Photo Credit: Africano Fotografia
By Kamren Curiel
One Journey: Stitching Stories Across the Mexican "American" Border was born out of the U.C. Santa Cruz grad's desire to share her experience growing up on the border of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez. The daughter of a maquiladora worker mother, who spent half of her life on factory assembly lines before losing her job after NAFTA passed in 1994, De La Riva witnessed, firsthand, the effects 9-11 had on U.S. immigration policy.
She saw the creation of a 2,000-mile-long wall that separates the U.S. from Mexico, but did more than heighten security; it brought a wave of transnational organized crime, violence and broken families. The cost of passports needed to travel from Juarez to El Paso rose, making it difficult to see family during the holidays.
"Although I have the privilege to be a U.S. citizen, many of the laws that criminalize immigrants in the U.S. enforce racial profiling and make me a suspect simply based on my appearance," she says.
De La Riva, who received a master's degree from NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study in "artivism performance art as a means of cultural resistance," conducted extensive interviews with family and community members along the border before writing the play. One Journey weaves these complex tales with music, dance, poetry and humor in an attempt to humanize the border experience.
She gained experience as an intern in Brazil for the international social change-driven Theater of the Oppressed, which brings people together to rehearse ways of fighting back against oppression. De La Riva toured Rio de Janeiro, addressing women domestic workers and young people's struggle with peer pressure. De La Riva has since taught theatre to young people in California, New York, Mexico and Cuba.
"I'm looking forward to the Latino community demanding immigration reform designed by us which will be inclusive of all marginalized people of this nation and backed by a long-term ideology of justice and respect for human values."
De La Riva will be performing One Journey in 2012 at colleges, universities, organizations and theaters in California, New York and Mexico. Hit up www.onejourneychronicles.com and www.yadiradelariva.com for more information.
Kamren Curiel is a Digital Media Editor at Voto Latino and freelance writer for Remezcla and MTV Iggy. Her column, AMP (Art Music Politics), profiles artists and musicians that are dedicated to a cause.
Follow Voto Latino on Twitter: www.twitter.com/votolatino
Rep. Luis Gutierrez: Immigration, Deportation and States' Rights: What Martha Taught Me
I am not that good of a christian who will turn the other cheek, you push me, I will push back.
If visa's are to expensive, save.
If immigration moves slower than you want, be patient.
When you speak of human values, you make me laugh!
Apparently it's humane to stuff your kids in trunks or false semi-trailor floors.
Apparently it is humane to drag your kids across a blistering desert, with little food or water for the trip.
Maybe you should practice what you preach, or seek.
And you don't give a hoot for the family of the worker you displaced, their American dream should be put on hold so you can pursue it.
So why is it death follows spainard chatholic followers??? for a lie???
Amen-Ra - Egyptian sun god; supreme god of the universe in whom Amen and Ra were
merged; principal deity during Theban supremacy
Egyptian god of vegetation and the dead, both said to be reborn at the winter solstice.
Having experienced death, they returned, each born again of their mother and lover.
Having experienced rebirth, in their mystery cults of antiquity they could promise rebirth
to initiates, a template later borrowed for the promise of the risen Christ.
so you can take your plea for Justice and Bible turn them sideways and shove it straight up that lying
Now let's leave off the dramaturgy and engage in a more realistic dialogue.
Police officer:Excuse me m'am. May I see your ID?
You: here you go, officer.
Police Officer: Thank you ma'm. Have a nice day.
Exit stage left.
This is how to make life simpler for yourself and others and spread positive vibes all around.
There is aboslutely no proof whatsoever for assertion.
--------------Does it ever occur to you that many "marginalized" people in this country are "marginalized" because they have no right to be here, having immigrated illegally. And that in doing so, they drive down the ability of citizens and legal resident to improve their own living conditions? Fact is, since massive immigration, legal and illegal, during the past decade, income inequality in the United States has increased as has the number of people living in poverty. Moreover, in refusing to enforce immigration laws, this government has institutionalized "unequal before the law", i.e. citizens are expected to follow the law and face penalties when they don't, while illegal aliens are not expected to follow ANY law short of murder and face no penalties when they don't.
In many states you will get your kids taken from you if you are homeless, if I stuffed my kids in a trunk and took a road trip, got stopped, and the kids were discovered, what do you think would happen to me and my kids?
If we are Anti-immigrant, you are anti-american.
Don't ask or tell me that I MUST embrace an illegal with the same passion as an immigrant who followed the rules.
If the illegal were an average citizen, you can bet anything that Obama would not have become involved. - The illegal's last words were "long live Mexico." - (Not a Perry fan, but he did right by following TX law, what the people wanted, and denied a stay of execution.)