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El Coraz—n de Tejas Central Texas Chapter of REFORMA |
Meeting Notes
November 14, 2009
Nuevo Leon Restaurant
Austin, Texas
Present: Don Bos,
Melinda Curry, Mary Donley, Oralia Garza de CortŽs, Kelly Linder, Hope
Lochridge, Loriene Roy, Anita Rubarth-Lay
Ą
National Family Literacy – Oralia reported on recent changes to National REFORMAŐs plan
of library advocacy with a family literacy focus. Lucia Gonz‡lez,
president-elect of REFORMA
(previously at Broward County, Florida, and author of The
StorytellerŐs Candle),
and the steering committee of Julie Todaro, Patty Wong, and Mary Jo Venetis,
request that all ethnic caucuses conduct a program in Spring 2010. REFORMA's program will focus on local
storytelling and family literacy. The goal is to have a connection
between school libraries and public libraries and to make a natural transition
into D’a de los Ni–os/D’a de los Libros in April.
Ą Chapter-Sponsored Events – Many possibilities for a family
literacy/storytelling event were discussed including Joe Hayes; native
storytellers; WWII veteransŐ stories; a repeat of last yearŐs elementary school
event at the Mexican-American Cultural Center (MACC) with Carmen Tafolla; the
Big Read sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA); hooking into a
program that is already happening, such as Read Across America at Metz
Elementary School; Teresa Paloma Acosta (Texas womenŐs stories); the story of
Pvt. LongoriaŐs family not being able to bury him in the Three Rivers, Texas,
funeral home; San Diego veterans; and a retired Texas legislator promoting
literacy in the Valley.
There was discussion of local
elementary school students collecting family stories. DonŐs school, Metz
Elementary, does a lot of cultural work (even honored by the History Channel),
and Sanchez Elementary would be another possibility for a storytelling project.
Loriene mentioned that Charlie
Gonz‡lez and Domino PŽrez (director of Center for Mexican American Studies at
UT Austin), could be sources of information. Loriene could suggest the
family literacy project to an i-School student for a capstone project.
Anita thinks that Martin Middle
School, where she is the librarian, would be a great place to host a Noche de
Cuentos. There is a 7th grade writing focus in place at
Martin, and the theater teacher wants to do more cultural-related
programs. There is also a new family resource center at the school, and
the director, Norma Maldonado, could be helpful. Anita and Joanna Nigrelli
have wanted to collaborate, so this might be the perfect chance to do so.
Ellen Thibodeaux, the new librarian at Eastside Memorial High School, might
also be interested in working on the project.
New Business
The following motion was made,
seconded, discussed, and passed:
The Coraz—n de Tejas chater will participate in the Family Literacy
Advocacy Initiative aligned with the ALA program by holding from one to three
events. We will set up a committee
to work on this. Don, Anita,
Oralia, and Melinda were interested in serving on the committee; it is assumed
that Joanna Nigrelli will be, too.
LorieneŐs capstone student may want to work with Anita.
A second motion: We will continue the program at the
MACC for elementary school children with author(s) for D’a de los Ni–os / D’a
de los Libros. The motion was seconded,
discussed, and passed. Don
reiterated the success of last yearŐs event with over 500 children from Sanchez
and Metz elementary schools seeing author Carmen Tafolla at the MACC last. Money will be needed again for
transportation. We hope that the
2010 event will include each child receiving a book, something that was assumed
last year but did not happen.
The third motion, also seconded,
discussed, and passed, involved our chapter serving as a partner for the
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grant Proposal Honored
Generations. This will involve Native
American students attending the UT i-School.
D’a de los Ni–os / D’a de los Libros – Oralia let us know that the Austin
Public Library will be reorganizing this April event. REFORMA hopes to continue its participation.
Book Sharing - Loriene shared Jimmy Santiago BacaŐs
book A Glass of Water, and Mary told us about Michele JaffeŐs books with a biracial teen as
the heroine and with middle class characters.
Author Visit – Author
Javier Garza (Lucha Libre: The
Man in the Silver Mask: A
Bilingual Cuento)
will visit Metz and Sanchez elementary schools on December 4.
Bob Bullock Museum - Loriene told us that there are two
new people in the education department at the Bob Bullock Museum. One thousand children visit the museum
every day.
Operation Teen Book Drop - Loriene
also reported on this event scheduled for April 15 that three UT students are
working on. The goal is to
distribute 8000-10,000 books to teens attending tribal schools. At current count, 33 schools with 6500
students will be involved.
Future Chapter Meetings - The next meeting will be:
Saturday, December 12
11:00 a.m.
Terrazas Branch Library
1105 East CŽsar Ch‡vez Street
Austin, TX 78702
512-974-3625