So, a couple months ago Profe Gaspar sends me an email saying she's putting on a one-day symposium right before Valentines Day, and I'm going to help organize it.
Okay, I think. Sounds like a nice diversion from coordinating artwork permissions and indexing Our Lady of Controversy, which we've been working on for the past 6 months or so.
She tells me the theme of this symposium is going to be love. Just in time for Valentines Day.
Okay, I think. Not usually my favorite holiday, but...
So January rolls around and we dive into the project head-first. Registration is set-up, I build a website. Meanwhile I'm also swamped with my own work, choreographing my 2nd year MFA performance in the Dept. of World Arts and Cultures, coordinating student teach-ins about the UC budget cuts, etc. Georgina is busy coordinating travel from across the country. The list of presenters is astounding, but I admit, I begin to lose sight of the love amid all the chaos.
A week before the conference we're in a panic. We're over-booked for the conference hall and we haven't even registered the presenters yet. We have a wait-list a mile long... and I get this evil knot right beneath my right shoulder blade. My body is telling me something...
Friday finally arrives. I wake up way too early and head to the James West Alumni Center to face what I imagine will be an angry, chaotic mob of wait-listed attendees who've driven hours across the state or flown across several states to get here at the ungodly (for an Angelino) hour of 8am.
And instead, I find el corazón.
Everyone I meet at the registration table, and later at the pláticas and at the reception is warm, generous, and thrilled to be here. The speakers inspire us, and move us frequently to tears. (From my seat onstage I see glistening eyes all around.)
I'm Anglo by birth, but I'm also Californian, feminist, bisexual, and a radical artist-activist. Through a series of wonderous and wonderful events in my life, I've somehow been drawn into the heart of a Chicana/o community that inspires me every day. I want to thank you all for sharing your hearts, your minds, your art, and your love at Sex y Corazón!
--Allison Wyper
Research Assistant
César E. Chavez Dept. of Chicana and Chicano Studies, UCLA
No comments:
Post a Comment