My Life Story: 1998

My Life Story, , ,

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

New Orleans in January is a lot more bearable than New Orleans in the summer, although the rainy weather can still be a challenge no matter the time of year.

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.

Mike Robbins, 1960-1997.
My ALA badge includes a sticker promoting Martin Gomez for ALA president. He and I both lost our elections, (I ran for REFORMA president) unfortunately. He would have made a great ALA president.
I enjoyed my second trip to New Orleans a lot. There was alway something interesting to do or see.
My friend Doreen and her little shotgun house on Pennistron Street.
I rode the street car back and forth from Doreen’s house to the conference. It was just a tad too far for walking distance.
I bought a lot of records on this trip. The two recordings shown here are but a small sampling of the treasures that I found. There were a number of record stores in the French Quarter at the time. It was heavenly.
While I’m not one to eat at fancy restaurants, I did end up going to these two places with friends. Both are are well known and quite good.
I went to Cafe Du Monde again and enjoyed wandering the French Quarter. This time around the weather wasn’t too bad, although I think it did rain some.
This is one of many gay bars in the French Quarter. I had a great time here and met some very nice people. The later it got, the more crowded it became, and man, it sure was wild!

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.

Yours truly in 1998. Yikes!
The great Carl Perkins died on January 19, 1998. He was great friends with Johnny Cash.

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.

Anadine and Peter cutting their wedding cake.
Anadine dancing with her younger brother Anthony, and my dad with two of his grandchildren, Valerie and Gabe.

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.

“The Evolution of the Roles of Staff and Team Development in a Changing Organization: The University of Arizona Library Experience,” co-presented with Shelley Phipps on March 30, 1996 at Harvard University, and published in 1998 in the book, Finding Common Ground: Creating the Library of the Future Without Diminishing the Library of the Past, edited by Cheryl LaGuardia and Barbara a Mitchell, Neal-Schuman Publishers, February 1998.

Released on March 1, 1998. Over the years, I have amassed a sizeable collection of books on the US Mexico borderlands and Chicano culture. This is one of many such works.
This show was broadcast on April 14, 1998. Aretha outdid everyone.

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…

It was a sad day when Linda McCartney died on April 17, 1998.
Tammy Wynette died a few days later, on April 20, 1998.

1998-4-28: I was promoted to Associate Librarian with Continuing Status.

Frank Sinatra passed away on May 14, 1998. It took me a long time to realize that he wasn’t a bad guy at all. He supported the civil rights movement and helped to end segregation in Las Vegas. He had quite a voice too. I particularly enjoy his recordings from the early 40s when he was with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
A Long Way Home was released on June 9, 1998. I have most of Yoakam’s recordings. He is a favorite of mine.

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.

Yours truly surrounded by women from the Filipino-American community. These women did a lot of work for this program. They were amazing.
We bought this print on June 13, 1998 in Scottsdale. It was called “American Beauty”.
Smoke Signals premiered on June 26, 1998

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.

“Institutionalizing Diversity at the University of Arizona Library”, poster session presented at the  first annual Diversity Fair at the 1998 American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., June 27, 1998.

“Retention of Staff of Color at the University of Arizona Library” / Poster session co-presented with Mimi Hernandez and Soo Young So at the 1998 American Library Association Conference, Washington, D.C. June 28, 1998. 

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.

SPEC Kit 230: Affirmative Action in ARL Libraries, Washington DC, The Association of Research Libraries, 1998. Co-authored with Jennalyn Tellman and DeEtta Jones. July, 1998.

This album was released on July 28, 1998. Aguilar would later perform at the TCC for the Fiesta Navidena and release yet another album before the year was through. He is one of my favorite ranchera singers, and is the son of the great Antonio Aguilar. Zacatecas, presente!

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.

Nogales native Alberto Rios was the featured speaker at the opening night event for the conference. He now resides in Phoenix and is Arizona’s poet laureate.
There was a really excellent record store on Central north of the San Carlos Hotel called Circles, which is where I found the Maria De Lourdes and Lucha Moreno cds. I purchased the Lucha Villa recording at a discoteca Mexicana somewhere outside of the downtown area. My collection of Mexican music continued to grow as I became obsessed with rancheras and female singers from Mexico.
Phoenix has always had more gay bars than Tucson. I’ve never been to all of them.

August 12, 1998: A Postcard from my friend Doreen….

August 20, 1998: A Postcard from Chestalene and Doug…

Chestalene Pintozzi and Doug Jones both worked with me at the UA Library. I co-wrote an article with Chestalene that came out in the ALA Library Administation and Management magazine in 1999. We were good friends.

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)

I’ve been going to Needles since I was a little boy. Two of my uncles, Valentin and Failo, lived there. Both have since passed, but many of their children and grandchildren are still there.

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.

Musica Latina: Collection Development Strategies, co-presented with Ben Ocon at the Arizona Library Association Conference, November 5, 1998.

I found these two recordings while at the conference in Phoenix.
Here’s another work of art that we purchased for our little house. We found this one at a store in Tucson. The work is in glass, so it was difficult getting a good photo of the work.
Esther Rolles, who played JJ’s mother on Good Times, died on November 17, 1998 at the age of 78.

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…

Flip Wilson passed away on November 25, 1998 at the age of 64. I used to love to watch him play Geraldine on the Flip Wilson show when I was a kid. The show aired from 1970 to 1974.
This book was first issued on November 26, 1998. I read it from cover to cover.

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!

A sad day for the Clintons and the nation.

Christmas 1998

A Christmas card from one of my favorite nieces, Michelle.
A holiday letter from our friends Richard and Emily…

Happy Birthday, José Alfredo Jiménez

Mexican Music, Musica Ranchera, Uncategorized, , ,

José Alfredo Jiménez was born on January 19, 1926 in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Mexico and died on November 23, 1973 in Mexico City, Mexico.

He was Mexico’s most beloved composer of la cancion ranchera. He wrote and sang hundreds and hundreds of songs, appeared in many movies and recorded albums and singles for both Columbia Records and the RCA label.

I will be adding more information about his music and life in the coming weeks. I have scores of albums and cds as well as books, sheet music and other materials that I’ll share on this post as soon as I can get everything organized and uploaded. For now, here is what I’d like to share with you:

In 2020, in celebration of his birthday, I produced a radio show featuring his music. All the songs are composed by him, and are sung by both him and other artists. You can find the link to the show by clicking part one or part two. Each part is an hour long. Part one begins at the 3:15 minute mark, right after the closing of the Petey Mesquitey show. The set list follows below.

Part One

Part Two

Jose Alfredo visited Tucson at least three times in the Sixties and Seventies. These are from the local newspapers.

Tucson_Citizen_October 10, 1962

Arizona_Daily_Star_Thu__Oct_15__1964_
Tucson_Citizen_1971_04_07

Websites that include information about Jose Alfredo Jimenez and his work

Second Hand Songs entry for Jose Alfredo Jimenez (SecondHandSongs is building the most comprehensive source of cover song information, by means of a database of originals, cover songs, sampled songs and sampling songs). This advanced database stores the data in a reusable and maintainable way, and which is interconnected to many other online databases.

Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Music Biography of Jose Alfredo Jimenez

Here is a live version of the song, Gracias, from a 1973 television program. Jose Alfredo died the following year.

Jose Alfredo with some of his contemporaries–Lola Beltran, Javier Solis, Tomas Mendez and Amalia Mendoza. Beltran, Solis and Mendoza all recorded his songs at one point or another.
With Amalia Mendoza, Miguel Aceves Mejia, Queta Jimenez, La Prieta Linda and Maria De Lourdes. Jose Alfredo recorded an entire album of duets with Mendoza and Miguel Aceves Mejia helped Jose Alfredo get started in the music business.

Here is Lucha Villa singing the song “Que Se Me Acabe La Vida” with Jose Alfredo. They never recorded together, but performed several duets live. Both also starred in the movie, Me Canse’ De Rogarle, a great comedy filled with Jose Alfredo’s music.

Photos of Jose Alfredo and Lucha Villa. They made great singing partners.

Here is a popurri of songs written by Jose Alfredo Jimenez and sung by Lucha Villa.

I’m including here material in my personal library.

Very rare Jose Alfredo Jimenez sheet music from the mid-20th Century.
Songbooks in my collection. These works are different from the above songbooks, in that they include just the lyrics of his songs, not the music.
Biographies of Jose Alfredo Jimenez in my collection.

Jose Alfredo Jimenez recordings: The Columbia Years ca. 1950-1960

The first album is likely Jimenez’s second recording for Columbia records and was issued in the early 1950s The next two are also original lp recordings. The last one was issued after Jimenez had made the switch to RCA records.
The fist item is a three disc set of Jimenez’s best known Columbia recordings. The second album was issued in the 1970s and includes some of Jimenez’s lesser known recordings. The final item is an lp from the 1980s that includes many popular Jimenez recordings, including “Maldicion Ranchera,” one of my favorites.
These three cds were issued in the early 1990s under the Sony label, which now owns the entire Columbia catalog. He re-recorded many of these songs when he moved to RCA in 1960.

THE RCA YEARS

The following lps were all issued on the RCA label in the 1960s.

I’m not quite yet done. More to come. Stay tuned!

My Life Story: 1997

Uncategorized

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.

My friend Sandra Balderrama sent me this cool birthday card when I turned 38. At the time, she worked for the American Library Association as its head of diversity initiatives. We’ve remained friends after all these years. She’s a wonderful person.

Bill Clinton is inaugurated as our 42nd President on January 20, 1997.

President Clinton won a second term as President, but the ensuing years would be challenging, as he was impeached for his involvement with Monica Lewinsky and the Republican controlled Senate and House kept his hands tied.

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.

1880s print of the US Capitol and Washington DC.
At first I booked a room at a hotel called The Governor’s Mansion, but the bathroom was way too small, so I decided to move to the Holiday Inn, which was close to Dupont Circle, the area of town in which I was most interested. There were a lot of book and record stores in the area, including the Melody Record shop, shown here.
Lambda Rising was a great place to shop for gay-themed stuff, and Kramerbooks was a discount bookstore. They were just a few doors away from eachother. The record store and Lambda Rising are no longer there, but Kramerbooks is still open after all these years.
I had fun going to the different gay bars in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. There were at least four different nightspots all in the same vicinity. The Fireplace is still open, but Omega DC closed years ago.
Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse catered to the late night crowd, and I ate there a couple of times after visiting the various gay bars in the area. The New Big Wong Chinese restaurant was in Chinatown. I had lunch there with several of my friends from the University of Michigan. I had dinner with other friends at the Thai restaurant. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like Thai food much.
I visited the Corcoran Gallery of Art to view the exhibit “The Jewels of the Romanovs. It was a very cool exhibit. The Corcoran Gallery has since closed. Too bad. It was a nice place.

Bewitched!

Ruben and I bought this board game on March 7. It’s one of several Bewitched items in our memorabilia collection.

Appointment to the ALA Minority Concerns and Cultural Diversity Committee, Spring 1997

Paul McCartney knighted on March 11, 1997.

Paul was always my favorite Beatle, although I liked John a lot for a while. In the late 60s, Paul became the “bad guy” when he refused to allow a certain lawyer by the last name of Klein to represent the Beatles. It turns out Paul was right. Klein was crooked.

A memorial service on March 14, 1997 in memory of Shizuko Radbill, a UA Library colleague who passed away on August 30, 1996

Shizuko Radbill was a member of the Library Diversity Council. She was a very sweet woman. She fell ill after a trip to Japan. This was during the mad cow crisis, and we all thought she had succumbed to it. It was very sad.

The film, Selena, starring Jennifer Lopez, is released on March 21, 1997

I took my Dad’s two stepchildren, Bertha and Antonio to see this movie. I came away from it with tears in my eyes. The kids just laughed at me. It was a great film.

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

I started reading Allen Ginsberg’s poetry while college. He fascinated the heck out of me, and was so eloquent and deep at times, but very funny too.

Laura Nyro October 18, 1947-April 8, 1997

My sister Becky started listening to Laura Nyro in 1968. I enjoyed the music too, and once I started building my own album collection, I familiarized myself with all of her recordings. My three favorites are below. Ms. Nyro died of cervical cancer.
Somewhere in New York City. This print and the one above where Ms. Nyro is sitting on a stoop both hung on the wall in my apartment when I was attending college and lived near the University of Arizona.

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.

I bought these when I visited the Ryman Auditorium.
I bought a Peruvian ocarina in one of the shops in Nashville, but it was made of clay and I chipped it, unfortunately.

“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.

A rare F-1 tornado strikes Miami Florida and causes $525,000 in damages.

“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.

My dad and his wife Lupe’s babies Jose’ and Jennifer.
Released on 6-10-97. Great album.
Released on 6-20-97. Cameron Diaz and Rupert Everett was so funny!

I and other colleagues completed our work on our Magazines for Libraries chapters earlier in the year. In June, Professor Katz let us know that the new edition would be out in November, 1997, with a 1998 copyright date. He was very pleased with our work.

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.

I know I saw the pride parade, since I was staying in the city when it took place. I just can’t remember it.
I hit the Mission Music Center again on this trip. Last time I was there, I bought a bunch of Lucha Villa cassettes. This time around, I focused on buying lps. They were only $5.99 apiece and I bought 9 of them, six of which are shown here.
i bought these two books at either Border’s or the Virgin Megastore. They closed years ago.
More treasures to add to my ever growing record and cd collection.

“Instruction in a Multicultural/Multiracial Environment,” workshop presented at the Association of College and Research Libraries Instruction Section Preconference, Learning To Teach: Workshops on Instruction, June 27, 1997, Berkeley, CA.

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.

We traveled up to Phoenix on the 4th of July and purchased brass candelabras just like these at an antique store in Scottsdale. Ours came with crystal chandelier prisms.

Completion of my term on the LAMA Cultural Diversity Committee

Eduardo Ortega Rascon, February 8, 1926-July 8, 1997

My mom’s uncle Eddie was a rather quiet man who kept to himself most of the time. He was born in Superior, Az nearly two years after my mom, but spent most of his life in Tucson. He worked at various jobs over the years, including at the University as a landscaper. He was married for a while and had one son, Eddie Jr, but our families rarely interacted.
I don’t have many photos of my uncle Eddie. This one is from the late 30’s and was taken in Superior Az when my mom and uncle made their First Holy Communions.
My uncle made the newspapers back in 1948. This appeared in the July 27, 1948 edition of the Arizona Daily Star. I too once made a drive-through out of a place of business, back in 1975, when I drove my friend Roses’s Mustang right smack dab into a Circle K.

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

I started listening to Dwight Yoakum in the early 90s when I lived in Michigan. This album consists of covers of various songs made popular by other people. I really like his version of “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues”. See below.

Woolworth’s Closes for Good

After 117 years in business, Woolworth’s closed its doors for good on July 17, 1997. I used to love going to the one in downtown Tucson and the one in El Con. It was a great place to shop and the lunch counter was cool too.

Rest in peace, Lady Di… July 1, 1961-August 31, 1997

During the early hours of August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died from injuries sustained earlier that night in a fatal car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed (Diana’s partner) and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were found dead inside the car.

Mother Theresa August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997

Mother Theresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, devoted her life to serving the poor. A good friend of mine started the process of joining the order, but the required vow of silence was too difficult for her to sustain and she was released.

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.

There are some very memorable songs on this album. Most of the songs are written by newer songwriters. Joan’s voice is gorgeous, It sounds deeper and richer.

“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

The very first concert I ever attended was John Denver at the Tucson Community Center. I loved many of his songs. My brother Rudy had his greatest hits album, so I was familiar with a lot of them. I was sad to hear that Mr. Denver had died.

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.

These two conferences overlapped and were held in the same place. It was a bit odd navigating things, but I managed.
Calle Ocho was fun. I went to a restaurant and watched all the old men playing board games and then went to Casino Records and bought some Latin cds. It was a lively area, for sure.

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.

I bought these two books while in Chicago and added them to my ever-growing collections of leftist and Chicano studies material.
I had the Ella and Aretha recordings on lp already, I believe, but found the cd versions in Chicago. The Lucha Villa cd was interesting. Recorded in the mid-80s it became one of her best selling albums, and included a lot of hits, all written by Juan Gabriel. I’m not crazy about the album, but it’s very popular. I’m not too crazy about Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie either. There are too many very slow ballads on this disc. I prefer more uptempo material from Ella. The Aretha recording is one of my very favorites. She was at her peak when she recorded this album.
We bought this antique dresser on October 23, 1997 at a shop called TLC Furniture on Ft Lowell, just east of Tucson Blvd. It’s no longer in business, but it was a wonderful little place.

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.

I coordinated this program. Dr. Nunberg’s talk was very well received by the UA Library staff and other visitors.

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.

We ended the year with a shopping spree and bought this antique china cabinet on 12/31/97. It is now filled with a beautiful set of Wedgewood china that we were given by a good friend. We were very fortunate to receive it.

ALA Council Memorial Resolution honoring Leslie Feinberg (February 3, 2015)

Uncategorized

I’ve written about Leslie Feinberg elsewhere on this site. See Leslie Feinberg: Unity in The GLBT Community Program and Booksigning.

After Leslie died in 2014, when I was a member of the American Library Association Council, I authored a resolution for the Association that was passed in Leslie’s memory. I’ll never forget how encouraging and supportive Leslie was to me and my partner, with whom she became fast friends. She encouraged me to do more community organizing and complimented me on the work I did when I brought her to town all those many years ago. Introducing her to the Tucson community was one of the best moments of my career.

She was a true revolutionary.