Monthly Archives: March 2020

El Dia De Los Muertos Altar / Exhibition, November, 2014

Exhibits and Events, Work
I designed this year’s altar. Jennifer Eschedor loaned us her quilt, titled, “The Unknowns” for the occasion.

This year’s altar focused on honoring people how had died in 2015, including actors, musicians, writers and other prominent Americans, such as Pete Seeger, Maya Angelou, Lou Reed, Lauren Bacall, Carlos Fuentes and others. Jennifer Eschedor, a local educator and artist, also loaned her quilt, honoring those who had died while trying to cross the desert, to Special Collections, for display alongside the altar.

Here’s the promo I wrote for the altar:

Dia De Los Muerto Altar at Special Collections

The staff of Special Collections are once again setting up a “Dia De Los Muertos” altar in the Special Collections exhibit gallery. There are several ways you can participate. You are welcome to  bring a photo of a departed loved one to place on the altar anytime from now until November  7.   You can also join  the procession that will take place at noon on Monday November 3. Led by a group of visiting teachers from Mexico, it will start at Special Collections and finish at the Cesar Chavez Building. “Pan de muerto” (Day of the Day bread) and hot chocolate  will be served . Talks about the significance of “El Dia De Los Muertos” will also be  presented by our guests from Mexico. Everyone is welcome!

“The Unknowns” by Jennifer Eschedor.

ABOUT THE QUILT:

This quilt, titled The Unknowns, was made to commemorate the people who lost their lives while attempting to cross the US/Mexican border during fiscal year 2012-2013 as they were seeking a better life for themselves and their families.  An organization called Los Desconicidos, founded by Jody Ipsen, seeks individuals and groups to use migrant clothing to create a quilt to honor those who have died during each fiscal year since 2000.  I found the names and causes of death on a website provided by the Coalition de Derechos Humanos.  My purpose for creating this quilt was to increase awareness of the horrors that continue at our border.  The skull image has become a pop symbol, yet it is used here to hopefully confront viewers with the outrageous number of deaths (183) that occurred during one year.  The skull, gun and hammer images were carved out of linoleum and printed individually on cloth.  I wanted to give a graphic illustration of the cause of deaths.  In the extremes of the desert environment, many bodies are found so decomposed that the cause of death, and even gender can not be determined.   Working with jeans that were actually worn by the migrants made me feel a strong connection to them as real people….I couldn’t help but imagine the families they left behind. 

I received a BFA from Kent State University in Studio Art with a focus in textiles.  After teaching art in public schools in Pittsburgh, PA for a few years, I grew tired of the gray skies and moved out to Tucson in 1999 to attend the University of Arizona.  In 2000, I earned my MA in Art Education and have taught in a variety of situations, both public and private in Tucson.  Currently, I enjoy working in mixed media.

Jennifer Eschedor

A close up of this year’s altar, honoring those who had passed on in 2015.
Visitors

“Latin America”, in MAGAZINES FOR LIBRARIES, 8th Edition / Publication (1995)

Published writing, Work, , ,

Latin America

I led the way on the publication of this chapter on magazines and journals about Latin America and Latinos for the reference publication, Magazines for Libraries, edited by Bill Katz. Work on the project started in 1994. I recruited several colleagues, including Susan Husband, Tom Marshall, Patricia Promis and Theresa Salazar to help with the project. Mr. Katz, a legend in the field of Library Science, was quite happy with the end result, as the following letter attests:

SPEC Kit 230: Affirmative Action in ARL Libraries / Publication (1998)

Published writing, Work,

I co-authored this with Jennalyn Tellman. The purpose of SPEC (Systems and Procedures Exchange Centers) Kits is to focus on a “hot topic” and gather policy statements, guidelines and other kinds of documentation from various academic libraries so that those studying or formulating their own practices have some guidance and resources at their fingertips. The role of the authors is to write a summary of the issues involved in the topic and to select documents for inclusion that reflect best practice. Institutions represented in this document include: The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Brown University, Columbia University, The University of Michigan, the University of New Mexico, Ohio State University, Rutgers University, and The State University of New York at Albany.

Instruction in a Multicultural-Multiracial Environment / Workshop Presentation (1997)

Presentations, Lectures, and Resource Guides, Work,

This was a workshop that I co-presented with Karen Downing at the 1997 ACRL Learning to Teach Preconference, held in Berkeley, CA, June 27, 1997. It was based off the chapter that Karen and I had published back in 1993 in the publication, Learning to Teach: Workshops on Instruction.

See the chapter “Instruction in a Multicultural/Multiracial Environment” from the above publication here.