I love this James Baldwin quote because it captures so beautifully my experience with storytelling, both as someone who tells stories and as someone who reads, watches, and listens to the stories of others. I tell stories because it brings me great joy to write and perform them and because folks tell me my words help them see and understand a different perspective. Even if you know James Baldwin’s works, I highly recommend you pick one of his books or essays and reread it. So insightful and wise. There’s a podcast, The Baldwin 100, totally devoted to the work and life of James Baldwin.
Santuario Storytelling Award
Last month, I was honored by The East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (EBSC) with the Inaugural Santuario Storytelling Award.
The plaque says “In grateful appreciation of your storytelling and performance artistry to bring visibility, healing, and empathy for the refugee and immigrant experience.” Thank you EBSC.
The organization was founded in 1982 in response to civil wars in Central America, and was an early participant in the Sanctuary Movement in the this country. Today, EBSC is one of the largest affirmative-asylum programs in the country. One of the things that most moved me at their annual celebration, was meeting people who had volunteered as students (decades earlier), while as undergraduates or in law school, and who continue to work on behalf of immigrant communities. Others were individuals who had received services from EBSC, and value their continued work. Paying it forward on all fronts. Their loyalties to EBSC run so deep.
In recent years, EBSC has been using storytelling to empower its clients and to broaden our community's knowledge about immigrant rights. Their clients have been sharing moving personal stories at theaters and other public gatherings. My own experience with storytelling is that writing and speaking our truths bring healing. Stories can be acts of resistance and weapons to counter oppression and violence, shed light on injustice, and touch people’s hearts and minds. And this is why we see an uptick in book bans. This is very much on my mind as last week was Banned Books Week.
According to PEN America, “Books are under profound attack in the United States. Since the fall of 2021, PEN America has counted more than 10,000 book bans in public schools. And everywhere, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted. Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors, by women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, history. PEN America pushes back against censorship and the intolerance and exclusion that undergird it.” Learn more about PEN America here.
Who is PEN America? Here’s how they describe themselves.
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
Founded in 1922, PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 centers worldwide that make up the PEN International network. PEN America works to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others. Our strength is our Membership—a nationwide community of more than 4,500 novelists, journalists, nonfiction writers, editors, poets, essayists, playwrights, publishers, translators, agents, and other writing professionals, as well as devoted readers and supporters who join with them to carry out PEN America’s mission.
PEN America’s programs defend writers, artists, and journalists and protect free expression worldwide. This work includes research and reports on topical issues; advocacy on free expression challenges; campaigns on policy issues and on behalf of individual writers and journalists under threat; year-round festivals and events; literary awards; fellowships; and more.
My one-woman show incorporates the topic of banned books. Even the most innocuous books, including these 2nd-grade books, have come under attack as being anti-white and anti-American. These books tell true stories about our nation’s history, and our children deserve to learn what happened.
Separate is Never Equal, written by Duncan Tonatiuh, is about the segregation of Mexican American children in Southern California, a practice that existed throughout the Southwest. The Mendez family tried to enroll their children in the school nearest to their home. Their request was denied, and they were told they had to attend the "Mexican school." They sued, and the federal court ruled that segregating children based on their ethnicity violated the United States Constitution. Shortly after that, in 1947, the California Legislature (the first in the country) passed a law prohibiting school segregation. Earl Warren was then the Governor of California.
Some years later, Earl Warren resigned his post as California Governor to become the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The Warren Court is famous for expanding civil rights, starting with the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education requiring the desegregation of public education, finding that separate is never equal. Although Mendez v. Westminster School District helped lay the groundwork for the Brown decision, few people have heard of this case. Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law that California schools include the Mendez case as part of the curriculum to teach students its importance to civil rights history.
Thanks to all who attended last week’s sold-out performance at Central Stage. I look forward to seeing some of you at Sunday’s show, 10/6, which is also sold out. But even if you can’t get a ticket online, drop by anyway, as there are always a few places available; the theater leaves a few empty seats for walk-ins, and some ticketed folks are no-shows. Plans change; it happens.
San Antonio HERE I come -- Trinity University
I’m so excited to return to my beloved San Antonio to participate in Trinity University's Festival of the Arts. All these events are free and open to the public. I don’t know the process for getting tickets or if you show up on the performance day. I will surely let you know. And if you are in the San Antonio area, tell your friends and make an evening of it. Even if you’ve seen it before, there is always new material.
I look forward to seeing my many friends and family members at the Ruth Taylor Recital Hall. Please check this webpage periodically for updates.
PS: In response to getting my blog, Rafael Jesús González, sent me this graphic, which he created. Rafael was the first Poet Laureate of Berkeley and is a fantastic artist: poet, writer, painter, designer. Gracias, Rafael.
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