Day 6
My day began today with a jolt, when I realized I had slept past the street cleaning start time where my rental car was parked. I ran out of the apartment where I was staying and managed to repark before being ticketed. Phew!
Walking back I noticed this mural on the side of the Museo de la Raza building. The word 'undocuqueer', a blend of 'undocumented' and 'queer' really struck me. Although 'queer' is a all-inclusive LGBT word in my vernacular, I have not heard it used in Latino circles, where gay, lesbian and bisexual are more often used. Also, despite the large numbers of undocumented workers where I teach, I have never seen advertising specifically geared to this group. A docent at the Museo de la Raza explained to me that the work is part of a digital mural project at the museum and was painted by Julio Sagrado. Sagrado makes his murals using photos of people and this particular mural is to raise awareness about undocumented teens seeking higher education. These teens are at times referred to as DREAMers (as per the DREAM act) and Sagrado was once one of them.
Further down mission, I stumbled upon Accion Latina: El Tecolote and spoke to a man setting up a newspaper stnad in front of the building. El Tecolote is a bilingual newspaper that has been reporting on the Mission since 1970. Reading through a copy of the paper, I saw stories on eviction, immigration, cultural events, as well as news from Latin America. The paper is also available online at eltecolote.org. The online format also has stories in both languages with an 'ES' and an 'EN' button next to each so that you can switch languages. This seems like an interesting idea for disseminating digital multi-lingual information on my school's website.
The last organization I stopped at today was Precita Eyes Muralists Association (PEMA) which serves many functions surrounding mural art. Primarily, it supports muralists who are creating art in the Mission. They also act as a supply store, mural tour location, and educational outreach organization. PEMA believes greatly in the strength of murals as a way to convey information, build community, and allow people to reflect on their own joys and sorrows. By working with Bay Area youth, they hope to support students in their identity formation process so that they feel pride and understanding of themselves and their communities.
The woman working at PEMA today animatedly told me about the organization and gave me a plethora of flyers including a self-guided tour map. I plan to walk around tomorrow and take a tour of what the mission has to offer. When hearing I was a high school teacher, she insisted on showing me some of the ways that I could bring mural art into my classroom. One such examples was a certain type of paper that allows students to paint images in the classroom and then affix them to walls to make a mural. She said that in her experience students of all ages get really excited about learning about mural art and creating their own murals. I wonder if I could make that happen in Sunset. So inspiring!
The woman working at PEMA today animatedly told me about the organization and gave me a plethora of flyers including a self-guided tour map. I plan to walk around tomorrow and take a tour of what the mission has to offer. When hearing I was a high school teacher, she insisted on showing me some of the ways that I could bring mural art into my classroom. One such examples was a certain type of paper that allows students to paint images in the classroom and then affix them to walls to make a mural. She said that in her experience students of all ages get really excited about learning about mural art and creating their own murals. I wonder if I could make that happen in Sunset. So inspiring!