Courtesy image.
CAMARILLO — CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI)’s third annual “La Mujer” campus program will be a mosaic of visual, spoken and written stories about Latinas.
Open to the public, “Celebrating la Mujer: My life, my culture, my dreams” will be Thursday, March 8 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the John Spoor Broome Library Exhibition Hall, Room 1320 on the CSUCI campus.
Highlights of the bilingual program will be presentations and workshops from Los Angeles Chicana artist Isabel Martinez and Santa Maria performance poet Enedina Castañeda, who now lives in Ventura. Also speaking will be CSUCI Chicana/o Studies senior Erika Landa, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) student.
“It was a very taboo subject to talk about but now we have a multicultural dream center,” said Landa, a Chicana/o Studies major graduating in May. “Being undocumented on this campus is no longer something where we are silent. We talk about it now.”
Landa came to the U.S. with her single mother and three siblings when Landa was three. Recently, she visited El Paso, Texas, and realized she was just two blocks away from the Mexican border, the closest she had been since she was taken to the U.S.
“I was able to see the lights of Mexico… I cried,” Landa said. “There was the feeling of how I had never been able to visit my grandfather’s grave. In the daylight I could see sweat shops and a lot of poverty and it made me realize why my mom came here.”
Professor of Spanish Margarita Lopez-Lopez is coordinating the event with help from Art Lecturer Denise Lugo because both feel the voices of Latina women are important to hear.
“The majority of our students at CSUCI are women — almost 65 percent,” said Lopez-Lopez. “The majority of those women are Latinas. This allows them to have a voice and openly show their pride and their significance. They can feel proud to share their culture.”
Another remarkable element of their lives is that many of the Latinas are the first in their family to ever attend college, making them trailblazers and role models.
“Across America, some students are getting in trouble for using their voice,” Lugo said, in reference to student activism following the Florida school shooting. “We on this campus are allowing them a voice.”
The day will begin with workshops to help participants express their dreams, culture and lives with poetry and art.
Castañeda will help the attendees write poetry about their experiences as a Latina woman, whether it be about their families, their journey to college or about DACA, which affects many of them.
“These will be stories about their lives, their culture, their dreams—it’s in the title of the event,” Lopez-Lopez said. “It’s important that they share their voices in these current political times, including our Dreamers.”
Martinez will invite the women to tell their stories by building a community “mandala,” which is the Sanskrit word for “circle.”
With guidance from Martinez, students will incorporate their own cultural symbols, shapes, patterns and other art, which will be pieced onto a 5-foot by 6-foot wooden mural.
Martinez will create the outline and the students will each create a small section of the community mandala.
There will be an Aztec dance and blessing by Danza Tlaloc Ollin, the CSUCI Chicana/o student dance club, headed by Veronica Valdez, a Chicana/o Studies Lecturer.
Mexican consul Karina Belen Blas Rodriguez will speak, followed by an open exchange with artists, students, faculty, staff and the community.
About California State University Channel Islands: CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CSUCI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CSUCI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CSUCI’s Social Media.