La Voz - November 2019

November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9
San Antonio, Tejas
Literary Ofrendas y Calaveras 2019

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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La Voz de
Esperanza
November, 2019
Vol. 32 Issue 9
Editor: Gloria A. Ramírez
Design: Elizandro Carrington
Cover Art: Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in
Alameda Central Park /Sueño de una tarde
dominical en la Alameda Central by Diego Rivera
Contributors
Gloria Almaraz, Ellen Riojas Clark, Victor M.
Cortez, Moisés Espino del Castillo, Anel Flores,
Ashley G., Rachel Jennings, Pablo Martinez,
Dennis Medina, Adriana Netro, Kamala Platt,
Rosemary Reyna-Sánchez, Carla Rivera, Norma
L. Rodríguez, Randi Romo, María Salazar,
Annette Sánchez, Enrique Sánchez, Jeanie
Sanders, Ginny Timmons, Elva Treviño, Frank
Valdez, Marilyn Wallner
La Voz Mail Collective
Gloria Almaraz, Irasema Cavazos, Ray Garza,
Araceli Herrera, Pedro Medellin, Miriam
Medellín Myers, Adriana Netro, Ray & Lucy
Pérez, Guadalupe Segura, Sandra Torres,
Margaret F. Valdez, Helen Villarreal
Esperanza Director
Graciela I. Sánchez
Esperanza Staff
Elizandro Carrington, Yaneth Flores,
Sarah Gould, Eliza Pérez, Paul Plouf,
Kristel Orta-Puente, Natalie Rodríguez,
Imgard Akinyi Rop, René Saenz,
Susana Segura, Amelia Valdez
Conjunto de Nepantleras
—Esperanza Board of Directors—
Norma Cantú, Rachel Jennings,
Amy Kastely, Jan Olsen, Ana Lucía Ramírez,
Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Tiffany Ross,
Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba,
Graciela I. Sánchez, Lillian Stevens
• We advocate for a wide variety of social,
economic & environmental justice issues.
• Opinions expressed in La Voz are not
necessarily those of the Esperanza Center.
La Voz de Esperanza
is a publication of
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
922 San Pedro, San Antonio,
TX 78212
210.228.0201
www.esperanzacenter.org
Inquiries/Articles can be sent to:
lavoz@esperanzacenter.org
Articles due by the 8th of each month
Policy Statements
* We ask that articles be visionary, progressive,
instructive & thoughtful. Submissions must be
literate & critical; not sexist, racist, homophobic,
violent, or oppressive & may be edited for length.
* All letters in response to Esperanza activities
or articles in La Voz will be considered for
publication. Letters with intent to slander
individuals or groups will not be published.
I must confess that I’m not great at math (though,
I thought I was). I thought we were celebrating 20
years of Calaveras in La Voz this year! The first issue
of Calaveras appeared in November, 1999. The Math
says it’s been twenty years (2019-1999 = 20)—but
my fingers say twenty-one! If you count the first
issue starting in 1999 and continue on your fingers
to 2019, it’s 21 years of Calaveras! So we missed the
20th! Still, we must celebrate! And we are—starting
with the cover of this issue.
Diego Rivera’s, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park (Sueño de
una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central) painted circa 1947 is a massive mural,
4.8 x 15 meters, located at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera in Mexico City, next to
the Alameda Park in my favorite part of Mexico City, Centro Historico, the historic
center of Mexico. The mural depicts famous people and events in Mexico’s history
from conquest to colonization and the Mexican Revolution happening all at once—as
hundreds of famous personalities stroll through or spend time at the Alameda Central
Park that was created in 1592. It is the oldest public park in the Americas! The Pilgrims
didn’t arrive to the Americas until 1620! But, that’s another story. You get it!
Back to the mural. The front page of this 21st edition of Calaveras shows only a
portion of the mural, maybe 20%. This portion focuses on La Catrina as depicted by
Rivera in the mural. La Calavera Catrina or La Garbancera was originally drawn by
José Guadalupe Posada in 1913 in an etching that featured only her skull in a fancy
hat. Rivera depicts her as fully dressed sporting a feather boa. She is flanked by Posada
on her left and Diego Rivera as a boy on her right. Frida and José Marti are behind
Rivera. The indigenous woman in European dress is La Malinche. The mural includes
everyone in Mexican history from Hernán Cortes to Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, Benito
Juárez, Porfirio Diaz, the revolutionaries, the anarchists and the bourgeoise.
Though Posada died in obscurity in 1913, he is now a significant figure especially at
this time of year when his calavera drawings are reproduced in a myriad of ways. And his
Catrina, well, she became famous after this mural was completed by Rivera. And in La Voz
de Esperanza she has been featured in her full bodied self thanks to our designers. There’s
more to tell...but my design person tells me there is no more room!
Join us on November 1st from 5-9 pm to celebrate Dia de los muertos at the Rinconcito
de Esperanza, 816 S. Colorado. Alla nos vemos! Gracias a todxs for 21 years of Calaveras!
—Editora, Gloria A. Ramírez
TIME IS
Too slow for those who wait
Too swift for those who fear
Too long for those who grieve
Too short for those who rejoice
But for those who love
Time is not
El Tiempo es
Muy despacio para los que esperan
Muy veloz para los que temen
Muy largo para los que afligen
Muy corto para los que recocigan
Pero para los que aman, no.
—Ginny Timmons
ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a mailing address correction please send it to lavoz@
esperanzacenter.org. If you want to be removed from the La Voz mailing list, for whatever reason, please let us
know. La Voz is provided as a courtesy to people on the mailing list of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.
The subscription rate is $35 per year ($100 for institutions). The cost of producing and mailing La Voz has
substantially increased and we need your help to keep it afloat. To help, send in your subscriptions, sign up as a
monthly donor, or send in a donation to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Thank you. -GAR
VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are
gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny,
homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression. We are
recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/
spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for
criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response
to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the
dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.

En su voz:
Interviews with Don Moisés Espino del Castillo
El Duque de las Calaveras
By Ellen Riojas Clark, Ph.D., Professor Emerita
Note: For thirty-years in San Antonio, between 1970-
2000, Don Moisés Espino del Castillo, composed and
published Calaveras, a collection of calaveras/verses
about prominent figures not only from San Antonio
but people known worldwide. For his poetry and
the writing of Calaveras, Don Moisés received
international recognition for work that has revived
and maintained this Día de los Muertos tradition.
Five interviews were conducted by Dr. Clark with
Don Moises with the first one in late 1999 and the
remainder in 2001. The last publication of Calaveras
that were always free was in 2000. El Duque
died in 2002 in San Antonio, TX. The following are
excerpts from those interviews.
Origen de Las Calaveras/Origin of Las Calaveras:
“Calaveras are a tradition that came from Spain.”
“[Calaveras] is a custom that began when Spanish satirical poets
began complaining about the Spanish monarchy. Spain was
crumbling, and the poets were making fun [of the monarchy],
the original Calaveras were dedicated to the political elite. Later,
Calaveras became popular and included all kinds of persons who
had certain impact in the society, artists, sportsmen, musicians,
singers, teachers, anyone who attracts attention.”
“After the Mexican Revolution, [Calaveras] became more
popular among the people [of Mexico]. First, the Calaveras were
tremendously satirical against politicians such as Porfirio Díaz.
The dictatorship of
Porfirio Diaz was
falling down with the
revolution and the
poets had the pleasure
of using the [situational]
context as
part of their writings.
The famous caricaturist,
José Guadalupe
Posada made Calaveras
famous with his
ridicule; with funny
and sarcastic figures
of death on a weak
horse, a skeleton, and
Don Quixote by José Guadalupe Posada
all the politicians dead and beheaded or murdered by the death”
¿Como llegaron a USA /How did they come to the US?
“Our [Mexican] compatriots that came to the U.S., as a result of
the Mexican Revolution and other political disorders, brought with
them their traditions such as Cinco de Mayo, patriotic celebrations
such as the 16 th of September, and Day of the Dead, a celebration
about the dead …accompanied by the publication
of Calaveras.”
La tradición de Las Calaveras siguen vivas/The
tradition of Las Calaveras remains vivid
¿Donde publican las Calaveras? /Where [are]
las Calaveras published? “The Calavera is alive
today in many places in Mexico, mostly in the
south of the country, in places such as San Luis Potosi,
Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Veracruz…”
“[Calaveras] are [also] published in Nuevo
Laredo, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, and
Oaxaca, the home state of our friend Posada.”
“[Newspapers] such as El Mejica, from Houston;
El Sol de Tejas, from Dallas; El Heraldo, from Forth
Worth. The one in Los Angeles asked me for Calaveras to be
published in the Hispanic section. In Miami, there are a lot of
Cubans and they have asked me for Calaveras.”
El gusto del mexicano [es] por la burla, la mofa/The
Mexicans’ love [to] joke [and] to make fun. Las calaveras
[se usaban] como medio para preservar la lengua hispana/
Las Calaveras [were used] as a mode of preserving Spanish.“
Mexican humor is very sharp, they rejoice very much in the
mockery and the [making] fun of others. [The humor is] Caustic,
jokester, spicy…”
“[Calaveras] must be presented as a literary art. They are connected
with Hispanic literature,
since [Calaveras] are
part of the epigrammatic
genre. The epigrammatic is
a burlesque genre or rather
burlista.”
“The Calaveras are
not dedicated to a person
who is already dead,
because dead people
cannot reply, or defend
themselves when the
Calavera is a little bit out
of the line. That person is
already judged and it is
cowardly to mock somebody
who is already dead.
Calaveras are about people who are alive.”
Las calaveras [muestran] la riqueza de la lengua española
y como [son] parte de cultura popular/ Las Calaveras [illustrate]
the richness of the Spanish language, and how they
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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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form part of the popular culture
“[Calaveras] can help to remind people how rich their
language [Spanish] is and that it is a language not only for the
cultural elite, but also for popular culture.”
“Calaveras have a very wide lens, to preserve our language
[Spanish] and our traditions and, at the same time, to educate
the people on how complete their language is and how many
phases it has…”
La muerte le llega a todos/Death comes for all: “Death is
a natural phenomenon experienced by [all]: rich, poor, children,
seniors, ugly people, beautiful people, fat people, thin people,
politicians and no politicians [escape it]…”
Religion/Religion: “Here [with the Calaveras] we
are not analyzing any theological point of view. There
are religions or religious sects that are completely
opposite. For example, when a person dies people
have a party with a banquet and music. This, people
say is good, for when the person dies [we celebrate]
because they go to heaven.”
La burla a la gente en
el poder/The mocking
of people in power: With
the epigrammatic genre,
people enjoy making fun
of falling monarchies. Then
people in Mexico, took its
pen and paper, and began
creating jokes about those
elites in congress. This
was a way for the people
to relax, making fun of [the
powerful]. It was as a leakage
valve, since people could not
do anything against the monarch
or dictator. The people
can make fun of anything.
Tradiciones indígenas
sobre la muerte/Indigenious death
traditions: “When the missionaries or conquerors
came they found out that the indigenous
people had their rites, very their own, very
special, and where they celebrate the death with
meals, drinks, wakes in the cemeteries.”
¿Cuando empezó a publicar las Calaveras?/
When did you start to publish Calaveras?
“I remember it was in 1971, in May or June. I went to visit
Don Manuel Ruiz Ibáñez at the Express, and he suggested the
idea of publishing Calaveras. I believe he got the idea because he
used to publish a cultural column in Spanish, in the Sunday edition
of the Express, and where he published some of my poems”
¿Quien publicaba Calaveras en San Antonio antes?/ Who
published Calaveras in San Antonio before [you]? “Calaveras
were published here in San Antonio before, 25 years before mine
there was a man, Feliciano Rodarte, who published calaveras in San
Antonio. He published calaveras in his own magazine. Mr. Feliciano
passed away and then there was nobody who wrote calaveras.”
Gente que vino de Mexico por la Revolución/People who
arrived from Mexico after the Revolution
…“Many of those immigrants that moved because of
the Mexican revolution established themselves in San Antonio,
many others in Corpus Christi, and others in the Valley, in cities
such as McAllen, San Benito, and Mission. The Calaveras where
published there. In Corpus Christi there was a newspaper titled
La Verdad, I don’t remember the name of the owner but he published
Calaveras, in his own way, and he publish them until Don
Feliciano Rodarte died and there were no more Calaveras.”
Al principio la gente no entendia las calaveras, se molestaban
algunos/At first people did not understand and they were
disturbed: “In the beginning, since the Calaveras were absent
[from San Antonio] for 23 years, people did not understand them
very well. They believed it was a type of an insult or satire and
that they were being insulted. We had to give some explanations.”
¿Como escogía a quien le hacia Calaveras?/How do you
chose who to write about? “People [to whom the
Calaveras were dedicated] where
chosen once they were popular, especially
politicians. Any person who
was excelling in society or had became
famous for something became
a candidate for a Calavera.”
Calaveras como válvula de escape
de los pueblos/Calaveras are a
mode of escape for a community
“Calaveras have been a pressure
valve used by the people; can be used
as a form of revenge. If they have not
been able to directly attack a political
figure, at least it is a way to have their
attention. The people always tell the
truth and in their own way, they can
express it [via a calavera].”
Como hacia las Calaveras/How
do you go about writing calaveras:
“Well, first I look for the person’s funny
or ridiculous side. Then I mold it to the
metrics I have already selected (eight
syllables and eight lines). If the person
is a very important figure, such as the
president of the United States, Mexico’s
president or the Pope, then is possible to
extend to twelve syllables instead of only
eight.”
Henry B. González, Congressman:
“For Henry B. I wrote a lot of them, for
example, he hits someone, he lands a punch
on someone who called him a communist.
So I say [in the calavera], now in the US Congress, we not
only have a Congressman but we also have boxers.” …He liked
them, he always congratulated me.
He would always tell me, don’t let go of this tradition of ours.
One time he reminded me that he always a defender. Listen, that’s
how calaveras are, they are about what is popular [at the moment].
Once there was a problem with the raspa [snow cone] vendors
and the city and he defended them. He told the city that the
vendors were poor and they lived from their work efforts making
something that people liked and bought. That raspas [snow cones]
were a tradition of ours and that this cultural food we enjoyed..
Why were they going to deny these efforts. [The city] gave them
back the right/permission to sell the raspas downtown. For [at
first] they did not want the vendors to sell them downtown.
Habla sobre la revista, Calaveras/Talks about the magazine,
Calaveras: “Well, sometimes we printed 1000 or 2000,

Calaveras
Humorous Annual Spanish Publication in Verse
Editor
Moisés Espino del Castillo,
San Antonio Texas
Dr. Ellen Clark
• U.T.S.A •
A lo que digo me aferro
porque la conozco bien,
es una mujer de hierro
que se come a mas de cien;
su celo universitario
lo expresa de muchos modos,
casi casi vuela a diario
llevando un mensaje a todos;
como le gustaba el canto y el arte de corazón
por andar volando tanto un día se cayó el avión.
published November 1995
Henry B. González
• Ex-Congresista •
Honorable Congresista
de los ilustres de antes,
si le decías comunist
tesonabla con los guantes.
La calaca en un almud
lo sepultó con decoro,
en un enorme ataúd
con chapetones de oro.
Henry Cisneros
• Empresario •
Ya volvió Henry Cisneros
otra vez a San Antonio,
con mucho celo y encomio
tiene proyectos sinceros.
Con lenguaje muy correcto
le dijo a todas las masas:
“aunque no soy arquitecto
yo voy a construir casas”.
La muerte, después de oír
le dijo al estar hablando:
te sepulto en San Fernando”.
published November 2000
Editor’s Note: Above is a sample of Don Moisés’ calaveras published in San Antonio for 30 years. Sample covers of the publication are shown on p. 4. La Voz de Esperanza
began publishing a Calavera issue each November since 1999.
depending… Some years were better than others, we also depend
[financially] on sponsors and people who helped us. Because [in
the magazine] we did not publish advertising, it only included
sponsored Calaveras. The printer use
to tell me: it is going to cost this much,
around 2,000 dollars and then I know I
have to raise the money to pay him. Once
I got the money, I brought the Calaveras to
the printer, the Calaveras were already in
the order they were supposed to be printed
and the printer calculated how many pages
the magazine was going to be. He used to
tell me the magazine can be of 4, 8 and 12
pages. It was by quadruplets.”
Imprenta que más uso Homer Whitt/
Whitt Printing Company: “I have been
using [many printers in San Antonio], one
time I used San Antonio Press, then Munguia,
New Braunfels, Ad Printing Company,
Cisneros owned by Rudy Cisneros, not
related with Henry Cisneros, and I used
Homer Whitt the most.”
Invasion del Halloween a Mexico/
Halloween in Mexico: “In the United
States, the special celebration is Halloween,
which has nothing in common with
the Day of the Dead.”
“The Calaveras are ‘married’ with the
A Don Moisés Espino Del Castillo, QEPD
Fue en vida, Don Moisés, Maestro de Calaveras.
Cargando la tradición que él nos enseño, de veras.
Llegó su remplazo como a cerca de las seis,
Pues, vino siriqui-siaca a llevarse a Don Moisés.
—¡Alto, paren!, No hay derecho:
No he dejado mi legado y me resta un buen trecho.
—Recoge todas tus cosas y despidete formal,
La Tiesa dijo, impaciente por llenar su gran morral.
—La persona que trajiste para tomar mi lugar
No tiene el porte de ser un tipo formal
—No me pugnes, ni me empeñes en cambiarme de opinión
Todo ésto ya está escrito y es tu último escalón.
—Transcurrió bastante tiempo fue mucha la discusión:
Al final de la batalla Don Moisés cayó silencio al dares su
petatón.
—Enrique Sánchez
pan de muerto (Dead Bread) because it is during the Day of the
Death celebrations [that Calaveras] are published.
“It is a cultural tradition from here [the U.S.] that goes to
Mexico, to the south. But the Calaveras
have arrived only here [to San
Antonio]. The dollar invasion is very
powerful, the American customs are
very strong and then the businesses
open their doors because they make
money with it [Halloween]. The kids
are getting used to buy candies and
everything for the celebration.”
“First, Halloween is not authentically
from the United States it is from
the north of Europe…” so now with
this I don’t mean that I am an enemy
of Halloween. I am not an enemy of
Halloween, but I do not practice it, I
am not interested in it. What I want is
that this tradition that is ours [Calaveras]
to be celebrated by Hispanics.”
Bio: Ellen Riojas Clark, Ph. D.,
Professor Emerita of the Department
of Bicultural Bilingual Studies,
UTSA is author of The Calaveras of
Don Moisés Espino del Castillo, Arte
Publico Press, 2014
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Literary Ofrendas para
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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Amelia Cirilo May 23, 1925—July 1, 2019
By Dennis Medina
Editor’s note: Condolences to the family of
Amelia Cirilo, in particular to Dennis Medina, her
son who is one of the contributor’s to Queer Brown
Voices and has been a long-time activist in Texas.
My mother exhibited a lust for life throughout
her time on this earth. She was born in 1925, in
Parks, Texas, the daughter of Constancio Cirilo and
Guadalupe Guerra; and she was raised in Weslaco
and Houston, Texas. Sometimes,
she told the story of how she got
into a fight in elementary school
because bullies made fun of her
flour-sack dresses, which she had
to wear during the Great Depression,
due to the family’s poverty.
Education was her life cause.
She earned a B.S. in Education at
North Texas University in Denton,
a Master’s degree at Kingsville
A&I University (Now Texas A&M University- Kingsville),
and a Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, College Station. She
taught many subjects, especially science and math, at all grade
levels from elementary, junior high, high school, adult education,
to community college and university, including a few years as a
bilingual kindergarten teacher. She also founded her own educational
consulting firm, named HERMANA (Hispanic Educational
At her open grave,
I wear a black polyester
thrift store skirt, a black blouse
from Family Dollar.
We bury my older sister
on the ridge above the river
the morning of the equinox.
She died from cirrhosis of the liver.
We leave daffodils, early phlox.
Five years on at the Methodist
Conference, activists gather
for their annual witness
at the Ordination Service.
My Sister as Persephone
In remembrance of queer
candidates denied their pastoral
calling, we wear severe black outfits
with bright rainbow stoles.
Each June, taking the black skirt
and blouse from my closet,
still without money
for anything new,
I pack my mourning clothes.
In this way, though she was not
a seminarian, her presence
in the pew a distant memory,
my sister returns late each spring
from her own dark closet,
an unpunctual Persephone.
—Rachel Jennings
Research Management and National Association),
where she served as Executive Director.
Proclaimed a “Doer” by the Corpus Christi
Caller Times newspaper, Amelia achieved many
accolades during her lifetime. At various times, she
was active in LULAC (League of Latin American
Citizens), Women’s Political Caucus of Texas,
Women’s Shelter of Corpus Christi, Goals for
Corpus Christi Committee, Methodist Home
for the Elderly (Weslaco), Dallas County
Adult Literacy Council, Texas Constitutional
Committee (Brazos County Advisor), Fiesta
Bilingual Toastmasters, and many, many
other organizations, too numerous to list.
She raised four children, and participated
in numerous hobbies, such as ballroom dancing,
standup
comedy, para-gliding, and
butterflies. In 1996, at age 71,
she ran as a contestant in the
Ms. Texas Senior America
Pageant in Dallas, Texas.
Amelia was cremated in
accordance with her wishes.
Her ashes will be spread
around a tree.
My sister’s full name
was Julie Naomi
Jennings.
She was born on
December 14, 1962,
and she died on
March 17, 2014.
WHAT I WANT TO BE
If I could choose
What I could be,
I’d be a tree.
A beautiful, beautiful tree.
So when I’m gone,
And completely free.
Spread my ashes
Under a tree.
A beautiful, beautiful tree.
—Amelia Cirilo

Dia de los Muertos 2019
Fridita
Dark eyed little sister, braids woven into the crown
of a queen, fierce as a matador, your soul
brandishing its red cape daring the bullish
passes of death, to steal from you the day
Paints ground from the riotous pigments of the
Life that colors your virgin canvas giving bloody
birth to self-portraits, confirming the pulse
the breath, the heartbeat, the passions of your
body, though it betrays you, as it’s eaten alive by
the famished cannibal of your perpetual pain
La Artista, Mi Hermana, Mi Gente, La Reina
fervent, ravenous, glorious, creative, woman
what dreams came, as you lay upon the altar
of your bed, what imaginings, that fed your beast
that drove your hands, to create, even as the chair
claimed you captive, how bitter the salt of your
tears, swelling your tongue, hopes dashed upon
the ground, each time your womb fell empty
Ah Fridita, cry not, for your children yet live
immortal, dressed in their glorious finery of canvas
paint and stretcher bars, niños, who will never die
—Randi Romo
Shrines
These poles with ghost bikes
trussed to them—
piles of teddy bears, cards
candles with the Virgin’s
image—
flower offerings
looking like brides’ bouquets—
now desiccated.
The bouquet the girls’ bike rider
will never catch.
I know about some of them.
That girl whose bike’s
now spray painted white
was hit by a drunk driver
as she rode out
of the University gate.
She had the right-of-way,
cold comfort now.
That was on the late news.
And the two girls—
Marigolds by Carla Rivera
graduating high school seniors,
in the spiffy new convertible—
they were hit by a truck
after they threw eggs
at the driver at 4 A.M.
One of the mothers said
“They were only having fun.”
Their pole stayed festive,
gay like a Mardi Gras float
for over two years
before it was stripped clean.
Someone from the county, no doubt.
—Marilyn Wallner
La Despedida De Mi Querida Madre Maria (Neva) Mora, R.N.
By Rosemary Reyna-Sánchez, neé Martínez
Mi Mama, Neva, received her RN Nursing
Degree at 56 years young, the first in her family and
proving that no one is too old to learn. Her parents
(Apa and Ama) migrated from Mexico in the 30’s;
mom was the 3 rd of 7 children, growing up in an
abusive environment, where she was “the punching
bag” for her dad as she put it. It took her many
years to share this with me. When she was 9 years
old, “Apa” decided to take the family for a drive and
wound up downtown where he parked in front of a
bar where Mi Tierra Mexican Restaurant now stands.
He instructed the family to stay in the car and not
get out, or else; while he went inside to drink with
his buddies (typical Machismo). After a couple of
hours, mom and my Tío Beto decided to sneak out
of their Model-T, despite the warning. They crawled
under the car to the other side, where there was a Christmas tree
vendor stand. When the vendor wasn’t looking they snatched a
tree, dragged it underneath the car, then promptly loaded it onto
the back floorboard just as “Apa” was coming out of the bar and
heading towards them. Hijole just in time! When they got home,
they snuck the tree inside and placed it “EN LA SALA”
and started on their decorations utilizing pieces of paper,
foil, bottle caps, whatever they could find. In the morning
the kids all gathered around and admired its beauty.
Mom said that was the first and best Christmas the kids
ever had! (Nowadays, so much is taken for granted;
folks should pause and give thanks for what they have,
instead of what they don’t.) After she passed away, I
found a ceramic bell in the shape of an angel among her
possessions. I brought it home and hung it securely on
our Christmas tree. Early the next morning I heard the
bell ring on its own and of course I was in denial, so I
followed the ringing to LA SALA and found the angel
on the floor by our tree, where it had fallen upright,
without breaking. Lying next to it, I found a small note
that read “Rose, I love you and will be near you no
matter the circumstances”. My mom rang the bell communicating
beyond the grave to show me the note that she left for me!
Unbelievable! The Love of a Madre never dies, it transcends!
I love and miss you mom! LOVE CONQUERS ALL, LOVE
CONQUERS DEATH!
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Aerial photo of an egret rookery on Bird Island in Elmendorf Lake on April 3, 2019.
Photo Credit: William Luther, Express-News staff photographer

A Bird Buffer next to a pathway at Elmendorf Lake Park.Photo Credit: David Martin Davies, Texas Public Radio
“Bird Island, Presente: ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’”
By Kamala Platt
Is it inauspicious to yell “presente” for a place, before
it is gone? What constitutes the death of a place?
Who has the right to make a prognosis for the
lifespan of an island? a heronry? a barrio?
In the last 6 months, I’ve asked myself these
questions with increasing frequency as I have
witnessed the rhetorical and empirical attacks
on “Bird Island,” Our Lady’s Lake Ardeidae
Colony, the Place of White Herons, Elmendorf
Lake’s tiny piece of Aztlan. Most of the summer,
my disquiet was stilled in walks around the lake,
particularly at the height of nesting, when I wouldw
descend down the bank that faces the backside of
Bird Island where the protected channel between the
island and the lake’s shore hosts a “nursery.” A small
Abuela tree that branched out over the hyacinth-flocked
water housed several nests where, with binoculars, I
could catch an intimate view of the goings-on between
parents and their chick children, and later between the fledglings.
Threats and speculations about the death of “Bird Island” were
diminished by egrets prancing and dancing on island’s backslope.
The perils facing my city and even the planetary peril of global
warming would be placed in perspective by my engagement with a
fragment of avian ecosystem comunidad. Time would slow down
for me while I was there, a few feet from the island, engulfed in the
vibrant sounds of flourishing life, communication across generations
among birds whose family ancestry dates back to the lower
Eocene, 55 million years.
Meanwhile, on the sidewalk yards east of the island, Bird
Buffer spray wafts out of a metal box, placed by COSA Parks and
Rec. Dept.—a metronome marking time in intervals of pesticide
releases that smell of purple Kool-aid, its ingredients unrevealed,
coming on and off every 4 minutes into seeming eternity. Will the
spray from the bird buffer box installed without public knowledge
onto an aeration system in the newly renovated park in May 2017
outstay the egrets at the lake? The poison ruse of park protection
may keep wafting onto the sidewalk, the shoreside rushes and the
lake, itself, continuing through months or years of habitat destruction,
and sound and light harassment displays. Recent mitigator
estimates of the time to get rid of the birds was two or so years—
whether mitigation would continue, throughout, was unclear, as
was the basis of the estimated time. Alongside the spray, bird harassment
become an ongoing park activity chasing away vulnerable
park goers, avian and non-avian, alike, if several COSA offices and
The warning sign located in
Brackenridge Park indicates,
“Prolonged presence in this
area is not recommended.”
Photo Credit: David Martin
Davies, Texas Public Radio
the USDA (that has planned the habitat destruction
and harassment) have their way. While threatened
attacks on Elmendorf Lake’s cattle egrets, and,
as of late, birds in general, have been publicly
attributed to the military, JBSA, as far as I can
tell, is involved only tangentially by the bird
harassers’ professed association with BASH,
(Bird/wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard) an international
program JBSA works with to slow
bird strikes, a program that generally does not
go after barrio community parks miles from any
airfield with no tested, demonstrated, or logically
determined “bird strike risk.”
“We Shall Not Be Moved,” the words from the
Human/Civil Rights folk/protest song, with childhood
associations for me, plopped themselves down beside
one of Alesia Garlock’s egret images on a yard sign in
my mind, as I watched Bird Island birds going about
their daily routine, one triple-digit, near-autumn day. The honorary
Great Egret, emblem of Elmendorf Lake Park, and the Audubon
Society, alike, is surely earning its place as a symbol against
displacement in San Antonio’s neighborhoods that are under siege
of displacement and gentrification campaigns that are likely a large
reason for the COSA’s displacing Westside egrets, as well. Posted
next to “Mi Barrio No Se Vende” signs, across the city, they would
deliver multiple messages—“All Our Relatives,” all of us, are here
to stay, migrate, return, at will—we protest and protect, even as
our continents heat up, GHG-intensified storms rage, and some socalled
leaders, ignore, or worse. Not long after the yard sign image
came to me, musician friends at the Climate Strike in front of San
Fernando Cathedral gave a fabulous performance of “We Shall Not
Be Moved,” in voice and drum, and I was enthralled. I announced
then, “this is just what we shall broadcast, loud and proud, at 24 th
and Commerce” if mitigation by pollution with cannon fire noise
and bright lights begins in mid-October, as currently scheduled
(despite fledgling cormorants still in nests with the harassment start
date a week away). Todos Somos Presente and We Shall Not Be
Moved. (Stay tuned— your presence may be requested!)
Bio: Kamala Platt, Ph.D., M.F.A. is adjunct profesora, artist,
independent scholar and author in South Texas and at The Meadowlark
Center, Kansas.
Note: For background information on this article, email
lavoz@esperanzacenter.org
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Dia de Los Muertos
Dia De Los Muertos 2019
LA HUESUDA (2006)
Hoy no es un dia de:
Desfilar títeres esqueleto gigantes,
O…De algo siniestro,
Hoy es un dia para comprender,
que la muerte como parte de la vida,
es un día para recordar,
Tomar el tiempo para honrar,
Nuestros seres queridos que han fallecido,
Es hora de limpiar el cementerio,
Decora las pisos con
Flores, velas y dulces,
Altares hechos en casa,
los adornan con:
Fotos, comida y muñecos,
Iluminando el camino con velas,
Así las almas a encontrar el camino a su casa,
Omita el desfile,
Pintura de la cara,
En su lugar:
Haz una ofrenda,
Un ramo de flores recién cortadas,
Hable con su ser querido,
y
Hable de su ser querido,
Como si nunca se hubiesen ido,
Dia de los Muertos,
Se supone que debe ser el tiempo,
Cuando nuestros seres queridos regresan,
¿Alguna vez realmente nos dejan?
Están por todas partes,
que son las entidades que nos envuelven.
—Ashley G. La Voz 2015
Soy la mera, mera petatera;
unos me llaman “La Catrina” ¡Que insulto!
Otros me conocen por “La Segadora.”
¡Bah! Ni que fuera yo machete.
Lo cierto es que soy la Muerte y mi lema es simple:
“A cada santo se le llega su dia.” ¿De acuerdo?
Este año, como los anteriores,
he venido a recojer gente.
Mi corte es parejo.
Todos por igual.
Siempre hay sentimientos, ¡Que caray!
—Enrique Sánchez
Vuelven las Calaveras:
Año dos mil diez y nueve
¿Quien hubiera pensado que Enrique Sánchez,
hijo de Adrían Sánchez y Victoria Zapiaín de Sánchez
iba a escribir Calaveras?
La verdad es que cuando leí Calaveras por primera vez
Me facinaron tanto que decidi escribir varias.
Para mi, escribir estos versos son como un pasatiempo
Tambien un mayor interés es hacer perdurar estas palabras
y seguir una costumbre de mis antepasados.
—Enrique Sánchez
Day of the Dead
Today is not a day of:
Parading giant skeletal puppets,
Or…Of something sinister,
Today is a day understanding,
Death as a part of life,
A day of remembrance,
Taking the time to honor,
Our loved ones that have passed away,
It’s time to clean the cemetery,
Decorate the floors with
Flowers, candles, and sweets,
Homemade altars,
Adorn them with
Photos, food, and dolls,
Lighting the way with candles,
So the souls find their way home,
Skip the parade,
Face painting,
Instead: Make an offering,
A fresh bouquet,
Talk to your loved one, And
Talk of your cherished one,
As if they never left,
Day of the dead,
Is suppose to be the time,
When our loved ones return,
Did they ever really leave us?
They are everywhere,
they are the entities that surround us.
—Ashley G, La Voz 2015

Don Calaveras
Ofrendas y Calaveras
by Enrique Sánchez
Lola y Mina
Dos cachorritas, dos perritas que alguien no quiso
y las botó en mi propiedad.
Una mañana de invierno, salí de mi casa.
Oí como que lloraba un bebé. Eran las perritas.
Estaban acurracaditas calentandose de la mañana fria.
Esto sucedio hace casi diez años;
han sido dos animales que se portan bien
No gruñen, pero sí ladran.
Ahora va la mia:
¿Que les parece una calavera para ellas dos?
Resulta que sin saber de sus principios,
una de mis hijas nombró a las perras “Lola y “Mina”
Les quedó bien sus nombres
Lola es más inteligente y muy gorda
Mina es muy agil, traviesa y le gusta comadrear,
¡Imaginense!
Mina tiene la habilidad de brincar cercas
y lo del chisme eso es cosa de ella
No piensen que me fui por otro rumbo,
acuerdense que es una calavera para dos hermanas,
¿Dos perras?
La Catrina no se fija, puede morir una chinche
o tal vez un elefante (corte parejo)
En un can(perro) las pulgas son bienvenidas
Casi me olvidé de esos insectos.
Ofrenda A Mi Barrio
Lilia Sánchez
hermana mayor de Enrique
Sánchez dejó de
existire el 23 de Julio de
2019 en San Antonio,
Texas. No sentí tristeza
cuando supe que habia
muerto Lilia. Me acordé de tiempos atrás, cuando
Lilia y yo compartíamos aventuras cuando eramos
niños. Esta véz, no me dijo, “Vamos Manito.” Dios
quiera que a donde vaya y por donde vaya, sea un
gran aventura para Ella.
Presumido
Cuando era joven, me gustaba presumir
Habiendo tantas muchachas bonitas,
aunque sin dinero
No tenia ni en que caerme muerto
Me gustaba presumir.
Bueno, así es la vida. Que le vamos a hacer.
Encontré mi preferida y me casé con ella, con Isabel
Fué un regalo de Diós.
Ya estoy Viejo.
Las muchachas ni se fijan en mi. ¿ Que será de mi?
Ya no puedo presumir, nadie me hace caso.
¡Que caray! Conformate, me dicta mi consciencia
“Hay que saber perder” dice Calacas.
San Antonio fué donde nació mi padre, mi papá, diciembre 1900. Fué un hombre que vivió hasta diciembre, 1970.
Sufrió cuando su propio padre abandonó su familia. Nunca platiqué con el. ¡Que lastima!
Como me hubiera gustado saber su vida. Lo poco que se de Adrian Sánchez fué por boca de Victoria, su esposa y
mi Mamá. En la esquina de las calles Sabinas y Vera Cruz, allí vivió—mi Papá, su mamá y hermanos.
Supe tambien que mi Abuelo Jesús María Sánchez fué artista y como no habia Mercado para su arte—de su casa
fabricaba cosas de barro y los vecinos lo conocian como el señor que hacia jarros, cazuelas, etc.
Siempre nuestro barrio a sido un barrio pobre. La mayoria de a gente a sido de desendencia Mexicana. Las costumbres
y las tradiciones han sido Mexicanas tambien.
La calle Guadalupe lo dice todo. Antes, este barrio tenia todo; Los negocios pequeños
nos daban lo que necesitabamos. Teniamos escuelas, carpas, parques deportivos y
sinumeros de lugares para entretenimiento.
El arroyo nos daba agua y zacate a sus orillas, ojos de agua, que más pedir. Brotaba el
agua de los ojos de agua en Zarzamora y Laredo. Estas calles tambien estan en el barrio.
Todos los recuerdos del ayer se están perdiendo. Hubo mucho que hablar, mucho
que contra y decir. Las Viejas generacíones se están desapareciendo. Nos resta a nosotros,
Los antiguos, revivir esos recuerdos.
Adrián y Victoria Sánchez
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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
Calaverita al
Chubby
I want YOU dear chubby fella
Love your suits and golden wig
Your trumpita looks delicious
I will eat it with a kiss.
Don't you worry about detractors
They are jealous of your fame.
They may think you're vain and selfish
Just because you're good to blame.
Haters hate all your speeches
Say you’ve a delusional mind
Say you’re serving your own pockets
Those things, I know, you don't mind.
Don't you worry about impeachment
I 'll keep all your secrets safe
Whistleblowers and Press together
They can kiss our bones and rest.
Varenyky or Chinese dumplings
What's your appetite today?
Or if you prefer our local tacos
Keeping América rete-great!
Let's just nuke ourselves together
You will be my special dust
You will have a gold container
by my side I’ll make a fuss.
How I want you chubby fella!!!
Tell me, please, that you'll be mine
In my place you'll have your "thingies"
You don't need a house so white.
—Adriana Netro
12
Calaveras
de La Voz de Esperanza 2019
Los Tres Amigos
The Three “Amigos”
No Vale La Pena
Art: Stella Marroquin
Van saliendo y entrando
Muchos por la Casa Blanca
Incluso los tres amigos
Esperando un mando
So many comings and goings
In and out of the white house door
And now, here come three amigos
Waiting for his commands and more!
Sirven a la orden de Trump
Todos son sólo titeres
Jalados por un hilo
Creyendo promesas falsas
All who serve this bad president
Are mere marionettes on a string
Whose eyes are fixed on a fake prize
Being favored by the west wing
Pronto olerán el hedor
De la tiznada que llega
Con un abrazo apretadito
Cada uno queda muertito
—Gloria A. Ramirez
Soon enough there’ll arise a stench
The sooty lady, the death wench
Will give them all a strong embrace
And of them all—will be no trace!
Escribir Calaveras a politicos, ¡Que capáz!
Estoy harto de tantos pend…..
Es mejor no decir malas razones.
No sea que mi Mamá,
la cual me prometío mandarme un rayo
—si me portaba irrespetuoso.
Tiene años que Doña Victoria pasó a mejor vida.
Yo vivo con ese miedo, no le hace donde esté.
Ella cumplará ese mandato.
Me perdonan por esta vez, realmente
no valen la pena, Los Politicos.
—Enrique Sánchez
La Mordida
Para describir mordelones no es facíl.
Pore eso mismo La Catrina
viene y se los lleva a todos.
Hay mordelones y mordelonas,
¿Porque no?
Para comenzar, los politicos municipales,
estatales y sobre todos, los nacionales,
allí rifan el poder y el dinero.
Esa gente decide leyes y reglamentos
para su convenencia.
Les va muy bien disfrazado.
Es inutíl nombralos, tarde o temprano.
Darán cuenta de las mordidas.
—Enrique Sánchez, 2006

Art: Leopoldo
Méndez
A Don Guadalupe
Posada
Art: Mary Agnes Rodríguez
Art: Day of the Dead 1924, Diego Rivera
El Donald Trump
Y , otra vez, en la frontera un muro quiere construir
Así como Bush intentara mucho antes.
En el Barrio de San Marcos
del merito Aguascalientes
Fue donde el maestro Posada
Por primera vez abrió los ojos
Y vio las injusticias candentes
del afrancesado porfiriato ahí presentes
Una dama con prestancia, fuerza y elegante
Ya llegó para echarle al cretino el guante
Y le va romper la trompa porque ya anda encabronada
Y pa’ que ya no diga babosadas que no nos llevan a nada,
Mi querida, hermosa Catrina adorada
Arrastrándolo del mechón lo va a mandar a la…. Tumba.
Y si de la tumba se sale, ‘tonses si lo manda a la chingada!
—Víctor M. Cortés
Con la melena horrible y alborotada
A Chicago ese cretino se dirigió
Pero una decidida multitud ya lo esperaba
Y éste, al ver tanta gente a la que enfureció
De puro miedo en su avioncito se regresó
El Trump cara de cochino quiere cambiar el destino,
A los negros, los Chicanos e inmigrantes.
De la crisis y violencia nos culpa el endemoniado indino
Como si no supiéramos que el problema ya es de antes,
Su gran talento para la impresión y grabado
a su maestro del taller lo dejó impresionado
Su fuerte era la sátira dibujada,
la rima, como que no le acomodaba
por eso a otros se la encargaba
“Déjenlos en paz, que continúen su travesía”
Así mañana mis queridos hijos migrantes
Alejados de la represión su meta ya no será tan distante.
Calavera migrante/
la caravana
En la calle de Tacuba su taller abrió
y según dicen La Calaca Garbancera ahí nació.
Tanto quería a su coqueta huesudita
que cientos de personalidades le dio a su calaquita
incluyendo la Catrina que por el mundo viajó
Ay mis hijos inmigrantes sus anhelos son muy sanos
Y su caravana si saldrá adelante
Y aquí entre ustedes caminare como hermanos
Pero si algún loco ignorante no los deja salir avante
Con mi guadaña en mano verán que le echo el guante.
La calavera migrante
muy contenta camina con ellos,
En la frontera mexicana
Muchos los esperan con buena gana
Don Lupe entre todas sus calacas feliz estaba
Y a los rotos porfirianos con ellas los asustaba.
Pero los pobres con las huesudas se divertían
con ellas bailaban hasta que se desvanecían
y las enclenques de gusto nomas sonreían
Cuando lleguen al Rio Bravo
muchos uniformados estarán del otro lado
más no se preocupen, ya lo tengo todo controlado.
Al nefasto güero copetón ya lo tengo al tanto
Y si con ustedes se porta mal, me lo llevo al camposanto.
—Víctor M. Cortés, 2018
Art: Ravi Zupa
Al cruzar en balsas el Suchiate
los centroamericanos migrantes,
con esperanza y alegría caminan todo el día,
pero en Chiapas ya los espera la policía
y con gases lacrimógenos intenta detener la osadía.
La calavera migrante muy indignada
le reclama a la policía esa inhumana fechoría.
El maestro Posada grabando muchos años pasó
aunque con su Garbancera una vida modesta llevó
Siempre a la vista del pueblo su sátira trabajó.
Siempre rodeado de sus calacas frente al portón
hasta que en 1913 con ellas se encaminó al panteón.
—Víctor M. Cortés
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Photo by Graciela I. Sánchez
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This is Rita’s 16th year writing Calaveras for La Voz!
Calaveras de la Dra. Rita
Las Tesoros en D.C.
La Paloma y Blanca Rosa
gran honor han recibido
En Washington fue gloriosa
La ocasión que han compartido
Con el Mariachi Esperanza
Comenzaron ese día
“La Negra” daba añoranza
Nuestra herencia compartían
Hablaron de sus carreras
De su pasión musical
Que ha atravesado fronteras
En un mundo patriarcal
¡Vuelen Palomita y Blanca!
Denle “Mucho corazón”
Si cantan o no “La chancla”
Suyo es ya este galardón
“—Espérennos, aquí vamos”
Dicen Perla y Doña Rita
“¡Qué bueno que las hallamos,
Ahora ya estamos juntitas!”
Espíritus y en persona
Las Tesoros se congregan
Y al mundo le proporcionan
Su corazón y su entrega
Pero como nunca falta
Va llegando la Tilica
Según ella también canta
Ya verán lo que esto implica
“—Su San Antonio Querido
a las cuatro las espera
Yo me quedo aquí, ¿entendido?
A arrasar con un cualquiera”
En San Cuilmas siguió el guato
Y felices Las Tesoros
Y a D.C. sin sindicato
La Parca mandó un meteoro.
—Rita Urquijo-Ruiz
La Quinceañera de Rita
La Doctora Urquijo-Ruiz
Quince años ha cumplido
De a Trinity contribuir
Y lograr gran cometido
Porque Rita ya hizo historia
En la uni y la ciudad
Y su larga trayectoria
Se reconoce en verdad
Urquijo-Ruiz es la primera
Profesora “full” latina
Que en esa universidad
Ha llegado hasta la cima
Ese logro no fue fácil
Para Rita y su familia
Pero siempre, ella muy hábil
Sus pérdidas reconcilia
Pues llegó como inmigrante,
Sin papeles, por un tiempo
Y ahora es representante
De nuestra gente un ejemplo
Con familia y amistades
Su novia, Sela, organizó
Gran fiesta y actividades
La Profe se conmovió
Arenys y su magia
Estaba Arenys sentada
Llorando con desesperación
Pues no sabía cómo peinarse
Para irse a su graduación
La muerte está en busca
De alguien que la pueda maquillar,
Porque se quiere ir el sábado
A una gran fiesta a bailar
Arenys como es muy buena
En el trabajo que desempeña,
Olivia, Carmen, Martina
y Teté, allí estuvieron
Con amistades muy finas
Muy alegres se pusieron
La presencia de su madre
Tod@s allí la sintieron
Y hasta apreció su padre
Orgullos estuvieron
La celebración fue en grande
con mariachi Las Alteñas
Triunfo y amores se expanden
Llegan hasta las estrellas
Pero todo allí no acaba
La Doctora es de dos mundos
Ya Hermosillo preparaba
Fiesta, escándalo rotundos
Familiares, sus hermanas,
Todo el barrio y la Tía Rita
Con orgullo la esperaban
Para una fiesta exquisita
Peina y maquilla excelentemente
Y de un gran salón será dueña
Hablo y hablo y no digo nada,
Quiero decir tantas cosas...
Como que espero en la vida
Sean todas muy famosas!
Ya con esta me despido
Abrochándome un guarachi
Y espero que más al rato
Esté llegando el mariachi
—Carmen Lorena Urquijo Ruiz
Sí fue mucho aquel argüende
Y de herencia mexicana
Pero a nadie le sorprende
Pues la Profe es campechana.
“¿A ver, a ver qué tanto hacen?”
Les gritó doña Calaca
“¡Sus gritos no me complacen”
Arre, arreglen sus petacas!
Como Catrina es muy fina
Con todo el barrio acarreó
Pero allá sin disciplina
El escándalo siguió
“¡Hora verá Doctorcita”
Sígale usted de malcriada
Aunque sea Profe, doña Rita
Me la llevo a la Chi...!
—“¡Chihuahua, Pelona, entiende
Dame chanza, voy solita
Nada de ti me sorprende
Esto se acaba ya ahorita”
La Parca y la Profesora
Emprendieron su camino
Salieron desde Sonora
A su debido destino
Con mi amor infinito para toda la
gente que celebró conmigo,
—Rita Urquijo-Ruiz

Old Timey Superstition: Death Comes in Threes
Reprinted from: Appalachian Magazine, December 16, 2017
The Three Deaths, an old Mexican belief
According to Mexican tradition, people die three deaths:
The first death is when our bodies cease to function,
when our hearts no longer beat of their own accord,
when our gaze no longer has depth or weight, when the
space we occupy slowly loses its meaning.
My grandfather died, then my uncle suddenly passed away
within two weeks of each other, and immediately, a feeling
of anxiety swept over the mountains of southern West
Virginia as our entire family began eyeing each other – and
some themselves – as we awaited the inevitable third death
that seemed inevitable.
Dating back to my boyhood, when I remember
attending my first “wake” all the way up to this past week,
I’ve heard it said a dozen times over throughout the mountains
of Appalachia — “They come in threes!”
Fortunately for our family, the unthinkable occurred
and for whatever reason that almost forgone conclusion
of a third funeral never occurred — at least not until
everyone had moved on to other things and the memory
of the two previously deceased relatives had long since
passed.
While I’ll be the first to admit that those of us
who grew up in the mountains of Appalachia are privy to
some pretty wild superstitions, particularly when it comes
to death, i.e., birds singing outside one’s window at nighttime
means a death is coming… as does rocking an empty
rocking chair; however, the “death comes in threes” notion
is one that I tend to believe ever the more as I grow older.
I cannot count how many times I’ve seen this
take place with my own eyes — Let’s not forget about the
time Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett all
died in the same week.
But why do so many people believe this and what
are the origins of this mysterious belief?
Like a countless number of other Appalachian
beliefs and superstitions, the notion of people dying off in
threes can be traced back across the Atlantic to our European
ancestors, who, thanks to an unshakable belief in the
Trinity, began to see everything broken into sections of
threes — tragedies, births, etc.
While there remains considerable debate as to
whether folks in a community or family actually do pass
away in threes, the reality is that if you’re in Appalachia,
you simply won’t have to go too far to find someone who
believes this — perhaps even myself!
The second death comes when the body is lowered into
the ground, returned to mother earth, out of sight. The
third death, the most definitive death, is when there is no
one left alive to remember us.
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
15

Government Agencies
Vs The Cattle Egrets Of
Elmendorf Lake Park
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
16
By: Gloria Almaraz
We are coming to the end of the story
on cattle egrets. Since February 2019,
when the community surrounding Elmendorf
Lake Park was first informed
that a perceived problem existed with
the cattle egrets, the City of San Antonio,
the U. S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), the Texas Parks and Wildlife,
and Joint-Base San Antonio-Kelly Field
(JBSA-Kelly Field) have tried their best
to convince the public that the problem
is real.
Three public meetings were held between
February and July 2019 at which
time similar presentations were made
on their concerns of the cattle egrets,
and the public was asked, time and time
again, for recommendations to prevent
the cattle egrets from flying over the Kelly
Field runway. The organizers claimed that 800 to 1200 cattle
egrets fly daily over the Kelly Field runway on their way to the
Covel Gardens Landfill for feeding and return in the evening using
the same flight path.
We were told that these birds were a hazard to air traffic at JB-
SA-Kelly Field due to possible aircraft bird strikes that could result
in loss of crew life. To support their claim of potential aircraft disasters
attributed to bird strikes, the organizers attempted to justify
their allegation by preparing a script of aircraft bird strikes that had
occurred throughout the U. S. and different parts of the world. None
Entrance to Elmendorf Park designed by Oscar Alvarado.
of the bird strikes shown occurred at Kelly
Field.
Their rationale was that if the birds are
no longer at Bird Island, then they have no
reason to fly across the runway on their
way to the Covel Gardens Landfill located
more than 5 miles south of the runway. No
matter that the numbers of egrets roosting
at Elmendorf Lake Park are much lower
than the numbers reported over the runway.
What was obvious to many in attendance
at the first meeting was that the
organizers already had a plan in mind to
displace the birds. Various methods were
discussed to which many in attendance
were opposed. The feeling we got was that
they were complying with requirements
that mandated that the issue be discussed
with the surrounding community near Elmendorf Lake Park. It appeared
that the plan they had discussed was a done deal.
The implementation of the deterrent measures scheduled for
February 2019 was thwarted by the discovery of a bird’s egg on
Bird Island on February 22. By the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a
Federal law, no relocation efforts can be undertaken during breeding
season when eggs are already present. Thus, the agencies would
have to wait until nesting season was over and the hatchlings could
be on their own –about 8 months later in October.
On August 21, 2019, the city’s Government and Public Af-
Bird Island on Lake Elmendorf.

fairs Department released the plan to displace the cattle egrets and
claimed it contained expert advice from several environmental
agencies and concerned citizens. The plan was originally slated
to be effective in mid-September, then mid-October, and now has
been changed to mid-to-late-November; would continue through
the winter months; and would end when the new breeding season
for the cattle egrets would begin again. Interestingly, the final plan
sounded similar to the plan that was discussed at the first February
meeting.
Proposals from the community were all dismissed. Foremost
among these was the proposal for a scientific study that would determine
the movement of the cattle egrets so we would know if the
egrets from Elmendorf Lake Park were the egrets crossing the runway
or if there were egrets coming from elsewhere that contributed
to the issue.
The goal of the final plan is to modify the habitat and relocate
the cattle egrets from Elmendorf Lake Park. During November, Bird
Island will undergo a major transformation with the clearing of the
underbrush, removal of dead trees, and tree pruning.
The USDA will begin using visual and audible deterrents to displace
the birds. Being proposed are the use of a fogging/mist application
(which has been in place for over a year), propane cannons,
horns/sirens, lasers, drones, mylar balloons, effigies, and a Scary
Man electronic scarecrow. These tools would be used on a continual
basis until the desired reduction of risk to aviation safety is avoided.
Whether the use of these deterrents will discourage cattle egrets
from Bird Island, find a new home, and move to another location
remains to be seen. Birds are unpredictable. However, they are not
the only species on the island that will be affected by these birddeterrent
measures. Several other bird species also reside on Bird
Island; and they, too, will be displaced. There is also the possibility
that other wildlife, such as the ducks and swans may be scared off.
The changes may affect the lake’s ecosystem and other creatures
that live there.
Additionally, the final plan does mention adjustments
to flight operations. This is the first
we hear that the military is willing to make
flight operation adjustments due to the number
of birds on the runway.
The military has alleged that the cattle
egrets might be responsible for potential bird
strikes that could result in major aircraft damage
and loss of life. Yet, data they
provided reflect
the opposite.
Between 2010 and 2019, only 10 bird
strikes were attributed to cattle egrets
from a possible 500 bird strikes
(an average of 50 per fiscal
year). None were considered
major disasters.
Information
The Noise Advisory at Elmendorf Park may be a cause
for concern.
from the Bird/Wildlife Aircraft
Strike Hazard, or BASH program,
indicates that the majority
of Kelly Field bird strikes are due
to doves, meadowlarks, grackles,
bats, falcons and, on occasion,
vultures. JBSA-Kelly Field reveals
that only 5% of bird strikes
result in damages. So why are the
cattle egrets a problem? (NOTE:
A recent bird strike occurred at
Kelly Field in September 2019
that is still under investigation.
Details are unknown at this time.)
Nine months after the problem
with the cattle
egrets of Elmendorf
Lake Park was
made known to the
community, there
continues to be dissension
among local
community groups,
environmental and wildlife organization, and concerned bird supporters,
who are not in agreement with the measures being considered
to displace the cattle egrets and, for that matter, the other birds
that will be affected.
In the area surrounding Elmendorf Lake Park, the citizens love
their birds and are not in favor of efforts to harm or displace the
cattle egrets and other species at the lake.
It doesn’t help the situation to know that the city, USDA, Texas
Parks and Wildlife, and JBSA-Kelly Field have been working on the
problem for 2 years. And, it doesn’t make the District 5 constituents
feel any better knowing that their councilwoman, Shirley Gonzales,
considers the cattle egrets a nuisance.
One new development recently made known by Dr. Kamala Platt
is that, due to their migratory instincts, most of the cattle egrets left
Elmendorf Lake Park by late August. The remaining
egrets are the snowy egrets and great
egrets, and most will probably leave by winter. A
good number of cormorants remain on Bird Island, along
with their maturing hatchlings; but they pose no threat to the Kelly
Field aircraft.
Questions to ponder: Will the cattle egrets return? Would they
want to return to Bird Island that will not have any foliage or trees?
Where will they nest? Once the city’s efforts to displace the cattle
egrets begin, won’t all the birds currently residing on the island and,
possibly, in the surrounding area also leave? All along, has it been
the intention of the City of San Antonio to rid Elmendorf Lake Park
of Bird Island?
BIO: Gloria Almaraz, a former Federal employee, is a freelance
writer who writes about community issues.
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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Literary Ofrendas 2019
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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By Randi Romo
Belle
In memory of 14 yr.-old Annabelle Pomeroy, murdered in 2017
with 25 others, during service at the First Baptist Church in
Sutherland Springs, TX. by Devin Patrick Kelley, using a Ruger
AR 556, a variant of the AR15. Police estimated that he fired
over 700 rounds during the massacre. There were also 20 others
who were wounded.
I was praying when he shot me, shot us
and as I lie here dying, I cannot believe
that God allowed this, to happen to me
I think others must be dying too
our screaming swirling heavenward
echoing among the rafters of this church
begging the Divine, crying for salvation
amidst an unholy sacrament of bullets
as they slam between our teeth and ricochet
a dirge that rattles through our bones
the bitter wine of our spilled blood pouring
the communion of our flesh, dying in service
worshiping as we have been commanded
yet, still he came with his gun and neither
God, Jesus, nor the Holy Ghost appeared
Prayer, pew, nor pulpit enough to deliver us
Guardian angels have all gone AWOL, and
Bibles aren’t Kevlar as the apocalypse roars
spewing thirty rounds every ten seconds
as the aisles become graveyards in this
terrible altar call that is dragging from me
my very last breath, as I say my bedtime prayer
now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
Amen
Note: The Sutherland Springs church shooting occurred on
November 5, 2017, when Devin Patrick Kelley of New Braunfels,
Texas, fatally shot 26 people and wounded 20 others during a mass
shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas,
about 30 miles east of the city of San Antonio.
Pablo Martinez
June 29, 1928 –
October 27, 2017
June 29 at 10:37 PM
Today would have been my father’s
91st birthday. As I’ve written here
before, he and I had a complicated relationship.
Still, I miss him enormously.
Dad could be unyielding and tough;
even in my adult years, I felt I could never live up to his exacting
standards. I learned so much from him, and like to think
that any time I accomplish something gratifying, anything that
helps others, it’s a tribute to my Dad. He loved good writing
(though he didn’t attend college, he was a voracious reader,
in English and Spanish). He adored Cantinflas and Laurel and
Hardy (“el flaco y el gordo” he always called them). He loved a
wide variety of music. He admired los tres grandes, but favored
Siqueiros, who, he said, was the only one of the three masters
who held fast to the populism the trio espoused. Though he and
his mother had an exceptionally difficult relationship, he always
insisted no one bested her cooking (he’d often say her mole was
incomparable). Above all, he loved Mexico and San Antonio’s
West Side, where Henry and I scattered his ashes. (My father’s
homophobia was a barrier to the end of his days: He adamantly
refused to ever meet Henry, which pained me more than I could
say.)
My father, whose name I bear, despised anyone who shied
away from hard work, which in his book meant manual labor.
He worked hard until he became too ill to do his own yardwork.
The monogrammed shirt in the photo is the one he wore
the last time he mowed his lawn. It’s a cherished memento.
My father was a ball of contradictions: In his later years
he was a card-carrying Republican, though he
lamented the way his party abandoned the poor;
he was kind to strangers, but quick to belittle
family members he believed had let him--and
themselves--down.
Over the past year, as I’ve drafted a memoir-ish
manuscript, I’ve come to know him more intimately
than I ever knew him in life. I’m grateful
that he gave me my love of words. “They’re all
you have,” he’d tell me.
Yesterday was the birthday of my beautiful
Henry’s father. These back-to-back birthdays are
reminders of Mexican American men who loved
their sons, even as they struggled to understand us
and the love that binds us.
Que en paz descanse, Dad.
—Pablo Martinez

El Vestido de la Comadre Clotilde
by Norma L. Rodríguez
My Comadre Clotilde loved beautiful clothes, siempre muy
a la moda, a real fashionista. She wasn’t always that way, not
until her children were grown and her poor husband Polo, two
months away from retirement, passed after being struck by
a forklift that went rogue at Golpe, the humongous manufacturing
plant. He left her a rich widow por el lawsuit, and to
overcome her grief she started buying beautiful and fashionable
clothes, which before she could never afford.
“ ¿Y por que no? she would say, what else am I to do with
my money? Los billes, el mortgage, las duedas, todito paid
off. Pobrecito mi Polo, no gozó más de la vida but such is
life, death can come any time. Besides, bién que trabajé en el
layaway department del maldito Valu-Mart al minimum wage,
que no era nada entonces. Les di los mejores años de mi vida.”
And so Comadre’s new life became amazing, taking trips
and cruises in her beautiful new clothes that she bought for
every occasion, hasta parecía modelo. Pues, some of the local
shops even asked her to model, like “The Lady‘s Shop, Today’s
Fashions and Caro’s Beautiful Dresses. By the way, Caro had
to change the name of the store. La Caro se quiso hacer muy
cutesy y lo nombró CBD for Caro’s Beautiful Dresses. Nomás
vieron el nombre del shop y los marijuanos fueron corriendo
to buy la marijuana. Bueno, pues ok, she learned her costly
lesson, having to change all the store signs and paperwork
back to the original name but she does ok now with the store.
She even was honored with Latina Business Owner of the Year
award by the Hispanic Shop Owners Association. Tal vez un
dia el (Anglo) Shop Owners Association will honor her too.
Pero bueno, we’ll take what we can get for now, but we women
are activistas now and with hard work and esperanza we are
Diane Soriano
enjoyed helping her sister,
Annette Sanchez, at
Peace Market. —Diane
painted peace signs on
my brown paper bags.
She would mind my
table while I shopped.
She loved this new venture that I discovered on a Black Friday
weekend. She will be dearly missed.— Diane passed away
April 28, 2019.
Diana, in a wheelchair with her sisters at Peace Market. Annette at right.
changing the world every day, paso a paso.
Well, the inevitable happened like it does for
everyone . Time passed and Comadre Clotilde
got old and sick and couldn’t shop for beautiful
clothes anymore. She went to live with her
daughters and though they treated her very
well, she became bedridden and it was only
loose batas y pijamas, mucho muy matronly,
that they bought for her. Y ni siquiera bonitas.
Finally, the call came from the daughters:
Comadre Clotilde was gone. ¡Ay!
Dios, Comadrita, qué en paz descanses.
I went to the rosary a few days later. Y
allí estaba medio mundo, todos chismeando
como siempre en los velorios.
I walked up to the casket to say my
good-byes to my Comadre Clotilde
and I almost fell into the coffin. They
might as well have thrown me in, too. There she was. My
beautiful Comadrita…in the most god-awful funeral home
dress I had ever seen, complete with long flowing sleeves,
encaje en el cuello y color de mauve. Da de cuenta que era
Morticia del tv show The Addams Family.
“Por Dios! I screamed in silence, why, when you had
beautiful dresses in all styles and colors in your closet, ¿qué
no tienen juicio tus hijas? Didn’t they know you hated long
flowing sleeves, lace collars and the color mauve? Didn’t they
know that you would always say, when a saleslady asked if
you liked a dress not to your liking, “¡Sobre mi cadáver!”
Elijah Cummings, 1951-2019
He stood up.
He marched.
He spoke.
He served the people well.
May he rest in power.
May he Rest In Peace.
May we carry on as he inspired us to do.
Elijiah Cummings, Presente!
—Maria Salazar
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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El Ultimo Adiós
Hace 15 años fallecio Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa
By Elva Treviño
On the 15th anniversary of Gloria
Anzaldúa's death, I recall her alive. I recall
it was the first time I met her in New York
City, outside her Brooklyn apartment alive
with the positive reviews concerning her
then new book, This Bridge Called My Back.
She called herself just a "little chicanita from the
sticks of south Texas" as she excitedly shared her thoughts
that she thought the book would be well received. It was.
Recently, I visited the Anzaldúa exhibit at
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center set up to exhibit her
drawings and outlined note charts of her writing workshop
lectures. She came alive! She is a tremendous voice for us,
the Chicanas of south Texas, that have the unique experience
of "growing up foreign" in our own country. She
struggled, created and developed a language, a vocabulary
if you will, that speaks of our political reality, we who
have been de-tongued, silenced, rendered speechless by
our country, our raza, our families.
She speaks for us, her voice, her sound of flesh
against teeth, of breath escaping, of poems and songs
that have never
been heard before
because Chicanas
are invisible in our
society. She is our
tongue, our voice,
our lives made
whole, real. Gloria
Anzaldúa, mentor
and friend, when
we met, you could
never imagine what
the world has made
of you now. ¡Gloria
Anzaldúa presente!
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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Rita Vidaurri, La Calandria
We lost our beloved Calandria this
year (2019) in January. But, for having
died early in the year, she, too, would
have been honored by the National
Endowment for the Arts with a Heritage
award and with an award by her
beloved City, San Antonio. When Rita
died, she received many tributes and
accolades but Graciela I. Sánchez summed it up best talking
about her “adventures” with Rita and ending with a
poignant remembrance:
Walking the streets of the Westside or downtown
suddenly is different to me because those buildings are
no longer empty. I now imagine Rita walking downtown
with her guitar by her side, climbing the stairs to the
second floor to get to one of the many clubs where she
sang. I see the Alameda and know that Rita sang there
Vernon “Spot” Barnett
San Antonio music legend and saxophone player, Vernon “Spot” Barnett, died in
his East Side home on Sunday, October 6, 2019. The height of his fame was in
the ’50s and ’60s, when he led the 20th Century Orchestra, the house band at the
Ebony Lounge, and played in the famed Eastwood Country Club’s house band. He
performed with artists such as Ike and Tina Turner and locally is noted for helping
pioneer the musical form known as Chicano Soul or the Westside Sound defined by
artists such as Sunny and the Sunliners, the Royal Jesters and the Dell-Kings. Last
year (2018) at this time of year, he played at the Esperanza’s annual Peace Market.
We were honored to have had him on our stage. QEPD, Spot. ¡Presente!
Artist: Anel Flores
as well. And I imagine the Nacional, Zaragoza and the
many other theaters she graced in San Antonio, Mexico,
Columbia and Cuba.
Thank you Rita for a wonderful
time together. Initially, it was just the
two of us figuring out how we were
going to bring you back to your adoring
fans. Now, thousands throughout
the world love and respect you and
miss you so very, very much. Keep
singing your heart out and telling your
jokes con todo los santitos y angelitos
and everyone else you meet along the
way. You never did discriminate. You
loved us all.
¡Rita Vidaurri, presente!

Los Restos / The Remains
Candidato para 2020
La Jijurnia se postula
For the presidential race.
20/20 is the clave
To resolve la migra haze.
Ser bilingüe está caliente,
¡Multicolor es a plus!
Know the Law? Indispensable.
¡Respetuoso es a must!
What could be her plataforma?
What the actions...what the facts?
We do need a big reforma?
No more fractions, ¡sólo paz !
At the rally she gets ready
Pays attention to the words:
Armas, health care, crime, finanzas
Hunger, safety, visas, drugs.
Almost loses la chaveta
When she reads the tweeter news
Mictecacihuatl Constructs Ofrendas
From somebody demonizing
Gente, pueblo, race and groups.
"This invasion" reads the tweeter
"Takes our privileges away"
Talk about lower salaries, paying taxes
what's the weight !!!
New routine in the horizon
Comes to make the people cry
Senseless shootings, tearful children
Padre y madre gritan: ¡AY!
I may be bones without carne
I like that you can see through me
My agenda is Law and Order
No fame, no gold... just outdo
Constitution !!!
Destitution !!!
Distribution !!!
Evolution !!!
Mictecacihuatl’s view of the World is from mountain tops.
Her visions stretch for eons back before time was time.
Which makes it easy for her to recognize the smell of blood
and fear coming toward her. For she has created that mixture
with a wave of her hands as pronouncements that later
were written on stone temples. She is the Lady of the
Dead and goddess of the death’s bones who had ruled
the underworld with only her quiet husband’s words
sprinkled like the spice of dropped leaves.
Swollen from 1,000 years of knowing she observed
the foreigners who clanked her way. Those pale skinned
people that she found beneath her. Until they sacrificed
Calaca a mi perro
De mañana, tarde y noche
Por el boulevard husmeando corría.
En el parque lo mismo hacía sin reproche
y ya cansado, dormía el resto del día.
Cuando su amo de la chamba venía
Brincando y moviendo la cola,
día tras día el Nugget lo recibía
Tanto era su gusto que parecía que moría.
Artist: Carla Rivera
On Saturday, November 16 from 6 to 9 PM, the San Antonio
chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace welcomes everyone to
join us at the Student Engagement Center at University of
the Incarnate Word for a wonderful evening to support the
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
Con los años el frío al Nugget debilitó
y junto con sus amos a Texas se marchó.
Al principio el chaparrito can no se inmutó
Y en la tierra tejana contento la pasó
Nadie pensaba que los 18 años rebasaría
Aunque ya casi no caminaba y mucho sufría
Con nadie se quejaba y su dolor cargaba
A sus amos eso les amargaba.
¡Tengo hambre de justicia
I'm so hungry! —"¡basta ya!"
Con taquitos de trumpita
My starvation pasará.
If a new one is not elected
And we feel the same dejection
And we don’t see better solutions
And do not have better corrections.
Please, be aware of my fiereza
I have teeth to rip out flesh,
I will see you where the darkness
Reigns forever—what a feast!
¡Ay, qué jija, la Jijurnia!
¡Por un pelo, es elegida!
Risas, fiesta, pan and flowers
And remember...no está muerta
—Adriana Netro 2019
in her forests and sang songs against her. Crawling like ants
they were, all hairy and smelling of the things they devoured.
With amulets of marigolds woven in her hair and the smell
of many crushed flowers rubbed into her skin she pounced.
Pulled them into swamps where they died of thirst.
Boiled them in their metal casing. Starved them until with
glittering eyes they ate each other. Come here my new
little children she says. I shall decorate my chambers with
ofrendas made from your teeth, bones, and hide. Ofrendas
to the beauty of death. While the inhabitants in my
underworld Kingdom dance pulling you apart limb by
limb.
—Jeanie Sanders
El galeno de los perros con pesar lo recibió
Le sobó la pata delantera y luego se la
inyectó
Y el mejor amigo en paz dormido quedó
La lagrima del amo, enseguida sobre él cayó
Animo! La calaca al oído le predicó
Piensa en los años de lealtad que el Nugget
te brindó.
—Víctor M. Cortés
Artist: Adriana Netro
The evening will feature dinner, music, and a celebration of the beauty and diversity of
Palestinian culture, for this the 6th fundraising gala by San Antonio JVP.
Tickets for the Night of Hope are only $40
general admission and $25 for students.
Visit the Facebook event page “6th Annual Night of Hope: Fundraiser for the Children of
Gaza” or email sanantonio@jvp.org for more information and to purchase tickets.
music • dance • art and crafts • henna skin painting • poetry
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
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* community meetings *
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
22
Amnesty International #127 Call
Arthur @ 210.213.5919.
Bexar Co. Green Party Call 210.
471.1791 | bcgp@bexargreens.org
Celebration Circle meets Sundays
11am @ Say Sí, 1518 S. Alamo.
Meditation: Wednesdays, 7:30pm,
Friends Meeting House,7052 Vandiver
| 210. 533.6767.
DIGNITY SA Mass, 5:30pm, Sundays
@ St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1018
E. Grayson St. | 210.340.2230
Adult Wellness Support Group of
PRIDE Center meets 4th Mondays,
7-9pm @ Lions Field, 2809 Broadway
| 210.213.5919.
Energía Mía Call 512.838-3351.
Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo Hwy.
www.lafuerzaunida.org | 210.927.2294
Habitat for Humanity meets 1st
Tuesdays for volunteers, 6pm, HFHSA
Office @ 311 Probandt.
LULAC Orgullo meets @ Pride Ctr.
1303 McCullough #160, Metropolitan
Prof. Bldg @ 6:45pm, 3rd Thursdays |
info@lulac22198.org
NOW SA meets 3 rd Wednesdays. See
FB | satx.now for info | 210. 802. 9068
| nowsaareachapter@gmail.com
Pax Christi, SA meets monthly on
Saturdays | 210.460.8448
Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy meets
Thursdays, 7pm, 325 Courtland.
Metropolitan Community Church
services & Sunday school 10:30am,
611 East Myrtle | 210.472.3597
Overeaters Anonymous meets MWF
in Spanish & daily in English.
I would like to donate $________
each month by automatic bank withdrawal.
Contact me to sign up.
Name _________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
City, State, Zip __________________________________
For more information, call 210-228-0201
Make checks payable to the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center.
Send to 922 San Pedro, SA TX 78212. Donations to the Esperanza
are tax deductible.
www.oasanantonio.org | 210.492.5400.
PFLAG, meets 1st Thursdays @ 7pm,
University Presbyterian Church 300
Bushnell Ave. | 210.848.7407.
Parents of Murdered Children meets
2 nd Mondays @ Balcones Heights
Community Center, 107 Glenarm |
www.pomcsanantonio.org.
Rape Crisis Center, 4606 Centerview
Suite 200, Hotline: 210.349.7273
| 210.521.7273 Email:sschwab@
rapecrisis.com
The Religious Society of Friends
meets Sundays, 10am @ The Friends
Meeting House, 7052 N. Vandiver. |
210.945.8456.
S.A. Gender Association meets 1st
& 3rd Thursdays, 6-9pm @ 611 E.
Myrtle, Metropolitan Com. Church.
SA AIDS Fdn, 818 E. Grayson St.,
offers free Syphilis & HIV testing |
210.225.4715 | www.txsaaf.org.
SA Women Will March: www.
sawomenwillmarch.org | 830.488.7493
SGI-USA LGBT Buddhists meet 2nd
Saturdays at 10am @ 7142 San Pedro
Ave., Ste 117 | 210.653.7755
Shambhala Buddhist Meditation
meets Tuesdays @ 7pm & Sundays
@ 9:30am 257 E. Hildebrand Ave. |
210.222.9303.
S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of
those Abused by Priests). Contact
Barbara at 210.725.8329.
Voice for Animals: Call 210.737.3138
or www.voiceforanimals.org
SA’s LGBTQA Youth meets Tuesdays
6:30pm at Univ. Presby. Church, 300
Bushnell Ave. | www.fiesta-youth.org
Send your 2019 tax-deductible donations to Esperanza today!
I would like to send $________ each
___ month
___ quarter
___ six-months
through the mail.
Phone ____________________________
Email_____________________________
¡Todos Somos Esperanza!
Start your monthly donations now!
Esperanza works to bring awareness and
action on issues relevant to our communities.
With our vision for social, environmental,
economic and gender justice, Esperanza
centers the voices and experiences of the
poor & working class, women, queer people
and people of color.
We hold pláticas and workshops; organize
political actions; present exhibits and
performances and document and preserve our
cultural histories. We consistently challenge
City Council and the corporate powers of the
city on issues of development, low-wage jobs,
gentrification, clean energy and more.
It takes all of us to keep the Esperanza going.
What would it take for YOU to become a
monthly donor?
Or give at your work place if you work at:
San Antonio Metropolitan Area
Public Sector Campaign (SAMA) - 8022
State Employee Charitable Campaign
(SECC) - 413013
Call or come by the Esperanza to learn how.
¡Esperanza vive!
¡La lucha sigue, sigue!
FOR INFO: Call 210.228.0201 or
email: fundraising@esperanzacenter.org
Enclosed is a donation of
___ $1000 ___ $500 ___ $250
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Rinconcito de Esperanza

Notas Y Más
November 2019
Brief news items on upcoming community events.
Send items for Notas y Más to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org
or mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212.
The deadline is the 8th of each month.
On Sunday, Nov. 3rd there will be a
Solidarity Rally for Immigrant Justice at
Travis Park Plaza at 10 a.m. sponsored
by the Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee
of Oakland, California in solidarity with
SA Stands, Interfaith Welcome Coalition,
Society of Native Nations, Texas Organizing
Project, Nikkei Progressives, Dilley
Pro Bono Project, Travis Park Church,
Japanese American Citizens League
(JACL), Boat People SOS, Inc., and
RAICES. Internees and pilgrims will share
stories with our congregation at 11:15 a.m.
On Monday, Nov. 4th, 7 to 9 p.m. at the
SoL Center at University Presbyterian
Church, 300 Bushnell Ave., there will
be a panel on LGBTQ= and Spirituality
with Maria Louisa Cesar, DeAnne
Cuellar,Rev. Dr. William H. Knight, and
Miguel Ochoa. They will discuss the gifts
and challenges of living a life of faith and
spirituality as LGBTQ=persons.
230 E. Travis St. on issues related to the
migrant crisis in San Antonio and Texas
hosted by Travis Park Methodist Women,
Las Misiones District.
The Mission Marquee
Plaza Farmer &
Artisan Market
occurs every 3rd Saturday sponsored
by the City of San Antonio World
Heritage Office and Mission Marquee
Plaza at 3100 Roosevelt Ave. The
next date is Nov. 16, 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. See: www.missionmarquee.com/
The 2019 NALCAB NATIONAL
TRAINING, JUNTOS SOMOS MÁS,
will take place Nov. 18 to 21 at the
Embassy Suites Riverwalk in San
Antonio. The Training serves as a
platform to discuss and share innovative
and culturally-relevant best practices for
immediate application in the communities
that we serve. See: bit.ly/nalcab
who are still with us will take place
at Travis Park Church at 7 p.m. on
Wednesday, Nov. 20 sponsored by the
San Antonio Gender Association and the
Transgender Education Network of Texas.
The National Chicano Student Walkouts
Conference will take place at Our Lady
of the Lake University & the UTSA
Downtown Campus on Nov. 20-23. See
more at: chicanohistorytx.org
The Patchwork Healing
Blanket / La Manta de
Curación art project against
violence is set for Nov. 24th
at the Zócalo in Mexico
City. A quilt of squares from around
the world will be taken to the US
border and lifted over the wall into
the US to continue traveling. To add
squares or host the blanket, see:
patchworkhealingblanket2019@
gmail.com or go to FB.
On Saturday, Nov. 9th, from 9 a.m. until
12 p.m., there will be a plática, Immigration
and Asylum Workshop: A Community
Discussion, at Travis Park Church,
Read!
La Platica del Norte
A Chicano bi-annual periodical
published in Las Vegas, NM
Recent La Platica issues include articles on
The annual Transgender Day of
Remembrance memorial service that
honors victims slain due to anti-trans
violence and celebrates the lives of those
La Raza history, culture and tradition,
local organic growing, immigration,
neo-liberalism in the Americas, plants of
El Norte, substance abuse, and the short story
Cost of the most recent copy, if available,
is an SASE with 85¢ postage to:
Y. Zentella
P.O. Box 1515 Las Vegas, NM 87701
For more info, laplaticadelnorte@outlook.com
Canaan Fair Trade Olive Oils:
Organic & Extra Virgin with a variety
of flavors are available from www.
canaanusa.com/shop/olive-oils/
PRENTISS JEWELRY
In 1996 Martha Prentiss
printed her first catalogue featuring
over 20 years of her own designs
and jewelry. Of her work she
states: “My goal has been to create
designs that are simple, elegant
and wearable. In my work, there is
focus on contrasts between silver
and gold, between smooth and
textured between light and dark.”
After 40 years of producing
and designing new work, Martha
Prentiss Jewelry designs will
live on through the JANE IRIS Collection, who has exclusive
rights for the continued manufacturing and sale of the entire
Martha Prentiss Jewelry line as it becomes available.
A portion of the profits on each currently available item
sold is to profit the Lewy Body Dementia medical research
and various local lesbian and feminist organizations. Find
her jewelry designs currently for sale through:
bit.ly/prentiss-jewelry.
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
23

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • November 2019 Vol. 32 Issue 9•
Words, Images & Artifacts
A Gloria Anzaldúa Archival Exhibit
Based on:
BETWEEN
WORD AND
IMAGE,
A Gloria Anzaldúa
Thought Gallery
Exhibition
With
permission
from the
Anzaldúa
archives, Nettie
Lee Benson Latin
American Collection,
U.T. Austin.
On display until November 16th • Esperanza, 922 San Pedro
Plática & panel: Words, Images & Artifacts
Coco Magallanez, Norma Cantú,
Graciela Sánchez, Lilliana Wilson
Saturday Nov 2, 2–4pm
Nov. 5th
Texas Constitutional
Amendments Election
Noche Azul
Nov. 16
@ 8pm
Tickets
$7
más o menos
at the door
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center • 922 San Pedro SATX
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212
210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org
Non-Profit Org.
US Postage
PAID
San Antonio, TX
Permit #332
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210.228.0201
Esperanza’s Annual
Dia de Los Muertos
Friday, Nov. 1, 2019
5pm – 11pm
Performance Lineup
5:00pm Conjunto Heritage Taller
5:30pm Las Tesoros de San Antonio
6:00pm Community Procession
7:00pm Azul
7:45pm Calavera Readings
8:00pm Panfilo’s Güera
8:45pm Alyson Alonzo
9:15pm Bene Medina y Su Conjunto Aguila
10:15pm Volcán
for more info call 210-228-0211
816 S. Colorado Street, SATX
30th Annual Mercado de Paz
• Peace Market • 2019
global to local
handmade
gifts • arte
• comidita
• hourly
raffles • live
performances
• with artists
& artisans
onsite!
Live música,
handmade
art & gifts
from local &
international
artisans
Friday and
Saturday
Nov. 29, 30
10am –6pm &
Sunday
Dec. 1
12pm–6pm
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center • 922 San Pedro Ave. SATX
www.esperanzacenter.org • call 210-228-0201 for info