Who knows what happened? I lost my template and the genius of Michael Verdi is trying to get it back from cyberspace. If he can't get it back then I'll have to redesign, well, it's the New Year, that's what it's about, verdad? p.s. This is me, before the renovation.

Watch the video At the Media Reform Conference in Memphis, Tennesse, Bill Moyers, the nation's premier journalist, spoke out forcefully about how Big Media has hijacked democracy, and how we have to take it back. Three thousand media advocates from all over the country are organizing, networking, and challenging the power of Big Media. Besides Moyers, the speakers include Jesse Jackson, Danny Glover, Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!, Geena Davis, Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich, and Jane Fonda, among many others. Introduction by Nadia Benitez of the 411 Show, San Antonio, Texas

Thirteen of us from San Antonio, meeting up with Bill Moyers, Jesse Jackson, Phil Donahue, Jennifer Pozner, Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! along with thousands of people from around the country are here in Memphis, Tennesse to challenge the power of Big Media to tell our story. It's called the National Conference for Media Reform and let me tell you, it's not a typical journalism conference. There are no corporations here, is that wild or what? No fancy lunches, no corporate freebies. There are only people like us, people from the inner-city, people who write about immigrants, the prison industry, the housing projects, the Katrina evacuees, disabled people, farmworkers, feminists, all media reform advocates. I heard Danny Glover this morning, Bill Moyers, Jesse Jackson and Phil Donohue. They spoke about democracy and how the corporate-owned media is killing it by censoring opposing voices, denying a truly diverse media, and by monopolizing the true stor...

Aida Marroquin, 56 years old, was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and like many of this generation, she was born at home with an attending midwife. She's a professional woman, recently married to a mexicano , Jose Luis Padilla, living here in San Antonio, Texas. Aida tried to do the right thing last Friday, January 5th, by visiting the U.S. Consulate in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, seeking legal residency for Jose Luis under the new immigration laws. Instead, she was forced to leave her husband behind in Juarez, as her own American citizenship was threatened. What happened to her can happen to all of us. We know the horror stories about families being separated without regard to unification, employment, good standing, doesn't matter - under the post 9/11 immigration laws that use the fear of terrorists to keep Mexicans out of the country. Aida just didn't believe that the War on Terror could apply to her. How? After the U.S. Consulate questioned her Mexican-bor...

Centro Cultural Aztlan is in my neighborhood of San Antonio, led by Malena Gonzalez-Cid, who is from the barrio , dances a mean polka, known as an advocate for all things Chicana/o. So why did she censure this painting by Anna-marie Lopez for their recent Guadalupana show? And why am I, a Chicana, questioning her decision? Because if we are ever going to take over this country, and one day we will, then we have to lead by inclusion, practicing the rights denied us for so long. I'm talking about the First Amendment. Yes, they have more money and the big museums and everything else. And yes, the alternative, The San Antonio Current, broke this story, and sensationalizes, panders, snubs, etc.etc.etc. There are no Latinas/Chicanas who are running the newspaper, public radio, public television, the Current , you get the picture, in a city that has more brown women than anyone else. They're afraid of us. We know that. But we have La Virgen the Guadalupe . And everytime sh...

Ok, so it's January 1st and I'm inspired by the powerful Virgen painting (previous blog), and who am I to disobey her... I believe in New Year's Resolutions, they work if you aim deep, not high. So, without miedo or mierda, here they are: 1. Find the words to write about how fat San Antonio is in a way that doesn't get people defensive. I'm lucky, my father raised me to be athletic and discouraged me from finishing my plate. My ex-husband studied nutrition, and explained how to beat-back fat and sugar addictions, how much more we have to exercise as we get older, and how to eat lots and lots of fresh vegetables. But this is easy to say, hard to do. The first thing people tell me when they visit here from out-of-town or out of the country is why is everybody so fat? It hurts so much because I know how spiritually, culturally and physically beautiful we really are. 2. Find the words to write about how our cultura, like the Fiesta one in the photo, whic...