Wiser With Age

Tag: community

  • “La Bamba,” “Zoot Suit” writer on the importance of building community

    “La Bamba,” “Zoot Suit” writer on the importance of building community


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Luis Valdez (Courtesy El Teatro Campesino)

    Do you remember reading the play, “Zoot Suit†in high school or watching the movie “La Bamba†(1987), based on the life of 1950’s rocker Ritchie Valens, starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Esai Morales? They were both written by multi-award winning playwright and director, Luis Valdez.

    He is also the founder of the longest running Chicano theater in the U.S. El Teatro Campesino is located in the rural community of San Juan Bautista, Calif. – approximately 150 miles northwest from where he was born to migrant farm worker parents.

    “I was born in 1940 in a labor camp in Delano…the west side of Delano was separated by the railroad tracks,†says Valdez, now 74. “The Asians, Mexicans, and African Americans were on the west side, and the White people lived on the east side of the tracks.â€

    Valdez says he remembers understanding as early as age six, that he was born into a segregated land.

    Years later, in 1955, he remembers the segregation continued. There was a young man who was called “C.C.†who decided to sit in the middle of the movie theater and not in the section designated for “non-whites.â€

    “The police took him away,†says Valdez. “There was no law – it was custom. They released him, and the following week, a whole group went and sat in the middle of the theater. Years later, I went to work with the UFW [United Farm Workers], and my mom said, ‘Don’t you know who C.C. is? He is Cesar Chavez.â€

    It was in 1965, while volunteering with the UFW, that Valdez founded El Teatro Campesino – a theater troupe for farm workers and students. The theater, he says, served as a way to inform, educate and also provide laughter during very hard times for strikers.

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    El Teatro Campesino performing in the 1960’s. (Courtesy El Teatro Campesino)

    “I’ve seen the evolution of theater, film and television,†says Valdez regarding his continually growing work with El Teatro Campesino, which still continues today. “My focus has been on historical periods so people can know who we are today…now we’re focused on developing the young.â€

    Valdez says it was school that changed the trajectory of his life. It was his mom who sent him and his brother to school one day with their lunches packed in a little brown paper bag – a luxury, he says, in those days.

    “I used to take care of my little bag, but one day my bag was missing,†Valdez remembers back to the first grade. “My teacher said, ‘I took it. It’s for a mask I’m making for a play.’ I forgave her for the bag, and the next week, I auditioned and I got my first part in a play – a monkey. I was looking forward to my first debut in front of the world on a Monday. I told my mom, and she said, ‘We’re leaving Friday. We were being evicted.â€

    Valdez says he was six and devastated. However, that episode in his life was crucial, because it gave him the insatiable desire to pursue theater for the rest of his life.

    “It was at San Jose State University that I began to write and produce,†says Valdez. “I wrote my first full-length play there, and just last month, my son produced ‘Zoot Suit’ – it ran two weeks. It’s come full circle – 50 years after I graduated.â€

    What piece of life advice would Valdez tell his younger self if he could?

    “I would tell my young self, and others, that it’s important to develop people skills…It comes with giving respect when respect is due. Genius is not an excuse to mistreat other people. A true genius is a genius of compassion and humility…I’m happy to say that El Teatro Campesino is composed of 12 people who have been together the past 40 years. They have had other careers but are still pitching in and helping out. In an odd way, that keeps us young. That’s a great feeling. It’s amazing to me. They’ve become maestras and maestros in their own right…We got a slow start incorporating women into the group, but some of our greatest collaborators have been with women. I would talk to my younger self about the importance of that…These are lessons they I’ve learned along the way. We are all human, and we all have a heart.

  • From L.A. Gangs at 11 To Poet Laureate at 60

    From L.A. Gangs at 11 To Poet Laureate at 60


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Poet Laureate of Los Angeles Luis J. Rodriguez (Photo/ Arlene Mejorado)

    Growing up in poverty in South Central and East Los Angeles, Luis J. Rodriguez says he found himself so emotionally empty that he joined a gang at age 11. He started abusing heroin by 12, and by 15, he was put in juvenile hall and later prison. It was his love for books, however, which turned his life around.

    At 60, Rodriguez is now an award-winning poet, author, and founder of a cultural arts center which helps youth in the San Fernando Valley stay away from gangs. This month, he was chosen by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be the city’s second Poet Laureate, succeeding Eloise Klein Healy.

    “I thought they’re probably not going to pick me,†says Rodriguez, who was one of approximately 30 applicants. “I was quite amazed. I also understand the responsibility. I want kids to recite poetry. I’ll do anything to get poetry exploding in Los Angeles.â€

    Rodriguez will be getting an office in the same Central Library where he had once found refuge from the gang world four decades ago. The same peaceful place where he’d escape gunshots, and spend hours upon hours reading, will now be where he writes poems for his city.

    “In the end books saved my life,†says the man who has written 15 of his own, including his most recent memoir, “It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing,†a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

    Rodriguez remembers before he was aware of the power of books, the most eminent force in his life were the gang members who surrounded him.

    “They were tough. Everyone was scared of them. They had heavy tattoos,†recalls Rodriguez. “I wanted to be part of that. I thought being a part of that, people would respect me.â€

    However, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, he says soldiers began returning from the Vietnam War wounded mentally, and there was heroin everywhere. That’s when he says what he thought about gangs began to erode.

    “You used to be able to trust your homies, but I realized you couldn’t trust an addict,†says Rodriguez. “I was becoming just like them. When guns come in to the picture, people start killing people. It wasn’t this homey and loving relationship. It wasn’t a place where people could relate and hang. By the time I was 19, I had lost 25 friends, I was addicted to heroin, my family threw me out.â€

    Rodriguez spent time in county jail for some misdemeanors, where he started writing little stories, but once he was out, he decided he wasn’t going to go back. He opted to return to school instead and even went to night school to better his English.

    “I started doing gang intervention,†he says. “I tried helping my neighborhood, and I actually got shot at by one of the gang members because of my work.â€

    However, Rodriguez remained steadfast, after equipping himself with the power of books. He went on a 35-year mission of gang intervention around the world, which he still makes time for, and founded Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural and Bookstore, with his wife, in 2001.

    “This has helped a lot of kids,†says Rodriguez. “Gang kids show up, and they’re welcome. They are young people that need a relationship to options. The option can’t be, ‘I’m going to prison,’ or ‘I’m going to be a heroin addict.’ They need to know they have gifts and callings. That’s what they need to tap into. That’s the work that I do – tap into their own capacities – build them up from there, so they don’t feel like they’re trapped in their crazy life.â€

    On November 1, Rodriguez will be one of the award-winning authors to speak at the 15th  Annual Los Angeles Latino Book & Family Festival – along with three other poets from Tia Chucha. He says it’s very important for him to give back to his community, because it was the same community which helped get him back on his feet.

    What is the one piece of advice he would give his younger self with the wisdom he now has?

    “The one thing I had was my imagination,†says Rodriguez. “All young people are filled with imagination, but with all the trauma of life and on the streets you lose it. You’re stuck trapped. Don’t lose your imagination.â€

  • Bronx Fathers Taking Action member on the importance of fatherhood

    Bronx Fathers Taking Action member on the importance of fatherhood


     

    A man with glasses and a hat smiling.
    Bronx Fathers Taking Action member John Fielder (Courtesy John Fielder)

    John Fielder, a born and raised New Yorker, has always been a savior of sorts for his community.

    Before turning 60, he was an emergency medical technician (EMT) for nearly two decades, and before that, a phlebotimist. Today, at 64, he serves on his district’s community education council as well as one of the 16 active Bronx Fathers Taking Action committee members.

    “I’m appointed by the borough president to oversee construction of schools, issues of building maintenance, curriculum, and parent involvement,†says Fielder about his role on the education council. “I also train parents to do what I do.â€

    Fielder explains the board is made of of 11 members, and there are 116 schools in the district, including elementary and middle schools. And through Bronx Fathers Taking Action, which was founded in March 2012, he provides resources and fosters relationships to reinforce fathers as positive role models for their kids.

    Although his seven children, three girls and four boys – ranging in age from 20 to 27 – are all grown up, playing an active role in the youth of his community is still crucial to him.

    A man with glasses and a hat smiling.
    John Fielder with four or his seven children.

    “My three youngest kids are foster kids, and we adopted them,†says Fielder about the family he shares with his wife, who is a school teacher. “That got me involved in special needs kids.â€

    He explains that two of his adopted children had slight learning disabilities because of the environment they came out of.

    “I was told the only thing they could get out of high school was a certificate, but I wanted them to have a real diploma,†says Fielder. “That’s what got me involved. I became president of the PTA [Parent Teacher Association] for three years. Then I became the president of the district’s education council.â€

    The more you’re involved, he says, the more you learn how the system works and how the system doesn’t work.

    “This is a business of educating our children, and it’s important we understand the system,†says Fielder. “One of my biggest issues now is we don’t have vocational schools left in the Bronx. Now [kids] have to pay to go to other schools and have a school loan bill that’s outrageous.â€

    Although Fielder also commits some of his free time to his church choir, he’s proud to say that Bronx Fathers Taking Action is one of his most important projects to date. In addition to holding monthly meetings, and reaching out to different churches, the group is partnering with a total of five middle schools and high schools in Manhattan and the Bronx to create mentoring programs.

    “Boys at that age, especially, need someone to look up to,†says Fielder. “We need to mentor them on financial aid, health benefits and financial literacy – the importance of budgeting, saving having bank accounts. What they see are guys with fancy rims and jewelry, but they’re living in the projects. What’s the value in that?â€

    Father’s Day weekend, he says, the group is holding a stickball event for older kids, and for the younger kids, a bicycle safety demonstration. In total, a couple of hundred youth and parents are expected to attend.

    “I want to get more fathers involved, because when you get more fathers involved, kids do better, because they have an example to follow,†he says. “Kids are not looking for a father with lots of money, just somebody who’s involved.â€

    To Fielder, fatherhood is one of the most important jobs there is, and it’s a job that never ends.

    “Fatherhood means mentoring, loving, training, becoming a good example, and having expectations for your children to do better than you,†he says.

    His advice for those younger than him:

    “Do what you have to, so you can do what you want to do. Be a leader and not a follower, and have high expectations for yourself.â€

  • First female Asian elected official on the East Coast continues to give back and speak up

    First female Asian elected official on the East Coast continues to give back and speak up

    Ellen Young in the Chambers being introduced by the Speaker as a freshman member, and the first Asian American woman in the legislature in January 2007. (Courtesy Ellen Young)
    Ellen Young in the Chambers being introduced by the Speaker as a freshman member, and the first Asian American woman in the legislature in January 2007. (Courtesy Ellen Young)

    Ellen Young is not one to stay still, or stay quiet.

    The 62-year-old volunteers as the first, and only, Asian member of the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts. As one of 15 committee members, she reviews complaints against attorneys from Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. She says she spends the rest of her time at the newly founded Golden Age Learning Center, which serves approximately 200 seniors.

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