Trans-interpretation of Norma Alarcon

Codex Nepantla Workshop trans-interprets Chela Sandoval

Pocha Poetics Seminar a Huge Success!

On April 25-26, 2014, the Pocha Poetics seminar group was finally able to come together to launch the work of Codex Nepantla. This seminar was funded by the UCHRI Seminar Grant, and allowed for faculty and students of multiple campuses of the University of California to come together to discuss the politics, poetics,and ethics of translating Chicana feminist/lesbian theory into Spanish. We also shared our own personal battles with linguistic terrorism as different members recounted their experiences with the term "Pocha" as a personal/familial/social stigma that in large part has prevented us from bridging the linguistic border in our academic work.

The Pocha Poetics seminar took place at UCLA, with the support of the LGBT studies program (shout-out to Tomarion Brown for taking such good care of us) and the Chicana/o Studies department. The group included Professors Tiffany Lopez and Alicia Arrizon from UC Riverside, Professors Chela Sandoval and Ellie Hernandez from U C Santa Barbara (Aida Hurtado and Emma Perez were also going to join us but got sick and couldn't come), Professor Deena Gonzalez from Loyola Marymount University, and my darling Alma and myself from UCLA. We  were also joined by graduate and ABD students, Sandra Ruiz, Kendy Rivera, and Jacqui Caraves from UCLA, Tracy Zuñiga from UCR, and Cristina Serna from UCSB. Our special guest via Skype was Mariana Perez Ocaña, editor and co-founder of LesVoz (the longest-running--20 years!--lesbian feminist organization and publication in Latin America). The seminar was closed to the public, but we did extend an invitation to the other Chicana/o Studies Ph.D. students at UCLA, and Angelica Becerra and Rose Simmons participated on the first day. Another guest was Paola Zaccaria, an Italian translator of Chicana/o scholarship, who happened to be conducting research at UCSB this quarter. My undergraduate research assistant, Dafne Luna, and her partner Mireya Jordan rounded out the seminar.

We opened the seminar by showing clips of the Marcha Lésbica in Mexico City that Alma and I  attended in March 2013 organized by a committee of lesbian feminist organizations in D.F., which included LesVoz. We wanted the Pocha Poetics seminar group to see the masses of young women that had attended the march from all over the country, both as a way of showing the huge popularity of this event in Mexico, and to show the group who the audience is for our translations. We know and support that, under the leadership of Marisa Belausteguigoitia, the Programa Universitario de Estudios de Género (PUEG) has been working on translations of two foundational Chicana feminist texts --Borderlands and Methodology of the Oppressed-- for several years, but we are interested in reaching a more grassroots audience through Codex Nepantla's translations.

Employing a Freirian dialogic approach, the group spent almost the entire first day immersed in discussing the many readings I had compiled into a course reader: essays about translation as both a colonial and a post-colonial praxis, the ethics of translation, and translation in the service of resistance to hegemonic erasure and appropriation. We also spent some time discussing Malinche's curse and the issue of being seen as traitors by Mexicanas/os for "forgetting" or "polluting" our Spanish. We also discussed the essays of our Mexico City colleagues who have developed an intriguing methodology for integrating Chicana feminist theory as a pedagogical tool in their university classrooms.

Mariana Perez's virtual presentation via Skype explained her view of the lesbian feminist crisis in Mexico. The radical lesbian feminists who by and large constituted the face of LGBT struggles in Mexico over the last twenty years feel, on the one hand, that they have been co-opted and erased by the more mainstream and upper-class "Cuir" or Queer Theory in the academy; on the other hand, they also feel occupied and marginalized by the new Sexual Diversities orientation of the current LGBT movement  in Mexico. Chicana feminists and particularly lesbian feminists have not only "been there, done that," and continue to undergo similar struggles against erasure north and south of the border, but also, we have theorized our experiences with racism, sexism, homophobia, gender identity, etc. for the last 40 years and developed a body of literature that has yet to be translated into Spanish. Mexican scholars, students, and activists have access to the gender and sexuality discourse of Euro- and Anglo-American feminist scholars such as Judith Butler and Lillian Faderman, whose work is rendered in Spanish translation, but know little to nothing about Chicana Feminist/Lesbian Theory. Thus, the project of Codex Nepantla, which has now started with the work of the Pocha Poetics Seminar, is to translate our own work using the method of what I call "translation in the flesh," and make it accessible to a Spanish-speaking LGBT grassroots readership in Mexico.

While discussing the ethics and politics of translation, the "invisibility of the translator" (Lawrence Venuti) and why Chicanas can't be invisible translators, the impact of "the regime of fluency," which Anzaldúa called "linguistic terrorism," the identification between pochas and malinches, and the use of translation as a colonizing practice as well as a post-colonial praxis, participants spoke to why some of them (and so many other Chicanas/os of all generations) either don't speak Spanish or fear they speak "bad Spanish." What kinds of translations could we do of our own work if so many of us have such a limited fluency in reading or writing Spanish?

On Day 2, seminar participants engaged in two workshops to help respond to the question above. In the translation workshop, we experimented with literal translation and what I called transinterpretation of select concepts from our course reader. The exercise showed us the difference between translating a sentence code for code, and translating/interpreting the same sentence in such as way as to retain the meaning and the poetry of the original, using our own syntax and vocabulary.  Hence, we were engaging in "pocha poetics." (I will be posting an example of the exercise in another entry.)

The workshop proceeded into a semiotic discussion of TRANSINTERPRETATION, by looking at the etymologies of TRANSLATE and INTERPRET, but also by looking at other ways in which we deduce meaning, such as INTERPOLATION and INTERPELLATION. Although we had decided that perhaps the term TRANSINTERPOLACTION would more effectively capture the multiplicity of actions and meanings we hoped to convey with our translations, I made the executive decision to return to the simpler, TRANSINTERPRETATION, to keep our work and our language from straying too far into the poststructuralist abstractophere. Seminar participants can argue with me on this point if they wish.

The second workshop, led by Alma Lopez, was a stenciling workshop in which we visualized symbolic interpretations for some of our theories, symbols that we then learned how to trace and cut out and stencil with acrylic paint onto our T-shirts or notebook covers. Luckily, Alma had already sent us examples of possible symbols that we could play with (a very good thing, since time was running out). Those of us who stayed for Day 2, walked out of there with T-shirts and hoodies printed with the word POCHA, fists of feminist power, roses and combinations thereof. Most importantly, we conceptualized the workshop's logo (see below).

The etymology of Translate, or carry across to the other side, suggested the notion of border-crossing and we saw ourselves as theoretical coyotas sneaking pocha poetics and theory into Mexico. From this discussion, Alma constructed a logo for the work we are proposing to do, that includes the image of a howling coyota straddling the U.S.-Mexico border with the full moon of Coyolxauhqui (the dismembered daughter whom we use as a primary symbol for the ways in which the lesbian and feminist daughters of our culture are dismembered and disarticulated by patriarchy) rising in the north. By connecting the name of Coylxauqui to the theoretical coyota and what Chela Sandoval calls "movidas toward decolonized being," we came up with the neologism, COYOLTEADAS, as the name of our strategic "movida" by which to disperse Chicana feminist/lesbian theory, rendered in words and images, throughout Mexico using postcards.

With these postcards or postales, we propose to TRANSINTERPRET -- TRANSLATE (or, carry our teorías across to the other side) and INTERPRET (the meaning, as in theoretical coyotas) -- our foundational theories of resistance, revolution, and survival for a grassroots LGBT audience in Mexico.  Theories to be coyolteadas include Gloria Anzaldua’s mestiza consciousness, the Shadow-Beast, the Coatlicue State, and Coyolxauqui imperative; Emma Pérez's sitio y lengua and decolonial imaginary; Chela Sandoval's third space feminism, mestizaje as method, and methodology of the oppressed. Postcards will cross-reference each other and build on ideas presented in other postcards. We see these Coyolteadas as a public art project that will intervene in metros and buses, on park benches and bulletin boards, in cafés and post offices, community centers and classrooms throughout Mexico City and beyond.

Note for Pocha Poetics Seminar participants: Thank you all again for participating in this historic gathering and engaging so meticulously with the readings and ideas of the seminar. I hope to write another grant that will allow us to meet in Mexico City at the University of California's Casa California next summer to continue our translation in the flesh workshop. Until then, I hope some of you feel inspired to produce your own coyolteadas, and perform your own translation or transinterpretation of a Chicana feminist/lesbian theory here on this blog. Hopefully we can keep the energy and enthusiasm of the seminar alive in this virtual workshop.

¡Que vivan Las Pochas!

Stay tuned to photos of the Pocha Poetics Seminar.

P.S. If you haven't added yourself as an author to the Codex Nepantla Blog, be on the lookout for an invitation that Alma is going to send you with instructions.

6th Marcha Lésbica, March 16, 2013 in Mexico City

I participated in this amazing Lesbian activist event in 2006.  Unfortunately, this event does not happen regularly primarily due to funding issues and the difficulty of organizing such efforts in Mexico.  Please share, and if you are able to, make a tax-deductible donation to http://www.catapult.org/project/marching-lesbian-rights.

Estado de la actualización

2011 terminó y comenzó el año 2012. Todos hemos estado muy ocupados con todos nuestros diferentes trabajos. Este es un proyecto importante, y vamos a seguir trabajando duro para asegurarnos de que suceda. En la actualidad, estamos en busca de subvenciones para facilitar talleres y financiar el diseño del sitio del proyecto.

Os mantendremos informados de nuestro progreso


Status Update


2011 ended, and 2012 began.  We have all been busy with all of our different works.  This is an important project, and we will continue to work hard to make sure it happens.  Currently, we are searching for grants in order to facilitate workshops and finance the design of the project site.


We will keep you posted on our progress.

¡Ajúa! Our Taller is Complete/Nuestro Taller Esta Completo

I'm so happy to report that our Taller Codex Nepantla is now complete. Our nepantleras are

1. Norma Alarcón
2. Norma Cantú
3. Antonia Castañeda
4. Yreina Cervántez
5. Alicia Gaspar de Alba
6. Deena González
7. Georgina Guzmán
8. Guisela Latorre
9. Alma López Gaspar de Alba
10. Ester Hernández
11. Coco Magallanes
12. Emma Pérez
13. Chela Sandoval
14. Cristina Serna
15. Rita Urquijo-Ruíz
16. Liliana Wilson

As you can see, we've got a great mix of historians, cultural critics, theorists, writers, and artists.

Now that we're all assembled, it's time to get busy on those translations. As a matter of fact, we've already got one submission from Chela, which is an essay she wrote called "From Radical Suffering to Spiritual Activism: Gloria Anzaldua's Hope" which was translated into Spanish and published in Hypatia (a very impressive revista para mujeres en la cárcel in León, Spain).

Below, I'm reprinting the notes to the writing crew and the visual crew that I had originally sent out with our Convocatoria, just to remind everybody what we're looking for for the Codex Nepantla website (which will be separate from this Blog).

We plan to launch the website on Valentine's Day 2012, so our deadline for everyone's materials is on or before December 15 (Alma needs at least two months to design and develop the website) but we encourage everyone to a continued dialogue via blog. This would be a good place to check in with everybody and let us know about your triumphs and tribulations in the translation trenches.

As soon as possible, please let us know what theories, concepts, or ideas you plan to translate or visually represent. You can do it directly on this blog.

Adelante, mujeres!
Abrazos, Alicia

Note to Writing Crew:
What we have in mind is 1000-word mini-essays in Spanish explaining a
specific concept or set of concepts. For some of you, these concepts will be original (meaning you wrote them), for others, they will be concepts we know well and use in our work, our teaching, and our scholarship. I, for example, will explain my own theory of "alter-Nativity" but I'm also keen on translating Anzaldúa's seven steps of mestiza consciousness, but I'm going to need help translating concepts that pertain to each of those steps, such as the Shadow Beast, the Coatlicue State, la facultad, etc. One alternative would be to hire a graduate student to help out with these translations, something that I plan to do as soon as school starts at UCLA. Once we know who's in the group, we can draw up a list of concepts/ideas/theories and begin to work on our translations. After being reviewed by our Spanish editors, these pieces will get uploaded to the eCodex, which can be accessed directly by our Mexicana compañeras.

Note to Visual Crew:
We've chosen the four of you--Ester, Yolanda, Yreina, and Liliana--to

join Alma in creating visual engagements with Chicana lesbian feminist ideas. Ester's "Karate Lupe" or Yolanda's "Marathon Guadalupe," for example, is each a good way of communicating the ideas of the early Chicana feminists in el Movimiento. Yreina's piece "Mujer de Mucha Enagua" perfectly speaks to our Chicana legacy of MeXicana feminist resistance from Sor Juana to the Zapatista women. So many of Liliana Wilson's pieces (as I have shown in essay I wrote on her work) are visual representations of Anzaldúa's process of conocimiento. Alma's work on "Our Lady" disidentifies the Virgin of Guadalupe from its religious context and reinscribes her with a new "sitio y lengua" as an indigenous/mestiza revolutionary. In other words, artists, your contribution to the Codex Nepantla will be visual, accompanied by a very short paragraph in Spanish about how the work represents your own Chicana lesbian and/or Chicana feminist vision. Alma will follow up with more specific info for the artists.

SPANISH

Estoy muy contenta de informarles que nuestro Taller Codex Nepantla se ha completado. Nuestras nepantleras son

1.     Norma Alarcón
2.     Norma Cantú
3.     Antonia Castañeda
4.     Yreina Cervántez
5.     Alicia Gaspar de Alba
6.     Deena González
7.     Georgina Guzmán
8.     Guisela Latorre
9.     Alma López Gaspar de Alba
10.     Ester Hernández
11.     Coco Magallanes
12.     Emma Pérez
13.     Chela Sandoval
14.     Cristina Serna
15.     Rita Urquijo-Ruíz
16.     Liliana Wilson

Como pueden ver, tenemos una gran mezcla de historiadoras, críticas culturales, teóricas, escritoras y artistas.
 
Ahora que estamos todas reunidas, es el momento de ponerse a trabajar en las traducciones. Como cuestión de hecho, ya tenemos una presentación de Chela, que es un ensayo que escribió titulado "Del sufrimiento radical al activismo espiritual: la esperanza de Gloria Anzaldúa," que fue traducido al español y publicado en Hypatia (una impresionante revista para Mujeres en la Cárcel de León, España).
 
A continuación, estoy reimprimiendo las notas para la tripulación de escritoras y el equipo de artistas visuales que les había enviado con nuestra Convocatoria, sólo para recordar a todas lo que estamos buscando para el sitio web del Codex Nepantla (que será independiente de este blog) .
 
Tenemos la intención de lanzar el sitio web el día de San Valentín de 2012, por lo que nuestra fecha límite para los materiales de cada una es en o antes del 15 de diciembre 2011 (Alma necesita al menos dos meses para diseñar y desarrollar el sitio web), pero Alma y yo queremos animarlas a todas a proseguir el diálogo a través del blog. Este sería un buen lugar para compartir sus exitos y tribulaciones en las trincheras de la traducción.

Tan pronto como sea posible, por favor háganme saber que teorías, conceptos, o ideas van a traducir o representar visualmente. Pueden hacerlo directemente en este blog.


Adelante, mujeres!
Abrazos, Alicia

Para la tripulación de escritoras: 
 Lo que tenemos en mente son mini-ensayos de 1000 palabras  en español que explican unconcepto específico o un conjunto de conceptos. Para algunas de ustedes, estos conceptos deberán ser originales (lo que significa que tu los escribiste), para otras, serán los conceptos que conocemos bien y utilizamos en nuestro trabajo, nuestra enseñanza y nuestras becas. Yo, por ejemplo, voy a explicar mi teoría de "alter-Natividad", pero también estoy interesada en la traducción de los siete pasos de la conciencia mestiza que nos enseña Anzaldúa, pero voy a necesitar ayuda para traducir conceptos que pertenecen a cada uno de esos pasos, como la Bestia Oscura, el Estado Coatlicue, la Facultad, etc Una alternativa sería contratar a un estudiante de posgrado para ayudar con las traducciones, algo que pienso hacer en cuanto empiecen las clases en la UCLA. Una vez que sabemos quien está en el grupo, podemos elaborar una lista de conceptos / ideas / teorías y empezar a trabajar en las traducciones. Después de ser revisadas por nuestros editores hispano-hablantes, estas piezas se cargan en el eCodex, que se puede acceder directamente por nuestras compañeras Mexicanas.


    Para el equipo de artistas visuales:
    Hemos elegido a las cuatro de ustedes - Ester, Yolanda, Yreina y Liliana - a unirse a Alma en la creación de inerpretaciones visuales de las ideas feministas chicanas lesbianas. La "Karate Lupe" de Ester o la "Maratón Guadalupe"de Yolanda, por ejemplo, comunican visualmente las ideas de las primeras feministas chicanas de El Movimiento. La pieza de Yreina titulada "Mujer de Mucha enagua" perfectamente habla de nuestra herencia chicana de resistencia feminista Mexicana desde Sor Juana a las mujeres zapatistas. Igualmente, muchas de las obras Liliana Wilson (como he demostrado en el ensayo que escribí sobre su obra) son representaciones visuales del proceso de Anzaldúa de Conocimiento. El trabajo de Alma en "Nuestra Señora" desidentifica la Virgen de Guadalupe a partir de su contexto religioso y la reinscribe adentro de un nuevo "sitio y Lengua" como una revolucionaria indígena / mestiza. Sus contribuciones visuales seran acompañados de un pequeño párrafo en español acerca de cómo el trabajo representa la vision chicana feminista o chicana lesbiana chicana. Alma les dará seguimiento con información más específica para las artistas.

Tres nuevas secciones/Three new sections

En nuestro continuo esfuerzo por crear un sitio en el que compartimos nuestras teorías como chicanas lesbianas y feministas con nuestras compañeras lesbofeministas hispano-hablantes, hemos agregado tres nuevas secciones a este blog. Las nuevas secciones son términos y teorías, biografías y bibliografía. Les pedimos que por favor sugieran entradas para cada sección.

Usted puede hacer sugerencias de las siguientes maneras:

1. New Post. Como autor de este blog, simplemente haga clic en "new post", títulelo, escriba el mensaje, y cuando termine de escribirlo, simplemente haga clic en la caja anaranjada titulada "publish post" situado en la esquina inferior a la izquierda. Si desea editar su mensaje, simplemente haga clic al "edit posts."

2. Comentarios. Cualquier persona puede hacer comentarios. Simplemente haga clic en "comentarios"localizado en la parte inferior de esta entrada/"post." Se le pedirá que ingrese su comentario.

3. De correo electrónico.  Envienos un email a codexnepantla@gmail.com


In our continued effort to create a site where we share our Chicana lesbian and feminist theories with Spanish-speaking lesbofeminists, we have added three new sections to this blog.  They include terms & theories, biographies, and bibliography.  Please suggest entries to each section.  


You can make suggestions in the following ways:


1.  New Post.  As an author to this blog, you simply click on "new post," type title, type in the body of the post, and when done, simply click on the orange "publish post" button on the lower left hand corner.  If you wish to edit your post, simple go to "edit posts" under "posting" tab.


2. Comment.  Anyone can comment.  Simple scroll to bottom of this post entry and click on "comments."  You will be prompted to enter your comment.


3.  Email.  Email codexnepantla@gmail.com.

Important Online resource on Nepantla processes/Recurso importante sobre los procesos nepantleros

I found an amazing page just now that discusses nepantla and nepantla-processes, called "The Centrality of Nepantla in Nahua-Era Philosophy" by James Maffie in the Philosophy Department at Colorado State University. He writes:

Nepantla characterizes a particular kind of process or activity: one consisting of middling mutuality and balanced reciprocity. I call such processes “nepantla-processes.” Nepantla-processes are dialectical, transactional, and oscillating; centering as well as destabilizing; and abundant with mutuality and reciprocity. They situate people or things in nepantlatli, “in the middle” of or “betwixt and between” two endpoints. Nepantla-processes are also simultaneously destructive and creative, and hence, transformative.

Unfortunately, the page is in English, and will not be of any help to our Mexicana friends for whom we are translating Chicana feminist/lesbian theory. But I find it very useful for those of us on this side to connect with Anzaldúa's theories and see how much of her nepantla vision was, in fact, rooted in the Nahua philosophy. Indeed, our Codex Nepantla is itself a nepantla-process, "dialectical, transactional, and oscillating; centering as well as destabilizing; and abundant with mutuality and reciprocity." At least, that's what Alma and I are hoping for: that abundant mutuality and reciprocity of all of the participants, each a tlacuila or scribe in the process of writing in between the red and the black ink. Yes, in many ways the process will be destabilizing as we juggle all of our other responsibilities and obligations, and especially as we come face to face with the Shadow Beast of our own internalized linguistic terrorism that continues to persecute our pocha tongues and our "bad" Spanish.

Acabo de encontrar una pagina increible que habla de nepantla y los procesos nepantleros, se titula "La Centralidad de Nepantla en la Filosofía de la Era Nahua," escrita por James Maffie de la facultad de filosofía en Colorado State University. El dice:

Nepantla caracteriza un proceso o actividad muy particular: que consiste de mutualidad entredós y reciprocidad balanceada. Yo le llamo a estos procesos, procesos nepantleros. Los procesos nepantleros son dialécticos, transaccionales, y oscilantes; centran igual que desestabilizan; y abundan con mutualidad y reciprocidad. Sitúan a personas o cosas en nepantlatli, o sea, entre medio de dos puntos finales. Los procesos nepantleros son simultáneamente destructivos y creativos, y por ende, transformativos.

 Desafortunadamente, la pagina esta en ingles, así que no les servirá de mucha a nuestras compañeras mexicanas por quien estamos traduciendo la teoría Chicana feminista y Chicana lésbica. Pero para nosotras de este lado nos puede servir a conectar con las teorías de Anzaldúa y ver que tan arraigada esta la visión nepantlera de Gloria con la filosofía nahua. Por seguro, nuestro Codex Nepantla es un proceso nepantlero, "dialéctico, transaccional, oscilante; que centra igual que desestabiliza; y que abundara con mutualidad y reciprocidad." Al menos, es lo que Alma y yo esperamos--la abundancia de mutualidad y reciprocidad de todas nuestras participantes, cada una tlacuila, o escribana, en el proceso de escribir entre medio de la tinta negra y roja. Por supuesto que este proceso de muchas formas será desestabilizante mientras hacemos juegos malabares con todas nuestras otras responsabilidades y obligaciones, y especialmente cuando nos enfrentemos con la Fiera Oscura de nuestro terrorismo lingüístico que aun nos persigue por nuestras lenguas pochas y nuestro español "malo."

English to Spanish online translation programs

I wrote the text below in English first, and used http://translate.google.com to translate.

Primero, yo escribí el siguiente texto en Inglés, y para traducirlo, ulilice http://translate.google.com.

Alma, 3rd grade, El Sereno Elementary School, L.A.

Algunas de ustedes saben que yo nací en Los Mochis, Sinaloa, pero fui criada en Los Angeles desde que tenía cuatro años de edad. Mi educación fue completemente en los Estados Unidos. Afortunadamente para mí, asisti al 1 º y 2 º grado en una escuela de educación primaria bilingüe en la Pico-Union y el área del Centro de Convenciones. En esa escuela, me enseñaron a leer y escribir en español durante la transición al Inglés. Con este poco español, leia el periódico La Opinión y al igual que otros niños inmigrantes, ayudé a mis padres con algunas de las traducciones necesarias.

Cuando tenía trece años, yo viví en la ciudad de México. Allí asisti a una escuela católica privada para niñas.

Mi español es limitado. Por lo tanto, he buscado a través de Internet a programas que ayuden con traducciónes del ingles al español. He encontrado varias, pero creo que http://translate.google.com es el mejor. Tambien www.spanishdict.com.

Básicamente, escriban directamente o pueden copiar y pegar un párrafo o un par de párrafos en la caja "De: Inglés", y la traducción aparece en el cuadro a la derecha titulado "Traducción del Inglés al Español." A continuación, pueden copiar y pegar esta traducción a su propio documento.

No es perfecto. Por lo tanto, tendrán que leer el párrafo traducido para asegurarse de que suena correcto. Usen un diccionario para ayudarse con este trabajo de traducción.

Para los acentos y otras letras españolas, como "ñ" en este blog, utilice las teclas que utiliza en sus documentos de Microsoft Word.

El propósito de este blog es recopilar y documentar el proceso de este proyecto. Por favor, utilizenlo para compartir recursos, ideas, sugerencias y pensamientos. Todas las participantes han sido invitadas a ser contribuyentes. Todo lo que necesitan es seguir las instrucciones enviadas por correo electrónico.

Este blog con el tiempo se convertirá en un enlace a la página web del proyecto.

Estamos muy entusiasmadas con el potencial de este proyecto del puente que se puede crear entre chicanas y mexicanas lesbofeministas. Gracias por aceptar ser parte de este proyecto.

Some of you may know that I was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa but raised in Los Angeles since I was four years old. My entire schooling was in the United States. Fortunately for me, I attended 1st and 2nd grade in a bilingual education elementary school in the Pico-Union and Convention Center area. I was taught to read and write in Spanish while transitioning into English. With this limited Spanish, I was able to read the La Opinion newspaper and like other immigrant kids, I helped my parents with some necessary translations.

When I was thirteen years old, I lived in Mexico City. There I attended a girls private Catholic school.

My Spanish is limited. So, I searched through the internet for English to Spanish translation programs. I have found a few, but I think http://translate.google.com is the best.  Also, http://www.spanishdict.com.

Basically, you either type directly or copy paste a paragraph or a few paragraphs into the "from: English" box, and they appear on the box on the right titled "English to Spanish translation." Then copy paste that to your document.

It is not perfect. So, you will need to read through the translated paragraph to make sure it sounds correct.

For accents and other Spanish letters such as "ñ" on this blog, use the keys you use on your Microsoft Word documents.

The purpose of this blog is to gather and document the process of this project. Please use it to share resources, ideas, suggestions and thoughts. All participants have been invited to be contributors. All you need to to is follow the instructions emailed to you.

This blog will eventually become a link to the project website.

We are very excited about the potential bridge this project can create between Chicanas and Mexican lesbofeminists. Thank you for agreeing to be a part of it.

Gracias por Coatlicue photo

Hello: many thanks for organizing us and for the Coatlique photo which I had lost from my old telephone 3 years ago! Impecabbly good taste, I say there....given the Brits role in "rescuing" the "ruins" (humph, unpack this one), thanks to you y Alma; mil gracias por su trabajo y por avanzando nuestro archivo y la historia, documentada para que no digan que otro inglese te descubrio, Alma, 500 anos adelantados. Agradeciendoles, Deena p.d. donde se encuentran los accentos en un blog?