according to a report in the Nashville City Paper.

The change comes to incorporate the specific concerns of Latino Nashvillians in the caucus, now that Argentina-born District 31 Councilman Fabian Bedne has been elected to the city's representative body.

Caucus president and At-large Councilman Jerry Maynard explained the move:

“Our county’s changed, and we want to reflect that change and diversity. We want the Latino community to know they now have an advocacy group here at the council.”

The full article has more.

Side note: In the comments to the City Paper article, where an anonymous poster flung nonsensical slander at Mr. Bedne, the councilman submitted a diplomatic but unyielding response. If he is going to have to respond to that kind of thing throughout his term, Bedne is already showing he's up to the task.

Faith Family opens Nolensville Road health clinic for working uninsured

2012-01-04T19:59:00.002-06:00

Elizabeth ("Liz") Threlkeld

By Ralph Noyes

For 11 years, Faith Family Medical Clinic has been serving the needs of Nashville's working uninsured, and a new satellite office on Nolensville Road is helping meet demand while also expanding the clinic's customized services for immigrant patients.

In the clinic's original and primary location in a converted house behind Baptist Hospital, Faith Family has a decade-long track record providing income-based healthcare to those who have a job but no insurance. New patients are required to bring only two things: proof of income (usually a recent check stub), and a photo I.D. - nothing more.

Because of the clinic's success and support (annual fundraisers have filled the gymnasium and parking lot at Woodmont Christian Church), new patients have been flocking to the clinic. The high demand, however, has caused logistical problems, including a two-month waiting list. As a result, many would-be patients have decided to look elsewhere. Sick people have been turned away by a sympathetic but simply overwhelmed office staff.

To stem the overflow and at the same time address the particular needs of Hispanics and many immigrant groups, Faith Family recently opened a satellite location on 3016 Nolensville Road. In addition to alleviating the demand on the original location, the new satellite office considers and attempts to alleviate the difficulty for newcomers of finding an affordable doctor with whom they can communicate fluidly and fluently.

“The newly arrived ones have a lot of trouble explaining their problems” says Elizabeth ("Liz") Threlkeld, the satellite clinic’s bilingual nurse practitioner. Older patients, who tend to bring their children in to translate, are often surprised to meet medical professionals who can speak to them and diagnose their problems accurately, without the assistance of a translator.

“Speaking their language promotes a lot of trust between me and my patients," says Liz, who is often asked for by first name. “They tell their families and their friends. It spreads by word of mouth because we treat them well.”

The Faith Family satellite clinic is located at 3016 Nolensville Road and is open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, for patients who work long and variable hours during the week. The clinic's web site is http://www.faithmedical.org ; its Spanish-language page is http://www.faithmedical.org/Informacion_Para_Pacientes_Nuevos

Luci Lampe's Countdown for Kickstarter and New Year

2011-12-21T12:29:00.016-06:00

Photo courtesy Luci Lampe

Story by Cindy McCain

As the world counts down days to Santa and the ball dropping in Times Square, Luci Lampe is counting down the last week of her Kickstarter campaign and a year filled with blessings. She hopes to raise funds to produce new music from which her supporters can reap benefits.

The Peruvian-born pop singer/songwriter’s first video, “Save the World,” won the “Producer’s Choice Award” for Dance Music Video of the Year at the 21st Annual Los Angeles Music Awards. There she was also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year and has received nominations for the 2012 All Indie Music Awards for “Best Latin Artist” and “Best R&B/Soul Artist.”

Luci’s distinctive sound, a mix of Latin, R&B, and funk, is complemented by her signature style—from her creative couture to her inspirational lyrics. The success of her EP “Live it Up” and her debut video is also due to her positive message. For a fresh year, she challenges: “Look yourself in the eyes. It’s time to choose. Be the change you want to see.” She admits: “I am woman. I am willing. I am open. I am empty of excuses.” And, most of all, she believes: “If we open up our hearts we can save the world.”

I met Luci last spring at the Nashville Film Festival VIP Reception honoring Hispanic filmmakers. At year’s end I asked her to give me her top three highlights of 2011. She replied:

My top three moments in 2011 professionally were: 1) Making it on the X Factor up until a couple rounds into Boot Camp, while on crutches with a badly sprained foot. Even though they hardly showed me on tv, it was more of a personal accomplishment of knowing I did my best even with what was a major challenge for me. I had no regrets. 2) Winning a Producer's Choice Award in the 21st Annual Los Angeles Music Awards. 3) Having my first fashion show in L.A. with the Miss Peru Corporation. It was incredible seeing the Peruvian (and Colombian) ladies modeling my designs! I'm looking forward to launching my line in the spring, even if just online for now.

I asked about her musical roots and influences. She said:

I started singing as a little kid about 4 years old, just belting out my favorite Disney songs. I had several other creative outlets growing up, but my love for singing was unparalleled. As for dancing, I didn't really explore that seriously until college, particularly after returning from a trip to Puerto Rico my freshman summer.   My favorite artists vary greatly in style, some of which I admire more for their writing ability, vocal ability, live performance, or all three. A few of them are Alicia Keys, Shakira, Justin Timberlake, Jessie J, and Christina Aguilera. 

In her Kickstarter video she mentions her full plate as wife, mom, singer, songwriter, and clothing designer. Not only did she study Music Production at Oral Roberts University but also Exercise Science. In “Live it Up” she sings, “Let go. Live the life you were meant to.” I asked her secret to following a creative calling, staying fit, and raising a family. She was honest about the paradox of having it all:

Ah, balancing career and family. The #1 question, and a good one! It's definitely a challenge, especially when you add a regular job into the mix. It comes down to family support, discipline and organization. While many girls in their 20s are going out for drinks at night, I'm often home either doing something with my kids and husband, or sewing or writing, for example. My 'going out' time right now is usually a performance, a meeting, or an event. The irony is that the music I write is intended for the fun, light moments in life, like parties or just having a good time!

And of her sustained energy, she added:

Cliche as it may sound, God is my strength and Christ is my rock. There's absolute truth in that. I could not do all of this without Him, and give Him all the glory because He's the one pulling this off-- not me.

Of her new project and invitation to fans to be part of the collaboration, she says:

My new recording project is primarily in English, although a few of the songs have some Spanish. I'll be co-producing some of the songs, and the length of the project depends on whether or not we reach the funding goal through my Kickstarter page by December 29th!

If you’d like to invest in creativity and buy yourself or someone the gift of new music for a new year, go here. Pledges are only collected if the project is funded in full.

As 2012 approaches, Luci’s line in “Save the World”—“I can’t do this alone”—speaks not only to what we can’t do, but also to what we can. With unity, faith and love we can ring in a new year of hope and peace.

Free family photos at Christmas Festival in Antioch this Sunday

2011-12-03T07:56:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow, Sunday, December 4, from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., The Church @ Antioch is hosting a Christmas Festival for families in the Antioch area.

There will be FREE family photos with an 8x11 framed photo gift, plus crafts, activities, snacks, cookie decorating, fun games for the kids and refreshments and free gifts for everyone.

The event will be held at the Antioch Community Center, 5023 Blue Hole Road.

More information here.

H/T: Laisa Santiago

Guest writers wanted (and paid) at HispanicNashville.com

2011-12-01T05:34:00.001-06:00

HispanicNashville.com has openings for guest writers.

If you want to write a story or opinion piece every once in a while (and get paid for it), send a sample submission to John Lamb; my contact information is under the "Edited by John Lamb" link on the right-hand side of the site.

Be sure to include a short bio of yourself.

Writers of all ages can apply, so teachers, let your students know about this chance to develop a critical skill and be a light to the city of Nashville at the same time.

Mexican hands bring food to your table, says Tennessee farmer George Marks

2011-11-28T03:20:00.000-06:00

Photo from home page of Burley Stabilization Corporation, where George Marks is President of the Board of Directors

"All your vegetables had a Mexican hand on it. All your fruit, and three quarters of your meat."

-Middle Tennessee farmer George Marks,
on the interaction between immigration politics and food

in a Tennessean report by Chas Sisk

Photo of George Marks by
Southeast Farm Press

George Marks' Clarksville-area farm has been in the family since 1899, when it produced tobacco, corn and wheat. George's father Arthur started the dairy production, one of few dairies still operating in Montgomery County. George and other family members still own the farm, but George runs its current crops, which include corn, wheat, soybeans, tobacco, beef and dairy.

The Marks farm has been recognized as a Tennessee Century Farm, and Marks credits the sustainability of many of its products to 19 farmhands from the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, Mexico. Most of these providers (for their families and for Tennessee families) have been returning to work for Marks year after year, on seasonal visas, for over a decade. Three employees were identified in the Tennessean story: Pedro Peña, Lupe Villegas, and Pedro Mateus.

In addition to his farming duties, Marks is active in leadership and service for the Farm Bureau, the Montgomery County Cooperative, the Clarksville-Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission, and the Burley Stabilization Corporation.

According to Bread for the World, "[a]lmost three-fourths of all U.S. hired farm workers are immigrants, most of them unauthorized. The U.S. food system—particularly fruit and vegetable production—depends on immigrants more than any other sector of the U.S. economy."

Marks put it this way to the Tennessean: "All your vegetables had a Mexican hand on it. All your fruit, and three quarters of your meat."

Thank farmers and their teams for the food they provide your family - just fill out the form at the TN Farm Bureau web site tnfarmbureau.org/thankafarmer. Here is what I submitted: Before each meal, my preschool son starts saying grace by putting his hands in the air and singing, "Open, shut them / Open, shut them / Give a little clap / Open, shut them / Open, shut them / Fold them in your lap," and then "God our Father, once again, we bow our heads to thank you, Amen." I thank God for abundance of the land, the animals, the farms and the farmers, and for all of their teams on those farms who put in the hard work that puts food on our family's table.

Remembering the Mariposas: International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women

2011-11-25T14:05:00.001-06:00

By Rebecca Zanolini

Fifty-one years ago today in the Dominican Republic, sisters Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa Mirabal were brutally murdered by orders of their then-government leader, Rafael Trujillo, also known as el jefe.

The sisters were known by their supporters and revolutionary colleagues as las mariposas ---the butterflies. These brave sisters helped initiate a road to justice and equality in their small island country that had been under the rule of a vicious dictator for nearly 30 years.

During his reign of terror, it is estimated that Trujillo had tens of thousands of people murdered for opposing his government and his desire to eradicate neighboring dark-skinned Haitians from the island. Because of the valiant effort and tragic death of the Mirabal sisters, many countries in Latin America recognize today, November 25, as the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Thus, on this post-Thanksgiving Day, I encourage us all to take a moment of silence - in remembrance of the Mirabal sisters who lost their lives on November 25, 1960, and in remembrance of the thousands of lives who have been both directly and indirectly impacted by violence towards women. To honor these women and the women in your life, wear a butterfly today and share this story or your own story with others.

Long live the butterflies!

Rebecca Zanolini

About the author: My name is Rebecca Zanolini, and I am currently a full-time Spanish Instructor with Middle Tennessee State University. I hold a Master of Arts in Teaching and an Educational Specialist degree (Ed.S.) in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Culture, Cognition, and the Learning Process. Currently I am pursuing doctoral studies in Curriculum and Instruction at Tennessee State University. Beyond my passion for teaching the Spanish language, I am passionate about achieving social and educational equality for Tennesseans of minority and immigrant backgrounds and improving the quality of life for all people in our community. Most recently, I have served on the Equity Task Force Committee with Franklin Special School District, volunteered with FUTURO of MTSU, and helped to lead and moderate an equality forum at MTSU known as, “We are Created E.Q.U.A.L.”

Clergy breakfast next Wednesday to feature Alabama bishop Willimon, Baptist ethicist Parham, and immigration bureaucracy update

2011-11-22T05:14:00.001-06:00


William Willimon		Robert Parham

Clergy for Tolerance is hosting a special breakfast in Nashville next Wednesday, November 30, 2011, featuring United Methodist Bishop William Willimon, head of the North Alabama Conference and leader in the faith community’s opposition and response to Alabama’s immigration law.

The breakfast is meant to update faith leaders on the constantly evolving immigration bureaucracy in the federal government and in states like Alabama, and to encourage them to continue serving as spokespersons of compassion and reason.

Bishop Willimon will specifically address the importance of clergy involvement in preventing similar legislation from passing in Tennessee and will provide examples of the challenges for faith communities in Alabama under this new law. Alabama's HB 56 went into effect on September 29, 2011 and is widely considered the toughest-in-the-nation legislation on the targeted workers.

Also speaking will be Robert Parham, Founder and Executive Director of the Baptist Center for Ethics. Reared in Nigeria as the child of missionaries, Parham has a doctorate from Baylor University, a master's of divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a bachelor's in foreign service from Georgetown University. In addition to appearing on Fox News, CNN Talk Back Live, MSNBC News Chat, ABC World News Tonight and NPR’s Morning Edition, he interfaces with reporters across the country. Parham will introduce the topic of faith and immigration within a framework of morality.

Organizers say that 180 Tennessee clergymembers and faith leaders are scheduled to attend, but space is still available for registration.

Online registration for clergy is free - here, or to register manually, clergy may send their name, email address, and organization to kathy@clergyfortolerance.org

Hosts:
Kasar Abdulla, TIRRC
Rev. April Baker, Pastor, Glendale Baptist Church
Father Joseph Breen, St. Edward Catholic Church
Rev. Kristina Brown, Community Ministries and Communications, First Baptist Church, Murfreesboro
Bishop Ben Chamness, Interim Bishop, Tennessee Conference, United Methodist Church
A.R. Chao, Director of Education, Islamic Center of Tennessee
Rev. James Cole, Pastor, Hillcrest United Methodist Church
Rev. John Collett, Nashville District Superintendent, United Methodist Church
Rev. Dr. Judy Cummings, Senior Pastor, New Covenant Christian Church
Rev. Sonnye Dixon, Pastor, Hobson United Methodist Church
Dr. Donovan Drake, Senior Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church
Rev. Ken Edwards, Senior Pastor, Belmont United Methodist Church
Rev. Brian Fesler, Church of Scientology
Stephen Fotopulos, TIRRC
Rev. Kaki Friskics-Warren, TNJFON
Rev. Kaye Harvey, Pastor of Congregational Care, Brentwood United Methodist Church
Rev. Heidi Hudnut-Beumler, Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church
Nathan Kinser, Youth Director, Stones River Baptist Church and Director of World Relief Nashville
Rev Thomas Kleinert, Senior Pastor, Vine Street Christian Church
Dr. Todd Lake, VP for Spiritual Development, Belmont University and Interim Pastor at First Baptist Church, Murfreesboro
Dr. Frank Lewis, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Nashville
Rev. Ken Locke, Pastor, Downtown Presbyterian Church
Rev. James Milton McCarroll, Jr., First Baptist Church, Murfreesboro
Amelia Post, TIRRC
Avi Poster, CEI
Rev. Gail S. Seavey, Pastor, First Unitarian Universalist
Bill Sinclair, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Tennessee
Renata Soto, Conexión Américas
Chantho Sourinho, Wat Lao Buddharam (Lao Buddhist Temple)
Rev. Jay Vorhees, Pastor, Old Hickory United Methodist Church
Hedy Weinberg, ACLU

Sponsored By:
ACLU-TN
Baptist Center for Ethics
Belmont University Office of Spiritual Development
Catholic Charities
Coalition for Education about Immigration (CEI)
Conexión Américas
HispanicNashville.com
Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN)
Islamic Center of Tennessee
The Nashville Board of Rabbis
Nashville for All of Us
Tennessee for All of Us
Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC)
Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON)
Wat Lao Buddharam (Lao Buddhist Temple)

Isis Abigail Martínez celebrates quinceañera

2011-11-21T03:23:00.000-06:00

Honoree Isis Abigail Martínez and her escorts

On October 22, the Martínez Vargas family celebrated the fifteenth birthday of Isis Abigail with a thanksgiving mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, where the quinceañera was accompanied by her escorts Brayan Martínez, Óscar Vivas, Edmundo Díaz y Caín Honorato. Afterward, guests attended a reception emceed by Kaimanes Musical at Premier Indoor Sports. Advance photos were taken at the Opryland Hotel.

See more quinceañera announcements at HolaTN.com.

Original story credit: Vallejo y Alcántara/HolaTN. English summary by HispanicNashville.com. Used with permission.

Four free tickets to Kings of Salsa show Tuesday at Schermerhorn

2011-11-20T06:03:00.001-06:00

The Kings of Salsa are playing at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center this Tuesday night, November 22, at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $29-$69; to purchase, click here or call 615-687-6400.

Cindy McCain, Nashville Latin Dancing Examiner at Examiner.com and guest writer at HispanicNashville.com, has an interview with Kings of Salsa artist director and choreographer Roclan Gonzalez Chavez here. The non-interview, promo material version is here:

Choreographed by Roclan Gonzalez Chavez, this stunning new show pays homage to the great Cuban performers and the dance styles from this intoxicating island, with a cool contemporary modern twist showing young Cuba today.

Regarded as one of the best young choreographers in Cuba, Gonzalez Chavez has created this show to feature the unique talents of some of the island’s best dancers, picked from the cream of Cuba’s top dance companies. The electrifying mix of performers and choreographic styles makes this a show not to be missed.

Featuring the very best of Havana’s cool street salsa and hip hop scene, Kings of Salsa seamlessly mixes traditional Afro-Caribbean moves, world class contemporary dance and the Cuban classics: Mambo, Rumba, and Cha Cha Cha. Backed by the spectacular 9-piece band Cuba Ashire, who unleash Latin rhythms and stratospheric brass arrangements, Kings of Salsa showcases a slice of cool contemporary Cuba never seen before on stage.

If you loved Buena Vista Social Club, you do not want to miss this evening!

Four free tickets are available to HispanicNashville.com readers - to enter, just post a comment to this story below (or on Hispanic Nashville's Facebook page) and say how many tickets you need. Comments must be posted by 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Monday, November 21.

Thank you for the food: a love letter to Nolensville Road and El Amigo

2011-11-18T05:52:00.001-06:00

Photo by Michael W. Bunch © Nashville Scene. Used with permission.

Nolensville Road and taco shop El Amigo get a love letter for their food, in this week's pre-Thanksgiving edition of the Nashville Scene. The piece by Sean L. Maloney is part of a cover story made entirely of open letters to "the city we love, the people we admire from afar and some other stuff we generally find tolerable about life, all in an open forum."

The writers said they aren't expecting a reply, but that they "wouldn’t mind a retweet." So, with the Scene's permission (confirmed by e-mail), here's a snippet of a food lover's thank-you letter to Nolensville Road and El Amigo:

An Open Letter to Nolensville Road
By Sean L. Maloney

First and foremost, I’d like to thank you for smelling like meat at almost all times. Specifically, meat cooked over low heat for hours on end. That could be my favorite scent in the whole olfactory spectrum, and nothing says “we’re home” to my wife and me after a long trip like the whiffs of barbacoa and al pastor that waft into the car once we get off the highway on the way back to nuestra casa.
...
[N]ow that we’ve traded in our 500-square-foot yuppie cage for five rooms on the South Side, we’re eating like champs for half the cost. And the options! Even if we’re being super-duper lazy and don’t want to go past the end of our street, we’ve still got a globe’s worth of options: Ghanian over at Musaake, the best chicharron de queso papusas in town at La Papuseria Salvodoreana, grocery stores featuring the fare of at least four continents!

It’s like we’ve died and gone to foodie heaven! Except we’re not dead, and there’s still money left in our bank account. But the best thing about living right next to Nolensville Road, at least for this record critic, food lover and full-time nightclub denizen, is that El Amigo — the convenience store-cum-taqueria on the corner of Elysian Fields — is open after the bars close....

Read the entire letter over at nashvillescene.com

El Protector turns 7; officers' embedded approach receives local and national honors

2011-11-17T20:38:00.000-06:00

El Protector Hispanic Community Festival, Hickory Hollow Mall

By Cindy McCain

Nashville's nationally acclaimed El Protector Program turned seven this year, interacting in one way or another with the infants, youth, and adults across the Nashville community. Metro Nashville Police Department Commander Mike Alexander, who was recently awarded the “Building Neighborhoods Award” by the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, describes El Protector as "building trust and partnership between the police department and the Hispanic community."

In an interview with HispanicNashville.com, Alexander gave an overview of El Protector's seven years (and counting) in Nashville:

The El Protector Program began in 2004 and originated within the South Precinct as a means to provide outreach and partnership between the police department and the Hispanic community. The program now has two sworn officers dedicated to this effort who are Gilbert Ramirez (South Precinct) and Rafael Fernandez (Hermitage Precinct). We have three events that we consider the most crucial during the year, which are the Hispanic Community Festival, Hispanic Teen Academy and Soccer Tournament, and a Christmas event for disabled children in December.

El Protector Teen Academy

El Protector Soccer Tournament

The El Protector Program’s Board of Directors consists of approximately 15 members from various disciplines across the county who meet to discuss solutions and initiatives. Alexander stresses the importance of teamwork with other organizations in the community:

The El Protector Program is successful due to very committed partners and organizations within the community who are willing to work with us to make our city a safe and welcoming environment for all. We have a great relationship with Cricket Communications as they provide approximately 40 cell phones to civilian translators who are on call to translate for the officers in the field. We have recently added Hispanic clergy members to our Police Youth Response Team who are on call to assist with any serious events where Hispanic youth may be injured, in order to counsel family members. Our officers are now on two radio stations each week and take calls from the community regarding a variety of issues in terms of laws, how the police department operates.

The radio program outreach offers free advice in Spanish on Tuesdays from 10:00-11:00 on Radio Luz 900 AM and from 11:00-12:00 on La Nueva Activa 1240 AM. Legal experts and representatives of agencies such as 211, Conexion Americas, and Nashville Conflict Resolution Center provide information and answers to callers' questions. Topics range from issues related to Driver Licenses, International Driver Licenses, traffic stops, fraud, mental health and safety concerns. The El Protector Program hopes to add a third radio station with a younger audience by the end of the year, to discuss issues faced by younger Hispanic Nashvillians. Commander Mike Alexander says of the radio programs:

The sessions are open to callers who call in to dialogue and/or ask questions related to a variety of topics. [The radio] is a great opportunity for interaction with the El Protector Officers, to educate and learn more about the department and existing laws.

El Protector also provides car seat safety inspections, according to Alexander:

The South Precinct has been designated as the first Hispanic Car Seat Safety Inspection Site in the state of Tennessee, and our El Protector Officers (through a partnership with Meharry Medical College) conduct car seat safety inspections for families to insure that children are as safe as possible in vehicles.

Alexander is obviously proud of the national acclaim these efforts are attracting:

The program has been recognized by the Vera Institute in New York as one of the six best practices in the country as it relates to bridging the language divide. Vera began with the assessment of over 200 police departments across the country and then made on site visits to approximately 25 agencies (of which we were one) and then selected who they believed were the six best. We are currently in contention again for this recognition.

Alexander's opinion on bridging potential divides between the police and the Hispanic community is that it requires a proactive, networked approach:

We must be proactive in terms of reaching out to the community in order to build trust and partnership as we work together for a safe and peaceful Nashville.

El Protector's accolades, track record, and interactions with Music City have been documented over the years in HispanicNashville.com. To see those stories, click on the "El Protector" link in the Index on the right-hand side of this site.

Rolando Rostro received Reagan amnesty in 1986; it's a story of English, education, integration, leadership, and productive life

2011-11-11T05:25:00.001-06:00

Pastor Rolando Rostro of Iglesia Nueva Vida church, Memphis, Tennessee

Guest post by Ralph Noyes

I sit in the lobby waiting for Pastor Rolando Rostro to finish the last proclamation of the Quinceañera ceremony. “Felicidades a la princesa del dia…” The children too young to sit are playing in front of me, switching with ease between English and Spanish, running in circles around the rug. When Rolando finally emerges, he leads me down a long hallway to the heart of his Iglesia Nueva Vida, the pastor’s office.

Rostro, originally from Rio Verde, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, immigrated with his parents and 9 siblings to Brownsville at the insistence of his mother. He and his family grew up working as pickers in the fields of South Texas, dodging the authorities. “We always had a fear of being questioned and discovered. We were intimidated, mentally unsettled. That fear creates dangerous conditions. People are afraid of going to the police, checking into a hospital, or dealing with any kind of bureaucracy. These services are in place to help people, not scare them away.” As a result, domestic abuse was rampant and “most crime went un reported in the neighborhood” during his childhood.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act, commonly known as “amnesty" or “legalization”, was passed by Congress and signed by President Reagan on November 6, 1986. Rostro recounts an incident shortly after that, when his mother was pulled over with him and his siblings in the car. “The officer asked us for identification and my mother took out all 11 social security cards, handed them to him one by one. That was a big moment for us. It created confidence and a freedom to open up to the authorities.” Although the law changed his legal status, it did not change popular opinion. “Laws don’t change popular opinion, taking personal action by opening your mouth does,” says Rostro, whose mother forced him and his siblings to learn English early.

These verbal skills have served him well in the years since then. Rolando has become pastor of his own Memphis church, President of the Hispanic Pastor Network, and a leading provider of Spanish translators to the 911 emergency system. In 2001 he participated in La Coalición Memphis, a group of a dozen individuals who lobbied successfully for the passage of a Tennessee law that enabled undocumented aliens to obtain driver’s licenses. “These are good people, working people. Give them a way to be included, to participate and assimilate into the system, to generate revenue and pay their dues. You want to be able to ID them out in the open, not to have to search for them in hiding.” Rostro believes that including immigrants can benefit the economy in the form of taxes, administrative fees, and traffic fines. “Whatever they charge, they will pay,” he states flatly, citing the overnight appearance of long lines at driver’s license centers as soon as the licenses became available.

According to Rostro, the future for today’s Hispanic immigrants is unclear, but “there’s always a fear of immigrants and there will always be opposition.” This opposition is fighting a tide that grows stronger everyday, a growing community that he believes will throw considerable weight behind the next presidential candidate who favors pro immigrant legislation. “The first generation doesn’t speak English or vote, but their children and grand children do. The next candidate who proposes something similar will win the Hispanic vote. It will happen again. Not this term, maybe next, or the one after. Without that law, I wouldn’t be educated. I wouldn’t have been able to provide private education for my kids, or give them the confidence, opportunity, and peace of mind to do something productive”.

As our interview turns to casual conversation, my ears drift to the music still thumping inside the church sanctuary. I wonder what opportunities await tonight’s “princess,” whether the world outside Iglesia Nueva Vida will accept and embrace her burgeoning identity, or whether she will become what Rostro fears - another “bright mind being robbed of the country’s benefits.”

This is the fifth and last story in a HispanicNashville.com series on the Reagan amnesty bill signed 25 years ago. The first piece in the series was by Cindy McCain, titled "'Manuel' remembers November 1986;" the second was last Friday's story/opinion piece "25 years of my own spiritual amnesty;" the third was a Thanskgiving-themed PSA called "Founder of the Feast," featuring a picker in the field, like Rostro and his family; the fourth was a guest post of mine called "Reagan’s Amnesty Bill Impacted Families for the Better" that was published on the web site undocumented.tv; and this story by Ralph Noyes about Rolando Rostro is the fifth.

Fame: Manuel gets star, eat on TV this Friday with Yayo's O.M.G., and casting call for Quiero Mi Baby

2011-11-10T05:44:00.001-06:00

Manuel Cuevas ("Manuel" for short) was honored Sunday with a star in his name on the Music City Walk of Fame. Manuel is one of Nashville's music legends by way of fashioning many musicians' iconic outfits. See Manuel's official bio on the Walk of Fame site here, and photos of the ceremony and the actual star at the Tennessean or on Manuel's Facebook page.

At lunchtime on Friday, you can be on TV - and eat well in the process - at a taping of Food Network Canada's "Eat Street", which will be featuring Nashville mobile food truck Yayo's O.M.G. ("Original Mexican Gourmet"). Filming will take place from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. outside the offices of Conexion Americas, 800 18th Ave So.

If you want a little more camera time and are expecting your first child between now and February, MTV Tr3s is looking for Nashville couples for a new documentary “Quiero Mi Baby.” From the producers of “Quiero Mis Quinces” and “Quiero Mi Boda,” Quiero Mi Baby will feature cross-cultural couples (for example Puerto Rican & Italian or Cuban & Venezuelan) who are expecting for the first time. A trailer for the show is here, and the casting link is here.

The Founder of the Feast

2011-11-09T06:16:00.001-06:00

Here's my PSA or "house ad" for Thanksgiving 2011. It's a play on the country/Southern phrase "Dance with the one that brung ya," which is about loyalty to the people who got you where you are today.

May we be thankful for and with, and loyal to, every person who brings us our food.

Update 11/28/11: Thank a farmer (and their farmhands) at the TN Farm Bureau web site http://www.tnfarmbureau.org/thankafarmer

See the other ads I've created under "Ads" in the Index on the right-hand side of this site.

25th anniversary of Reagan amnesty

2011-11-06T02:33:00.000-06:00

25 years of my own spiritual amnesty, of the Reagan amnesty, and a missing sense of fear and trembling

2011-11-04T06:56:00.002-05:00

Twenty-five years ago, I received amnesty.

It was June. I was thirteen. I was with my youth group in Greenville, South Carolina, on a university campus - North Greenville University, I think - not Furman, and definitely not Bob Jones.

The campus had been rented out by a Southern Baptist youth camp program called Centrifuge, and we were there for the week.

For the previous six years or so, I had been aware of the concept of a making a lifelong spiritual commitment to God - to Jesus. In the Baptist world and elsewhere, making that commitment is alternately described as committing your life to Christ, going down the aisle, getting saved, or getting born again.

The idea is that you recognize your general pattern of doing things wrong in life, and your separation from God, and that you ask for an unearned (by you) reconciliation to God.

Forgiveness.

I was thirteen, and I really was aware of my shortcomings. I don't look back now and think that such an attitude at that age was silly. It's actually sillier that 25 years later I am less aware of and repentant of my shortcomings.

But getting back to 1986, there I was, ready to make that spiritual commitment, and I called my youth pastor Harry Rowland aside. I told him, although not in so many words, that I wanted to receive amnesty. He thought that I had already done this, and I explained that I hadn't, and that was that. We spoke with my parents. We must have spoken with pastor Bill Sherman. And then, days later, at Woodmont Baptist Church, we all marked this significant spiritual reboot with my baptism.

The wrong thing to do would be to forget that it happened.

In Psalm 2:11, David said

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

In Philippians 2:12, Paul said,

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling

These instructions to fear and tremble were directed at people of God - insiders, not outsiders.

Sometimes it feels like Americans, many of whom self-identify as Christians, have a sense of entitlement (even those who would otherwise complain about "entitlements"). We are the ones in the right, we think, and someone else is in the wrong. Funny how it almost always turns out that way.

As a result, we are more inclined - individually, collectively, politically, spiritually - to inflict fear and cause trembling. And we sure do resent it when someone inflicts it on us. But to choose to fear, to choose to tremble, with no outside enemy the object of our fear?

How rare is that?

Since it's the 25th year of my own amnesty and the 25th year following the immigration amnesty of Ronald Reagan, I think of how we have very little national fear and trembling about how our law treats immigrants.

We have little fear and trembling about how we as American Christians readily accept spiritual forgiveness and even legal forgiveness, but we deny legal forgiveness to the foreigner, especially those in poverty who make up the bulk of the population without papers. We have little fear and trembling about spiritual instructions to us to take extra precaution to give justice to the poor and to the foreigner.

In 2011, my own denomination - the Southern Baptist Convention, whose church in Nashville shepherded me to salvation 25 years ago - issued a statement on immigration. It was an attempt to be less harsh on the issue, but at the same time it contained this one key phrase that is antithetical to the denomination's treasured tenet of forgiveness:

RESOLVED, That this resolution is not to be construed as support for amnesty for any undocumented immigrant

That antipathy toward amnesty in immigration is delivered with little fear and trembling, despite the you'll-be-forgiven-only-if-you-forgive-others message of Matthew 6:14:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

I mean, for crying out loud, that's the first thing out of Jesus' mouth after He sets out the model prayer to God.

To America's credit, Ronald Reagan signed one such forgiveness of trespasses. That was twenty-five years ago this Sunday - November 6, 1986.

But who is God going to hold accountable for America's national refusal to forgive immigrants since then? There are ways for America to grant measured, reasonable amnesty that make plenty of legal and Constitutional sense in the same way we provide amnesty to ourselves as Americans in other contexts. But the politicians don't want to do it. And here we are, with millions in the lurch. When God calls America to the mat for denying justice to the foreigner, the politicians are going to be pointing fingers at us, and we're going to be pointing fingers at them. You don't have to be a parent to know how badly that is going to end.

America needs amnesty, and not just for the so-called "them."

Some of the sins we could confess in the immigration context are below:

We have arrested pregnant mothers under claims of driving offenses that don't stick.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/search/label/Juana%20Villegas
We have used vocabulary as a weapon.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2009/12/word-problem.html
We make our own conduct consequence-free.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/04/agree.html

We slander.

http://undocumented.tv/2011/blog/scapegoats/

We are flirting with lynchings.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/02/rip-brisenia-flores.html
We are living in the modern version of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/05/undivided-union.html
We condone "amnesty" but we have no problem receiving it.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/06/sbc.html
We overlook the lawbreaking of the powerful while we condemn the lawbreaking of the poor.
http://www.siliconvalleyhistorical.org/home/steve_jobs_and_the_blue_box_story
We receive without thanking.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2010/11/thankful.html
We have "fresh starts" for ourselves but not for others.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2010/08/immigration-bankruptcy.html
We don't talk to people before we form opinions about them.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2010/04/after-listening-to-his-employees-boss.html
We ignore the voices echoing Martin Luther King's cry for moral, just laws.
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2010/03/oscar-rayo-out-in-award-winning.html

As for me, I will try to remember my own missteps, acknowledge my new ones, and seek correction - all in fear and trembling, as I give thanks for and continue to ask for my own spiritual amnesty.

As we talk about, watch, and write (or withhold) laws on immigration, either in Congress or in statehouses and city halls across the country, may we remember our own missteps, acknowledge our new ones, and seek correction - all in fear and trembling, with our own need of forgiveness front and center in our hearts and on our minds.

Upcoming November events: immigration panel, YMCA Latino Achievers dinner, TIRRC convention, TLACC networking, Kings of Salsa

2011-11-03T06:21:00.001-05:00

Panel Discussion: How Smarter Immigration Laws Would Boost the Economy and Create American Jobs
Panelists: Colin Reed, chairman and CEO of Gaylord Entertainment Farsheed Ferdowsi, president of Inova Payroll John Steele, SVP of human resources at HCA. National speaker - TBA Moderator: Ralph Schulz, president & CEO, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. Other speakers: Jeremy Robbins, policy advisor and special counsel, Office of the Chief Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg for policy and strategic planning
Sponsored by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and the Partnership for a New American Economy
Monday, Nov. 7
7:30-9:30 a.m.
Hilton Nashville Downtown
121 Fourth Avenue South
Schedule: 7:30 a.m. Registration and networking; continental breakfast 8-9:30 a.m.
Program Cost: There is no cost to attend, but advance registration is required.
Click here to indicate your attendance plans.

10th Annual Dinner Celebration for YMCA Latino Achievers
In the 2010-2011 school year, the YMCA Latino Achievers program served over 500 students. 93% of senior participants graduated, and we were able to grant 29 scholarships, with the help of generous community support. This school year marks the 10th anniversary of the program’s existence, and through these years we have inspired hope and fulfilled college dreams for numerous Hispanic students and families in Middle Tennessee.
Tuesday, November 8
5:30pm - 8:00pm
Lipscomb University's Allen Arena
Reserve tables for $500 or seats for $50
If paying by credit or debit card, please purchase your tickets online at: http://latinoachievers.eventbrite.com/
If paying by check, please make check payable to: YMCA of Middle Tennessee - Latino Achievers Contact YMCA Latino Achievers to reserve your space by emailing latinoachievers@ymcamidtn.org or 615.743.6206.

9th Annual TIRRC Membership Convention 2011
“Telling Our Story”
Join us for a diverse celebration to learn how to tell the story of your life and your community through art, poetry, media and more! The convention is free and includes materials, participation in general sessions and choice of workshops, lunch, and entertainment throughout the day. Childcare will be available for people that pre-register. The convention will be in Antioch, TN. Once you have registered, you will receive details about the exact location via email in the upcoming weeks.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
9:30 AM - 7 PM
https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/267/personalopt1.asp?formid=meeting&c=112048

Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce Holiday Networking Event
With live music by "Kaciques" and delicious appetizers.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Registration & Networking: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Program begins at 6:30 p.m.
Sheraton Downtown Hilton
623 Union Street
Nashville, TN 37203
R.S.V.P. by November 12
This event is FREE to TLACC MEMBERS RSVP here: http://bit.ly/ujAHSm
$20 for Non members, RSVP here: http://bit.ly/vXSvoX

Kings of Salsa at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center
Tuesday November 22, 2011
7:00 p.m.
$ 29.00 - $ 69.00
This stunning stage extravaganza pays homage to Cuba’s greatest performers and dance styles, with a cool, contemporary modern twist. Some of the island’s finest dancers will perform an intoxicating mix of salsa, hip-hop, mambo, rumba and other classic Cuban moves. Featuring the spectacular nine-piece band Cuba Ashire, Kings of Salsa showcases a slice of Cuba never seen before onstage.
http://www.nashvillesymphony.org/main.taf?p=1,1,6,1&EventID=1112-S28

"Manuel" remembers November 1986: Reagan's Amnesty

2011-11-02T05:00:00.001-05:00

November 6, 1986: President Ronald Reagan signs the Immigration Reform and Control Act

Interview by Cindy McCain

I was at my job…a little restaurant where I worked while in school. They’d been trying to pass the law for awhile. They had a tv on and we heard President Reagan had signed the bill. The Spanish people were very happy. Some of them were crying. It was very emotional. Some were clapping. Some were screaming very happy screams.

Manuel (name changed for privacy) recalls the reaction he witnessed on November 6, 1986 to the passing of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA).

It opened doors of opportunity. You could buy a house, go back and see your family. It was the best news ever. Back then I knew people who had been here (in the U.S.) twenty years that hadn’t been able to go home to visit family. After ‘86 you could get a temporary green card to travel back and forth. There was this guy who’d been here forever. When he heard the news, he applied to get his card and went to Mexico for a month.

IRCA gave amnesty/legalization to undocumented people in the U.S. who had entered the country before 1982 and had lived here continuously. Manuel was here legally on a student visa, but when he graduated from college in 1989, he would be required to leave. He believes had it not been for the amnesty he would have returned to Mexico, something he didn’t want to do, and lived another life. But that night -- almost 25 years ago -- gave him confidence to hire an attorney and seek permanent residency.

Manuel moved from Mexico City to Los Angeles to attend high school. He explains:

Dad worked for Proctor and Gamble in Mexico City which sponsored a scholarship for me to study in the states based on good grades. When I was 15 my father asked, 'Do you have the courage to leave home?' I said yes. I wanted to explore something different.

Manuel is grateful for his uncle who sponsored him. He said moving here meant leaving eight brothers, a sister, and his parents behind. That was hard. So was the language. He said though he missed his family, especially his mother, and the food from home, LA’s high Hispanic population made it easier: “Unlike Nashville, so many people spoke Spanish there. But I decided I was going to do it, so I did.”

After high school he returned home, them came back to attend Ranalto Santiago College in Santa Ana, California. From there he graduated with a degree in Culinary Arts. He paid for college working in his uncle’s restaurant and for a time sold Oakley sunglasses.

When he had a family of his own he moved them to Nashville so his son’s mother could be near her family. That was fourteen years ago. Today Manuel is Assistant Food Manager in charge of catering for the President at a Middle Tennessee university. Monday-Friday he works 7-2:30, then heads to his second shift from 4:30 until closing where he’s on a sales marketing team for an award-winning restaurant in downtown Nashville. When asked about working until midnight, he smiles and says he feels thankful: “They are a great company to work for. I have two jobs, but some people don’t have that.” He’d love to open his own catering business one day.

We traded stories about our families. He started: “In Mexico everyone pitches in to take care of older relatives till they pass.” His aunts cared for his grandparents and his brothers currently give dialysis to his diabetic father. Likewise, my mom cared for my grandmother by moving in with her for six years before she died. Manuel sighed: “We just have to take it as it comes. Every single day there are challenges. We have to take it as it comes.”

We also discussed raising children in American culture and how we remind our teen-aged sons, both who have friends with affluent parents, that they are blessed to have their needs and even wants met. Manuel said he tells his fourteen year old (who is just a year younger than Manuel was when he came to the US alone): "As you work for it, you appreciate it You have a mom. You have a dad. You have a (family) car. You have a tv, cell phone, and internet. What do you need that you don’t already have?" We also discovered his fourteen-year-old and my eighteen-year-old would love nothing better than to design video games. His son is also considering studying culinary arts. Manuel said: “I try to teach him as much as I can. I tell him that when he’s older and his wife comes home tired from working all day, he can make her dinner and make her happy.”

Of the possibility of a new amnesty, and the deportations in Alabama, Manuel said:

In my opinion, criminals and people who are trouble—send them back. Let good people working already continue working. Alabama farmers are complaining that they don’t have enough people to work their fields which hurts the economy. A law that profiles people suspected of being illegal because of the color of their skin would be very sad.

I barely made it. I was pretty lucky. I came into the country in 1982, but because I did it legally, and because of the 1986 Act, it was easier for me to get permanent residency. Since then, my hero has been President Reagan. It’s [IRCA's] one of the remarkable things he did for Spanish people.

If I’d stayed in Mexico I’d probably be working for my brother’s business and have a whole bunch of kids. When I moved away I became so independent. It helped me a lot. I can make my own decisions. Opportunities are here. I’m not under my parents’ wing. It makes me more mature and independent. I love America. It’s my son’s country. Now I plan to apply for my American citizenship…so I can vote.

The Liberty Bell, Jubilee, and a 35th Amendment

2011-11-01T05:53:00.000-05:00

Photo by Orlando Rob. Licensed via Creative Commons.

Today is the 260th anniversary of the letter that sent the order for the Liberty Bell. The inscription on the Liberty Bell is from Leviticus 25:10, where Israel is instructed to forgive debts every 50 years, declaring jubilee - or Liberty. (By the way, this Sunday is the 25th anniversary of Reagan's amnesty, so this is an interesting week for the theme of forgiveness.)

Because today is also the start of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, my post today will be a humble attempt at creative writing - inspired by the Liberty Bell, its historic inspiration, and its promise for America.

This fictional piece is about the ratification of a theoretical 35th Amendment to the Constitution granting citizenship to anyone and everyone who has lived in the U.S. for twenty-one years. It represents jubilee, and liberty. Perhaps it is in our future, or perhaps not.

You can peek into that world (and into my very rough skill set of creative expression) in the rest of the post, below.

The Thirty-Fifth Amendment
by John Lamb

It was November 1, and the President was supposed to have given this announcement in front of the Liberty Bell, just before Thanksgiving. The advance team had set up security, seating, red-white-and-blue bunting, and the attendance list of local, national, and even international luminaries. Heads of state were on their way, some already changing planes and making intermediate appearances in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. The presidential speech was on the drafting table, starting the exchange of handwritten edits with the Oval Office. But the Tennessee vote, which had long been in the "no" column, surprisingly flipped to a "yes" at the last minute, making ratification complete ahead of schedule. There were too many people celebrating in Nashville (and scrambling to find a way to Nashville) to wait until Philadelphia two weeks later. News crews were sending their national correspondents. The story had moved, and that was that.

The White House announcement would be made in Nashville, at the State Capitol. As luck would have it, half of the West Wing and two former presidents were already in Music City for the funeral of one of the proponents of this very Constitutional Amendment. It was an easy call to stay for the formal proclamation of its passage, in the State that made it happen.

Tennessee had played this role in history before, putting women's suffrage into the Constitution with a razor-thin margin, surprisingly voting "yes" when most thought it would go "no." The change of heart of a single legislator came after a call from his mother.

Now, in the mid-21st century, this 35th Amendment made it over the top in Tennessee, and the pundits were on screens everywhere trying to explain it. Perhaps it was the untimely death of the Texas Senator who proposed and championed the amendment. His charisma, his personal experiences, his conviction, and his quiet patriotism had been magnetic, and America was captivated. Losing this leader to tragedy had the inevitable effect of swaying public opinion even more in favor of the policy closest to his heart.

Some pundits guessed that Tennessee saw the writing on the wall, knowing that the passage of the Amendment was inevitable. Perhaps the politicians of the Volunteer State wanted to steal the thunder of their coastal colleagues, who had been expected all along to deliver the final, ratifying vote. It was common knowledge that Tennessee had been in a bad way in the national headlines over the past few years, after decades of continued growth and rising visitor tallies. Despite the hot talk of local partisan media from Memphis to Kingsport, rural and big-city legislators saw the same poll numbers everyone else did - most Americans, even Tennesseans, were ready for the Constitutional righting of the ship.

Maybe it was the fact that there was a vast national appetite for any Constitutional amendment with substance, after a slew of seemingly minor causes were embedded into the sacred, founding text. Trivial things like the ban on federal regulation of tobacco, the prohibition of the metric system, the subsequent repeal of the metric prohibition, the national symbol amendment, and the elimination of the Social Security number.

Maybe it was the ministers, priests, pastors, rabbis, imams, and other faith leaders who were vocal from their pulpits at first, and then later in the homes of their followers, and in public spaces, and in the media, and ultimately in the offices and homes of the legislators in every one of the voting states. Maybe one of them had gotten through to that key Tennessee legislator who, just like her 20th century counterpart, switched her vote at the last minute.

Only the local journalists, covering what they thought would be a non-event "no" vote, had gotten a glimpse of Tennessee House Representative Lauren Kent Yarbrough as she voted "yea" and left the House chamber. Video footage seemed to indicate that she had been in tears, from the red flush around her eyes and in her cheeks. Questions directed at her staff and her fellow legislators were pointless - they did not know what had happened to "Rep. Y." It was only inevitable that the sidebars of a dozen news stories the next day contained some version of the quip, "Rep. Why?"

However it happened, the ratification of the 35th Amendment was now official. The Constitution would be expanded by these twenty-four words:

"All persons having resided in the United States for twenty-one years are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Even though Philadelphia would no longer be the site of the announcement, the words inscribed on the Liberty Bell would still be invoked by the President in his remarks:

"Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof."

Transmitted by letter on November 1, 1751, those words from Leviticus had been chosen by the Pennsylvania Assembly for the steeple of their state house, in a revelatory architectural mix of religion and government. The Hebrew text contains instructions for "jubilee" - the forgiveness of debts. The bell itself was ordered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of that state's constitution, which liberally included Native Americans and all citizens in the rights and responsibilities of governance. And the bell was subsequently adopted 11 decades later as a symbol of emancipation, following the Civil War.

Now, on a November 1 three centuries after the Liberty Bell was ordered, a new kind of American jubilee was born. The time and place was being written into the history books.

But there were still questions, and not too long after the streets would eventually be cleared of the masses still growing by the minute, those questions would have to be answered.

And the first person who would have to answer questions would be Rep. Yarbrough. Her caucus chair wanted to have a word with her.

But she was too happy to care.

125th anniversary of Statue of Liberty unveiling; Chinese voice of protest echoes to 21st century

2011-10-28T06:46:00.000-05:00

Photo by Ian Foss. Licensed via Creative Commons.

One hundred and twenty-five years ago today, on October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was unveiled to the public.

Emma Lazarus' sonnet "The New Colossus," a short poem about the Statue of Liberty that is now installed on its pedestal, was written in 1883 as a donation to one of the many private fundraisers for the construction of the Statue of Liberty.

Among those solicited for donations were Chinese-Americans. It is quite a contradiction of history that the Statue of Liberty was brought to New York Harbor right after Congress passed a significant anti-immigrant law, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which pretty much closed the door on legal Chinese immigration, even after they contributed so much to the construction of the American West.

So you can imagine some Chinese-Americans' response at the time to the private fundraising efforts for the Statue of Liberty. The sentiment of the disenfranchised and now formally unwelcome Chinese was captured for history in a letter to the editor of the New York Sun, from a man named Saum Song Bo:

Liberty, we Chinese do love and adore thee; but let not those who deny thee to us, make of thee a graven image and invite us to bow down to it.

The poetic anthem of an American welcome in "Colossus", and the heartfelt letter of American resident Saum Song Bo who has been denied that welcome - echo forward to the modern day. In the 21st century, we have American residents living among us for years who are still denied integration and immigration status.

These two texts from over 125 years ago are as important today as they were then - they call us to be the America that really does live out its physical and spoken reverence for Liberty. And for justice. For all.

Both "The New Colossus" and Saum Song Bo's letter are reproduced in their entirety, below.

Saum Song Bo's letter, 1885:

SIR: A paper was presented to me yesterday for inspection, and I found it to be specially drawn up for subscription among my countrymen toward the Pedestal Fund of the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty. Seeing that the heading is an appeal to American citizens, to their love of country and liberty, I feel that my countrymen and myself are honored in being thus appealed to as citizens in the cause of liberty. But the word liberty makes me think of the fact that this country is the land of liberty for men of all nations except the Chinese. I consider it as an insult to us Chinese to call on us to contribute toward building in this land a pedestal for a statue of Liberty. That statue represents Liberty holding a torch which lights the passage of those of all nations who come Into this country. But are the Chinese allowed to come? As for the Chinese who are here, are they allowed to enjoy liberty as men of all other nationalities enjoy it? Are they allowed to go about everywhere free from the insults, abuse, assaults, wrongs and injuries from which men of other nationalities are free?

If there be a Chinaman who came to this country when a lad, who has passed through an American institution of learning of the highest grade, who has so fallen in love with American manners and ideas that he desires to make his home in this land, and who, seeing that his countrymen demand one of their own number to be their legal adviser, representative, advocate and protector, desires to study law, can he be a lawyer? By the law of this nation, he, being a Chinaman, cannot become a citizen, and consequently cannot be a lawyer.

And this statue of Liberty is a gift to a people from another people who do not love or value liberty for the Chinese. Are not the Annamese and Tonquinese Chinese, to whom liberty is as dear as to the French? What right have the French to deprive them of their liberty?

Whether this statute against the Chinese or the statue to Liberty will be the more lasting monument to tell future ages of the liberty and greatness of this country, will be known only to future generations.

Liberty, we Chinese do love and adore thee; but let not those who deny thee to us, make of thee a graven image and invite us to bow down to it.

"The New Colossus," Emma Lazarus, 1883:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Cheekwood's 12th Dia de los Muertos this Saturday

2011-10-27T06:16:00.003-05:00

Photo by Andy Castro. Licensed via Creative Commons.

Cheekwood’s 12th Annual
EL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS Fall Festival Saturday, October 29th 2011
11:00am – 5:00pm

Event parking available at The Temple, 5015 Harding Road
Shuttles will be available to transport you to Cheekwood

ADMISSION PRICES:

Free - Cheekwood Members
$12 - Adults
$10 - Seniors (65 +)
$5 - College Students w/ ID
Free - 17 and Under

The festivals of Mexico and Latin America are world renowned for their colorful decorations, energetic music, and cultural significance. Los Dias de los Muertos, the Days of the Dead, are no exception! The holiday is one of the most important celebrations in Latin America and demonstrates the culture’s strong sense of love and respect for one’s ancestors while celebrating the continuance of life. Join in the festivities and learn more about this unique holiday as you tour the altars, shop in the Mexican marketplace, explore traditional arts and crafts, and enjoy live music and dance.

EVENT OVERVIEW & SCHEDULE

ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE

ART & ACTIVITIES PAPEL PICADO: Take part in the Mexican art of paper cutting.

MONARCHS: Learn about the significance of the butterflies as you create your own colorful Monarch.

PAPER MARIGOLDS: Make a colorful marigold, the traditional flower of the holiday.

MEMORY TREE: Add your thoughts to the colorful tree of memories.

CALAVERAS MASK: Make a colorful skeleton mask to wear during the festival.

BARRILETES: Create a colorful kite like those flown in Guatemala on the Day of the Dead.

SUGAR SKULLS: A Día de los Muertos tradition! Decorate a sugar skull to honor your ancestors.

EVENT QUEST: The ‘Quest’ is a fun and interactive way to discover all aspects of the event while learning more about the holiday.

POSADA PRINTS: Be inspired by legendary Mexican printmaker Jose Posada. Draw and print your own design!

TAPETE DISPLAY & COMPETITION
What is tapete? Tapete is the Spanish word for carpet. Usually made with colored sand, these “carpets” are a tradition for Día de los Muertos because, like life, they are temporary. At Cheekwood, participants will use a similar temporary medium, chalk, to create the large-scale colorful murals to honor the deceased. Experience the brilliance of these custom designs before they wash away!

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
Cane Ridge High School
Meigs Middle Magnet
Nashville School of the Arts
Station Camp High School
St. Bernard Academy
St. Cecilia Academy
University School of Nashville
Whites Creek High School

VENDORS Colorful open air markets line the streets of Mexico during the celebration. Local merchants sell food, flowers, art, and handmade items which people buy to decorate their altars and tombs. Visit the vendors at the festival to discover the talent of local artists, shop for unique gift items, and taste traditional foods!

FOOD LA HACIENDA
Traditional Mexican Buffet

YAYO’S O.M.G
Original Mexican Gourmet

MAS TACOS POR FAVOR
Tacos & More

KARLA’S CATERING
Empanadas, Charros, & More

PLAZA COMUNITARIA
Catholic Charities | International Coffees

CONEXIÓN AMÉRICAS
Café Rumba Roast Fair Trade Coffee

LAS PALETAS
Gourmet Mexican Popsicles

EL CHARRO MEXICAN GRILL
Authentic Mexican Foods

LA HACIENDA BAKERY
Bread of the Dead | Pan de Muerto

ART & GOODS CHEEKWOOD GIFT SHOP
Event T-Shirts and More

ELENA VARGAS
Local Artist | Handmade Arts & Crafts

TRAVELERS’ TREASURES
Peruvian Gift Items

JACKIE ALMAGUER and
RACHEL HERNANDEZ HENSLEY
Local Artists | Handmade Arts & Crafts

JULES BURCIAGA CARPENTER
Local Artist | Day of the Dead Themed Pieces

VERA’S INNOVATIONS
Local Artist | Mexican Arts and Crafts

LUCKY CHARM JEWELRY
Local Artist | Jewelry and More

VANDERBILT INTERAMERICAN
HEALTH ALLIANCE
Handcrafted Textiles and Crafts from
Guatemala

BE A BLESSING
Handmade Bracelets from Jalapa

GRUPO HISPANO AMERICA
Traditional Apparel and Crafts from Peru

CRESCENT MOON JEWELS
Local Artist |
Day of the Dead Inspired Jewelry

ALTARS
One of the most important aspects of the Days of the Dead is the creation of a memorial altar for the departed, known as an ofrenda. All across Mexico and beyond, families honor their ancestors by creating altars decorated with items that the deceased enjoyed in life. Learn more about this tradition as you tour the creative ofrendas designed by local groups and organizations!

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE
NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
TENNder CARE
TIRRC – TENNESSEE IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS COALITION
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE and artist PEPE VERA GONZALEZ
YMCA LATINO ACHIEVERS
BOOKS FROM BIRTH OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE
LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY’S FUTURO

7th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Awards of the NAHCC

2011-10-26T05:00:00.005-05:00

NAHCC with Brenda Davenport-Leigh, Carolina Rivas, Maria Mercedes Suarez, Alba Gonzalez Nylander, Holly Spann, Fabian Bedne, Loraine-Segovia Paz, Yuri Cunza, Mario Manuel Ramos, and Tommy Vallejos

Photographs by Mike Quinones

Article by Cindy McCain

“I have really experienced Southern hospitality here,” beamed Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cuban artist and recipient of the Outstanding Hispanic Professional Achievement Award in the Arts. She expressed gratitude for her award and invited the audience to her exhibition at Vanderbilt University. Such was the theme of the 7th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Awards sponsored by the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Hospitality and gratitude.

The reception and ceremony was held October 13, 2011 at the Nashville City Club. Elliott Ozment, Immigration Law Office of Elliott Ozment, said upon receiving the Hispanic Community Advocate of the Year Award: “My mission is to make Latinos feel welcome.”

Commander Mike Alexander of Metro Nashville Police Department South Precinct was awarded the Building Neighborhoods Award. Yuri Cunza President and CEO of NAHCC, introduced Alexander, saying, “It is our job to build bridges.” He praised Alexander for taking the initiative in building the El Protector Program, recognized by the Vera Institute in New York as one of the six best programs in the country for bridging the language divide. Additionally the South Precinct has been designated as the first Hispanic Car Seat Safety Inspection Site in the state of Tennessee.

Alexander explained other services, such as the Hispanic Teen Academy, where officers mentor and educate young people. He said:

When the Academy is over we have kids hugging the officers disappointed that the program is over. We bring in families. We believe it’s a big deal… There are grassroots efforts day in and day out…Thanks to you all for the support you give to us makes those things happen.

Fabian Bedne, the first Latino elected to the Metro Council, was awarded the Certificate of Appreciation For Outstanding Contributions & Community Service. He challenged the NAHCC to encourage people to “participate in the political process, to get elected officials to talk to the Latin community, (in order) to have a relationship, to communicate better.”

Humbly thanking friends such as Holly Spann, Board Member of the NAHCC since 2006, for encouraging him to run for office, he shared his journey from his home in Argentina to the US. When employees asked him to extend his work visa, he’s so glad he did. He explained with affability and grace:

Twenty-two years ago I landed in New York with two suitcases…I’m just an American story…I fell in love with democracy. That probably sounds silly, but most of us who come from other places probably understand democracy better than the locals. Civil rights, human rights, the Constitution. That makes a lot of sense to us because we come from places where these things don’t work. And when I came to the US and started experiencing feeling safe and feeling empowered and respected I just slowly realized that this was my place, this is where I wanted to be…

Here I am twenty-one years later a true American story, new Councilman for District 31 Nashville, Tennessee. Something that if you had asked me 20 years ago I would have told you that you were crazy, but this is what happens in the US. People are measured by who they are and what they do and what they give back to the community and not by who they know or how much money they have…That’s what I want to bring to you today. This is your country. This is America… We can be part of the system and we should be part of the system.

Other award recipients of the evening were as follows:

Institutional Leadership Award  
Jen Cole, Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission 

Outstanding Member Achievement Award – Education  
Tennessee Foreign Language Institute  

Hispanic Entrepreneur Achievement Award
Angel Zuniga Martinez, Fiesta Insurance  

Emerging Hispanic Business Award 
Pupuseria Salvadorena  

Outstanding Hispanic Media Professional Achievement Award 
Cristina O. Allen, Que Pasa Nashville
WTVF Channel 5+

  Outstanding Advocacy in Education Award – USHCC Foundation (United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation) 

Certificate of Recognition Outstanding Contributions in Business Advocacy 
Nashville Minority Business Center's 29th Annual Nashville Minority Enterprise
Development Week - MEDWeek

  Certificate of Appreciation Outstanding Contributions & Business Advocacy
 David Tiller, SBA TN District Office  

Journalism and Hispanic Community Award
 Cindy McCain, Nashville Latin Dancing Examiner  

Outstanding Leadership and Service Award
- Alba Gonzalez Nylander, AJ Media Services/NAHCC Treasurer
- William Luis, Afro Hispanic Review-Vanderbilt University/NAHCC 2nd Vice Chair
- Loraine Segovia-Paz, La Noticia Newspaper/NAHCC Vice Chair

Luci Lampe singing the National Anthem

Luis Parodi, Stacey Widelitz, Chefs Ritz, Loraine Segovia-Paz, Heidy Browning, Don Able

William Luis, Luci Lampe, Alba Gonzalez Nylander, Loraine Sergovia Paz

Commander Mike Alexander

Juan Pablo Alonzo

Ana Miriam and Hugo Reyes, recipients of Emerging Business Award

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons

Ainsley Diaz

Yuri Cunza

Tommy Vallejois, 14th District County Commissioner

Kaziques

NAHCC with Jen Cole of Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and recipient of the Institutional Leadership Award  

Four free tickets to El Compositor Esta Muerto

2011-10-25T06:12:00.000-05:00

HispanicNashville.com readers have a unique chance to win free tickets to the Nashville Symphony performance of "The Composer Is Dead" this Saturday, either at 11:00 a.m. in English, or at 12:30 p.m. in Spanish.

All you have to do to be eligible for the drawing is comment below, or comment on the Hispanic Nashville Facebook page, or mention @muybna on Twitter. Indicate how many tickets and which performance you are interested in.

A winner will be selected at random Thursday evening.

Read more about these two performances of "The Composer Is Dead" in yesterday's story by Cindy McCain.

Nashville Symphony Presents Halloween Production in Spanish and English

2011-10-24T05:51:00.000-05:00

By Cindy McCain

Spanish speakers, English speakers and learners of both languages will be immersed and elated as the Nashville Symphony presents a hilarious Halloween Murder Mystery, The Composer is Dead. The family concert will be held Saturday, October 29 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in two performances: narrated at 11 AM in English and at 12:30 PM in Spanish.

Lemony Snicket, children’s author of the “whodunit,” has quipped that his The Composer is Dead is “the gateway drug that leads to loving classical music.” Nashville Symphony Music Director, Giancarlo Guerrero, will narrate the performances and calls the show that entertains both children and parents “the perfect combination of great music and education.” As he “interrogates” the orchestra in search of the culprit, the audience learns what each instrument does…and more. Guerrero explains:

The production introduces kids to the orchestra by exploring each section. They’ll hear how sections take on personalities. For instance, the violin, who plays the melodies, is envied by the oboe who feels he should be trusted to start the show. Everyone had reason to kill the composer. We’ll see if the audience can figure out who did it.

Last year Guerrero conducted Peter and the Wolf which was also offered in English and Spanish. Born in Nicaragua and raised in Costa Rica, the Grammy-winning graduate of Baylor and Northwestern first fell in love with classical music listening to his father’s collection. At twelve he began playing with the Youth Symphony after school. Guerrero recalls:

My hobby became my passion. I saw my first orchestra at the National Symphony of Costa Rica. Seeing my teachers and coaches was inspiring and I realized classical music is a cool thing.

Classical music is having the biggest growth in Latin America. For years countries like Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and so many others have been investing in arts and classical music. There are many creative programs.

Associate Conductor Kelly Corcoran says:

The Pied Piper series encourages all children to get to know our Symphony in a fun environment. By offering Spanish and English versions, we hope to reach more people in our community and introduce our younger listeners to the magic of a live performance.

In addition, the series provides children an interactive musical experience, with a hands-on instrument petting zoo before each concert, as well as crafts and other activities.

The Composer is Dead points out comically that all composers-- Bach, Beethoven, Mozart--end up dead. So I asked Guerrero which deceased composer is his favorite. He said he doesn’t have just one because “no composer is really dead.” And though he loves classical music, his interests don't stop there. Of future productions Guerrero says:

I make eclectic choices and have to narrow down. My favorite styles change from time to time whether classical, jazz, rock and roll. It’s such an elimination process.

Help Narrator Guerrero narrow down suspects at The Composer is Dead by going here for ticket information. Tickets for the Spanish performance start at $10. For more info, visit NashvilleSymphony.org or call 615.687.6400.

Giancarlo Guerrero, Musical Director of Nashville Symphony Orchestra

Previous Pied Piper Halloween Performances

8th anniversary of HispanicNashville.com

2011-10-21T06:45:00.000-05:00

Photo by Leo Reynolds. Licensed via Creative Commons.

The first story of the "Hispanic Nashville Notebook" was published on October 21, 2003. It's been eight years.

I wrote a long post this morning. It started with a reflection on the early deaths of dear loved ones - Jess Fairbanks of Spain, and Fatima Muckway of Nicaragua - as well as of one lost Nashvillian who shared my name - Canuto Cordero ("cordero" means "lamb" in Spanish).

I mentioned in this post how my parents are updating their wills.

I mentioned how I want my two sweet Hispanic children - half Chilean - to understand where they come from. Not just from Nashville and Chile, but from New York, from the Winthrop fleet of centuries ago, and from Germany and Great Britain from just a few generations ago.

Part of this post was a note to my children, telling them that I love them, and asking them to love others, always. I reminded my daughter she was born at Baptist Hospital and raised in Primera Iglesia Bautista, with her first word being in Spanish - and that that's as Nashville a story as any other, including mine. I wrote about how my legal background and the love I received at la Primera are part of why I write so much about the immigration bureaucracy.

I told my children that my biggest impact on Hispanic Nashville - the community - has been to bring them into the world. And that my continued role in the community starts and ends with being the best father I can be to them.

For whatever reason, that long post I wrote this morning is lost. I hope the sentiment is not.

And at the end of that post, I had a list of the stories from the past year of the site that stand out the most to me. It did not disappear; it's below.

This list of 2010-2011 highlights from HispanicNashville.com is for you, the readers who might have missed some of these stories along the way, and also for my children. Maybe they will read this site one day to know more about their city, about their father, and about what I cared enough to write about - even if, sometimes, it disappears.

On milestones:

First baby of 2011: Isaias Palomo-Coreas
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/01/first-baby.html
Ramirez and Cedillo families celebrate quinceañera of fifteen-year-old Nohely
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/01/quinceanera.html
Ana Escobar, first Latina head of Metro department
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/06/ana-escobar.html
Fabian Bedne, first Hispanic Metro Councilman
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/08/fabian-bedne.html

On history:

Cuban Village in 1897 Centennial Park
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/09/cuban-village.html

On statistics:

Davidson County now 10% Hispanic
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/03/ten-percent.html
99% of those with immigration problem tell truth
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/06/hall.html

On how we talk about immigrants:

Scarlet letter or broken record?
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/08/scarlet-letter-or-broken-record.html

On treatment of immigrants:

Villegas vindicated
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/08/villegas.html
Vanderbilt Landscaping punished for immigration violations
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/04/dol.html
Southern Baptist Convention denounces nativism, bigotry, harassment
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/06/sbc.html
People disappear from Clairmont Apartments
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2010/11/clairmont.html

On the immigration bureaucracy:

Honorary visa
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/10/honorary-visa.html
Apology visa
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/10/apology-visa.html
Fresh start in immigration law
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/09/fresh-start.html
Make the immigration status quo more painful for Americans
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/04/agree.html
Undivided Union
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/05/undivided-union.html
Will Tennesseans get a fair hearing?
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2010/12/fair-hearing.html
Mass-produced America-born foreigners (14th Amendment)
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/01/america-born-foreigners.html
Tennessee legislators: they are coming for you
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/01/they-are-coming-for-you.html
Support rises in Tennessee for naturalization of illegal immigrants
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/02/creating-way.html

On recognition for HispanicNashville.com:

Tennessean story about HispanicNashville.com http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/10/tennessean.html
Columbia Journalism Review story about HispanicNashville.com
http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2011/03/cjr.html

Three Nashville-Cuba connections in October: Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Elena Garcia Dance Project, and Musico a Musico trip

2011-10-20T06:47:00.001-05:00

Nashville is getting its Cuba on lately. Marlen Santana-Perez was named a Metro Social Services Commissioner, Sheyla Paz-Hicks launched her Entertainment Circle show and threw her annual Copacubana party, and two Cuban-American artists spoke last weekend at the Southern Festival of Books. Most recently, Cuban-American artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons started exhibitions at Vanderbilt and the Frist, the Elena Garcia Dance Project comes to the Father Ryan High School Center for the Arts this weekend, and Musico a Musico is about to head out for a week-long worship arts workshop in Cuba starting Monday.More information about Campos-Pons, Elena Garcia Dance Project, and Musico a Musico's trip, below.

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Campos-Pons is recognized for her photographs and multi-media installations that poignantly explore her personal history as well as collective ethnic, racial, national, and sexual identities. Her work symbolically follows the African diaspora from her family’s origin in Nigeria to Cuba, where they worked in the sugar industry, to present day Boston, where Campos-Pons now lives and teaches art.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts’ Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery features the work of Campos-Pons in an exhibition entitled Journeys now through January 8, 2012.

Now through December 8, 2011, the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery will also host an exhibition of work by Campos-Pons. María Magdalena Campos-Pons: MAMA/RECIPROCAL ENERGY will feature five large-scale, mixed-media drawings that the artist created as a means to explore themes central to her practice such as identity, exile and displacement as an Afro-Cuban artist living in America. In addition, the exhibition will feature drawings that address specific performances the artist has presented over the course of her career including a collaborative work she created with her son. Also included will be a three channel video from 2003 titled Interiority or Hill-Sided Moon.

Read more about Campos-Pons' exhibitions in Nashville in the Tennessean article, the Vanderbilt press release, and the Frist press release.

Elena Garcia Dance Project: Cuban Roots Saturday, October 22 – 7:30 p.m.
Father Ryan High School Center for the Arts
700 Norwood Drive 
Tickets and information available at globaleducationcenter.net

The Elena Garcia Dance Project is an amalgamation of performers from Garcia’s Iroko Afro-Cuban Dance Company and Fuzion Dance Artists, a young Latino troupe for whom Garcia choreographs pieces merging African and Latino culture. Cuban Roots is steeped in history, culture and artistic traditions of Afro-Cuban dance and music and its influence on modern dance, with an emphasis on sharing the stories of the Afro-Latin Diaspora. This particular presentation will include an original piece called Olvido, which is based on the story of a female immigrant who came from Cuba to the U.S. in the 1950’s to become part of the Mambo scene of the Palladium in New York. Dancers will also be performing excerpts from a larger dance drama called Patakin; a dance theatre segment called La Parada; and a traditional solo piece danced by Garcia honoring Yemaya, the Yoruba deity of the ocean.Garcia will be teaching an Afro-Cuban dance workshop at 10:30 am on Saturday, October 22 at the Global Education Center. The group will also be performing at a free festival of cultures at Columbia State Community College on Friday, October 21 at 10:30 am.

Beginning of Musico a Musico from Jon Leiva on Vimeo.

Nashville's Christian worship training and education group Musico a Musico is going to Cuba from October 22-31:

Músico a Músico is making plans to join with Missionaries Roy and Dirce Cooper with Caribbean Itinerant Ministry Team, IMB and their staff of quality music teachers and worship leaders outside Havana Cuba. The MaM team will be small joining me will be Cindy Benitez who will be teaching drama and mime, Steve Krenz teaching guitar and Jamie Wigginton teaching vocals. Each year Roy and Dirce hold week long training for their country’s musicians and worship leaders. In ten years they have established some 75 schools with presently 1,000 worship leaders and musicians in training and during the week of October 24. Our guys will join with this well established ministry to present master classes. The students will be the best of the best and will assemble in a camp-like setting for intensive training that they are anxious to receive and the teachers are passionate about giving.

Money for college now available through Hispanic Scholarship Fund; "we would love to see more applications from Tennessee"

2011-10-19T06:09:00.002-05:00

Image from yourwordstoday.org, a joint effort of the Ad Council and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is encouraging Latino/Latina Tennesseans in their senior year of high school, in undergraduate school, and in graduate school to apply for scholarships that opened up September 1 and that will close around December 15 (deadlines may vary from scholarship to scholarship).

Latinos in Tennessee have been receiving scholarship awards through HSF since 1975, with 183 students receiving a total of $502,259. Most of the colleges and universities in Tennessee have had an HSF award recipient among their students, including Aquinas, Austin Peay, Belhaven, Belmont, Bethel, Chattanooga State, Christian Brothers, Cumberland, ETSU, Fisk, Freed-Hardeman, Lee, LeMoyne-Owen, Memphis, MTSU, Rhodes, South, Southern Adventist, Strayer, TSU, Tech, Trevecca, UTK, UTM, Vanderbilt, and Watkins.

Last year, HSF helped grant scholarships to 14 students in Tennessee, for a total award amount of $38,509. That is down from $61,570 awarded for 20 Tennessee scholarships in 2009, and $65,861 awarded across 21 scholarships in 2008.

"We would love to see more applications from Tennessee," said David Precise, HSF's National Director of Development, Southeast. Precise, who operates out of Birmingham, has been visiting the Volunteer State this year to get the word out about the scholarship opportunities to students here. Nationwide, HSF supported close to 4,500 awards valued at $29.8 million in 2010. Over its 36-year history, HSF has helped connect more than 100,000 Hispanic American students to over $335 million.

Students interested in scholarships can begin the process at the HSF website - http://www.hsf.net/innercontent.aspx?id=34 - and the recommendation is to start preparing the materials now. Applicants who start too close to the deadline may not be able to gather everything they need in time.

HispanicNashville.com in Tennessean feature story

2011-10-17T07:03:00.000-05:00

Tennessean article about HispanicNashville.com published last Saturday

This past Saturday, the final day of Hispanic Heritage Month 2011, and less then a week before this site's 8th anniversary, The Tennessean wrote a feature about me and HispanicNashville.com. It ran on page 1 of the Local/Business section. Thanks to Nancy DeVille for researching and writing the article and to her editors for the story idea.

The electronic edition of the piece will be online for a few weeks, and it contains quotes from me, Fabian Bedne, and Renata Soto. Here are a couple of my quotes:

“Nashville does celebrate its Hispanic residents, and I want to be part of that.”

“[The site] might be a reference for people, it might help dispel stereotypes and might be a record of what’s been going on in Nashville.”

Read the full story here.

The print edition, for those of you who didn't see it, carried the headline, "He'll keep you up with the Lopezes." The copywriters came up with that one; they have the hard job of hitting all the right notes in a headline. It's a spin on the familiar phrase "keeping up with the Joneses" - doubly so - in that it changes the original in two ways ("keeping up with" is presumably meant as just "knowing what's going on with," and then "Jones" becomes "Lopez").

Some of you read the story over the weekend and sent some nice words my way – thank you.

Six Latina and two Latino writers at Southern Festival of Books this weekend

2011-10-14T06:46:00.000-05:00

At least eight Latino writers will be at the Southern Festival of Books at Legislative Plaza in Nashville this weekend. Among the eight are two locals, Austin Peay prof Blas Falconer and Vanderbilt prof Lorraine López, who co-edited the book The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity. Falconer also co-edited Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets with Cuban-American author Helena Mesa, who will be appearing Saturday at the festival, as well.

In addition to all eight authors' individual presentations, five of them will be together on the The Other Latin@ panel Saturday from 10:00 to 11:30 in the Old Supreme Court Room.

More about the individual authors, their books, and their appearances at the Festival, below. In chronological order:

Teresa Dovalpage

Teresa Dovalpage was born in Havana, Cuba in 1966 and presently lives in Taos, New Mexico, where she teaches Spanish and literature at UNM-Taos. Teresa has a Ph.D. in Latin American literature and is the author of five novels — three in Spanish and two in English. She also has written a collection of short stories in Spanish and is a playwright.

Panel: Friday, 2:30-4:00 pm, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Friday, 4:00-4:30 pm, Signing Colonnade; Presentation: Saturday, 10:00-11:30 am, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Saturday, 11:30-12:00 noon, Signing Colonnade
Current Book: Habanera, A Portrait of a Cuban Family

Justin Torres

Justin Torres grew up in upstate New York, where this novel is set. His work has appeared in Granta, Tin House, and Glimmer Train. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he is a recipient of the Rolón United States Artist Fellowship in Literature, and is now a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. He has worked as a farmhand, a dog-walker, a creative writing teacher, and a bookseller.

Panel: Friday, 2:30-4:00 pm, Room 16; Sign: Friday, 4:00-4:30 pm, Signing Colonnade; Panel: Saturday, 9:30-11:00 am, Library Auditorium; Sign: Saturday, 11:00-11:30 am, Signing Colonnade
Current Book: We the Animals

Marisel Vera

Marisel Vera grew up in the barrio in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, where she was raised by Puerto Rican emigrant parents. One of six children, she was the first in her family to earn a college degree: a BA in Journalism from Northern Illinois University. She has won the Willow Review literary magazine fiction prize. In 2011, her unpublished coming-of-age novel, the Liberation of Carmela Lopez, was adapted into play form and directed by her daughter at Northwestern University. www.mariselvera.com

Panel: Friday, 2:30-4:00 pm, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Friday, 4:00-4:30 pm, Signing Colonnade
Current Book: If I Bring You Roses

Lisa D. Chavez

Lisa D. Chavez, a poet and memoirist who lives in the mountains of New Mexico. She has two books of poetry published, In an Angry Season and Destruction Bay and has had work included in such collections as Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets, The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity, and Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing.

Presentation: Saturday, 10:00-11:30 am, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Saturday, 11:30-12:00 noon, Signing Colonnade
Current Book: In an Angry Season

Blas Falconer

Blas Falconer is a poet and teacher of English at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. His work has appeared in numerous journals, including Indiana Review, Green Mountains Review, and Cimarron Review. His chapbook of poems, The Perfect Hour, was published by Pleasure Boat Studio in 2006. A Question of Gravity and Light is his first book-length collection of poems. Read more at Chapter 16. Falconer's mother was born in Salinas, Puerto Rico. He says, "the lens through which I contemplate any subject has been shaped, specifically, by my history as a Puerto Rican growing up in Virginia, living in Nashville, and in that sense, will always reflect who I am and where I've come from—wherever that may be."

Presentation: Saturday, 10:00-11:30 am, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Saturday, 11:30-12:00 noon, Signing Colonnade
Current Books: The Other Latin@: Against a Singular Identity and Mentor & Muse: Essays From Poets to Poets

Lorraine López

Lorraine López - her short story collection, Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories won the inaugural Miguel Marmól prize for fiction. Her second book, Call Me Henri, was awarded the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Literature, and her novel, The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters was a Borders/Las Comadres Selection for the month of November in 2008. López's short story collection, Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories was a Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Prize in Fiction in 2010. Her most recent work is a novel, The Realm of Hungry Spirits, published by Grand Central Press in May, and a collection of essays, The Other Latin@, co-edited with Blas Falconer, which will be released fall 2011 from the University of Arizona Press. www.lorrainelopez.net

Presentation: Saturday, 10:00-11:30 am, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Saturday, 11:30-12:00 noon, Signing Colonnade; Panel: Friday, 2:30-4:00 pm, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Friday, 4:00-4:30 pm, Signing Colonnade
Current Books: The Realm of Hungry Spirits and The Other Latin@: Against a Singular Identity

Helena Mesa

Helena Mesa, born and raised in Pittsburgh to Cuban parents. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Her poems have appeared in such journals as Barrow Street, Bat City Review, Indiana Review, Poet Lore, and Third Coast. She is currently co-editing a collection of essays, Mentor & Muse: Essays From Poets to Poets. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is an assistant professor of English at Albion College.

Presentation: Saturday, 10:00-11:30 am, Old Supreme Court Room; Sign: Saturday, 11:30-12:00 noon, Signing Colonnade
Current Books: The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity and Mentor & Muse: Essays From Poets to Poets

Sandra Gutierrez

Sandra Gutierrez grew up in the United States and Guatemala, is a journalist, food writer, culinary instructor, and recipe developer. She lives in Cary, North Carolina with her husband and their daughters. www.sandraskitchenstudio.com Her new book The New Southern-Latino Table merges Southern and Latin cooking. www.sandraskitchenstudio.com

Panel: Sunday, 12:00-1:30 pm, Room 30; Sign: Sunday, 1:30-2:00 pm, Signing Colonnade
Current Book: The New Southern-Latino Table

Diana Holland in Terminator the Second this weekend

2011-10-13T06:16:00.003-05:00

Diana Holland

Argentina-born Nashville actor Diana Holland is back on stage this weekend with what she calls "a minor (but impactful!)" role in the original play "William Shakespeare presents Terminator the Second," by Husky Jackal Theater.

The original script of WS:T2 was composed exclusively from lines from Shakespeare plays from 1685 and before, pieced together to match the story of the 1991 James Cameron blockbuster "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

Holland describes it this way:

The play is the Terminator story, in Shakespeare's words.There is action (and reaction) in this 5-act play that spans 2.5+ hours (with an intermission, of course). It is "teenage-and-up" friendly, so if you want your kids to get a glimpse of Shakespeare in a "video-game-on-stage" kinda thang, then bring them along!

I play Janelle, the foster Mom, and I have a couple of scenes in acts 1 and 2.

The cast and crew of this play is not just dedicated to 'the cause', but highly motivated and passionate.

The play's web site is www.terminatorthesecond.com, and the Nashville Scene wrote this write-up in their Fall Guide.

Here are the details:

Event: William Shakespeare presents 'Terminator the Second'

Dates/Times: 6 4 shows (Update 10/13: the matinees have been cancelled)
Friday, 10/14/11, 8 pm
Saturday, 10/15/11: ~~2 pm AND~~ 8 pm
Sunday, 10/16/11: ~~2 pm AND~~ 8 pm
Monday, 10/17/11: 8 pm

Tickets: $15 p/person: cash or credit card at the door or at www.ticketsnashville.com

Location: Nashville School of the Arts, 1250 Foster Ave., Nashville, TN 37210
(Venue is located in the main building of the campus. Enter on Foster Avenue and follow the signs to parking. Free parking is available).

The trailer is below:

NAHCC awards ceremony Thursday follows lunch by TNHCC, or rather, TLACC

2011-10-12T05:48:00.000-05:00

Like I said yesterday when I wrote about their lunch event, the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce* is great for networking, but did you know there are two Hispanic chambers of commerce in Nashville?

The other one is the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and they're having their annual Hispanic Heritage Month awards ceremony tomorrow, Thursday, October 13, at the Nashville City Club. There will be Latin-inspired hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, live music, and door prizes, and of course the awards. The Tennessean and also Cindy McCain have already ran stories about the event, and the invitation is below:

The Board of Directors Of

The Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Cordially Invites You To

7th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month

Business & Community Awards

Thursday, October 13, 2010

5:30 PM to 8 PM

Nashville City Club

Winner of the 2011 Toast of Music City

'Best View of the City' Award!

Please select from the ticket reservation options here.

Questions?

Please call 615-216-5737

or email us RSVP@nashvillehispanicchamber.com

There is a lot more to Hispanic Nashville than chambers of commerce - the chambers are not spokespersons for anyone but their members, and they shouldn't automatically be your first call about a Hispanic issue in town. But each chamber's board is more engaged than it has ever been, and each chamber's approach is unique. It's not just that the Tennessee chamber is statewide in name and the Nashville chamber is city-oriented. The chambers have different personalities, different relationships in the community, and different missions. Events like yesterday's lunch at the Sheraton and tomorrow's awards ceremony at the City Club are good ways to learn about the two groups.

*At its lunch yesterday, the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce announced that it has changed its name to the Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber lunch sparks conversation, new Nashvillian Ralph Noyes describes Spain's "unspoken acceptance"

2011-10-11T05:52:00.000-05:00

Photo of walkway and restaurant sign in Spain by Ralph Noyes. Used with permission.

Today is the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's networking lunch at the Downtown Sheraton. Throughout this chamber's existence of more than a decade, its strength has always been networking events like this. If you go to just one, you will meet some interesting people, and if you go to more than one, you will start seeing some of the same faces and feeling like you are part of a community.

At a TNHCC lunch this past summer, I sat next to Ralph Noyes, who planned to move here from Austin and was just back from a year teaching English in Spain.

Not having visited the Iberian peninsula myself, I asked Noyes why he went to Spain and what it was like; his answer is below. Describing his experience abroad, Noyes inadvertently highlights a commonality that Chamber lunches have with Spain itself - they're both a great catalyst for conversation:

Ralph Noyes
I chose Spain for the coffee. The tradition of sitting, or more often standing, next to someone else and beginning the day with a conversation. It could be out on a sidewalk, inside a cafe, or at the bar, but wherever it occurs it is done consciously and leisurely. There are no to go cups, drive thru's, venti sized monstrosities, or refills. One cup, one huge bag of sugar, and no clock in sight. Of course people have obligations, but as I discovered on my first day of work, time is elastic and no one arrives exactly when they say they will.

Just about everything else is late too. You can't get lunch before 2, which is followed by a nap, or 'siesta'. People go back to work in the afternoon and dinner begins around 10. Perhaps it's the coffee consumption, the siesta, or the mass amounts of carbohydrates from the bread taken in at every meal that allows them to sustain their nocturnal schedule. The restaurants stay open till midnight, the bars till 4. When the bars close, the clubs open, and everyone drinks and dances till dawn, when breakfast is served to the groggy holdouts still singing Rihanna's latest club hit. On the weekend hundreds, sometimes thousands of young Spaniards ages 16-30 gather in designated "Botellon" sites where they drink, dance, and listen to music. Despite the horrendous mess it leaves behind, there usually isn't a single violent incident,

This type of behavior is normal in a public, social culture. People live their lives outside the house, on the squares and benches and playgrounds found on nearly every block. They need places to sit because they walk everywhere. Sitting promotes face to face socializing, which means less texting and calling, less boundaries. Even in the relatively conservative school environment I worked in, people are much less guarded. They carpool to work, stand closer when they speak to eachother, touch more often, and curse without thinking twice about who may be listening. Their lack of 'awkwardness' (which doesn't even translate into Castellano) and political correctness was refreshing to my restrained ears. My co-workers were similarly unapologetic in their actions. While aware that they may run into a student while out carousing, I never saw them worry, become embarrassed, or avoid anyone. The unspoken acceptance makes it ok for everyone to enjoy themselves regardless of age or station.

While I realize that not all visitors will share my rosy vision of Spain, these are the things that drew me in and won me over. These are the things that I latched onto in an alien environment. Maybe it's the adversity, the sudden lack of familiarity that triggers the endearment. Maybe it's just the coffee.

Noyes has since moved to Nashville and has found work at a doctor's office with "lots of Hispanic patients, lots of Spanish."

W.O.M.E.N. hosts HIV testing for National Latino AIDS Awareness Day

2011-10-10T05:42:00.002-05:00

All this week, Nashville's W.O.M.E.N. (Women On Maintaining Education and Nutrition) is promoting National Latino AIDS Awareness Day and HIV testing. W.O.M.E.N. has Spanish-speaking staff and also a food pantry. The agency is located at 417 Welshwood Dr., Suite 303, Nashville, TN, 37211.

There is also a Spanish-language announcement on the W.O.M.E.N. web site.

October 15th was established in 2003 as National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) in response to the devastating impact HIV/AIDS has on Hispanic/Latino communities across the country. It was established to draw attention to the critical role HIV testing and prevention education plays in stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS among Hispanics/Latinos. It is a day during Hispanic Heritage Month that organizations around the country use to promote and sponsor activities that respond to the state of HIV/AIDS among Hispanics/Latinos in their specific communities.

According to NLAAD, Hispanics/Latinos progress to AIDS faster than any other racial or ethnic group with 42% being diagnosed with AIDS within 12 months after learning of their positive HIV status compared to 34% late diagnosis among white non-Hispanic and 35% among blacks. Hispanics/Latinos represent 16% of the population but account for an estimated 18% of people living with HIV and 18% of new infections.

Improvements in health status are attributed to raising awareness, promoting HIV testing, disseminating prevention strategies, and connecting Hispanics/Latinos to health care.

An "honorary visa" would recognize achievement in America by prospective Americans

2011-10-09T07:08:00.000-05:00

John McCarthy, receiving an honorary degree at Harvard University
Photo by Ken Schwarz. Licensed via Creative Commons.

Yesterday, I proposed a new immigration visa; I'm proposing yet another one today (my fifth). It's called the "honorary visa."

An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations. The degree is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the academic institution. Usually the degree is conferred as a way of honoring a distinguished visitor's contributions to a specific field, or to society in general. The university often derives benefits by association with the person in question, and the recipient may (contrary to popular opinion) receive the full benefit and privilege of the titled degree.

You see where I am going with this: there are people in the U.S. who by their conduct have demonstrated themselves worthy of the American name, even though they have not followed along with the crowd of people who have gone through the processes typically required to carry that title.

Congress could create an "honorary visa" to recognize these achievements and contributions, because we currently have nothing like this for applicants already in the United States. Government, famous for inefficiency, could take advantage of 20/20 hindsight and grant this visa to the people we would have wanted to admit in the first place but didn't.

I call this new process the "honorary visa," and I can't wait to see the first ceremony.

Some text about honorary degrees licensed from Wikipedia.

An "apology visa" would set things straight with the people Americans have wronged

2011-10-08T08:09:00.004-05:00

Photo by Elentari86. Licensed via Creative Commons.

I'm always brainstorming about visa rewards. That's "visa" as in green cards, not credit cards.

Many people don't qualify for a green card under the current bureaucracy, or the waiting list is 70 years, and not because they're sick or criminals, but because perhaps they're poor, or don't have existing ties to the U.S., or from certain countries where the demand outstrips supply.

So the U.S. needs new visa products. Three I've suggested before (and that I recommend you check out) are the friends visa, the sacrifice bunt visa, and the bankruptcy/reboot visa.

I have another visa for Congress to consider: the apology visa.

The apology visa would be for anyone in the U.S. who is wronged by an American person or company. If an American takes advantage of you or wrongs you, you get an apology visa. The visa creates justice, actual and poetic. The actual justice is kind of obvious; the poetic justice is that any American who wants to harm someone without immigration status will actually be granting them immigration status. Take that.

The idea of this "apology visa" came to mind after I saw Jose Torres-Tama's show about abuses of immigrants and of their labor in New Orleans, which I wrote about and Mack of Coyote Chronicles also wrote about. But we don't need too much of a reminder to know that people who come here without obtaining or maintaining good status with ICE are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Not only that, they are cooking and cleaning and building and rebuilding our country, and they live among us for years paying sales and property taxes in every instance and contributing to the communities in most instances, without the government ever acknowledging their status as budding Americans.

We can decide what kind of wrong would qualify someone for an apology visa, but it's fairly easy to justify that there should be one.

Celebrating Nashville last Saturday with friends, culture, and song

2011-10-07T05:00:00.017-05:00

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it....But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.--Thomas Jefferson

The Athens of the South shone brightly last Saturday, October 1 as old pals gathered and new friends were made at Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival in Centennial Park and Regions Free Day of Music at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center downtown.

The festival at Centennial Park was a colorful mosaic of cultures. Those who attended grooved in the grass to bands such as El Movimiento and Kazique (pictured below). Likewise, later at the Schermerhorn, Rumba's energy fueled newcomers-to-Latin-music, filling the floor for a dance lesson taught from the stage. Alongside them veteran salseros reveled in taking a turn in the hallowed hall, home of the Nashville Symphony.

Written and photographed by Cindy McCain

The South's Latin kitchens get front-page treatment and new cookbook

2011-10-06T03:52:00.000-05:00

Alba Gonzalez-Nylander and Loraine Segovia-Paz on the front page of Wednesday's Tennessean

Nashville foodies looking for a Latin twist in the kitchen have had plenty of reading material this week.

Nashville Cooks

Yesterday's Tennessean ran a top-of-the-front-page teaser banner for the latest installment of its "Nashville Cooks" series, in which the paper "visit[s] the home of one family each month who will teach us how to prepare a traditional family meal that’s healthful, inexpensive, easy and made from scratch." Alba Gonzalez-Nylander and Loraine Segovia-Paz are the featured chefs this week. Here is an excerpt from that article:

Alba, who works in video production, and Loraine, who runs Hispanic newspaper La Noticia, have made full lives for themselves in the United States. And though they live far from their home countries, cooking still helps take them back.

Alba's Venezuelan roots and Loraine's Bolivian roots, and the connection of those earlier times to the food they cook today, are featured prominently in the story.

The New Southern-Latino Table

Earlier this week, Carrie Ferguson-Weir's Bilingual in the Boonies blog featured North Carolina author Sandra A. Gutierrez. Gutierrez will appear at the Southern Festival of Books October 14 to promote her 2011 cookbook The New Southern-Latino Table. More details at Carrie's post, but here is an excerpt:

The 150 original recipes explore the melding of cultures, ingredients and cooking techniques of more than 20 Latin American countries with that of the traditional American South. We can only say Wepa, Y’all, to that.

Gonzalez was born in the U.S. and raised in Guatemala. She was a long-time food writer for the Cary, NC newspaper.

Best of Nashville

Today's 2011 "Best of Nashville" edition of the Nashville Scene will surely have some Latin venues and dishes among the winners, as well. Check it out.

Copacubana

One last tip for the Latin foodies: check out Cindy McCain's recent video "Pot Luck," a tribute to the food and fellowship of Sheyla Paz-Hicks' "Copacabana" parties.

Jose Torres-Tama tonight at Vanderbilt: invisibles get stage time in "Aliens, Immigrants, and Other Evildoers"

2011-10-05T06:43:00.004-05:00

Props from "unplugged" performance of "Aliens, Immigrants, and Other Evildoers" by Jose Torres-Tama

Putting a face on the invisible is what I appreciate most about artist Jose Torres-Tama, whose one-man show "Aliens, Immigrants, and Other Evildoers" comes to Vanderbilt University's Student Life Center tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Just as Jacob Riis tore back the curtain on slums and poverty in New York in the 19th century, and just as Dorothea Lange's images of Depression-era farm workers sparked a national awakening, Torres-Tama brings the stories of our marginalized foreign-born neighbors to the stage.

Audiences come to know specific people whom Torres-Tama has interviewed over the years, as if we have interviewed them ourselves. A 19-year-old young man who almost lost his arm rebuilding New Orleans, and a woman who saw her father for the first time when she snuck across the U.S.-Mexico border as an eight-year-old, are among those we get to know via the artist's costumed performances.

Song, poetry, and multimedia accompany these tales. The images, words, and even the humor (yes, there's humor) are geared towards adults ("Not for the faint of heart," says Vanderbilt).

I watched the "unplugged," abbreviated preview performance, and I highly recommend the full multimedia version tonight, part of the On the SIDE series of Vanderbilt's Great Performances. Vanderbilt students and staff have special pricing, but tickets are $10 for non-Vanderbilt students with I.D., and $30 to $40 for the general public. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Student Life Center.

The faces and stories told by Torres-Tama need to be revealed. "Aliens" is our high-definition glimpse.

For more information about the meaning and message of the show, read an interview with Torres-Tama on New Orleans' Pelican Bomb.

Alberto Gonzales to Belmont Law: highest executive official in Hispanic American history to become a Nashvillian

2011-10-04T06:04:00.002-05:00

Former White House Counsel and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the Monday press conference announcing his acceptance of a job offer from Belmont University College of Law

Alberto Gonzales, the highest-ranking Hispanic American ever to have served in the executive branch of the federal government, has accepted a full-time teaching position at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville. Gonzales reports to work in January, in the middle of the inaugural year of the law school. Gonzales served as White House Counsel and U.S. Attorney General under President George W. Bush.

One of Alberto Gonzales' three sons is already part of Nashville - he is a student at Belmont University. Beginning in January, his father will join him as one of the many Hispanic members of the Nashville community.

Two years ago, Gonzales came to town to speak to the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and in the audience were local GOP luminaries Bill Haslam, Bill Ketron, Beth Harwell, and my own State Rep. Glen Casada. In the article about that speech, I detailed many of Gonzales' accolades and also the fact that he is proud of his grandparents, three of whom may not have had legal immigration status when they came to the U.S. from Mexico. Thanks to Belmont for adding a prominent defender of the 14th Amendment to Nashville's conservative circles.

What's not to like about that?

The Tennessean decided to ask local civil rights attorney Jerry Gonzalez just what might be wrong about the news of the newest Belmont professor, in light of the controversy that surrounds him (summed up by Gonzales' own alma mater Rice University as relating to his opinion of the Geneva Convention provisions on torture, "plus his support for all facets of the Patriot Act, his backing of military tribunals for the Guantanamo Bay prisoners, and his absence of total opposition to abortion and affirmative action. They also criticize his personal loyalty to George W. Bush, which, they say, skews his role as legal advisor to the president." The Atlantic Monthly has its own brief list, as well - including a reference to death penalty review while advising then-Governor Bush.)

Despite all that controversy, including Alberto Gonzales' association with Bush's policy of waterboarding terror suspects, and Jerry Gonzalez's having been waterboarded before as a part of military training, the Tennessean quoted JG as saying the appointment of AG is "no big deal":

It provides good name recognition for the university, he said, and law school students are so focused on the basics that it’s highly unlikely that issues such as torture will ever arise. “Most of the classes students are taking are pretty basic,” Gonzalez said. “If a student did ask, ‘Professor, what about torture?’ most law school teachers use the Socratic method, so they’d come right back at them: ‘What do you think about torture?’ And (the class would) debate that among themselves and then move on to another topic.”

For any future Belmont Law students looking in vain for an answer from their professor about his role advising the President on terror-related issues, there are plenty of interviews available, but the one that stood out to me was with the Wall Street Journal, in which Gonzales implied that the ends justify the means:

"Mistakes were made by me and others. But how successful we were, the measure of that is whether we've been attacked again, and we haven't. That's a very good measure of the policies."

That ends-focused philosophy is consistent with the account of Jack Goldsmith, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel while Gonzales was White House Counsel, who described (in his book The Terror Presidency) the post-9/11 legal mindset of Gonzales and others in the White House:

"The President had to do what he had to do to protect the country. And the lawyers had to find some way to make what he did legal."

As I wrote in an ad for HispanicNashville.com in 2009, "Every Hispanic face in Nashville tells an amazing story. Ours." Watching our newest amazing story unfold is something Nashvillians no doubt look forward to, given Gonzales' prominence. Gonzales himself seems ready to write new chapters, telling WPLN:

"Being a resident of Nashville, I can assure you I will not just limit my time to the law school and to work here at Belmont, but I intend to become fully involved in efforts in the community.”

Marlen Santana-Perez named Social Services Commissioner; personal tangle with immigration bureaucracy informs her social work

2011-10-03T06:08:00.004-05:00

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Metro Social Services Commissioner Marlen Santana-Perez,
upon her appointment as Commissioner in July 2011. Source: nashville.gov

On the same day that Ana Escobar was being named Metro Clerk, the Council named Marlen Santana-Perez as one of only six Metro Social Services Commissioners. Her term will run five years, through April 2016. Santana is a licensed clinical social worker with Saint Thomas Health Services.

Santana was an attorney in her native Cuba and is a student at the Nashville School of Law.

On the day she became a U.S. citizen last December, Santana described to the Tennessean her harrowing personal story of immigration to the U.S. The journey started in 1998 when she and her then four-year-old daughter left Cuba for Venezuela. Months later they arrived in Cancun, and then Reynosa, Mexico. It was 1999 when mother and daughter joined other Cubans in a two-day walk from Reynosa to McAllen, Texas, on the other side of the U.S.-Mexico border. The group navigated the Rio Grande in inner tubes.

Santana's Cuban status theoretically protected her from deportation, but the federal government nonetheless ordered her out of the country in 2004 before rescinding that order in 2007. It took three more years before Uncle Sam invited her to raise her right hand in a naturalization ceremony.

Santana described to Hispanic Integration Hub how her own transition and struggles with the immigration bureaucracy help her identify with her social work clients:

This clinic gave me the opportunity to help people that—at some point in my life here when I came to the United States, I was in the same situation. Due to the wrong legal advice from an attorney, I ended up with a deportation order, and it was very hard for me without legal status. So when I was able to go to school, I always said to myself, “This is what I want to do. I want to help people in the same situation.” I was a practicing attorney in Cuba before I came here, it was really hard for me to adjust to and understand the system here. So for me, this is an opportunity to show that it's possible, that they can do better things, that there is opportunity here and that's very rewarding and very good for me.

In 2009, Santana painted a more detailed picture of her ordeal with the immigration bureaucracy in an interview with Nashville Public Television, as part of the Hablamos Español installment of the local PBS affiliate's award-winning "Next Door Neighbor" series. Watch her tell the story in her own words in the 11-minute video, available online.

ICE does good with Cross Check, arrests 32 in Tennessee

2011-10-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

September 2011 "Cross Check" operation. Photo source: ICE

Good news: Uncle Sam is making an effort to go after the worst of the worst in the Volunteer State.

According to the Tennessean, 32 convicted criminals were taken off of Tennessee streets as part of a nationwide immigration raid in September. One of the arrestees was living in Franklin and had been convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, and he will presumably be deported to his home country of Mexico. The total number of people arrested across 50 states and 4 territories was 2,901, which makes Tennessee's number of 32 relatively low in comparison.

The federal government is hailing these sweeps as a crackdown on people who had committed safety-related crimes like the Franklin man (see the ICE press release here). This particular enforcement action (one of many given the name "Cross Check") was spearheaded by ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program ("NFOP"), which is responsible for locating, arresting and removing at-large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives. The officers who conducted this Cross Check operation received substantial assistance from ICE's Fugitive Operations Support Center ("FOSC") and ICE's Law Enforcement Support Center ("LESC"), both located in Williston, Vermont.

ICE says that it is focused on "smart, effective immigration enforcement that targets serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, such as those charged with or convicted of homicide, rape, robbery, kidnapping, major drug offenses and threats to national security." ICE also says that it prioritizes "the arrest and removal of those who game the immigration system including immigration fugitives or those criminal aliens who have been previously deported and illegally re-entered the country."

So there is some ambiguity as to how much of the arrestees of the September operation were guilty of both purely immigration-related crimes as well as of safety-related crimes. There is no doubt, however, that the emphasis of the sweep was crime. It is important to keep in mind that criminal sentences against immigrants can be handed out without due process, which is a danger to everyone, not just immigrants. But it is also important to keep in mind a principle on which almost every American resident agrees, immigrant and native-born alike: focusing immigration enforcement on criminals is a good thing, and actual enforcement actions against criminals are for everyone's benefit. (Pretty much everyone also agrees that Americans and businesses need to be targeted by law enforcement, as well, but that's a different story.)

Three cheers for the officers and other public servants who are making our streets safer with this focus on crime and criminals.

And thanks for the reminder that Tennessee is home to fewer criminals than average. Let's keep it that way.

Celebrate Nashville conjures 1897 Vanity Fair; Cuban Village was on modern Park Police site

2011-09-30T05:45:00.001-05:00

Vanity Fair educational panel at Centennial Park

The Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival will be held at Centennial Park tomorrow, Saturday, October 1, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The whole idea of a modern cultural celebration on this site is actually a faithful echo of the original 1897 exposition that brought the park into being. Both can be described as a jubilant display of people and treasures from all over the world. We're getting our own little Epcot World Showcase on, right here in Music City, just as our ancestors did in 1897.

Back then, the Parthenon didn't exclusively showcase Greece (it was the Nashville/Davidson County pavilion), and the Memphis pyramid was all about the West Tennessee city, not its Egyptian namesake. But there was a section of the original Centennial Exposition called Vanity Fair, which was very much about reproducing the look, feel, sounds, and tastes of faraway lands - including China, Mexico, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain, among others.

What intrigues me most about the 1897 Exposition is the "Cuban Village" that was part of Vanity Fair.

Cuban Village was made up of seven buildings, and the space it enveloped would surround where the Park Police building is today (see the map below). It was a a "colorful" village - there were Cuban cigars (of course), dancers (including "THE SENSATIONAL SPANISH SEN SEN DANCING GIRLS"), shops, food, donkeys - the whole nine yards. In one notable incident, when the dancers wore "abbreviated dress," brawls broke out.

If you go out to the Park tomorrow, look for the educational panels about Vanity Fair - they're in the Parthenon and also along the park's walkways. If you happen to stroll by the Park Police building on the way to or from your car (there are no official events there), do a little dance - heck, get your flash mob on - and shake it a little, in honor of the original dancers of the Centennial Exposition's Cuban Village who got this whole thing started.

Just keep your clothes on.

For a listing of the 8 Latin acts performing on various stages tomorrow at Celebrate Nashville, visit Cindy McCain's Examiner page.
For an unedited Celebrate Nashville map and more information, visit the Celebrate Nashville web site.
For a good, illustrated history of the 1897 Centennial Exposition, pick up Bobby Lawrence's book, which has an online preview here (including a map of the original exposition grounds) and which is also available in some area Walgreens.

2011 Celebrate Nashville map, with 1897 Cuban Village and
modern Park Police building added in by HispanicNashville.com

10 lucky ESL volunteers will get TFLI certification for free, thanks to Nissan Foundation

2011-09-29T05:57:00.001-05:00

The Tennessee Foreign Language Institute (TFLI) announced that it has received a $23,000 grant from the Nissan Foundation for scholarships to train ten volunteers who currently teach English as a Second Language (ESL). Applicants who are selected for the scholarships will enroll to become certified instructors for adult immigrants and refugees learning English as a second language in Davidson County.

Scholarship applications are due October 15. Application details are below.

The Nissan Foundation grant will utilize TFLI’s 145-hour (four-month) Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) Certification program to formally train volunteer instructors at immigrant and refugee community centers. The TESL course provides trainees with the foundation to plan, prepare and execute solid and effective lessons for adult English language learners at levels from pre-literacy to superior.

“The Nissan Foundation supports programs that build appreciation for diversity,” said John Dab, secretary of the Nissan Foundation. “TFLI’s ESL programs help cultivate language proficiency and cultural understanding throughout our community, and align well with the Foundation’s core values.” Since 2000, the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute has directed four intensive certification courses per year and continues to be the leading provider of TESL Certification for teachers of ESL in the state.

According to the TFLI, a TESL certificate opens the door to employment, either overseas or in the U.S., with most overseas work being full-time, and most local jobs being part-time:

Local part-time jobs are abundant. Most institutes that employ ESL teachers will have part-time work available. ESL teachers tend to move where the need is so you will need to be mobile and able to handle a flexible schedule. Usually classes will meet in different locations for two hours at a time. As you do with any job, you have to promote and market yourself. If you are creative, resourceful and flexible you can find enough part-time work to keep you employed full-time!

For more information, read the additional materials and the FAQ page, and if you still have questions, please contact the TFLI at esl@tfli.org.

TESL Certification Scholarship 2012 Guidelines
Click here to download a printable copy of the Guidelines

• TFLI will accept applications from August 15, 2011 to October 15, 2011. TFLI will not accept applications, reference letters, or any documentation after October 15, 2011.
• Any incomplete registrations will not be considered for the scholarship. Through a registration screening process, 10 applicants will be chosen from among all the applicants who have applied. The scholarship winners will be announced on November 15, 2011.
• Applicants will be responsible for the $25 registration fee and if awarded, the scholarship recipient will be responsible for $175.00 of the program's cost (total $200.00). No other coupons, discounts or fee waivers apply to the scholarship recipients.
• Applicants will choose to enroll in one of the TESL courses offered in Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Summer 2012 or Fall 2012.

Scholarship applicants will adhere to the following guidelines:

1) Applicant should have or should be approaching completion of a Bachelor’s degree.

2) If an applicant is a non-native speaker of English, The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is mandatory. Applicants must prove a total TOEFL iBT score of 85. Individual skill section scores are: reading score of 21, listening score of 21, speaking score of 21, and writing score of 22.

3) Applicant should be prepared to devote a full-time schedule to this course.

4) Applicant must obtain a passing grade on all assignments and practice teaching sessions.

5 Applicant should have access to a computer at all times. Applicant must have basic word processing skills, internet, and e-mail.6) Applicant must demonstrate a commitment to his or her center by having taught, or worked, for at least 50 consecutive hours (or) for at least 6 consecutive months at the center. In addition to the two reference letters, a letter from the applicant's direct supervisor must be presented to prove this work history.
7) Applicant must complete the TESL scholarship registration form (includes letters of reference; a letter from the applicant's direct supervisor, financial information, an essay stating purpose and need). Print thisapplication checklist to keep track of your application progress.

8) If the applicant withdraws from the course before the required components of the course are completed, he or she will also be responsible for repaying a pro-rated portion of the scholarship funds as determined by TFLI. 9) After the applicant has been awarded the scholarship, s/he will be asked to sign a contract with TFLI and with the center in which they are working, stating that they agree to teach at least 100 hours (during and/or after the TESL class) for the center. The applicant will not receive the TESL certificate until s/he has completed this requirement. The contract will be mailed to the applicant with his/her acceptance letter.

TESL Scholarship recipients must adhere to the evaluation process as stated below:
EVALUATION

There are two evaluation components for scholarship recipients. The purpose of this evaluation is:
• to ensure a standard level of instruction;
• to improve the teaching and learning experiences of volunteers, staff and ESL learners in the community center ESL classroom; and
• to enrich individuals' experience in their jobs.1) Standard Evaluation for all TESL participants. The TESL program maintains on-going formative and summative assessments through the established feedback and grading system processes. Trainees can earn a total 500 points throughout the course. Each component of the course receives either written and/or oral feedback. Below is the TESL grading rubric:

OBSERVATIONSObservation 1 – Pass/FailObservation 2 – Pass/Fail

PRE-CLASS ASSIGNMENTSMethods & Approaches – 20 pointsResearch Assignment – 6 pointsGrammar Assignment – 44 pointsPronunciation Assignment – 30 points

IN-CLASS TRAININGQuiz 1 – 10 pointsQuiz 2 – 10 pointsQuiz 3 – 15 pointsParticipation/Attendance – 40 pointsPresentation Plan – 10 pointsPeer Teaching – 40 points

FIELD TEACHING (PRACTICUM)Class 1 – 75 pointsClass 2 – 95 pointsClass 3 – 105 pointsClass 4 – Pass/FailClass 5 – Pass/Fail

2) Evaluation for Scholarship Recipients. The second evaluation component is structured around the scholarship recipient and the community center leadership. In order to give constructive post-graduation feedback, a designated person in the organization must be responsible to supervise the employee or volunteer and to periodically review his or her performance. By instituting a formal supervision and evaluation process, recipient can be observed on the job, and his/her work can be monitored on an ongoing basis. An evaluation rubric will be given to the organization in order to fulfill this requirement. The evaluations will be returned to TFLI's TESL Director for review, reporting and filing.
Upon successful completion of the course and their 100-hour teaching requirement, scholarship recipients will graduate and be presented with TFLI's 145-hour TESL certificate.

Animal Secrets uses Spanish and English in forest creature exploration exhibit opening October 1 at Adventure Science Center

2011-09-28T06:03:00.000-05:00

Spanish-speaking and English-speaking visitors alike will feel welcome at the newest temporary exhibit at the Adventure Science Center, Animal Secrets. Panels guiding visitors through the hidden habitats and secret lives of forest creatures are bilingual, with text displayed in equal sizes in English and in Spanish.

Opening day activities are this Saturday, October 1, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. (make it a double-date with the kids before or after you visit the Celebrate Nashville event at Centennial Park -Ed.) and include special guests from The Elephant Sanctuary, Tennessee Beekeepers, Walden’s Puddle, Teddy’s Wagon from The Nashville Humane Association and myotonic (fainting) goats from The Fernhill Fainters. The Nashville Zoo will provide a special live demonstration at 12:30 p.m. Hands-on activities will give visitors a chance to explore the butterfly life cycle, match paw prints to their owners and create animal masks to take home.

On and beyond opening day, the exhibit itself will immerse children in questions about animals and their lives. Where does a chipmunk sleep? What does an eagle feed its young? How do mother bats find their babies in a cave? How high can deer jump? Animal Secrets uses imaginative role-play and hands-on activities to answer these and other questions by exploring nature from an animal’s point of view. The exhibit features five naturalistic environments:

The Stream: An interactive stream table and its surrounding environment immerse visitors in a dry streambed. Examine a detailed, colorful mural for clues about animal homes and behaviors, and then incorporate your findings into play and building activities.

The Woods: Explore how a variety of animals, including birds, mammals, amphibians, and insects, might forage for food and build their homes in trees.

The Meadow: Follow four winding sets of animal tracks through the meadow mural to discover which animal made them. Use your listening skills and match each animal to its respective croak, song, or quack.

The Cave: Explore the unfamiliar environment of a dark woodland cave. Activate your senses of sight, hearing, and touch to learn more about cave dwellers as well as cave visitors.

The Naturalists’ Tent: Young explorers can role-play working as a naturalist in a canvas tent outfitted with real field to examine fascinating plant, animal, and mineral specimens using a variety of tools.

“Children are born curious. They love learning about bugs and animals, investigating what lies hidden beneath a rock or a pile of leaves and exploring the world around them,” said Susan Duvenhage, CEO of Adventure Science Center. “Animal Secrets provides a wonderful opportunity for parent-child interaction as, together, they play, observe, pretend, explore and investigate the sometimes hidden world of our animal friends.”

Animal Secrets is included with regular admission to Adventure Science Center, which is $12 for adults; $10 for children ages 2 to 12 and seniors 65+. Certified TN teachers (with school ID) are free. For more information about these and other exhibits, visit www.adventuresci.com.

Animal Secrets was produced and is toured by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon. The exhibit was made possible with funds provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Additional support provided by the Collins Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust.

About Adventure Science Center

For 65 years, Adventure Science Center has brought science to life for students, teachers and families in Middle Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Northern Alabama and beyond. The Center offers hands-on, interactive exhibits and engaging programs that encourage visitors of all ages to explore how science is relevant in their lives. Adventure Science Center encourages imagination and curiosity in a fun, dynamic learning environment. Adventure Science Center is located at 800 Fort Negley Boulevard. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $12 for adults; $10 for children ages 2 to 12 and seniors 65+. Certified TN teachers (with school ID) are free. For more information, call (615) 862-5160 or visit our web site at www.adventuresci.com.

Titans honor Soto on-field with first-ever, elite Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award

2011-09-27T03:01:00.000-05:00

Renata Soto's on-field recognition by the Tennessee Titans

Nationwide, only 32 people are being honored with the NFL's Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award. Among them are Coca Cola's Vice President of Latin Affairs, the Chairman and CEO of Chiquita Brands International, the President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Deputy Director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, and the Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

On that impressive list is Nashville's Renata Soto, co-founder and Executive Director of Middle Tennessee's leading non-profit for Hispanic integration, Conexion Americas.

Soto was selected by the Tennessee Titans as the franchise's first Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award honoree, with on-field recognition this past Sunday, as part of the NFL's Week 3 celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. A national spotlight was further shined on the NFL’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration during Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football.

Soto

Soto has always worked and volunteered for social and economic justice causes. After finishing college, she started her nonprofit career as a Community Relations Coordinator for the Latin American Association, the largest Hispanic nonprofit social service organization in Atlanta. Once in Nashville, Renata worked for United Way of Metropolitan Nashville for more than five years where she managed a grant-making portfolio of almost $1.5 million, including that United Way's first grants to programs serving immigrants and refugees. In her last role at United Way, Renata was director of an initiative to support and expand a network of family resource centers in low-income neighborhoods in Nashville. She was also one of the lead organizers of the first-ever research project aiming to understand the experience of Latinos in Nashville conducted in 2000 (Encuentro Latino/Latino Encounter). In 2009, the Tennessee Judicial Council, Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Kent Williams appointed Soto to the nine-member Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. She was recently appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Council of La Raza -- the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.

With support from Bud Light, each award recipient selects an organization of their choice that serves the local Hispanic community to receive a $2,000 donation.

Soto has chosen Conexión Américas to receive this donation.

"During Hispanic Heritage Month, Conexión Américas celebrates the presence and contributions of Latinos here in Tennessee,” said Soto.

“Every year, more than 2,500 low-income Latinos and their families turn to our nonprofit organization for help to learn English, to buy a home -- or to keep that treasured asset in these tough economic times --, to start or grow a small business, or to see their children succeed in school and be the first in the family to graduate from high school. Every day, we are inspired by the determination and hard work demonstrated by these families in their pursuit of their own American Dream. That spirit of determination is what we celebrate during Hispanic Heritage Month. And as we celebrate our Hispanic roots and heritage, we also recognize the experiences and traditions from our new community that we have adopted as ours, including our love for the Titans and football Sunday."

Originally from Costa Rica, Soto has lived in the United States since 1993 and in Nashville since 1996.

Chileans celebrate Independence Day in Rutherford County

2011-09-26T00:07:00.016-05:00

By Cindy McCain

Under an azure sky and the shade of a tree line, the grill brigade smoked meat while little ones kicked balls or played in the clearing. Horses watched from their stalls as families and friends dressed in riding boots and sandals, soccer shirts and sun dresses, ponchos and polos talked, laughed, and ate...then ate again.

Parents paused to chase young children or cheer on older ones who lunged in burlap sacks toward the finish line. When the Chilean flag was presented, all stopped for the singing of the national anthem. At sunset, the dj called couples to dance in the grass, first the cueca, then cumbia. Dark descended and someone offered his oldest friend a final Chilean Independence Day tradition, wine served in a honeydew melon.

So went the 2011 Chilean Independence Day Celebration at the home of Jerry and Denise Gonzalez. On Saturday, September 17, Middle Tennessee Chileans and their friends and family gathered for the second year on a horse farm located outside Murfreesboro to pay homage to the past, specifically the South American country’s liberation from Spain, while fully enjoying the present.

Co-organizers Patricia and Cristina Bonacic made everyone feel welcome, serving up smiles and empanadas (the best I’ve ever had) made by Eliana Valdes. Organizer Pablo Bodini was pleased with the outcome:

I loved the participation in the games, dancing, and contests...the integration as everyone enjoyed the music and took part.

Cindy Loyola Kershaw, who performed live, said of the day:

My favorite part was the adult ensacado, where they race with the sacks. It was hilarious watching Nestor (my brother) struggling to not jump out of the sack while at the same time trying to keep his Chupalla on (the straw hat). I also really enjoyed the mini concert we gave as a remembrance of good Chilean artists. Although we had several technical difficulties, we honored our group name, Las Siempre Dignas (vaguely translated as the girls ever worthy of pride) jajaja. My husband's favorite part was the food.

Cindy's dad, Jose Loyola, explained why the Independence Day celebration was special to him:

Chileans love to grill meat outdoors. I grew up around horses, so to go to a party on a horse farm in the middle of the country where there is music and dancing... that’s the real tradition.

Loyola and his dance partner, Cecilia Rodrigues, won the cueca competion. He explained that the National Dance of Chile imitates three stages of courtship leading to love between a huaso, a Chilean “cowboy,” and the woman he pursues. In the universal ritual, men steadily woo while women play it coy…until they are ready to be caught. The couples then dance with joy.

But on that Saturday, the dancers weren't the only ones who left joyful. Tents came down, chairs and tables were folded, and children were carried to cars, where they slept in back seats as tired but happy parents drove home.

Thanks to Constanza Zurita, a talented young photographer, who provided the first seven pictures in this article.

Vanderbilt University Presents Aliens, Immigrants, & Other Evildoers

2011-09-21T21:10:00.001-05:00

By Cindy McCain

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage month, Great Performances at Vanderbilt opens its On the SIDE Series with Latino performance artist and National Public Radio commentator, José Torres-Tama, and his bilingual production Aliens, Immigrants, & Other Evildoers Wednesday, October 5 at 7:30 PM at the Student Life Center (www.vanderbilt.edu/studentlifecenter).

Residing in New Orleans, Ecuadorian José Torres-Tama lives by his mantra to "make art that matters." Before his Sci-Fi Latino Noir multimedia performance, he was curator of Los Invisibles: Latino Immigrants Who Rebuilt New Orleans, an exhibit of photographs documenting the enormous contribution of Hispanics in turning the tide after Katrina. He told Doug MacCash, The Times-Picayune :

We have a people here who have been ubiquitous, but have been rendered invisible because of the undocumented status of most. Whatever pain and suffering they may have endured goes practically unnoticed because of their alien immigrant station.

In Aliens, his characters are more than invisible. With biting satire he reveals their exploitation and victimization by hate crimes. For the production funded by The National Performance Network, Torres-Tama filmed interviews with Latino immigrants not only in New Orleans but also in Houston and Washington, DC. The performance will contain “adult language” hard to hear and gritty and graphic situations hard to see. Yet Brenda Murphy of Jambalaya News said of a March showing in NOLA: “For 90 minutes the audience…mostly Latinos from different social classes, remained riveted.”

Facing the music in Music City Torres-Tama style will mean looking at a flawed immigration system and defining the American Dream. Bridgette Kohnhorst, Director and Curator of Great Performances at Vanderbilt, said of the artist-in- residency:

Jose Torres-Tama introduces Social Justice theatre directly for Great Performances on a platform that is more likened to Fringe Festival performance art. I really think
theatre like no other form is a vehicle that can further important civic conversations for current issues. The form embodies the specifics of the political topic, in this case immigration.

Other Residency activities include a Multimedia Lecture, Aliens Are Coming, presented Monday Oct., 3 at 4:30 at the Ingram Studio Arts Center, www.vanderbilt.edu/arts/ . And on Tuesday, October 4, an important UNPLUGGED PERFORMANCE of Aliens, Immigrants, and Other Evildoers, will be given at noon at Nashville’s Global Education Center, ww.globaleducwationcenter.net
sponsored with Conexión Americas and Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies. Both residency activities are free.

Single tickets are on sale and range from $30 to $40. Vanderbilt students and staff receive discounted rates. Tickets for non-Vanderbilt students are $10 with identification at Ticketmaster outlets and at the Sarratt box office. Call (615) 322-2471 for season details or visit: www.vanderbilt.edu/greatperformances.

Co-sponsored by Vanderbilt Center for Latin Studies and Conexión Americas with funding in part by Alternate ROOTS and the Ford Foundation through the ROOTS Tour & Residency Program.

FBI, TBI, Mexican violence, and singing: today around town

2011-09-19T23:05:00.001-05:00

I added some events to the calendar. Here are the latest.

Meet the Peace Agents: FBI and TBI present Gang Awareness
Belcourt Theater
11 a.m.
Tuesday, September 20

"A Crisis of Representation: Violence, Mexico, and Performance."
Lecturer Kirsten F. Nigro, professor of Spanish at UTEP, is a noted scholar whose research has focused on Latin American theater, popular culture, and border issues. Her visit to Vanderbilt is sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities.
123 Wilson Hall, Vanderbilt University
3:10 p.m.
Tuesday, September 20

Sing Your Art Out
In the key of peace, tune into some songs of love and hope and let your “art” speak on hearts you can decorate with your message. Once the evening is over, we’ll place the hearts all over the city where unsuspecting people will receive a secret smile. A silent auction of “heart” work will help support The Peace Dragon’s Peace Master Class, a “living peace” curriculum crated through an international collaboration of teachers, principals and policy makers in a program which aims to establish peace as the default mechanism for conflict. It is a free program and will be offered in the multiple languages.
The Listening Room, 209 10th Ave S # 200, Nashville, TN 37203-4124
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 20

The Long Struggle for Freedom in Latin America
Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies Teacher Workshop; Vanderbilt Campus. For more information and to register, contact claire.p.gonzalez@vanderbilt.edu
9:00 a.m.
Wednesday, September 21

10 Days of Peace Grand Finale / 30th Anniversary International Day of Peace
Centennial Park Bandshell
Come celebrate world peace together.
7:15 PM – 8:15 PM
Wednesday, September 21

Gypsy Fire flamenco dancing, Great Performances at Vanderbilt
Spain’s flamenco superstar and former dancer with the National Ballet of Spain - a celebrated troupe of dancers, singers, and musicians showcase the art of flamenco. Langford Auditorium, Vanderbilt University. “The public, on their feet, didn’t rip their shirts, but applauded to the point of exhaustion.” —El Pais, Spain
7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 22

Storytelling on Afro-Latin America
11:30am; Downtown Public Library
Saturday, September 24

2nd Graduation of Plaza Comunitaria
Plaza Comunitaria was developed by the Mexican Government to provide Mexican and Latino adults living abroad the opportunity to continue and improve their education. The organization offers adult literacy programs, ESL Classes and Citizenship classes as well. The Honorable Salvador De Lara, Mexican Consul in Atlanta, will be present. RSVP to Mayra Yu-Morales at plazacomunitaria@email.toast.net
In the gym of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 3112 Nolensville Road.
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 28

Brown Bag Lunch with Tony Brown "The Social Construction of Race in Brazil: Findings from the 2002 Belo Horizonte Area Study"
12pm; Vanderbilt University; Buttrick 123. Space is limited; please email alma.paz-sanmiguel@vanderbilt.edu to RSVP
Friday, September 30

Celebrate Nashville (formerly Celebration of Cultures)
In 1995 Scarritt-Bennett Center, a Nashville conference, retreat, and education center recognized a need within the rapidly growing and changing Nashville community. The population was becoming more diversified and people were in need of ways to understand and appreciate each other’s differences. The Celebration of Cultures was established to provide an avenue for different cultures to share their traditions through music, dance, activities, food, and crafts. The event, held each summer on the grounds of Scarritt-Bennett Center initially attracted around 2500 people. Over time the popularity of the event grew and outgrew the facilities of SBC. In 2006, a partnership was formed with Scarritt-Bennett Center and Nashville Metro Parks and the festival expanded and moved to its new location at Centennial Park, becoming an annual October event. The festival continued to grow over the next few years and last year saw more than 40,000 people in attendance. And, after 14 years, Scarritt-Bennett Center passed the torch of leadership exclusively over to Nashville Metro Parks. The focus and mission of the festival remains the same, encompassing over 50 cultures that live in Nashville through dance, music, visual arts, a children’s area, a Teens United Area, an educational Global Village, and exotic food samplings.

Centennial Park

Free Admission

Sister Cities’ Third Annual World of Friendship
A gathering to bring Nashvillians together to celebrate the exciting diversity that marks our community and our world. This year’s silent auction and reception will take place at Nashville’s Farmer’s Market. Local restaurants and caterers will offer regional and international fare, and the amazing silent auction will feature an international theme. The ticket price is $40 for Sister Cities members, $50 for non-members, and $85 for admission to the fundraiser plus a one-year Sister Cities membership.
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 6

Nueva Vida, Nuevo Trabajo (translated as "new life, new work")
Highlights the work of professional and non-professional artists from Nashville’s growing and diverse Hispanic population including Orlando García Camacho, Antonieta Capdevila, Aida Costner, Yuri Cunza, Adolfo Dávila, Gladys Escobar, Gil Veda, Alba Gonzalez-Nylander, John D. Griffin, Megan Kelley, Zolita Mojica, Mario Moreno, Inés Negri, Jairo Prado, Mike Quiñones Gonzalez, Sandra Rivera, Kathryn García Smith, Liliana Vélez and Yenny Walker. Metro Arts Gallery, 800 2nd Avenue South, 4th Floor, Nashville, TN.
Through October 7, 2011

Journeys: An Exhibit by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
In collaboration with the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Vanderbilt's Center for Latin American Studies will welcome as Visiting Resource Professor María Magdalena Campos-Pons, whose work symbolically follows the African Diaspora from her family’s origin in Nigeria to Cuba, where they worked in the sugar industry, to present day Boston, where Campos-Pons now lives and teaches art.
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
October 7, 2011-January 9, 2012

Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Heritage Month Lunch
The Sheraton Downtown Nashville, 623 Union Street, Nashville, TN
For more information: http://www.tnhcc.org/thcc_event11.htm
11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 11

Austin Peay State University’s Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration Dinner
Presented by APSU Hispanic Alumni Chapter and the National Alumni Association. Morgan University Center (rooms 308-310).
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 13

Exhibit Opening of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons: Mama/Reciprocal Energy
Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery. Runs through December 8, 2011
Thursday, October 13

Southern Festival of Books
A number of Latino writers, including the following:
Helena Mesa, born and raised in Pittsburgh to Cuban parents. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Her poems have appeared in such journals as Barrow Street, Bat City Review, Indiana Review, Poet Lore, and Third Coast. She is currently co-editing a collection of essays, Mentor & Muse: From Poets to Poets. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is an assistant professor of English at Albion College. Lisa D. Chavez, a poet and memoirist who lives in the mountains of New Mexico. She has two books of poetry published, In an Angry Season and Destruction Bay and has had work included in such collections as Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets, The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity, and Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing. Lorraine López - her short story collection, Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories won the inaugural Miguel Marmól prize for fiction. Her second book, Call Me Henri, was awarded the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Literature, and her novel, The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters was a Borders/Las Comadres Selection for the month of November in 2008. López's short story collection, Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories was a Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Prize in Fiction in 2010. Her most recent work is a novel, The Realm of Hungry Spirits, published by Grand Central Press in May, and a collection of essays, The Other Latin@, co-edited with Blas Falconer, which will be released fall 2011 from the University of Arizona Press. www.lorrainelopez.net Justin Torres grew up in upstate New York, where this novel is set. His work has appeared in Granta, Tin House, and Glimmer Train. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he is a recipient of the Rolón United States Artist Fellowship in Literature, and is now a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. He has worked as a farmhand, a dog-walker, a creative writing teacher, and a bookseller. Marisel Vera grew up in the barrio in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, where she was raised by Puerto Rican emigrant parents. One of six children, she was the first in her family to earn a college degree: a BA in Journalism from Northern Illinois University. She has won the Willow Review literary magazine fiction prize. In 2011, her unpublished coming-of-age novel, the Liberation of Carmela Lopez, was adapted into play form and directed by her daughter at Northwestern University. www.mariselvera.com Sandra Gutierrez grew up in the United States and Guatemala, is a journalist, food writer, culinary instructor, and recipe developer. She lives in Cary, North Carolina with her husband and their daughters. www.sandraskitchenstudio.com Her new book The New Southern-Latino Table merges Southern and Latin cooking.
Nashville's Legislative Plaza
Friday, October 14 - Sunday, October 16

Performance by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Frist Center for the Visual Arts, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, October 14

Alfredo Rodriguez (Daniel Azoulay), Great Performances at Vanderbilt
Alfredo Rodriguez with Trio; 8 p.m., Langford Auditorium. Schooled in the rigorous classical conservatories of Havana, this riveting pianist is informed by Bach and Stravinsky as much as his compatriot Chucho Valdés. “Without a doubt one of the best young pianists I’ve ever seen”
—Quincy Jones

Friday, Oct. 14

Fall Fiesta at Vol State
Celebration of Hispanic cultureon the Volunteer State Community College campus in Gallatin. The Fiesta runs from 10am-4pm and features food, music and fun. Best of all, it’s a free event and open to everyone. Once again we are hosting the Hispanic Alliance Cook-Off Contest. Cook your favorite Latin American dish or dishes and enter into the contest to win prizes! Diana Kiser is running the food contest again this year. If you are interested in participating e-mail her at: ranadiana739@gmail.com
Saturday, October 22

The Changing Face of Middle Tennessee:
A Regional Conversation about Immigration
Vanderbilt Center for Nashville Studies' 2011 Community Conversation. Panelists, among others, will include Katharine Donato, Professor and Chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Sociology, Ralph Schulz, President of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Nonye Ejiofor, President / Chief Executive Officer of Bastion, Inc. To RSVP or for additional information, please contact
Whitney Weeks (whitney.weeks@vanderbilt.edu) or call the Vanderbilt Center for Nashville Studies at 615-343-7626. www.vanderbilt.edu/vcns
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A fresh start in immigration law

2011-09-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

Image of Constitution, overlaid on photo by Kalyan Chakravarthy. Licensed via Creative Commons.

Today, September 17, is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, and that means we are celebrating fresh starts.

The Constitution itself is our country's fresh start in the structure of its self-government. The Constitution is a do-over, a new beginning.

In the very same sentence of one corner of the Constitution, Congress is given the power to handle two kinds of new beginnings, the kind of fresh start ordinary people sometimes need: new citizenship, and bankruptcy:

The Congress shall have power...To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

A friend of mine described this citizenship-and-bankruptcy sentence in the Constitution as the "Fresh Start Clause."

As we know, bankruptcy law is the process of stripping away financial obligations that a person hasn't met - obligations that have become so impossible to meet that a legal reset is better than the alternative, for everyone involved. The reset comes with a new set of conditions but not the same ones that the person was supposed to have met in the first place.

Immigration law, in contrast, doesn't have a bankruptcy-like process of leaving behind unmet obligations and creating new ones. There is no reset for prospective citizens with American lives and histories. No practical and reasonable set of new conditions for those who are stuck with the impossible consequences of immigration mistakes. This is despite the fact that these homeowners, job holders, business owners, students, and family members now have long records of good, America-friendly behavior, like economic activity and neighborhood relationships, that would have been impossible to prove before they came here.

Let's take advantage of what we have and not what we wish we had. Let's embrace would-be Americans with the full force of law by setting up screenings and new rules to follow, taking away certain rights while sunsetting old ones. Use bankruptcy law as a template for this part of immigration solution.

The Fresh Start Clause of the Constitution is the Founders' acknowledgement that doing it right the first time isn't the only American way. Sometimes we get it wrong and find a new way to make it right.

Please vote today for HispanicNashville.com in Best of Nashville Reader's Poll

2011-09-15T05:41:00.001-05:00

Readers of HispanicNashville.com:

Would you mind voting and asking a couple of other people to vote for HispanicNashville.com in the Best of Nashville Readers' Poll? I figure that Hispanic Nashville should at least be a contender, and perhaps a winner, with your help.

The categories I'm asking you to vote in are:

Best Local Blog (vote "Hispanic Nashville" or "HispanicNashville.com"); and
Best Political Blog (vote "Hispanic Nashville" or "HispanicNashville.com")

You can vote in both categories on this page:
http://ww2.nashvillescene.com/promotions/bestof/3

FYI, you have to vote in 20 categories minimum or none of your votes will be counted. You can choose from the 20 categories on the media page (where the blog categories are) or on any of the other pages listed (Food & Drink, Arts & Ent., etc.)

The voting deadline is tomorrow, Friday, September 16, but if you could vote today while you're thinking about it, that would be great.

Thanks a million, and Happy Hispanic Heritage Month to everyone.

John Lamb

Updated Hispanic Heritage Month calendar

2011-09-14T05:39:00.000-05:00

Hispanic Heritage Month starts tomorrow, September 15, and runs through October 15. Also, 10 Days of Peace is underway. The two calendars are combined here:

Diversity Speakers Day
Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening and panel discussion
with Keynote: Richard Herman, author of Immigrant, Inc.
TSU Main Campus, Forum Auditorium, Floyd-Payne Center
3500 John Merritt Blvd., Nashville, TN 37203  
2:30 PM – 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 14, and Thursday, September 15

Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening and discussion
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Thursday, September 15
12 p.m.

Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Official Hispanic Heritage Month Kick-Off Reception
Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center @ Vanderbilt University
5:30 PM to 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 15

Conexión Américas’ RUMBA at

‘Live on the Green’ Opening for Los Lonely BoysLive On the Green is a free outdoor concert series every Thursday night in downtown Music City. The event highlights local acts along with national artists with a connection to Nashville.
6:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 15

The Cry: Voices of Mexico
An Evening of Mexican History, Literature, Song and Dance. Join gallery F. and the Foreign Language Acting Group (F.L.A.G.) for an evening celebrating Nashville's Mexican community. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Call 615.320.4651 or sschlunk@scarrittbennett.org For more info contact Jaz Dorsey at jazmn47@aol.com or 615-915-0891. Free & open to the public
2 seatings @ 7p & 8:45p.
Thursday, September 15

Fast-a-Thon
Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening and panel discussion
Hosted by Institute for Conflict Resolution at Lipscomb University, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Islamic Center Nashville, Center for Refugees and Immigrants Tennessee.
Lipscomb – Ezell Center, 1 University Park Drive, Nashville, TN 37204
Free and open to the public.
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 15

Share Your Diversity Thoughts Day
TSU Avon Williams Campus, Auditorium
2:30 p.m.
Friday, September 16

Conexión Américas’

Hispanic Heritage Fiesta
Historic Cannery Ballroom, 1 Cannery Row, Downtown Nashville. $40 per person. Don't miss our celebration featuring authentic Latin American food by local chefs, the hip-swaying rhythms of live Latin music by Kazique and Conexión Américas’ own band RUMBA, original artwork by local Latinas, cash bar, and more! Reserve your tickets here by September 12.
6:00 pm Reception & Awards Ceremony
7:00 pm to 12:00 am Fiesta
Friday, September 16

Community Open House & Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness screening
Islamic Center of Nashville
10 a.m.
Saturday, September 17

Diverse Community Sports Day
Nashville International Academy
Saturday, September 17
10-6 p.m.

Play for Peace Exhibition Soccer Tournament / NIC Soccer Exhibition
7 v 7 round robin soccer matches, showcasing the many nations of the Nashville soccer community followed by a time to mingle and player interviews.
Soccer is the world's sport, and right here in Nashville the world plays together in the Nashville International Cup. The NIC is a competitive men's soccer tournament hosted by InterFACE Ministries and her many partner churches, universities and corporate friends. The tournament features 200-300 players from 24 home countries- all living in Middle Tennessee. The NIC helps build community amongst the diverse people groups in our city and helps our city fall in love with the nations in Nashville.
NPT has invited the Nashville International Cup to put on exhibition matches on September 17th to highlight the diversity and unity of the NIC community. Please join your international neighbors for a day of fun soccer and friendship on September 17th from noon to 5:00 p.m.
The Sept. 17th NIC Exhibition is part of NPT's 10 Days of Peace and the Not in Our Town movement for genuine community amongst the nations in our communities. The event is free and open to the public.
Montgomery Bell Academy, 4001 Harding Road, Nashville, TN 37205
12:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 17

Metro Human Relations Commission's Strategic Planning Retreat and Screening of Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness
The Metro Human Relations Commission will screen Not in Our Town during its annual retreat, Saturday, September 17, at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center. The screening will take place at 12:30 p.m. and will be followed by a brief discussion on how Commission programming can address issues raised in the film. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to Caroline G. Blackwell, MHRC Executive Director, at 615-880-3374 or by email atcaroline.blackwell@nashville.gov
Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, 1900 Davidson Street, Nashville, TN 37206
12:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 17

Latino Family Day at the Zoo
The Nashville Zoo will offer several docent interpretive stations, animal shows and keeper talks with Spanish translators available. The day will also feature a variety of entertainment and activities, including traditional music and dance, bouncy houses, games for kids and much more. To download a buy one, get one free coupon, click here.
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 18

Family Peace Picnic
Fannie Mae Dees Park a.k.a. Dragon Park, Park Shelter
Come join us in Dragon Park to snack on some worldly flavors and fun. The TN Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (TNRPCV) will be showcasing a variety of foods to sample and display items from countries where they served. Then author/illustrator Linda Ragsdale from The Peace Dragon will be leading all able artists in drawing peace dragons. Watch how letters, numbers and punctuation become the basic strokes of this peaceful messenger. Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, and family to taste, hear and see adventures from around the world; as we come together to share peace in our community.
The event will take place rain or shine (held under the shelter). Street Parking is available. The event free and open to the public.
2400 Blakemore Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 18

The Taste of Peace: Comfort foods from around the world
Diversity is the spice of life and the flavor of Peace. How shall we serve it up? By indulging our guests with a smorgasbord of worldly treats, prepared by local chefs with recipes submitted by the international fellows from Vandy’s Hubert H. Humphrey program. You’ll meet this year’s candidates from over nine different countries; watch a clip of NPT’s new initiative “Not In Our Town”; and experience The Peace Master Class, an internationally collaborated school program for students for “living peace” through conflict.
Recipes provided for adventurous world cooks!
Icon in the Gulch – Ultra Lounge, 600 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203
7:00 PM – 10:00 p.m.
Monday, September 19

Meet the Peace Agents: FBI and TBI present Gang Awareness
Belcourt Theater
11 a.m.
Tuesday, September 20

Sing Your Art Out
In the key of peace, tune into some songs of love and hope and let your “art” speak on hearts you can decorate with your message. Once the evening is over, we’ll place the hearts all over the city where unsuspecting people will receive a secret smile. A silent auction of “heart” work will help support The Peace Dragon’s Peace Master Class, a “living peace” curriculum crated through an international collaboration of teachers, principals and policy makers in a program which aims to establish peace as the default mechanism for conflict. It is a free program and will be offered in the multiple languages.
The Listening Room, 209 10th Ave S # 200, Nashville, TN 37203-4124
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 20

The Long Struggle for Freedom in Latin America
Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies Teacher Workshop; Vanderbilt Campus. For more information and to register, contact claire.p.gonzalez@vanderbilt.edu
9:00 a.m.
Wednesday, September 21

10 Days of Peace Grand Finale / 30th Anniversary International Day of Peace
Centennial Park Bandshell
Come celebrate world peace together.
7:15 PM – 8:15 PM
Wednesday, September 21

Gypsy Fire flamenco dancing, Great Performances at Vanderbilt
Spain’s flamenco superstar and former dancer with the National Ballet of Spain - a celebrated troupe of dancers, singers, and musicians showcase the art of flamenco. Langford Auditorium, Vanderbilt University. “The public, on their feet, didn’t rip their shirts, but applauded to the point of exhaustion.” —El Pais, Spain
7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 22

Storytelling on Afro-Latin America
11:30am; Downtown Public Library
Saturday, September 24

Brown Bag Lunch with Tony Brown "The Social Construction of Race in Brazil: Findings from the 2002 Belo Horizonte Area Study"
12pm; Vanderbilt University; Buttrick 123. Space is limited; please email alma.paz-sanmiguel@vanderbilt.edu to RSVP
Friday, September 30

Centennial Park

Free Admission

10 am - 6 pm
Saturday, October 1

José Torres Tama Performance Art, Great Performances at Vanderbilt
Aliens, Immigrants, & Other Evildoers – adult language; 7:30 p.m.; Student Life Center; Not for the faint of heart, the series launches with the radical Latino performance artist and writer who lives by his doctrine – make art that matters. “Torres Tama treads that dangerously vague turf of performance art gracefully … with dexterity and daring” —The Village Voice
Wednesday, Oct. 5

Nueva Vida, Nuevo Trabajo (translated as "new life, new work")
Highlights the work of professional and non-professional artists from Nashville’s growing and diverse Hispanic population including Orlando García Camacho, Antonieta Capdevila, Aida Costner, Yuri Cunza, Adolfo Dávila, Gladys Escobar, Gil Veda, Alba Gonzalez-Nylander, John D. Griffin, Megan Kelley, Zolita Mojica, Mario Moreno, Inés Negri, Jairo Prado, Mike Quiñones Gonzalez, Sandra Rivera, Kathryn García Smith, Liliana Vélez and Yenny Walker. Metro Arts Gallery, 800 2nd Avenue South, 4th Floor, Nashville, TN.
Through October 7, 2011

Journeys: An Exhibit by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
In collaboration with the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Vanderbilt's Center for Latin American Studies will welcome as Visiting Resource Professor María Magdalena Campos-Pons, whose work symbolically follows the African Diaspora from her family’s origin in Nigeria to Cuba, where they worked in the sugar industry, to present day Boston, where Campos-Pons now lives and teaches art.
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
October 7, 2011-January 9, 2012

Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Heritage Month Lunch
The Sheraton Downtown Nashville, 623 Union Street, Nashville, TN
For more information: http://www.tnhcc.org/thcc_event11.htm
11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
October 11, 2011

Exhibit Opening of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons: Mama/Reciprocal Energy
Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery. Runs through December 8, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011

Performance by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Frist Center for the Visual Arts, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, October 14

Alfredo Rodriguez (Daniel Azoulay), Great Performances at Vanderbilt
Alfredo Rodriguez with Trio; 8 p.m., Langford Auditorium. Schooled in the rigorous classical conservatories of Havana, this riveting pianist is informed by Bach and Stravinsky as much as his compatriot Chucho Valdés. “Without a doubt one of the best young pianists I’ve ever seen”
—Quincy Jones

Friday, Oct. 14

William Walker dies in Honduras

2011-09-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

Today, September 12, 2011, was the 151st anniversary of the death of Nashville man William Walker at the hands of a Honduran army firing squad.Who was William Walker? Read the stories in the HispanicNashville.com archive here.

10 Days of Peace in Nashville: citywide focus on film "Not in Our Town," with many free screenings and other opportunities to join in

2011-09-11T21:28:00.002-05:00

Starting today on the tenth anniversary of September 11, Nashville embarked on 10 Days of Peace events leading up to an International Day of Peace Party on Wednesday, September 21 at Centennial Park and the broadcast of Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness at 9:00 p.m. on NPT-Channel 8.

The film Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness is a one-hour documentary about a town coming together to take action after anti-immigrant violence devastates its community. The Not In Our Town National Week of Action and Nashville's expanded 10 Days of Peace initiatives mark an opportunity for Nashville to show the world how it thrives in its diversity.

Nashville’s events include a candlelight prayer vigil for peace, campus discussions, an Islamic Center-sponsored “fast-a-thon,” gang awareness programs, immigrant and refugee soccer tournaments, a Tennessee Returned Peace Corps peace picnic and more.

"What makes the work in Nashville such a powerful example of the Not In Our Town model," says Kathy Edson, NPT community outreach manager, "is that it brings different sectors of society — schools, law enforcement, faith, Islamic, Latino/Hispanic, and local government -— together in ways that link common experiences and issues, so that no one is excluded or left vulnerable to hate." 

Nashville is one of 20 cities taking part in events this week in conjunction with the documentary. Supporting organizations include the National League of Cities, the National Council of Churches, the American Libraries Association and the American Federation of Teachers.  

A complete listing of Nashville's remaining Not in Our Town 10 Days of Peace Events follows. For more information, contact Kathy Edson at kedson@wnpt.net.

Diversity Week @ TSU
Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening followed by discussion
Free and open to the public. 
TSU Avon Williams Campus
Auditorium 3rd Floor, 330 10th Ave., North Nashville, TN 37203  
Monday, September 12  
12:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Vanderbilt International Lens
Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening with panel discussion.
Hosted by Kathy Edson, NPT and the Vanderbilt Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows
Free and open to the public.  
Sarratt Cinema 1st Floor, Sarratt Student Center,
24th Ave. at Vanderbilt Place, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240
Free parking is available in Zone 2 Lot 2 located at 23rd Avenue South and West End Avenue on the Vanderbilt University Campus.
Handicap Parking: Lot 19 behind Sarratt Student Center  
Tuesday, September 13  
7:00 p.m.

Diversity Speakers Day
Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening and panel discussion
with Keynote: Richard Herman, author of Immigrant, Inc.
TSU Main Campus, Forum Auditorium, Floyd-Payne Center
3500 John Merritt Blvd., Nashville, TN 37203  
Wednesday, September 14, and Thursday, September 15
2:30 PM – 6:00 p.m.

Fast-a-Thon
Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening and panel discussion
Hosted by Institute for Conflict Resolution at Lipscomb University, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Islamic Center Nashville, Center for Refugees and Immigrants Tennessee.
Lipscomb – Ezell Center, 1 University Park Drive, Nashville, TN 37204
Free and open to the public.
Thursday, September 15
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness documentary screening and discussion
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Thursday, September 15
12 p.m.

Share Your Diversity Thoughts Day
TSU Avon Williams Campus, Auditorium
Friday, September 16
2:30 p.m.

Metro Human Relations Commission's Strategic Planning Retreat and Screening of Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness
The Metro Human Relations Commission will screen Not in Our Town during its annual retreat, Saturday, September 17, at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center. The screening will take place at 12:30 p.m. and will be followed by a brief discussion on how Commission programming can address issues raised in the film. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to Caroline G. Blackwell, MHRC Executive Director, at 615-880-3374 or by email atcaroline.blackwell@nashville.gov
Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, 1900 Davidson Street, Nashville, TN 37206
Saturday, September 17
12:30 p.m.

Play for Peace Exhibition Soccer Tournament / NIC Soccer Exhibition
7 v 7 round robin soccer matches, showcasing the many nations of the Nashville soccer community followed by a time to mingle and player interviews.
Soccer is the world's sport, and right here in Nashville the world plays together in the Nashville International Cup. The NIC is a competitive men's soccer tournament hosted by InterFACE Ministries and her many partner churches, universities and corporate friends. The tournament features 200-300 players from 24 home countries- all living in Middle Tennessee. The NIC helps build community amongst the diverse people groups in our city and helps our city fall in love with the nations in Nashville.
NPT has invited the Nashville International Cup to put on exhibition matches on September 17th to highlight the diversity and unity of the NIC community. Please join your international neighbors for a day of fun soccer and friendship on September 17th from noon to 5:00 p.m.
The Sept. 17th NIC Exhibition is part of NPT's 10 Days of Peace and the Not in Our Town movement for genuine community amongst the nations in our communities. The event is free and open to the public.
Montgomery Bell Academy, 4001 Harding Road, Nashville, TN 37205
Saturday, September 17
12:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Community Open House & Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness screening
Islamic Center of Nashville
Saturday, September 17
10 a.m.

Diverse Community Sports Day
Nashville International Academy
Saturday, September 17
10-6 p.m.

Family Peace Picnic
Fannie Mae Dees Park a.k.a. Dragon Park, Park Shelter
Come join us in Dragon Park to snack on some worldly flavors and fun. The TN Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (TNRPCV) will be showcasing a variety of foods to sample and display items from countries where they served. Then author/illustrator Linda Ragsdale from The Peace Dragon will be leading all able artists in drawing peace dragons. Watch how letters, numbers and punctuation become the basic strokes of this peaceful messenger. Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, and family to taste, hear and see adventures from around the world; as we come together to share peace in our community.
The event will take place rain or shine (held under the shelter). Street Parking is available. The event free and open to the public.
2400 Blakemore Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212
Sunday, September 18
1:00 PM – 3:00 p.m.

The Taste of Peace: Comfort foods from around the world
Diversity is the spice of life and the flavor of Peace. How shall we serve it up? By indulging our guests with a smorgasbord of worldly treats, prepared by local chefs with recipes submitted by the international fellows from Vandy’s Hubert H. Humphrey program. You’ll meet this year’s candidates from over nine different countries; watch a clip of NPT’s new initiative “Not In Our Town”; and experience The Peace Master Class, an internationally collaborated school program for students for “living peace” through conflict.
Recipes provided for adventurous world cooks!
Icon in the Gulch – Ultra Lounge, 600 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203
Monday, September 19
7:00 PM – 10:00 p.m.

Meet the Peace Agents: FBI and TBI present Gang Awareness
Belcourt Theater
Tuesday, September 20
11 a.m.

Sing Your Art Out
In the key of peace, tune into some songs of love and hope and let your “art” speak on hearts you can decorate with your message. Once the evening is over, we’ll place the hearts all over the city where unsuspecting people will receive a secret smile. A silent auction of “heart” work will help support The Peace Dragon’s Peace Master Class, a “living peace” curriculum crated through an international collaboration of teachers, principals and policy makers in a program which aims to establish peace as the default mechanism for conflict. It is a free program and will be offered in the multiple languages.
The Listening Room, 209 10th Ave S # 200, Nashville, TN 37203-4124
Tuesday, September 20
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Grande Finale / 30th Anniversary International Day of Peace
Centennial Park Bandshell
Come celebrate world peace together.
Wednesday, September 21
7:15 PM – 8:15 PM