 Think tech away, civil engagement lives here. Happy Aloha Friday and welcome to a brand new episode of Perspectives on Global Justice. This is your host Beatriz Cantelmo. On Latino Heritage Month, I could not think of a better person to interview today than Araceli Lopez Esparza. And also before we talk with her, I wanted to bring attention to our viewers about our current climate in the United States with regard to Latinos in general and refugees and people seeking asylum. And also this current administration that portrays Latinos as a burden and a danger to our society and to American culture. And that could not be further from the truth. Latinos make our culture richer, more resilient, and that there is many contributions that we can account for in every single field in society. And I think it's important that we bring this up prior to our conversation as a reflection as we go through this program. So Araceli is a poet, an educator, a writer, and an entrepreneur. And I would like to welcome her into our program. Hello Araceli, so nice to see you. Hello, so Araceli, where are you based at these days? Where are you living? Oh, where am I staying? Oh, yeah, Madison, Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin. Yeah, it's a good like 50 degrees. Oh my dear, so very different fall from Hawaii. We are like in our mid 60s degrees. So Araceli, I know that you were not born and raised in Wisconsin. Would you mind telling us a little bit of your background? Where were you raised and when did you immigrate to the United States? I was born and raised in Washington. My parents came over in 1975 I think. But my grandmother crossed when she was six months old. She was part of the 1940s recital program. And so all of these immigrants were utilized to replace the workers that were left for World War II. But then all of these migrant people had come. And so we just have to come in truly migratory, right? For every other generation we've come and gone from here to Mexico. So I mean, yeah, the way I wasn't raised and born here, but yet in a way I was. Because I often would go to Mexico like maybe sometimes up to twice a year. So I definitely have roots in both places. I am so sorry for my oops because I really, I think part of what I remembered from the time we met back in Wisconsin or about your Mexican connection roots. So you're from both places. But in a different way, across the border, everywhere in Central Asia, maybe Italy, maybe to the river. I haven't gone to the river yet, but I haven't. Oh no, that's so good. So honestly, tell our viewers a little bit of your relationship with education. Starting from your background in school and why did you choose the field of education and what have you been doing with children and adults regarding literacy and education? Yeah. Well, I went to, I was an undergrad in Minnesota. So I have a lot of ties there as well. So I'm an undergraduate and then my graduate studies. It's cute about, I mean, I was just, I was in Mexico. I saw this, like, thing flash over my email back then. You could, I don't know. Google is doing that. And it showed me this program for graduate school about creative writing. And I have been knowing what that idea, because I found out on Facebook that there was a, a, a massive program, but in California. Anyways, long story short, I decided to go there to test it out because I'm like, it's kind of the hometown where I went to for my undergrad as well and just see how it was. I wanted to write a comic book for children. I've always been really attached to comic books. Love and Rockets. Oh my gosh, yeah. I love comic books right now. But anyway, so I was like, why not write that, you know? And so I went there for that mainly. That was my first idea. I go through the process of, like, multi-writing this book while I'm in graduate school and I can't get to the end. And my friend goes, it tells me, it's like, you write yourself a picture book because I need to see the arc of a whole story. So I bust out a picture of us and it was very difficult. It was just a lovely, lovely experience of having a story completed, having a container. So once you're in poetry, you have containers of, like, how you want something to be shaped. Where are you going to take this person in the story? Water falling. You know, it's because of lyrical, magical, and just, like, having a chain of the story finally making me think about just poetry in so many forms, right? It's a free-burst poet. He kind of buries apprehensive about meter and stanzas and so forth. But then in graduate school, I at least found that love, but in the container of, like, children's literature. So, yeah. So it really is about finding your rhythm, you know? You're clever. And that's what one of my good teachers told me about that, Meg Medina, about finding that rhythm, finding your beat. So that's where I think I found my beat with writing picture books. Yeah. So you found your beat and you decided to share that with children. And I know you've written, you know, poetry for children. Yeah. So I want to ask you, because I was really enchanted with the description of the literary poetry for children, Latino children, Latinx children. And I would like for you to explain to our viewers what your work with poetry does and what are you trying to support the Latinx children as they read your poetry? I didn't have a form, like, that had this, like, container, this rhythm and, like, this stylizedness, right? And a poem. And, like, it's a short, it may be long hand for what hip-hop era is, too, right? You know, like spoken word, definitely has this rhythm. Hip-hop picture books have their rhythm as well. And that's the crop intersections of poetry, right? And just to value that rhythm, I think in children's books, so that children can see themselves. Their parents are, like, their parents, the streets of their neighborhood is, like, beating towards their rhythm. And if we don't represent that, and that could be, like, samba, samba, reggaeton, all of those, right? All of those genres. And we don't represent them in the picture, but the kids will always be disassociated with, like, reading, right? They won't want to do it. They don't want to read. It was funny, because, like, recently I was in this, like, ring circle regarding racism. And I said it. I always wanted to be in a fairy tale. How can I be in a fairy tale when there's, like, no representation? There's no brown syndrome. There's no, for a photo, what he says, you know? It's just, like, it's one size fits all. No. My foot is to why the phytoncone goes real slippery, you know? And my people, that's all we do is be on our feet, right? To think about being in a crystal shoe. Oh, I don't know, right? The tropes, right? These cultural tropes that get created through children's books. And at least put us in there, you know? Right. At least put us in there in the right way. Yeah. And I think that that's really our own task, and that's so necessary. You know, so many of us Latinx do know to have really princesses and models and images to dream or aspire to. They look like us. They come from our background, and so this is definitely a way to make it more inclusive and more equal, you know? And I think also it's a very special way to broaden also all the children's and adult's horizons that, you know, there's so much richness and curiosity and things to learn about all the people and all the cultures. So there's an exchange too. And there is also a way that we can build appreciation and respect and the more inquisitiveness, you know, of what we don't know and who we don't know and all of the assumptions that perhaps are being made that, you know, that can be re-evaluated, you know, by a simple poem or books or theatre. And I think arts have such a special way of doing that, you know, so it's really exciting. And I said, do you have a passage of one of your poems for children that you would like to share with our viewers? You could read it or recite. If you have it. But I do have a poem that I wrote with permanent anthology called Atravesado. Yes, we're going to talk about that one soon too. Because you've got a lot of work to cover. So one step at a time. I'm covering the children literacy to build that foundation so we can transition straight to Atravesado. Okay. Oh, okay. My poem actually is from the perspective of me being a child. Oh, okay. We'll take that. Well, it's the intersectionality of like being a kid and it is about children. And I necessarily know if it's for children but it's for the child that's inside of all of us, right? Okay, so this is called The Choices We Make. So I told you earlier how I traveled to Mexico many, many times. Right. So most of the time I was a translator and interpreter for my grandmother. And there's always, when you're a child and you're going through these like culture shocks, it's almost like, yeah, like going to a predominantly white school. And that's like the ruleness or intersectionality of being a brown woman in a very 98% state that's white. It's very different when you go and see yourself except for maybe twice a year. She said to me, the word is sacred. In the beginning, there was a variable. Not by needles, but by tight face letters. Purple lock crystals, I've seen you before as a child. I think she was with me. Was it in Mexico when they gave us that sheet of small crystals glued on? But exactly where? Guanajuato, San Juan de los Lagos, Guanajuato. Dirt road, stony crumbling sidewalks, dusty broken corners, laughing eyes, knowing I didn't belong. I moved back behind Abuelita. Yeah. Okay, I'm in San Vienzo IP. Why are they looking at me? Someone says, oh, Abuelita says, no cremos en eso. She says, we don't believe in that. But somebody said, I like giving me the black eye. So, bad eyes. When they are looking at me, I counter. No, no, she remedies. But I'm looking for small pieces of my face in their faces. Is this where I belong? Her hair? I want hair like hers. His eyes, I wish they could be mine. Those hands I've seen before, I've stepped all where I've stepped. At the bottom, there was freshly covered snowline perfectly unconquered until I stepped again. Oh, that's powerful. And what is the feedback you get from your readers as they comment on that poem? Did they see themselves in part of your verses and prose? What are the stories that evolve from this very poem? So, anything poetry is just like a little flight. So it's just really me going through all of that experience of looking at people that I wanted to become. I wanted to embody what they look like. It takes some of what they had back with me. And so I think a lot of children's books are about the embodiment of burnersification. It could be like the police officer. There's always that cute picture of a police officer having pets and all of that. And so it's these interesting ways to relive it. And so I think that most of the time, I don't think my audience are children and so much of it in a child that they're the adult. For the stories that I've written, which are a little bit longer than that poem, I don't want to keep it up here tonight, but most of the time I try to, as we say, kill the parents. I don't know if the parents solve the situation. It's more creative when the kids are doing it. When the kids solve their own problems without any adults around in doing that. So in this situation, I was solving my own problems not feeling blind there, but by encompassing other people's identities too. So it makes you a chameleon a little bit, right? And so that's kind of, I think, that's a cinematic I would say about that poem, but certainly that's where my heart was when I wrote it, too, like just trying to put myself in a strange land. Okay. Well, I'm going to take a quick break, a minute break, and we'll be right back and talk about this chameleon process, okay? A little bit more. Yes. Hello. My name is Stephanie Mock, and I'm one of three hosts of Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Food and Farmer series. Our other hosts are Matt Johnson and Pamai Weigert, and we talk to those who are in the fields and behind the scenes of our local food system. We talk to farmers, chefs, restaurateurs, and more to learn more about what goes into sustainable agriculture here in Hawaii. We are on at Thursdays at 4 p.m., and we hope we'll see you next time. Aloha. Welcome, I'm Marcia Joyner, inviting you to come visit with us on cannabis chronicles, a 10,000-year artisty where we explore and examine the plant that the muse has given us. And stay with us as we explore all the facets of this planet on Wednesdays at noon. Please join us. Aloha. Welcome back to Prospectors and Global Justice. Think Tech Hawaii. This is your host, Beatrice Cantelbo, and we are here today with Araceli Lopez Esparza. So Araceli, we were talking about this chameleon aspect of you wanting to embody more of the identity, the side of your Latinx culture and background. And so please continue. Well, I mean, I certainly have privilege to, you know, just for speaking English very well, like a parrot, right? But out of necessity, everybody can add to. And then, like a chameleon taking on those mannerisms, too, right? So like in school, you get teased, oh, you're acting white or whatever, and then compound that bed on that dark skin. You know, I know a lot of my family members can go very light, even with blonde hair, it's really dark, right? Perochini, Don Moreni, Tocasa, Tito, right? In the summertime, they're red. They're red. They're just red. I think there's that, you know, there's that too. There's all of those variations of like identities. One, for me in particular, Tito, to me, is laughing, laughing like we're laughing libanas in the snow. And it's written by Cron, so he's called up on my test away last year. And I love that juxtaposition. Last game, iguanas in the snow, these kids are going planning on the snow. I'm like, goes on my ground, she's going down the snow. There's so many brown kids here. When they go down the snow, you're just like, wow, you know? It just takes you back because you think, we are supposed to go down this board, I don't believe it. It's like, we're just flying it and look at us taking over the snow and just having so much fun, you know? And I think that those things, those images are really beautiful, all those intersections and that kids can encompass those intersections and they present them in a very unifying way. That's really beautiful. And so when you walk with children in poetry and, you know, do you do that in schools? Do you do that in community centers? Where has your work primarily developed? Great, great. So I do that both in schools, as they're in schools, we do a curriculum called Portraits as Biographies. So we look at portraits and then we biography of the sitter. So teaching them to be critical to visual art. So that's a part of what I do as a teaching artist, but also, yeah, I mean, I do that. We do portrait and Spanish where we talk about how to code switch in a poem. So as you saw in my home, I code switch with the necessity of feeling to translate, right? There's facts about that too, right? But at the same time, I want you guys to experience it impacting me, but it's hard, you know? It's really hard when you're maneuvering between different cultures and different voices in your work. So a lot of him, too, what we do, I talk to them about Day of the Dead. So we talk about sympathy through death, right? That's a really cute token for American children. I suppose the United States children because they grew up not honoring death at all. And that's such an amazing... They don't talk about it. They don't talk about death. That's such an amazing gift you're providing, not only the one of exposure and that forum to be able to talk about it, but to exchange and to rethink and to reimagine. You know, that's just like the best gift that you can possibly exchange in our community. I'm just so humbled and proud of you for doing this work. And so I know that you have been doing a little bit of work, actually quite extensive work with women in healing, especially dealing with issues of violence and trauma, which brings to the older book that you also have written or contributed. Did you have to talk a little bit about that? Yes. So I've been doing... What does curandera mean? For our viewers who do not speak Spanish or bilingual. Right, curandera means healer, healer-taker, raiding sickles. Coming from like the practices. So I was taught about contemplative writing and a bit of arts and like meditation and mindfulness and so forth. It incorporates that, but through very cultural, specific lens. And we talk about self-healing as brown women and talk about our traditional remedies that are indigenous, that are indigenous, idioms in life and funniness and all that, those together. Throwing all together into like... Yeah, you can imagine we're quite loud. You think I'm the loud one now. But you know, sounds and being loud and let it all out is part of this process. And that is how we are, you know. And it shouldn't have to be suppressed. It is suppressed so much. I think part of living in the United States is that that, you know, unspoken rule of having to internalize or, you know, speak always at own lower or, you know, a little bit less. It's very direct thinking, you know, linear thinking, no succulent like we are, you know. And so this is beautiful because it's totally cultural, confident and sensitive, you know. In the context of healing, it's very important we need to have that. That's the foundation. I wanted it to have where it was completely decolonized, you know. And it's done to this kind of this in Antonio with Gloria, and I have it here in her honor. And I had attended this, a Bruja, how to do your own Bruja because it's my first class. It was amazing and it gave me so many ideas as a community activist and organizer where I could implement very, just like more free-flowing, right? Just more free-flowing ways to like incorporate our culture, incorporate these practices as often times I like seem as for the bougie class, right? And I like being kind of like, you know, just a certain manner of look to it. So those kinds of things that even to people of color, they might be like, oh, no, yeah. That's just what they want to lose, right? I can't tell you how many times I've been in meetings of, I'm like, can we just be professional? I mean... Why not? We have healers of all types and there is definitely a market for it and a need. So demand and supply. So there you go. That could be an expansion of your writing and your healing is that extension of services too. This is great. We are really approaching the end of our program but I would like to end without talking about the entrepreneurial side of Araceli. So you are the founder of Wisconsin Mujer which is Wisconsin Women for those who don't speak Spanish. And so tell us a little bit about the vision and the mission of Wisconsin Mujer. Our vision and mission is to give the stage to amplify and highlight marginalized voices. No, thanks. Even through the poor process business because we want to help sustain ourselves and other women of color who are entrepreneurs and the makers of all of us we are just trying to work together and having more of a market place for commerce that is like going right back to households that are sustaining purchases. Who are the home buyers? Who are the pretty much scraping figure class? It's important that that's what my business does is highlighting marginalized voices and other platforms in any way, shape, or form through content creation I don't know, I guess I have an eye for color because I put things together. And so that's something it's kind of like my knitting I have to say that content creation is like my knitting but it's also a faction of how I get my art into my writing so it's been pairing nicely as of yet. And so making it into a business I can't say I'm here by myself with that at all It's great support to my family but my husband and my mother That's beautiful And so Dia de los Muertos is coming so I hear that you've been working with the project through Wisconsin Women So what's the project like? Has that been like? Amazing. Being this high school our local high school is having a day of the bed fundraiser too on November 10 It's great You know people are taking off at this idea citywide and I love it I've been I've been slowly at this and I think my daughter was like I want to say she was like three years something so she's like ten or seven years on and off I've been little ways like talking about day of the bed family shape or form either in classrooms or in libraries and now it seems like other agencies are having more buy-in and I hope it's that trend especially right now with what's going on with DACA with 3,000 families separated by their other children we can't be going through the treaty we're not knowing that all the kids are there and that's in the plan in the United States I'm not having a good holiday to be there We all love the movie Kobo but think about those public kids you know those kids they wouldn't would they be free in this real world can you tell the view of the audience of that so I think we need to really be truthful with ourselves as much as we are truthful children Right, well I can't believe that 30 minutes have been lapsed already I hope that you come back many times so that we can give continuity to this beautiful chit chat we started today so this was just a teaser I want to thank our viewers for watching us and until next time a hui hou