I Give You Steven Cordova, Poet

Steven Cordova is a Latino poet and author who was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, but now lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is a gay, HIV positive man that writes often about HIV and homosexuality. He was in Brooklyn in the 1980s, when HIV was becoming a rallying point for many men and women to gather together in community. During the late 1980s, Cordova joined the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and began to work with HIV-positive men in NYC. There, he began his first poetry workshops, and met many of the people he would continue to keep a writing community with. He has a few other published works, other than his poems in The Wind Shifts. These include Long Distance, a collection of poetry printed by Bilingual Review Press (2010); short works in Ambientes: New Queer Writing (2011) and The Other Latin@:Writing against a Singular Identity (2011) (University of Wisconsin and University of Arizona, respectively). The poems by Steven Cordova in the anthology The Wind Shifts can be appreciated by gay people, HIV-positive people, and dreamers because the poems explore the topics of HIV, homosexuality and dreams in metaphorical, free-verse poems. Bio information found here.

In Meditations on the Jordaan, Cordova begins to discuss one of the major themes that he has in many of the poems in The Wind Shifts: the presence of HIV. The poem is a commentary on two lovers (quite possibly two men, but that is never stated) staying in Amsterdam, enjoying each others' company. But in the background is the presence of HIV, seen in line seven: “...it had nothing to do with T-cells of hospital beds.” It is a poem from the perspective of one lover in a pair, and their journey together through Amsterdam, on a vacation in the European city. Cordova indirectly describes the two lovers in the poem, calling them birds “trapped in paper cages,” indicating the men are no more than literary characters (4-5). In this poem, Cordova emulates other famous gay poets that have come before him, such as Frank O'Hara. O'Hara was a poet who enjoyed writing poems about places he had never been, and wrote his poems in the NYC area in the 50s and 60s. Cordova also seems to enjoy writing poems in 2^nd person narrative, so it is as if the reader is the subject of the poem, rather than, in the case of this poem, the lover of the narrator. “How you” is repeated at the beginning of four of the seven stanzas in the poem, giving the reader a clear indicator that the poem is meant to be a remembrance of a happy time not marred by HIV-related hardships.

HIV is a common theme in many of Cordova's poems, but in Across the Table, HIV is present only in inference. The meat and potatoes of the poem is a discussion of two people on a date, most likely men, and their discomfort at the souring of the evening. This poem comments on homosexuality and also the want of one person to find someone else that is in a similar position as themselves. In this poem, it is two HIV positive men, glad that they've met each other (1-2). After the initial pleasantries of the date, the narrator of the poem starts to drift into negative thought about the person across the table from them, noting that they (the narrator) is not the one who will call after the date (9). Then, again in inference, HIV is brought up in the line “we both know we have that-what?-that ultimate date,” meaning that even though the two people are on a bad date, there will be a time when they both will have the same date (perhaps with death), no matter if they are together or apart (11-12). The last few lines of the poem shows how the date has fallen apart, using the images of forks and knives “[carrying] on and [doing] the heavy lifting now”to show that the conversation has faltered, the two daters are no longer talking, and forks and knives make the only sound at the table. The narrator has not found the one that they were looking for on the date.

Of Sorts is a prose poem that combines two of the major themes in Cordova's poems. The poem is in 2^nd person narrative, and the first line of the poem, with its reference to a dream diary, gives the reader the perspective that the poem itself is supposed to be a diary entry. The fact that Of Sorts is a prose poem bolsters this assumption. The themes of dreaming and homosexuality are present in this poem, especially when the narrator begins to tell the reader about the dreams they are having. First, the reader is “in the home you've made for yourself,” then “in a home made for you by others” (5, 7). The dreams are an interesting juxtaposition of the realities of being gay and HIV positive and dreaming about moving from home to home, as well as trying to find a place in a world that tries to fit people into boxes based on information. The narrator then continues the juxtaposition of the two themes, saying “with dreams...it's round trip,” meaning that there is a way to come back to reality, and not be too affected by the real world and its notions (11).

Cordova is a poet that is gay, HIV-positive, and Latino, all of which are not highly accepted qualities of people in mainstream American society. However, Cordova is not ashamed of who he is, and his poetry reflects his personality and his life, without regrets or caveats.

Photo courtesy of http://almostdorothy.wordpress.com/

Fictitious Elements of Devil's Highway

When I began reading The Devil's Highway, I knew that the book was creative nonfiction, meaning that Luis Urrea used methods of fiction to write the story. And of course, there is a very valid reason for the use of fiction methods: the main characters in the story, the Yuma 14, were all dead. They all died trying to cross the border into the US by means of a dangerous and deadly desert. When Urrea began to research this book, I'm sure he had to think long and hard how he wanted to present the information to the public.

I want to say that I thought The Devil's Highway way by far the most thought-provoking and terrifying book that we have read in class so far. It is also my favorite book of the class, and I am glad that we had a chance to read it. What I appreciate about the book is the fact that it is creative nonfiction. Rather than write a book loaded with fact and speculative assumptions, Urrea created a story out of the ordeal, one that people on either side of the border could relate to, and one that helps me personally understand and process the story. One of the most effective uses of the writing form is when Urrea describes what most likely happened at a certain point, such as telling the story of a day in the life of a Border Patrol agent, also called La Migra by people who try to cross the border (21-6), or the long journey through the desert from the perspective of the men who tried to cross. Being a writer myself, I think I would be able to get some writing tips from Urrea, although I hope to not have to write about something as sad as the Yuma 14.

I wonder how the men who crossed the desert would react to the book if they had had the chance to read it. Would they like the way Urrea described their lives in the worst moment, their deaths? Or would they think that he did an accurate interpretation of what happened? I know these are unanswerable questions that will forever go in a circle, but it is intriguing to think about. Also, what would the men think of the way Urrea portrays Mendez, the young coyote that took them across the desert? He is cast as a victim himself, who was taken over by the circumstances same as the other men. Personally, I can't make any decisions because I do not know enough about the situation, or the coyote Mendez. Forming opinions on anything that has to do with the Yuma 14 would be entirely based on The Devil's Highway, which tries to even the playing field for everyone.

Reaching Borders

In The Guardians by Ana Castillo, one of the main themes present in the novel is that of family. In Latino culture, family is an important part of life, and therefore is foremost in the novel. One of the main characters, a teachers aide named Regina, is a strong woman taking care of her nephew Gabo, an illegal teenager from Mexico. She is taking care of him because she wants him to succeed in school, and have all the chances in the world to live his life how he wants. But something big, something monumental happens to the aunt and nephew: Rafa, Regina's brother and Gabo's father, never makes it to Regina's house, like he was supposed to (4). He has been missing for a while in the story, never making, it seems, over the imaginary border into the United States. 

The story follows the efforts of Regina, Gabo, Regina's co-worker Miguel, and Miguel's grandfather Milton, as they embark on a journey to find out just what happened to Rafa. What they find is a gruesome picture of the Mexico-USA border, and the realities of life there. All Rafa wanted to do was travel to America to support his family, and instead he had to deal with the coyotes that rule the land. It was because of the coyotes, and their sense of importance that split Regina's family apart forever.

In The Devil's Highway, the coyotes have a greater presence in the lives of the people. Coyotes are people that are paid to take people across the Mexico-USA border illegally. The Devil's Highway was not a fictional novel like The Guardians, but a story based on a true account. In it, men from Mexico follow a young, semi well-intentioned youth into the desert, hoping to provide a better life for them, and their families. The men, known as the Yuma 14 or Wellton 26, went on the journey across the border to try and make money to support their loved ones in Mexico. Unfortunately, it was not to happen for them. Instead, a coyote by the code name Mendez led them deep into the desert called Desolation, where they became lost, disoriented, and many died. All for the purpose of making money for the men who ran the border. 

 

The border between Mexico and the United States is a line, drawn on papers and in actuality has hundreds of miles of fencing and surveillance to keep the people on “the other side” out. But when people come to the United States illegally across the border, it does more than just symbolize a new country: it represents the fact that families are no longer together. There is distance between them, a wall, and the coyotes that split apart families for a profit.

Opinions on the Happenings of 9500 Liberty

For this blog post, I am going to focus on 9500 Liberty, since I believe it gave me a better understanding of immigration than The Guardians did.

I don't even know where to begin. The movie 9500 Liberty is the story of Prince William County in Virginia, and their xenophobia that hit is peak in 2007-8, due to the large number of Latino immigrants that moved to their county for jobs. The people of the county, especially in the city of Manassas, began to become paranoid as to the new faces, and the documentary, which began as a series of Youtube clips, showcased the goings-on of the hatred.

One of the main perpetrators of the xenophobia was a man named Greg Letiecq, who started bvbl, a blog that contains comments of the nasty sort, directed at the so-called “illegal aliens.” With his blog, which is still somehow online, he incited hatred among the residents of the county, and helped push forward the first “probable cause” ordinance that gave the police of the county the right to check the legal status of anyone they believed was not a legal resident of the United States. In other words, Letiecq helped the county of Prince William take away the freedom and safety of the county, and instill fear in its citizens.

The cost of the ordinance was heavy for the county, as many of the Latinos/as, whether they were legal or not, left, and the economy plummeted. One of the main points of the documentary, in my opinion, was to show the after effects of such a controversial piece of legislation. The county was virtually split down the middle: people who supported the ordinance vs. people who vehemently opposed it.

I had a conversation with a fellow student after the movie, and we discussed not only the movie, but the farther reaching implications of what this (the actions of the people of Prince William county) kind of xenophobia is doing to our country. Throughout the movie, the white non-Hispanic citizens of the county continuously called all of the Latinos/as in the county illegal aliens, and some even referred to all of them as illegal Mexicans. This is not as surprising to me as I think it should be. Even around here in Goshen, people call all Latinos/as “Mexican,” and often blame them for the problems and hardships of the county. On a broader scope, in the recent past, Arizona passed SB 1070 which is exactly the same type of legislation that was passed in Prince William: if the police have “probable cause” to ask for legal status, they can. No questions asked. To me, this reeks of racial profiling, and no Latino/a, legal or no, is safe.

Rereading this blog post, I noticed that I am quite a bit negative, and not very forgiving with much of what is happening in our country when it comes to immigration, or Greg Letiecq. There are a few things I want to mention. I don't think that people should come into this country illegally. However, I think that when people do cross the border illegally, they are doing it because they want a better life for their families: how can I be mad at that? If I was in the same situation, I would risk the US government, the coyotes, the desert, and the hardships of life here to provide for my family. That's life, and like one of the men in the movie said, we are all human beings, and we should all be treated like human beings. Equality shouldn't just be for the citizens and residents of the US. It should be liberty and justice for all.