Things to know up front:
You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Click the back arrow key to return to the post.
Every chapter in My Life Story includes information about me, my work, my family and my friends. It also includes information about events that took place locally and nationally, etc. that I thought important enough to include. You’ll also find that I’ve included films, musicians and recordings/videos, in addition to books that were released in a given year.
While I have included many personal photos, most of the graphic content included below is borrowed from the Internet. I do not claim to own this material. I am just adding it for educational purposes. If the owners of any of the content in the “My Life Story” series want their material removed, I am happy to oblige. My email address is jrdiaz@arizona.edu. Thanks!
A quick overview of 1997:
Ruben and I celebrated four years together at the end of February, 1997. We had bought a car in ’94 and a house in ’95, on which we worked steadily to improve. Ruben was working at Supercuts, and I was still at the UA Library entering my fifth year there. By this time, our relationship had its share of challenges, but we worked things out as time went on. I traveled a lot this year, to Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Ogden, Utah, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago. The cost of these trips, plus our spending on the house and our buying habits (home furnishings, movies, books, cds, postcards, etc) got us into debt and we had to get help with it. It would take a while, but we did eventually bring the debt way down. I applied for continuing status this year and it was granted the following year. I also applied for another job with the American Library Association in Chicago, but it was offered to someone else.
My job at the library kept me busy and my many service and scholarship activities added to the workload. In addition to juggling my three main areas of work–staff development, diversity and recruitment–the Dean asked me to coordinate the work of two visiting librarians from Saudi Arabia this particular year. I also worked with the staff development advisory group, provided funding for workshops on technology and other topics, served on the change management support group and coordinated library-wide training with various consultants. I worked with Library Diversity Council and the University of Arizona Diversity Action Council, was a member of the Arizona Association of Chicanos in Higher Education–AACHE (secretary) and president elect of the local chapter of REFORMA, The National Association for Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking. I also served on Library Cabinet and was an active participant on the Library Support Team. I compiled an affirmative action report and worked on two publication projects, one with my colleague Chestalene Pintozzi, and the other with several other colleagues for the publication, “Magazines for Libraries”.. This is also the year I started doing workshops for librarians and the public on Latin music. Getting involved with this work was the best thing that could have happened to me. It was a way to share my love of music with the rest of the world, and it was a change of pace, different from my day to day work at the Library. I could use my creativity when putting these workshops together, and I really needed that in my life at the time.
At home, Ruben and I continued to fill our house with furnishings. We bought more antiques, including a dresser and a china cabinet. We also spent lots of money on postcards, books, cds, and movies. I focused mostly on buying Mexican music and jazz. My book purchases included stuff on Chicano Studies and leftist politics. I also found some high school yearbooks from the Sixties. Our postcard collection includes the cities of Tucson, Guadalajara and Mexico City, plus other places in Arizona and elsewhere. I still have receipts for most, if not all of this stuff.
January 15: I turn 38 years old.
Bill Clinton is inaugurated as our 42nd President on January 20, 1997.
January 25, 1997: Ken Frazier presentation at the UA Library
January 25: I coordinated a visit and talk by the University of Wisconsin at Madison Library director Ken Frazier, known in the library profession as “a passionate and expert spokesperson for the library community on issues related to the digital library, scholarly communication and intellectual property”. His most notable activity was being the inspiration and guidance for the launching and development of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an academic library group that formed to, among other things, challenge the rising costs of academic journals.
February 14-17, 1997: American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Conference, Washington, DC.
Attending this conference was a lot of fun. It was my first time in Washington DC. I went to lunch at the New Big Wong Chinese restaurant in China Town with Karen and Linda, and also had Thai food one evening. I stayed at a place called the Governors mansion, but the bathroom was too small, so I moved to the Holiday Inn. I saw the Jewels of the Romanovs exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery and partied at the gay bars in Dupont Circle, and had a lot of fun. I’m not sure if I hung out with my friend Richard DiRusso or not this time around. I ate at a restaurant called “Annie’s” in Dupont Circle twice. I was involved with the LAMA Diversity committee and started work on the LAMA Diversity Officers discussion group.
Bewitched!
Appointment to the ALA Minority Concerns and Cultural Diversity Committee, Spring 1997
Paul McCartney knighted on March 11, 1997.
A memorial service on March 14, 1997 in memory of Shizuko Radbill, a UA Library colleague who passed away on August 30, 1996
The film, Selena, starring Jennifer Lopez, is released on March 21, 1997
April 1-April 6, 1997: Vacation with Ruben in Los Angeles
Ruben and I went to Los Angeles and stayed in a Best Western hotel near Burbank. We did a lot of stuff, including driving to Long Beach to see the Queen Mary, going to Hollywood, Olvera Street in downtown LA, and to the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park.
Allen Ginsberg June 3, 1927-April 5, 1997
Laura Nyro October 18, 1947-April 8, 1997
April 11-April 14, 1997: The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 8th National Conference in Nashville Tennessee
Carla Stoffle coordinated this year’s conference, and our staff were everywhere, helping out and giving presentations. I gave a presentation and moderated a session too. Some of my friends from the University of Michigan were there, and it was nice to see them again. This was a fun trip. I went to the Grand Ole Opry museum and bought cassettes at the Ernest Tubb record shop. I also heard Cornel West speak. I asked him to talk about Allen Ginsberg and what he thought of the Allen Ginsberg poem where he says “America will die”. He was very eloquent in his response. Afterwards, I went with a bunch of people, including my good friend Doreen, to a restaurant called the Royal Thai, and made the mistake of ordering very hot soup that ruined my evening. My mouth burned for hours. I also went to the Wild Horse Saloon and partied with all my colleagues. I didn’t want to learn how to learn country two stepping, but the instructor chased me all over the place until he caught me and made me try to learn. I was hopeless.
“Social Equity and Empowerment in the Age of Technology,” presentation given at the Association of College and Research Libraries conference, April 12, 1997. Nashville, TN.
This was my second presentation on this topic, and I did a lot better at delivering it. However, I failed to include my footnotes and citations, which wasn’t good. Again, I was out of my element with this stuff. It was a hot topic and I argued that communities of color were going to fall further behind with the new technologies because of lack of access to key elements of the infrastructure
Ellen Comes out, Time Magazine, April 14, 1997.
A New ALA LAMA Assignment: Chair of the LAMA Diversity Officers Discussion Group
Juan Gabriel and Rocio Durcal, Juntos Otra Vez, released on 4-29-97.
The film, Austin Powers, is released on May 2, 1997.
May 12, 1997–Tornado strikes Miami, Fla.
“Musica Latina”, presentation on collection development strategies for Latin music, co-presented with Benjamin Ocon at the 1997 Utah Library Association Conference, Ogden, UT, May 15, 1997.
Musica Latina workshop at the Utah Library Association. Presentation given with Ben Ocon. He invited me. We were a big hit. We both did a lot of preparation, coming up with genres, major artists and recordings, places to buy music, history of various genres, etc. This was the first time I ever gave this workshop, and I repeated it solo in the Fall at the Tucson Pima County Library at the Sam Lena Branch. Ramona Grijalva invited me. Ogden was a trip. At the time, there were a lot of Mexicanos in the downtown area. I met a guy at one of the bars and he and I partied together. Ben was great to me. We had dinner together. He was such a gentle guy.
Doing this program was a breakthrough milestone in my professional life. After 10 years of doing unfulfilling work as an academic librarian, I finally found something that I loved doing. I’d been involved with music in one form or another since I was a child, but in the past 10 years all I had done was steadily build my personal record collection. I also read a lot about music. I was now ready to share my knowledge and budding expertise with the rest of the world. Helping other librarians learn about Latin music so that they could build Latin music collections at their own libraries became my passion and mission. Ben and I worked together two more times in subsequent years, and each time, we were a big hit. He was such a wonderful man. I’m very sad that we lost touch with each other.
John Fogerty, Blue Moon Swamp, released on 5-20-97.
My baby sister Jennifer was born on May 22, 1997. The photo below was taken at her baptism ceremony. Pictured are my aunt Carmen, my Dad, his wife Lupe, Jennifer and my aunt Helen.
June 26 to July 1, 1997: American Library Association Annual Conference, San Francisco.
I stayed at two different hotels near Union Squarr and went to Berkeley for the second time. Th first time was with my cousin Susie to a concert to see Jean Luc Ponty. I shopped at a couple of record stores when I was there. I’m not exactly sure what I did when in San Francisco this time around. I have a feeling this was the trip where I had a lot of fun at the Pride festival. I also spent time away from the conference at Fisherman’s Wharf and I remember getting too much sun. I visited some of the bars in the area north of Union Square too, but don’t remember a lot more than that.
Karen Downing and I wrote a chapter for a book called “Learning To Teach” and it was published in 1993 or 1994. The ACRL Instruction section folks asked us to present the workshop as an ALA Pre-Conference in Berkeley. We did fine.
Completion of my term on the LAMA Cultural Diversity Committee
Eduardo Ortega Rascon, February 8, 1926-July 8, 1997
July 14, 1997: Application for Continuing Status and Promotion
I submitted my packet for continuing status in mid-July. This included an updated curriculum vitae and a candidate’s statement that outlined my accomplishments over the past five years. The process involved soliciting evaluation letters from colleagues from around the country who knew of my work and had the qualifications to evaluate it, a review of my accomplishments by a committee of fellow librarians, and a review by my supervisor, Carla Stoffle, who was also the Dean of the Library. Her recommendation then went to the President’s office where a final determination was made. I was granted continuing status the following year. This meant, essentially, that I had a job for life, unless there was a financial emergency or some other event or action on my part that gave the State the authority to dismiss me from my job. Even though I had my share of conflicts over the years, I’m still employed with the University. I will celebrate 33 years on the job in June, 2025.
Dwight Yoakum: Under the Covers, released on July 15, 1997
Woolworth’s Closes for Good
Rest in peace, Lady Di… July 1, 1961-August 31, 1997
Mother Theresa August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997
Alejandro Fernandez, Me Estoy Enamorando, released on 9-23-97.
This project was a big change of pace for Alejandro Fernandez. He paired up with Gloria Estefan and other Miami-based musicians to produce a lush, romantic recording that melts one’s heartstrings. His duet, En El Jardin, with Ms. Estefan was a huge hit.
Joan Baez, Gone From Danger, released on 9-23-97.
“Musica Latina” / Presentation, September 27, 1997. An overview of Latin music, given at Tucson Pima Public Library Sam Lena Branch.
Ramona Grijalva invited me to do this workshop at her library in South Tucson. She had recently received a monster cd player as part of Musica Para Todos a program sponsored by REFORMA and Columbia House, and I learned how to program it and used it in my session. There weren’t a lot of attendees, but it was a fun event. Raul Grijalva, Ramona’s husband, was there.He enjoyed it a lot.
Read more about the Musica Para Todos Program here.
John Denver, December 31, 1943-October 12, 1997
October 15-19, 1997: Two Diversity Conferences in Miami, FLA.
This was my second trip to the Miami area. The UA Diversity Council sent me to represent them at a joint conference on diversity in higher education. This time around I stayed at the Occidental Hotel on 4th St in downtown Miami. I visited Calle 8, and had Ropa Vieja at a Brazilian dinner buffet. I’m not sure if I partied or not. I may have. I shopped at Casino Records, Sam Goody and CD Solutions and bought over $100 worth of cds and other recordings. I also bought a statuette of a Cuban chanteuse. I think I did go to Miami Beach one night. Not sure what I did there, but I have no memories of anything particularly bad happening.
10/19-10/21, 1997: Job Interview in Chicago
This was a quick trip. I applied for a job as head of the ALA Office of Personnel. Did not get the job. I asked for too much money, and didn’t like Mary Ghikas the operations manager at ALA. She was pretty much in charge of the whole place and we just didn’t click.. I stayed at a nice hotel on Rush St. I think. Shopped for music at different stores. I’m not sure if I made it up to Halsted St. area. I don’t think I had time.
Diversity and Social Responsibility in Librarianship / Presentation, October 29, 1997. Guest lecture given in Carla Stoffle’s Library Science class.
I did research on this topic specifically for this class. It was my first effort. Carla invited me back again, so I must have done pretty well.
11-6-97: AZLA Annual Conference, Phoenix, AZ
I took our Saudi intern, Turki, with me to Phoenix to the AZLA conference. This was just a one day trip. He was nice, but a female colleague told me he had harassed her, so I was wary of him. He was very traditionally Arabic. He even tried to get me to convert to Islam on our drive home from Phoenix. He was persistent, but I didn’t budge. I’ve never been attracted to the Muslim faith. I don’t like how women are treated in this particular culture/religion.
Program: The Future of the Book with Dr. Geoffrey Nunberg, December 4, 1997.
To: All Staff, Students and Faculty
The University of Arizona Library cordially invites you to a presentation entitled THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK on Thursday, December 4 from 2 to 5pm in Room A313/314 of the UA Main Library. Our featured speaker is Dr. Geoffrey Nunberg, principal scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and Consulting Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. Dr Nunberg is also the editor of the “The Future of the Book”, a new publication that addresses the various issues related to technology, libraries and scholarly communication.
Following Dr. Nunberg’s presentation, which will focus specifically on how technology is radically transforming the way scholarly communication and public discourse take place, Steven Bosch and Chestalene Pintozzi, two University of Arizona library faculty members, will offer their reactions to his presentation by comparing and contrasting how scholarly communication occurs within the sciences and humanities. Audience participation is also encouraged.
For more information on the future of the book, visit Dr. Nunberg’s website at:
http://www.parc.xerox.com/nunberg
This event is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served.
Christmas, 1997
Ruben and I received many Christmas cards, but most of them weren’t dated, so I don’t know for sure which ones were from 1997. Here are two that I know for sure I received this particular year.
