Luis J. Rodriguez

Posted By Luis J. Rodriguez on January 6, 2012

The Huffington Post/Latino Voices today posted a piece I did on the meaning of the 2012 Mayan prophecy. This was written to move ideas and imaginations. Here is the link.

c/s

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Posted By Luis J. Rodriguez on December 23, 2011

This past week the L.A. Daily News featured an article on Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore (www.tiachucha.com). It showed a nice photo of my wife Trini and I as cofounders of this much-loved cultural/literary space in the Northeast San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles—now in our tenth year:

Also the Huffington Post on the same day featured a story on my new book, “It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing” with a video and a slideshow of their questions and my answers for their Los Angeles section. Here it is.

And I was also interviewed on NBC-LA’s “Nonstop News L.A.” show with Colleen Williams on December 20 about my new book.

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Posted By Luis J. Rodriguez on December 16, 2011

Back in the early 1990s, I ventured outside of the world I knew to end up in Paris, France, my first trip abroad other than to Mexico, Canada, or Central America. It was an amazing, eye-opening, and romantic time for me (my wife of about three years, Trini, accompanied me on this trip). In 1991, Curbstone Press of Connecticut published my second book of poetry, “The Concrete River,” and this opened up a world of words and books I didn’t know existed.

During my time there, I befriended George Whitman, the owner and founder of the Shakespeare & Co. English-language bookstore on the Left Bank of Paris. I read there to a full house one afternoon. George and I talked frequently. At one point he asked me to submit a poem for an anthology he published to raise funds after the Sylvia Beach Library upstairs burned in a mysterious fire. Trini and I enjoyed ourselves immensely being among the other English speaking students, writers, and artists who congregated there.

I had lunch with the late great African American poet Ted Joans. I found wonderful professors of Chicano literature and art at the University of Paris. I even hooked up with old friends and colleagues from East L.A.—Chicano artists, poets, rappers, and performance artists—who were on a tour of France at the time.

This is what I wrote about my meeting with George Whitman in my latest memoir, “It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing” (2011 Touchstone Books/Simon & Schuster):

At Shakespeare and Company bookstore, on the Left Bank across
from Notre Dame Cathedral, the eccentric and beloved owner, George
Whitman, invited Trini and me to stay in a room at the “Tumbleweed
Hotel,” the second floor of the bookstore where many English-speaking
writers and students were allowed to stay without paying. George only
asked that in return I spend a couple of hours daily in an afternoon tea
talking with young writers and travelers. I loved these interactions and
this saved us hotel costs. We stayed about ten nights.

The rooms and bookstore were filled to the ceiling with books. We
had to climb over them on staircases and push them off tables, beds,
dresser drawers. Many were valuable first editions. The pulp and cloth
were meant for me. They brought back a time when I first held a book
in my hand, a stammering boy of seven, in between languages and
silences, finally discovering worlds that didn’t hurt or dismiss me. In a
book, the writer doesn’t have the last word—the reader does.

Sadly, my long-ago and far-away friend George Whitman passed on last Wednesday, December 14. He apparently had a stroke a few months earlier and died peacefully in his sleep. His daughter, Sylvia, is now the proprietor and will continue his legacy of books, ideas, and art at Shakespeare & Company in Paris.

I pray George’s soul is at peace. He is a friend to writers everywhere. Que descanses en paz, amigo.

c/s

[Visit here for more of Gary Auerbach's photos]

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Posted By Luis J. Rodriguez on December 9, 2011

Eddie Palmieri streamed through the piano keys as he played his most well known hits at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in San Francisco. It was Sunday, December 4, and Eddie’s last gig at Yoshi’s after several nights of sets. It was also around his birthday—on December 15 he’ll be 74. I listened, danced, and enjoyed a musician I once saw around 35 years ago at the Hollywood Palladium with his famous Salsa orchestra, playing the same songs—and sounding just as good. I mean “Azucar,” “Muneca,” “Vamonos Pal Monte,” and more.

With me were the poet Genny Lim and my longtime friend, Bay Area publicist Juliana Mojica.

In the 1970s I was a huge Salsa music fan—the Fania All Stars, Johnny Pacheco, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Tito Puente, Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon, Eddie and his brother Charlie, among others. Besides enjoying Salsa concerts in L.A., I saw some of these same musicians at the famous Village Gate in Manhattan. So listening to Eddie at Yoshi’s evoked some great memories.

I returned to the Bay Area in late November to speak at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, which had standing room only. The event also featured Hip Hop performers, poets, and Native ceremonial drummers. Many of my fans/supporters came by and we had a great time.

Earlier I spent a couple of hours with lifers at San Quentin Prison in a writing project. I came courtesy of Brenda Rhoades of Sugar Beet Productions, who’s working on a film of prisoners who were given life sentences as juveniles. Some of the men had already done fifteen years or more. I must say their writings were excellent and compelling. I hope to continue to work with these men in the future.

I also spent about three days in Marin County at the annual board meeting of the Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, founded by storyteller and drummer Michael Meade. Mosaic publishes books and CDs as well as organizes events, talks, conferences, and workshops on mythology, ritual, rites of passage, soul work, and much more across the U.S. and other countries. I’ve been working with Mosaic for eighteen years, including at their yearly men’s conference in Mendocino. It was great to see my many friends in this work at the meeting.

On Monday, December 5 I spent most of the day at the Alameda County Juvenile Hall, organized by another long-time supporter, Amy Cheney of the Write to Read program. I spoke to three groups of youth, including a young women’s circle that proved to be emotionally powerful.

That evening I did a presentation at the City College of San Francisco, Mission campus, which held another full house, including young people from the Youth Adelante program of East Palo Alto, CA. A rich discussion followed with deep talk, poetry, tears, and revolutionary ideas.

On Tuesday, I spoke at the Arise High School, an Oakland Charter school in the Fruitvale neighborhood, to more than 200 students—again the attention and questions were amazing. And later that day, I was at 826 Valencia, a writing center in the Mission District of San Francisco, founded by writer Dave Eggers and catering to children and youth ages six to eighteen. I read from my children’s book, “America Is Her Name” and fielded some tough questions from the children. Also from their Spanish-speaking mothers.

Overall my time in the Bay Area for several days over the past two months was overwhelmingly positive: I ended up selling more than 150 books and had packed houses at all my public events. I was interviewed on various radio programs and had print media coverage as well. Thanks to Juliana Mojica, George Galvis, Amy Cheney, Brenda Rhoades, Vickie Vertiz, and many others who helped make these events possible.

c/s

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Posted By Luis J. Rodriguez on November 30, 2011

Last night my daughter Andrea and I – along with her boyfriend Sean – stood among the Occupy L.A. protestors on the south steps of City Hall. We were taking part in the General Assembly that was preparing for a police raid later that evening. It was dark already. The raid was expected around 10 pm. I had heard that police had amassed at Dodger Stadium. Helicopters hovered above our heads. My long-time friend Frank Curtis had just bought gallons of water for the protestors—water and food were scarce by then.

At one time since October 1, during its height, I heard from 700 to 1,000 tents were set up around City Hall, making L.A. the largest Occupy Movement encampment in the country. By last night there were only a couple hundred tents. A few people were encamped on top of trees. Around 500 people were at the General Assembly or hanging around.

At least three times when I was there someone tried to get violent. People surrounded any disrupters, embracing them at times, and gently but swiftly removing them from the area. No persons were hurt. As this would happen, people chanted: “We Are A Peaceful Movement.”

Occupy L.A. was only a few blocks from the world’s largest jail—the Twin Towers County Jail. It was only a few blocks from the largest homeless enclave in the country. I’ve been in that jail and I’ve been among these homeless.

For me the worldwide Occupy Movement was one of the most meaningful shining lights of defiance against a society that would create jails and homeless in the midst of the greatest rise in wealth in history. As the Occupy people made clear from the beginning—the widening gulf between the one percent of the richest people and the rest of us, the 99 percent, is criminal and obscene.

Andrea, Sean, and I left just before the police closed off streets, encircled the City Hall Park, and began to remove people. Andrea had to get back to her daughter. I would have stayed—I’ve been in hundreds of protests and demonstrations over the years, Maced and pepper-sprayed, even jailed for my actions. But tonight I was going to have to get my daughter, Sean, and myself home (Sean, a decent, hardworking recovering alcoholic and ex-convict, can’t get arrested).

That night I watched some of the raid on TV. In the end the police had 1,400 officers, many in riot gear and with weapons. Some 200 people were arrested when everybody was moved out by 5:30 a.m. Many protestors ended up at La Placita Church in front of Olvera Street—the church opened its doors to the Occupy L.A. people.

To the credit of the protestors, peace was maintained. The police were prepared for the worse, but in the end they did not utilize terrible violence to remove people.

The movement continues. It must now take new shapes, new outlets, new kinds of protests. As my good friend the poet Jenuine says, it must also be fluid. It’s clear we cannot live under this system of deep inequality and scarcity any longer. The economic inequities are forcing millions of Americans to come together, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or even political party. If you’re among the poorest of the 99 percent, these things don’t matter as much.

What ties us together is the dream of saving our homes, our jobs, our freedoms, our basic needs and our voice. This must now also involve powerfully new and encompassing vision, organization, strategies, plans, and knowledge. If we don’t learn, we don’t grow. And how we learn must be expanded—there are many ways to get the essential teachings in all these actions so that we get closer and closer to real political, economic, and cultural independence from capitalism, its governance, and all the poverty, pain, and deaths this has caused in the U.S. and around the globe.

The big dream of a new world has to remain constant, even as the movement takes on many shapes. The point is we can’t stop until the battle’s won.

c/s

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Posted By Luis J. Rodriguez on November 18, 2011

Some onlookers applauded the demonstrators from open windows. Others yelled, “Get a job!”

“I don’t understand their logic,” said Adam Lieberman, as he struggled to navigate police barricades on his way to work at JPMorgan Chase. “When you go into business, you go into business to make as much money as you can. And that’s what banks do. They’re trying to make a profit.”

Gene Williams, a bond trader, joked that he was “one of the bad guys” but said he empathized with the demonstrators: “The fact of the matter is, there is a schism between the rich and the poor, and it’s getting wider.”

The above statements were in an article I found on the Internet. They point out to the heart of the matter of what’s transpiring in the United States—is this a country where people can make as much money as they can (the same idea a criminal enterprise has) or is this a country that ensures people’s freedoms, livelihoods, schooling, health, and homes are secure and sacred?

We as a people need to decide: Are profits sacred or our lives?

Two different ways of seeing the world, of thinking, of being, are clashing at Occupy America and the other anti-capitalist demonstrations, protests, and marches on the rise everywhere.

The recent violent acts by police to remove the Occupy Wall Street people out of Liberty Plaza came at the heels of similar violence in Oakland, Denver, Portland, and other cities. Even in L.A. the other day, where clashes between police and protesters were not happening in the past two months, several people were arrested trying to gather in front of a Bank of America building. It’s now known that the FBI and Homeland Security were involved in these coordinated attacks.

The police may be made up of working class people, of family members, even our relatives, but as an institution they are there to defend the power of private property over the rest of us. In the end they will use violence against the nonviolence of the people—they did this against movements led by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez.

The Occupy Movement must expand, stay strong, and push forward—the “legal” thievery of the banks and corporations must not go without challenge.  Since the October 2008 stock market crash, the richest people have become richer—more than anytime in human history. They have amassed and are hoarding trillions of dollars, keeping this from the economy, and continuing to pay their executives outrageous salaries, including one who recently received $40 million in one shot—$40 million for one person only because they are part of the 1 percent.

I’m with the thousands of community leaders, revolutionary thinkers, and activists in all fronts of struggle and organizations in condemning the recent police actions against Occupy movement people anywhere. In particular, Occupy Wall Street must continue to exist and grow.

For more on what I’m doing, please go to: http://conferenceofrevolutionaries.tumblr.com/

ALSO my friend David Diaz recently wrote this about his two daughters:

Sonja and Zerena were in the middle of the conflict at Berkeley. Sonja, in front of Boalt Hall, walking to her bldg was harassed, then handcuffed, then cited for resisting arrest. She is totally pissed, and esp at the Dean for not supporting Latina/o studies, of course the only two harassed by UC and Alameda Co Police. This was after a demonstration, she was by herself, and when challenged by campus police she stuck to her guns and demanded the name and ID number of the officer. Those that know her, know she is an alpha Latina who does not back down. She has been interviewed on TV, 1/3 of the law students attended a meeting to bash the dean, and now has legal representation.

Zerena was hit w/ a baton, fortunately not mega during one of the actions on campus. No damage…. but she is really turning a political corner and engaging in direct action. Of course, I’m totally proud of both of them. Seeing Latinas in action offers promise for the future. If you want to make a difference you can call or contact:

Dean Christopher Edley: 510. 642.6483
email    edley@law.berkeley.edu

215 Boalt Hall
Uni of CA
Berkeley, CA 93720-7200

and/or

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau
510.642.7464
email    chancellor@berkeley.edu

200 California Hall, MC # 1500
Uni of CA
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500

c/s

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