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 were significant to me personally, and 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 stuff removed, I am happy to oblige. My email address is jrdiaz@arizona.edu. Thanks!
Introduction
1998 was one of my busiest and most productive years. My partner and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in late February, and while we continued to experience many challenges, we stuck it out and held on, not giving up on each other. We continued to work on improving our home as much as we could. We planted bougainvilleas and had a fence put up in our back yard, and we did routine maintenance on a regular basis. We didn’t have air conditioning, so we had to be sure our swamp cooler worked. The heat in our little house could be unbearable at times during the hot summer months, especially during the rainy season. We spent tons of money collecting postcards, books and music recordings too. Our postcard collection grew and grew. We focused mostly on collecting postcards from Tucson, Detroit, Mexico City and Guadalajara. There were many more antique stores in Tucson in 1998 than there are now, that’s for sure, so we had a lot of places to buy from. We spent a lot of money, and were in quite a bit of debt, but we managed to keep going. Within a year we would be buying another vehicle and moving into a new home.
I traveled a lot, published, gave presentations, served on a variety of local and national committees, and worked my tail off at the Library. I coordinated our staff development, diversity and new staff orientation programs, and was the work team leader for the Library’s human resources team, something that was a real stretch for me, a very challenging assignment that eventually wore me down. I was also granted continuing status (tenure), which was one of the biggest milestones of my career.
Here is a list of my commitments involving serving on committees from the local level to the national level. In hindsight, it was way too much work. I should have said no more than I did.
1998 Committee memberships:
- 1998-2003: Tucson Pima Public Library Board, member and president (2002-2003).
- 1998-2000: UA Library Strategic Long Range Planning Team, member.
- 1998-2000: UA EEO/AA Office RISE Planning Committee, member.
- 1998-1999: ALA Council Committee on Minority Concerns and Cultural Diversity, member and chair.
- 1998: UA Library LFA Salary Issues Task Force, member.
- 1998: FAST executive assistant selection committee, member.
- 1997-1999: Library Administration and Management Association Diversity Officers Discussion group, chair.
- 1997-1998: UA Library Staff Environment Action plan team, chair.
- 1997-1998: UA Library LFA liaison to SGA, representative.
- 1997-1998: Change Management Support Team, member.
- 1997-1998: AACHE UA Chapter, vice president, president.
- 1997-1998: REFORMA Tucson chapter, secretary. (elected position).
- 1995-1998: UA Diversity Action Council, member.
- 1994-1998: Library Administration and Management Association Diversity Committee, member.
ALA Midwinter
From 1/9-1/14, 1998, I attended the ALA Midwinter conference in New Orleans. I had been there a few years earlier. This time, I stayed with my friend who I had worked with when I was at Michgian, Doreen Simonsen. A colleague of mine from the UA Library, Soo Young So, also stayed with her. Doreen was very gracious. She lived on Penniston Street just outside the Garden District, and she let Soo Young and I stay with her at no charge. I had a great time on this trip. I don’t really remember the conference all that much, but I do remember having a lot of fun. I enjoyed going to all the gay bars in the French Quarter and seeing live music performed everywhere. I also loved shopping at all the bookstores and record stores. I came back home with a bunch of new treasures.
One sad thing that occurred, however, was that Cass Hartnett, another former colleague of mine from the University of Michigan Library, informed me that one of my dearest friends had died the previous year. Mike Robbins was his name, and he loved girl group music and Hollywood trivia. We got a long wonderfully, and I really missed him when I moved back to Tucson. Hearing about his death was a big shock, and I clearly remember wandering the streets of the French Quarter sobbing, with tears flowing down my cheeks the night I was told of his passing. He died of cancer. RIP, Mike.
My Birthday
I turned 39 on January 15. I still enjoyed going out and partying. Ruben and I had a lot of fun together. It would take a long time before I slowed down.
Continuing Status and Promotion
I applied for promotion and continuing status in 1997, but the process takes almost a whole year. My application would have to be reviewed by a peer review committee as well as outside “referees”, and then the Dean would have to write a letter of recommendation. Here’s her letter to me informing me that she is recommending to the University administration that I be retained and granted continuing status. What a relief!
REFORMA Presidency
2-2-98: I ran for president of REFORMA, the National Association for the Promotion of Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. My candidate’s letter follows. I later ended up losing the election by just a few votes. I didn’t take it well. None of my colleagues showed any empathy towards me after it was announced that someone else won. They were very cold and I felt shunned. A simple “thanks for running, Bob”, would have sufficed. This was the beginning of a low point in my career that would last almost two years. I was not very happy, even though I was soon granted continuing status and promotion.
(click text to enlarge).
2-7-98: My niece Anadine gets married.
Anadine is my sister Irene’s youngest daughter. I grew up with her and her sisters Belisa and Michelle. We were very close. Ana Banana, as we all called her, married a guy named Peter Lopez. I worked with one of his sisters at Fry’s. Peter and Ana had two children (Jonas and Josephine) together, but they later divorced.
1998-2-19–Two years after presenting it, a paper gets published…
Shelley Phipps and I tried our best to give our presentation at the Finding Common Ground Conference at Harvard, but the presenters who were scheduled before us went way past their allotted time, leaving us with just a few minutes to do our program. It was a very unpleasant experience, unfortunately. I was glad when this publication finally came out so that those interested in what we were doing at Arizona could finally get a good understanding of our work.
March 24, 1998: Appointment to the Tucson Pima Public Library Board
Raul Grijalva, who was on the Board of Supervisors, appointed me as his district’s representative to the Tucson Pima Public Library Board. At the time, the City of Tucson managed the library system, but the county provided the bulk of the funding for running it. The Library administrators, who were City employees, rarely consulted the County about strategic priorities for the Library system. At one point, I let Mr. Grijalva know what the director was planning to do, (pour more money into improving facilities everywhere but in the Mexican American neighborhoods) and he overrode her decision and used the County funds to build the Quincie-Douglas branch, located in one of the more distressed areas of town, instead. Later, during my tenure as chair in 2003, I forced the director to deal directly with the Board of Supervisors by inviting them to one of the Library Board meetings to discuss priorities and funding. This had never happened before. All the City staff ever did was talk smack about the County and its lack of “efficiency and professionalism”. From that point on, however, things changed, and the County soon took over running the library system. The Library director shortly thereafter retired. I heard later that I drove her crazy and that her secretary also retired because I was such a troublemaker. Ha ha ha. It warms my heart.
More passings…
1998-4-28: I was promoted to Associate Librarian with Continuing Status.
Diversity programming in the Library…
This is an example of the kind of programming the Diversity Council and I worked on. There were several Filipino-American staff members who contributed to this project. It was a fun event! Click on the text below to see a more complete description of the program.
A Philippine Festival and Potluck Party Program and Exhibition. June 12, 1998. UA Main Library.
6/24-7/1, 1998: The American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington DC.
I attended ALA Annual in Washington, DC in late June. The weather was hot and humid, which is not my favorite. In fact, I can’t stand it. This was my second visit, and in spite of the weather, it was a memorable experience. I attended incoming ALA President Ann Symons’ presidential inauguration at the Library of Congress reading room. It was spectacular. The Capitol Steps, a comedy performance troupe who specialized in political satire, performed. I also presented a poster session at the first ALA Diversity Fair, and co-presented another one on retention of faculty of color in an academic library. I also managed to have a lot of fun in the Dupont Circle area, a neighborhood filled with gay bars, record stores and bookstores. It was also at this conference that I learned that I had lost the REFORMA election. As I’ve noted, I didn’t take it too well. In hindsight, I should have been in better control of my emotions. It wasn’t the end of the world, and I was overloaded with other work as it was.
Social events at ALA…
Another publication…
SPEC Kits are compilations of policy documents gathered from libraries across the country to illustrate best practices in specific areas. The topics all vary, of course. I collaborated with my colleague Jen Tellman on this one. DeEtta Jones didn’t contribute a lot, but was added to the authors list by ARL at the last minute, since she contributed to editing our summary document.
UA Diversity Action Council Work
I enjoyed serving on the Diversity Action Council. It gave me the opportunity to meet colleagues from across campus who were committed to promoting diversity. I was also given the opportunity to travel to a couple of diversity-related conferences, one in Seattle and the other in Miami. My term ended this year.
8/7-8/8, 1998: Activate Conference in Phoenix.
This was first statewide event that I attended as a member of the Board of the Tucson Pima Public Library. The purpose of the event was to bring together museum and library supporters and professionals, elected officials and members of the public to discuss issues such as funding, the impact of technology and the need to provide equal access, as well as the changing roles of our libraries and museums.
August 12, 1998: A Postcard from my friend Doreen….
August 20, 1998: A Postcard from Chestalene and Doug…
September 1, 1998: A thank you card from Richard and Emily…
Valentin Diaz, March 11, 1917-September 3, 1998
Uncle Val died on 9/3/1998. I went to his funeral in Needles. See Happy Birthday, Uncle Val! (03/11/1917)
Matthew Shepard killed. 10/12/98
Matthew Wayne Shepard was an American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on October 6, 1998. He was transported by rescuers to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he died six days later from severe head injuries sustained during the attack.–Wikipedia
October 12, 1998
Matthew Shepard, victim of anti‑gay hate crime, dies
University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard dies after a vicious anti-gay attack. After meeting Shepard in a Laramie, Wyoming, gay bar, The Fireside Lounge, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lured him to the parking lot, where he was beaten and robbed.
The two attackers then took Shepard, 21 years old and weighing just over 100 pounds, to a remote spot outside of town and tied his naked body to a wooden fence, tortured him, and left him in the freezing cold. A mountain biker, who initially thought his mutilated body was a scarecrow, discovered him. Shepard died soon afterward. Henderson and McKinney went on to attack two Latino youths later that same evening, beating and pistol-whipping them. Matthew Shepard’s death sparked national outrage and renewed calls for extending hate crime laws to cover violence based on a person’s sexual orientation. President Clinton implored Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the wake of the incident.
To avoid a death sentence, Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder in April 1999 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Later that year, Aaron McKinney attempted to use a “gay panic” defense at his own trial, claiming that Sheppard’s advances disgusted him. When McKinney sought to introduce evidence that a man had molested him as a child, Judge Barton Voigt would not allow it. He ruled that the defense was too similar to temporary insanity, which is not an option in Wyoming.
McKinney was convicted of Shepard’s murder but managed to escape the death penalty largely due to Shepard’s parents. In the tense and quiet courtroom, Dennis Shepard told his son’s murderer, “I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney. However, this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy.” McKinney was sentenced to life in prison. Henderson’s and McKinney’s girlfriends, who had helped Henderson and McKinney dispose of evidence, were charged as accessories to the murder.
Leslie Feinberg visits Tucson again
One of the high points of my career occurred when I was able to coordinate a visit to Tucson by Leslie Feinberg in 1994. Leslie’s novel, Stone Butch Blues, had just been published the year before, and it won the Stonewall book award. I worked with members of Tucson’s lgbtq community to set up a talk Leslie gave at Wingspan, Tucson lgbtq community center, and I also coordinated a talk s/he gave on the UA campus. Four years later, Leslie returned to Tucson to give another presentation. I was able to convince the Library Diversity Council to agree to contribute funds for this visit. Leslie’s new book, Trans LIberation, was published this particular year too.
1998-10-27: Jackson Browne at TCC Music Hall.
Jackson Browne is one of my very favorite singer-songwriters. I started listening to his music in high school, and have faithfully purchased every recording he has ever issued. Back in 1975, my best friend Richard Elias saw Jackson in concert. I don’t know why I missed it, but Richard said it was a great show. I’m sure it was. It wasn’t until 1998 that I was able to see Jackson in concert. My friend Ted Warmbrand had worked with some local organizations to sponsor the benefit, and he invited me to attend the show. I was so happy to finally see Jackson Browne in concert. He was amazing. He still is.
Diversity and Social Responsibility / Presentation, October 28, 1998. Guest lecture in Carla Stoffle’s SIRLS Foundations class.
11/5-11/6, 1998: AZLA Conference in Phoenix.
My buddy Ben Ocon and I gave another presentation on Latin music, this time at AZLA. In the audience this particular time was Pat Mora, a wonderful writer who I got to know through REFORMA. Pat spearheaded the founding of El Dia Del Nino/Dia Del Libro, which is now a nationally recognized event celebrated by libraries across the country.
11/19/98: AACHE Conference in Tucson
I was elected secretary of the UA Chapter of the Arizona Association of Chicanos in Higher Education in 1998 and we held at conference at the end of November. The only thing I remember was the fajitas cookoff that we held at home of one of our members, Professor J.D. Garcia. Professor Garcia owned a home in El Encanto Estates, a very old and posh neighborhood about a mile away from the University.
Another legend passes…
Serenata Navidena, ’98…
Serenata Navidena not only featured Pepe Aguilar and Beatriz Montes, it also included three great mariachi groups, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Mariachi Sol De Mexico and Mariachi Cobre. It was a wonderful show!
Christmas 1998
