Category Archives: My Life Story

My Life Story: 1996

My Life in Pictures, 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 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

At the beginning of the year, Ruben and I were settling in well and enjoying life in our newly acquired house on 10th Avenue. We were both very busy working, filling our home up with new household furnishings, and doing other things like planting trees and shrubs around the property.

I continued juggling many different responsibilities at work. As Assistant to the Dean for Staff Development, Recruitment and Diversity, I was involved in several groups and activities. I was a member of the Library Support Team, the Change Management Support Team, the Values and Vision Team, as well as Library Cabinet. I also worked with the Library Diversity Council, the Affirmative Action Committee and the Staff Development Advisory Board. I also staffed the Library Information Desk and was a member of the UA Diversity Action Council.

In addition to taking care of my regular job duties, I was actively involved in several professional organizations and committees, including serving as secretary of the U of A chapter of the Arizona Association of Chicanos in Higher Education (AACHE), serving as a member of the REFORMA national conference planning committee, in addition to being a member of the Library Administration and Management Association’s diversity committee. I also prepared articles for publication and gave a number of presentations at conferences this year, in addition to conducting workshops on resume writing for students in the UA Library school and new staff orientation sessions for newly hired staff. It was a busy, busy time.

It’s snowin’ in Brooklyn…

New York City and the east coast got hit with a huge blizzard between January 7 and January 8, 1996. Over three feet of snow fell and claimed about 100 lives, in addition to causing over 1.5 billion dollars of damage.

January 15, 1996: My 37th birthday.

I turned 37 this year. I was in good health and had lots of energy, which is a good thing, because this would turn out to be a year filled with lots with travel. I ended up visiting seven different cities this year–San Antonio, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Austin, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Most, with the exception of the vacation Ruben and I took to Detroit, were work related

A birthday card from Carla Stoffle. She was a very busy person, but always remembered her staff on their birthdays and on holidays. Her generosity to people was admirable.

The President and First Lady get into hot water over Whitewater

In early January, Hillary Clinton was implicated in what was known as the Whitewater scandal, a real estate debacle that took place when Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, before he was President. Later in the month, Hillary would be called to testify before Congress, a first for a first lady. In the end, neither she or her husband were found guilty of any wrong doing.

When Clinton was elected four years earlier, liberals in this country had such high hopes, but lo and behold, when the midterm elections took place in 1994, the Republicans took over both houses of Congress and Clinton found himself with his hands tied. It was such a sad situation. Many of his policies, such as those dealing with gay rights and public assistance, took a turn to the right. As a result, we got Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and a much stricter welfare system.

Clinton won the election in November ’96, but it was later revealed that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky. The republicans had him impeached, bit it didn’t stick. He served out his presidency until 2000, leaving the country with a budget surplus, unlike his predecessor, George Bush Sr.

January 20-24, 1996: ALA Midwinter, San Antonio, TX.

My second trip to San Antonio since I started attending ALA conferences in 1989 took place between January 19 and 25, and I had a great time. The weather was perfect, if I recall correctly!

I had a lot of committee meetings this time around and attended a number of interesting programs. I got to hear both Isabel Allende and Sandra Cisneros speak, and having the opportunity to a concert by the great Tejana troubadour, Tish Hinojosa, in the brand new downtown branch of the San Antonio Public Library was the absolute icing on the cake.

I heard both Sandra Cisneros (on the right) and Isabel Allende (on the left) speak, and Tish Hinojosa (in the middle) gave a concert for the opening of the new central library. I sat in the very front row in awe of her.

I also visited a couple of churches, including St. Joseph’s Church and the San Fernando Cathedral. I try to find Catholic churches with beautiful altars whenever I visit other cities.

I visited St. Joseph’s church again. I had been there back in 1992 with my friend, Mary Lynn. The new San Antonio Central Library was beautiful, and is where I got to see Tish Hinojosa perform.
The San Fernando cathedral was close to my hotel. It was beautiful inside.

In addition to attending ALA events and visiting churches, I was able to spend time with my friends Linda TerHaar and Karen Downing. Karen and I visited the Institute of Texas Cultures, a wonderful cultural museum walking distance from downtown.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn at the far end of downtown. My friend Karen and I visited the institute of Texas Cultures. It was a very nicely put together museum.

Linda and I went on a boat ride together on the San Antonio River in the middle of the day. It was fabulous!

I ate lots of good Mexican food at places like Ninfa’s and Mi Tierra, but also had Cajun food at Boudro’s with some ALA colleagues. I did a lot of shopping too. There were a lot of great little shops in Market Square and antique and record stores downtown.

On the left is the bakery inside the Mi Tierra restaurant, where I had several meals, and on the right is Market Square, which was filled with shops and restaurants. My hotel was very close to this place, so I went here several times.
I had dinner at Boudros with a bunch of library colleagues and got smashed at Ninfa’s the day I was to head back to Tucson. It was not a good idea, I must admit.

While most of the more popular gay bars like Pegasus were on a strip on N. Main, north of downtown, there were a few right in the downtown area. I had a great time visiting the Captain’s Crew and El Jardin. There were lots of great looking men all over the place!

This is a 1996 list of gay bars in San Antonio.

2-13-96: Jackson Browne released Looking East and embarks on a world tour

Looking East, by Jackson Browne, was released on 2-13-96. His eleventh album, it peaked at number 36 on the Billboard charts. The album includes some great tunes, such as I’m the Cat, Niño, and Alive in the World, in addition to the title cut. Over the course of the year, Browne embarked on a world tour to promote the album. He is one of my all-time favorite singers and is just as handsome as can be.

This is from Jackson’s album Looking East. What a great tune!

This song reminds me of his other Latin flavored tune, Lawless Avenues. He sings parts of each song in Spanish, and he does a pretty good job at enunciating the words properly. Good for him.

Transborder Library Forum: February 15-17, 1996

The Sixth Transborder Library Forum was organized by librarians from the University of Arizona, and it brought together librarians and library workers from throughout the Southwest and Mexico. While I didn’t give any presentations, I did attend several programs and made lots of new friends. The librarians and library workers from Mexico were a great bunch of people. I spent an entire evening with them partying and playing music. It was a memorable occasion.

Chinese New Year Celebration at the Library, The Year of the Rat.

The Library Diversity Council was a great group to work with. Each year, membership changed a bit, and this year’s group was exceptional and great to work with. In February, A Chinese New Year celebration, sponsored by the Diversity Council, took place on Tuesday February 20, 2:30-4 PM, in the Main Library in rooms A313/4. Diversity Council members Erika Williams, Cecilia Poon and Maureen Gray worked with other colleagues to coordinate the event, and were praised by Carla Stoffle, the Dean of the Library, for their efforts. There was lots of delicious food, games and other activities.

This little envelope was filled with candy at one point and was a giveaway at the event.

Richard Lucier visit: February 23, 1996

As staff development librarian, part of my job involved coordinating speakers’ series that introduced the Library staff to new concepts and ideas. For example, the previous year, I arranged visits by E.J. Josey, Barbara Ford and Kriza Jennings, all well respected leaders in the profession. This time around, I worked with a planning committee of library staff to coordinate a program and a day long series of meetings on February 23, 1996 with Richard Lucier, Head Librarian a the University of California at San Francisco, who spoke about “knowledge management” and the “digital library”. These were novel and innovative concepts at the time, and Mr. Lucier was leading the way in helping libraries adjust to the new technologies and possibilities that digitization had brought to the world. His visit was very well received. There was still much to learn, however, and we continued to bring experts to the Library to help us adjust to the ever changing information technology landscape.

MY FOURTH YEAR REVIEW

At the University of Arizona Library, librarians are usually hired as members of the general UA faculty, and they are eligible to receive continuing status, which is similar to tenure. This means, in practical terms, that once a librarian is granted continuing status, they are guaranteed a “job for life” at the University, unless they seriously violate University policy or the State declares a financial emergency. In order to attain continuing status, one has to do well at their primary job in addition to engaging in scholarship (writing for publication, giving presentations and regional and national conferences) and service (active involvement and leadership in regional or national library organizations and committees). A series of reviews takes place, one at two years, another at four years, and a final one at six years, at which point, continuing status is granted, or not. If a candidate is not granted continuing status, they are usually given a year to prepare their departure. The two and four year reviews are intended to let the candidate know how their supervisors and peers perceive how well they are doing in the three areas mentioned above, and whether or not they are on track for attaining continuing status. Feedback is given to the candidate that is intended to help them improve in areas of perceived “weakness”.

I prepared my four year review packet and updated my curriculum vitae in late 1995, and by February 1996, received a letter from the Dean of the Library letting me know that I had successfully passed my four year review. It was quite a relief. The Dean’s letter to me is linked below.

My fourth year review summary letter from the Dean of the Library: 2/26/96

March 7, 1996: Presentation–Diversity in the Workplace, Tucson Business and Professional Women’s Association.

I am not sure how I ended up giving a presentation on diversity issues in the workplace to a group of local businesswomen, but I did, and it turned out to be a very interesting experience. I clearly recall discussing the notion of the ability to speak Spanish as something that was “value added” in the workplace, particularly when it came to working with Spanish speaking clients or customers. I argued that people who had this ability should be compensated for it. Not everyone in the room agreed with me, but we all remained civil. My presentation is linked here:

Diversity in the Workplace, presentation given at the Tucson Business and Professional Women’s Association meeting, March 7, 1996.

Diana leaves Prince Charles

I have never been that interested in the British royal family, but admired Princess Diana for her charitable work and her generally liberal outlook on life and politics. Unfortunately, I learned more about her after her death than I knew before she died.

Cover of Time Magazine, March 11, 1996.

March 28-April 1, 1996: Finding Common Ground Conference, Cambridge, Mass.

In late March, I traveled to Boston to attend a conference titled “Finding Common Ground: Creating a Library of the Future Without Diminishing the Library of the Past” Shelley Phipps and I were asked by the conference organizers to give a presentation on staff and team development. I stayed at a Best Western off the beaten path and had to take a shuttle to the Harvard campus each day. The conference was held in the Charles Hotel, adjacent to campus.

Our conference was held at the Charles hotel near the Harvard campus. The area had a lot of bookstores, restaurants and other places one could shop at or visit.

My colleague Chestalene Pintozzi was there and she also gave a presentation. As the big day unfolded, I was feeling quite uncomfortable, because I had on a brand new blue suit and tie and a new pair of shoes that I bought just for the occasion. (I never wear suits!) I was also very nervous, because after all, this was HARVARD! Shelley and I had prepared well, but unfortunately, the presenters who were scheduled before us went way over their allotted time. This left us very little time to do our presentation, and we bombed as a result. There just wasn’t enough time to do what we had planned. It felt awful. I have a couple of photos of me in my brand new blue suit.

A book of the conference proceedings was published two years later and it includes the presentation that we gave. It’s linked below.

“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 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, 1998.

While not attending the conference sessions, I took the train to Boston to explore the area, and managed to find a good bookstore, but I did not see the old part of the city where all the historical buildings like Faneuil Hall and the old churches were located. I didn’t even know about this area. I did, however, go to a gay bar and other places too, and had a lot of fun in Boston’s South End, which was home to the gay community.

A map showing the gay bars in the South End of Boston, and a glbt newspaper. There were ony a couple of gay bars in Cambridge, closer to the MIT campus than to Harvard.

Diversity Roundtable: Not So Straight II: April 12, 1996

This was a follow-up session to one held the previous year, on March 17, 1995. In that session, several GLBT staff spoke about their life experiences and how it felt to work at the UA Library as a member of the gay community. For this year’s session, I worked with two staff members to sponsor a visit by Amy Zuckerman, who had just co-authored the book, “Sexual Orientation in the Workplace” and who was doing training across the country on gay issues in the workplace. During her visit, she gave an open presentation to the staff, and also worked with staff who were GLBT to help them discuss issues in a safer setting.

The 25th Anniversary of the Tucson International Mariachi Conference, April 24-28, 1996.

I wish I could say that I have attended every annual mariachi conference held in Tucson over the years, but unfortunately, I’ve only attended a handful. This particular year, Linda Ronstadt performed, and it was great to see her and Mariachi Cobre together, as well as all the other performers. Mariachi Los Camperos were great, as usual, and a Japanese singer named Junko Seki, was absolutely amazing. It was a memorable show!

Linda Ronstadt performed at this year’s Tucson International Mariachi Conference on April 26.

Efren Urquides, April 28, 1961-April, 26, 1996

I didn’t know Efren all that well, but had met him a few times shortly after Ruben and I got together. He was a very handsome guy, and was one of Ruben’s good friends. Unfortunately, Ruben lost several of his buddies over the years, as did I. AIDS was the cause of death for a lot of young Latino men our age in the 80’s and 90’s. Ruben and I were quite lucky to have survived the era unharmed.

Leslie Feinberg published Transgender Warriors : April 1996

I’ve already written about Leslie Feinberg here. This book was Leslie’s attempt at pointing out that there have existed transgendered people throughout history. While it received mixed reviews, it was one of the first works to tackle topics such as cross dressing throughout history and other issues relevant to the transgendered community.

My dear friend Leslie Feinberg published this in April, 1996. It’s a popular history of transgender expression throughout history. The second edition had a less provocative cover.

May 1-May 4, 1996: Living the Future Conference, Tucson Az.

The UA Library began the restructuring process in late 1992, and late 1995, plans were in the works to host a national conference that would showcase the many accomplishments that the Library had achieved, as well as lessons learned along the way as it transformed itself from a traditional, hierarchical structure with fifteen departments to a team-based organization with nine teams. People from all over the country attended the conference, and it would be held again every two years for another decade, approximately. I contributed two programs at this conference, one on diversity, and the other on staff development. My presentation outlines are linked below.

“What a long strange trip it’s been: an overview of the evolution of the role and accomplishments of staff development and training at the UA Library, from the beginning of the restructuring process to the present”, presentation given at the Living the Future Conference May 1-4, 1996.

“Diversity at the UA Library: A Review”, presentation at the Living the Future Conference, May 1-4, 1996.

May 13, 1996: Sue Miller Hurst Program

I first heard Sue Miller Hurst speak about lifelong learning at a conference in San Francisco in 1995. I found her quite inspiring, and her talk affected me deeply. I returned to the UA Library very excited about having met and heard her, and I proposed to the Diversity Council that we bring her to campus. Members of the Diversity Council then embarked on planning an all day program where the entire staff were invited to attend her talk. Unfortunately, many of our colleagues did not take what she had to say seriously. In hindsight, we could have done a better job of working with Ms Hurst in preparing her program. I left it to other members of the Diversity Council to do that, and we missed the boat. Her philosophy is outlined below.

“Designing and implementing new structures will not fully transform an organization if the people do not release themselves from the old internal structures that say “I can’t,” or “I am not worthy.” Sue Miller Hurst spoke to the learner inside each of us, talking about challenging our assumptions about our limitations and then breaking through them. Creating a learning organization requires a community of learners — and if we do not believe in our capacity to learn, then we cannot help create the space in which learning thrives. One of my favorite poems is by St. Appollonaire: “‘Come to the edge,’ he said. They said, ‘We are afraid.’ ‘Come to the edge.’ They came, he pushed them, and they flew.”“

Going away party for Cecilia Poon: May 31, 1996

On May 31, members of the Library Diversity Council held a going away party at Libby Hilmar’s home for our colleague and friend Cecilia Poon. This is the second year that we held a get together at Libby’s house. Sadly, Shizuko would pass away in early 1997. This was a wonderful group. I really enjoyed working with them.

Shown above in the photo on the left are me, Erika Williams, Shizuko Radbill, Cecilia Poon, Diane Delp, and our host, Libby Hilmar. On the right are Diversity Council members Maureen Gray, Erika Williams and Cecilia Poon.

In the above photos, Libby Hilmar is playing her flute and I, Maureen Diane, and Erika are playing with sparklers in Libby’s yard.

June 4, 1996: Protesting stereotypes found in library literature

A colleague of mine had recently pointed out that the journal Reference Quarterly (RQ) had a very interesting article in it titled “Developing Collections for the Spanish-Speaking”. I decided to look it up, and to my horror I saw the following advertisement included in the publication. It made me very angry to see Latinos portrayed in this manner. At the time, we received very little media coverage, but then to see us portrayed as gang members in a national library publication really got to me. I raised the issue on a the REFORMANET listserv, and suggested that people write letters of protest to RQ and PAIS, the company that ran the ad. Many people did, and the topic was addressed at our conference later (I organized a discussion session about it) in the summer, as well as in the REFORMA newsletter. PAIS eventually apologized, as did ALA, but their reasoning for running the ad did not convince anyone they were sincere. Here’s the ad:

This ad ran in the Spring, 1996 issue of RQ magazine, a professional journal on reference services.

June 8-Jun 15, 1996: Vacation in Detroit Michigan.

Before we met, Ruben and I had both, at one point or another, lived within an hour’s drive of the Detroit area. I lived in Ann Arbor for almost six years, and knew the area well. Ruben lived in Toledo for a much shorter period of time, but had also been to Detroit when he lived there. We decided to visit the area this year, as we both had fond memories of having spent time there. I was also looking forward to seeing my Ann Arbor friends, but things didn’t turn out quite the way we had planned them.

We left Tucson for Detroit on a red eye late at night on June 7. Our flight went to Las Vegas first, and from there we made a connection to another flight that would take us to Detroit. Unfortunately, there was a lot of turbulence in the air in the Las Vegas area right before we landed. The bumpy ride didn’t bother me too much and I was able to doze off easily on the flight to Detroit, but Ruben freaked out, and did not sleep at all. After we landed seven or so hours later, we picked up a rental car and drove to our hotel, which was in Woodhaven, a suburb south of Detroit. Once we got settled, Ruben informed me that the turbulence really got to him and that he did not want to fly home, and that we needed to figure out another way back. This caused a big dilemma because it turned out it wasn’t that easy finding a car rental company that allowed one way trips. We did find one eventually, however. Driving back would take almost three days, so we had to cut our stay in Detroit short, giving us less time to spend in the area than we had originally planned.

Woodhaven was right near I-75, which made it very convenient for us as we explored the area.
Our hotel was a Best Western and the Denny’s we ate at was close by.

We started out with breakfast at Denny’s. A waitress named Barbara served us and left an indelible impression on us. She was such an amazing worker it was unbelievable. Never have we encountered such an amazing, attentive wait person. Later that day we ate a delicious meal in Greektown at the Laikon Cafe, and shopped at Trapper’s alley and another big big mall in Dearborn.

Greektown and Trapper’s Alley. You can see the sign that says Laikon Cafe on the postcard. We sure lucked out when we chose that place for Greek food. It was amazing. Sadly both places are no longer there, as the area has become home to a huge casino.
Two iconic symbols of Detroit. The Uniroyal TIres sign lets you know you’re getting close to the city on your way in from the airport, and the statue, located in the middle of the downtown area, can be easily seen from the Detroit People Mover.

One of our more interesting experiences was having menudo in a Mexican restaurant in the Mexicantown section of the city. The menudo had no hominy in it all. It was all broth and honeycomb tripe. We weren’t impressed, and the waiters who were watching us, giggled as they saw our shocked faces when the food was brought out to us. I’m not sure if we even finished it or not. Probably not.

That evening we drove to Toledo and went to Brett’s, a gay bar Ruben had been to when he lived there. On the 11th we went back to Toledo and ate at The Linck Inn, the restaurant that Ruben used to work at in Maumee.

When Ruben lived in Toledo he worked at the restaurant in the above building. At the time, it was called the Chadwick Inn, but it has had various names over the years. It’s a historic site, built in 1836.

We spent time shopping for antiques in the Irish Hills area, near Ann Arbor. We had a great experience exploring the small towns, but we ended up driving way too far, three quarters of the way across the state, and it took a while to get back to our hotel.

We rented another car and started on our way home on the 12th. Along the way, we stopped at some antique stores in western Michigan and Elkhart, Indiana, and avoided the Chicago area by driving south of it. We spent the first night in Des Moines. We checked into a Motel 6, but it was such a dump, we could not stay, so we found a Best Western and stayed there. We drove around the city for a while, and saw a bunch of kids coming out of a rock concert. We couldn’t believe it. They were all blonde!

The next day we made it all the way to Denver where we also stayed downtown at a Comfort Inn. Unfortunately, the fire alarm went off and we kind of freaked out because we were way up high, like on the 20th floor. Everything turned out fine, however.

From there, we started our drive to Tucson the following morning, but stopped in Albuquerque for dinner, then drove home.

It was quite an experience, that’s for sure. While I didn’t get to see my Michigan friends, it was still an enjoyable vacation. I love going across country in a car!

Ella Fitzgerald: April 25, 1917-June 15, 1996

My first partner, John, introduced me to female jazz singers back in 1979. Ella Fitzgerald was one of the greats. Man, could she sing! I’ve been an avid collector of her recordings since my early 20’s. I love most of her material, but her voice got a bit wobbly in the 70s, I must admit. She came to Tucson and performed a few times, but I never got to see her, unfortunately. I love her Duke Ellington Songbook and her Gershwin recordings, especially. On her live album, Ella in Hollywood, she scats for over 7 minutes. Her vocal creativity was astounding.

July 4-10, 1996: ALA Annual Conference, New York City NY.

I hadn’t been to New York City since 1977, when I was 18 and took a Greyhound bus from Tucson to Newark to visit my sister Becky and her husband. This time around, I stayed smack dab in the middle of town and was there to attend the ALA Annual conference. It’s the only one that’s been held there since I’ve been attending (my first ALA was in 1989). It’s a very expensive place to have a conference. It was an enjoyable trip for the most part, but the heat and humidity were sometimes unbearable.

The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, shown on the left in the photo below, is commonly known as the Javits Center, and is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell’s Kitchen. It was designed by architect James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Across the street was a railroad car restaurant that I had breakfast at. I don’t remember the name of it, however.

I stayed at the Days Hotel, shown above on the right, at 790 N .8th Ave., near Times Square. It’s since changed names several times. There was a swimming pool on the roof, but the sky was gray and the air felt yucky.

I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to see, unfortunately, but I did visit some new places like the lower east side and Central Park.

I had dinner at Woody’s and later had drinks at Don’t Tell Mama. I can hardly remember being in these places, but I have receipts that prove I was there.

My hotel was close to Times Square and the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which I visited on Sunday. What a gorgeous church!

On Saturday, my friend Doreen and I attended a to a fundraiser reception for REFORMA at the Mexican Cultural Institute. We didn’t stay for very long, and decided to leave. We then went to the lower east side to hang out with one of Doreen’s friends from library school.

We had dinner there and also went to a really great bookstore, where I bought some Noam Chomsky books.

I had wandered over the Greenwich Village earlier and found Gerde’s Folk City. The place where we had dinner in the east village was called the Yaffa Cafe.

On Sunday, I walked up to Central Park to see the Marley family perform. I especially wanted to see Rita Marley. It was a hot, muggy day. I was dehydrated and got sick after drinking just one beer, so I decided to go back to my room and left before Rita Marley made it on to the stage. I was royally bummed out. Central Park was beautiful.

On the left below is a recording of the concert in Central Park that I attended very briefly. It was hot and humid, and I made the mistake of drinking a beer, which got me very sick. I had to leave the venue early. i was very bummed out.

A bridge in Central Park.. It’s a big, big place, with lots of trees. It took forever to walk through it to the bandstand where the Marley family were performing.

Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante and Javier Solis were among Mexico’s most beloved ranchera singers. There existed at the time very few biographies of these perfomers , so finding these was a big thrill. I found them at the ALA exhibit hall at the conference. Each of these is a part of a 3 volume set. Man, what a find!

Unfortunately, my flight home from New York was delayed, and I had to stay overnight in a hotel near the airport Denver. It was a nerve wracking experience, I must say. I got home a day late as a result.

Antonio Aguilar y Su Familia: Pima County Rodeo Grounds, July 27, 1996.

I’m so glad I went to this show. The highlight of the entire thing was when the great Flor Silvestre sang Mi Destino Fue Quererte while strolling around on a horse, and of course Antonio Aguilar was wonderful, as were his sons. It was a fabulous event. I have been a fan since my teenage years. In the sixties, my mom absolutely loved Flor Silvestre and her signature tune, Mi Destino Fue Quererte, and when Pepe Aguilar started recording rancheras in the early 90’s with mariachi accompaniment, I went crazy and bought every recording he put out. I’ve seen him solo a few times. He and his children perform together now all the time and have recorded some great videos. Its been a few years now since both Don Antonio and his wife passed away. Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre left behind an amazing recorded legacy of classic rancheras as well as scores of movies. The Aguilar Family is from Zacatecas, the same state where my grandmother Zeferina Torres was from.

Deadly Bombing in Atlanta during the Olympics: July 27,1996.

The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, July 27, 1996, during the Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed one person and injured 111 others; another person later died of a heart attack.

A new member of the family–Noah Andres Diaz-Colwell, born on August 9 1996.

My niece Valerie, daughter of my brother Charles and his wife Elaine, married Wade Colwell the previous year. Their first child Noah was born on August 9. He grew up to be a very tall and handsome young man. It’s hard to believe he’ll be 28 this year!

My Staff Development Work

Keeping up with change in the profession was quite challenging in the mid-90s. Technology was transforming how we did our work as librarians in every area, including cataloging, collection development, and reference. The World Wide Web and the internet were new to most people, and there was a lot to learn. In addition, the staff at the UA Library continued to grapple with the changes brought on by the Library restructuring process. My job was to provide funding for workshops and training in addition to setting up training programs within the Library. While this was just part of my job, it took up a lot of time and energy, and it seemed like the staff always had something to complain about. I struggled to keep up I wrote up this annual report for the Dean of the Library. It details my work in this area.

Staff Development Annual Report for FY 95/96, August 12, 1996.

Traffic Survival School: August 18, 1996

Over the years, I’ve had several car accidents and have received a fair number of speeding tickets etc. I think I’ve participated in these defensive driving courses at least three or four times altogether over the years. I do not have good depth perception and it causes a lot of problems. I’ve had a lot of close calls while driving, many more than I care to admit! The cars I’ve had have all gotten a real beating. I’m hell on wheels, as they say! The past few years have been better, thank goodness.

This wasn’t my best year, driving-wise. I got several tickets this year, and was also involved in a car accident. I had to go to defensive driving school and completed it on August 18, 1996. Lord knows how many times I’ve had to do this over the years.

August 22-August 25, 1996: First REFORMA National Conference, Austin, TX.

My second trip to Texas this year was to Austin, to attend the first REFORMA national conference. I had a great time. I also met a lot of really cool people and had some delicious food.

I participated in the following three different programs. I was a panelist on the first two, and the discussion convener and facilitator on the last one. Each program was well-received and we had good attendance.

“How to Start and Maintain an Successful REFORMA Chapter”

“Writing Effective Cover Letters and Resumes”

“What’s Up With the PAIS Ad?”

This was my first ever visit to Austin, and I was eager to see the sights, especially 6th Street, home to a variety of music clubs, and quite a “scene”, as they say. Austin has been known for a long time as the live music capital of the world, and home to Willie Nelson and Austin City Limits.

The conference was held at the Austin Convention Center (below, left) and my hotel was the Omni Austin hotel, (below right).

Our opening reception was held at the LBJ Presidential Library, (below left), on the UT Austin campus, on the north side of downtown. 6th St., shown below on the right, was not far away from where we stayed.

Book People and Waterloo Records were great places for shopping. I went there a couple of times. My good friend Karen Downing was also at this conference, and we shopped together.

The State Capitol building was a in the vicinity, and close to it was a gay bar called Charlie’s. There were other gay bars in the area also. I went to a few of them with some people I had met at the conference.

Overall, it was a great conference. I had a wonderful time, and would return to Austin two more times over the years. It’s a great city to visit and is much more liberal than most other cities in Texas.

My quest to keep learning…

I’ve been very fortunate to have many learning opportunities come my way, particularly in the early years of my career. I’ve attended a variety of training programs, including ones on time management, project management, developing management and training skills as well as facilitation skills. This particular year, I attended a workshop on MS Access, a database management program. Unfortunately, I did not practice enough to use it continuously. Excel was more widely promoted within the Library, and I learned that program too.

Long live the queen….

Joan Baez stopped recording for Vanguard Records in the early 70’s, but the record company continually re-packaged and re-issued her recordings over the years. I have all of the re-issues in my collection, including the Joan Baez Ballad Book, The Joan Baez Contemporary Ballad Book, The Joan Baez Love Song Album, and the Joan Baez Country Music album. Joan Baez Live at Newport, appeared in 1996, and was different in that most of the songs on this album had not appeared before on any of Joan’s previous lps, although some had been included in various Live at Newport anthologies. Joan got her big break at Newport back in 1959, so it’s a big part of her history. These songs are all from her appearances between 1963 and 1965, and include two duets with Bob Dylan.

Released on 9-17-96, this is a compilation of Ms. Baez’s live performances at the Newport Folk Festival throughout the 1960s.

Shortly after the release of Live at Newport, Ms. Baez appeared on the cover of the folk music magazine, Dirty Linen. By this time in her career, she had become a much-adored living legend, and many singers, including Emmylou Harris, were starting to publicly point to her as their insipiration and their reason for wanting to become a singer themselves. Joan’s guitar playing, especially on her early live recordings, was also starting to be acknowledged as brilliant. She is a fabulous guitarist.

Tucson High School 40th Reunion, September 21, 1996

My Aunt Mary Rascon graduated from Tucson High in 1956. This is the photo she and my uncle Donato took at her 40th high school reunion gathering. Uncle Nato never finished high school, unfortunately. He joined the marines when he was 15. He has since passed, but Aunt Mary is still with us. She’s one of only three aunts that I have left. The other two are my brothers sisters, Helen and Carmen.

Ocober 12-October 15, 1996: LAMA/LITA National Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.

On my second trip to Pittsburgh in as many years, I attended a conference co-sponsored by two ALA Groups– the Library Administration and Management Association and the Library Information Technology Association. It was their first joint conference, and as a member of the LAMA Diversity Committee, I was asked by the chair, Joan Howland to put together a program on information technology and its impact on diverse groups.

As coordinator of this program, I decided to write a paper on how the internet further divides the haves from the have-nots. I also asked my colleagues Patricia Tarin and Carla Stoffle to co-present with me. I was very excited about the program, but I didn’t do a great job with my part of the presentation. I was very nervous and towards the end, dropped my papers on the floor. I was very embarrassed. Pat Tarin didn’t give a very good presentation either, but Carla saved the day and hit it out of the ballpark for us.

In hindsight, I was out of my league writing about information technology. I really didn’t have a good grasp on things at this stage in my career, and was a over my head. I chalked it up as an important learning experience. My paper is linked here: “Social Equity and Empowerment in the Age of Technology”

This was a very short trip and I didn’t get to see much of Pittsburgh. I did, however, explore parts of downtown that I hadn’t seen the year before. I really like the city, and will hopefully return again and spend more time here.

Downtown Pittsburgh. What a gorgeous skyline!

October 30-November 3, 1996:Ford Foundation Diversity Conference, Seattle WA.

I first visited Seattle in 1981. At the time, my sister Becky lived in a small town close by called Lacey. I spent about a week with her and her husband Paco, and we went all over the place, including Victoria, Canada and Mt. Rainier. We also visited Pike’s Market and the Seattle Space Needle. This time around, I was there to attend a Ford Foundation-sponsored diversity conference. The UA Diversity Action Council sent me and paid for this trip.

I attended several programs and events at the conference, but don’t remember anything specific about it that stood out. My memories at this point are sharper regarding what I did on my own while in the city.

After getting settled in at my hotel, which was a Westin, I decided to head over to the Pikes Market area, where my sister Becky and her husband took me when I was last there. It’s an interesting place, with three stories of shops and lots of food vendors. There was seafood available for sale everywhere.

I also found some shops in the vicinity including one calle La Sirena Rosa. The owner there specializes in selling clothing, music and other stuff from Latin America. I really liked this store, and bought myself a Che Guevara t-shirt and some Latin music while here.

Another store I round was The Spanish Table. It specialized in Spanish imported goods, including food and household items. I bought a beautiful cookbook here.

I bought the Joni Mitchell recording, shown below on the left, on cassette at a Sam Goody record store in Seattle two days after its official release date, which was October 29, 1996. There’s a companion recording called “Misses” as well that was released on the same day. A day later, I bought the Lola Beltran recording on cassette at the same store. My first experience at the store was fine, but my second visit turned into a nightmare. The clerk was a real uptight jerk. He watched my every move, thinking I was there to steal something. I was so angry. I would’ve just walked out, but I wanted the recording badly. I had never seen it before, and I was in the midst of building my Mexican music collection. I love Lola Beltran, and Mexican ranchera music was my passion at the time.

Later, I got the royal treatment at a restaurant/bar, where I ordered a burger and fries. My waitress completely forgot about me, and my hamburger sat on the counter for quite a while. It was yet another bad experience and it left a bad impression.

On my last day in Seattle, I visited the Space Needle. I had been there before, but wanted to go up to the top again. It was fun. I bought some souvenirs there, but don’t remember what exactly.

Sometime in between doing all the things I have already mentioned, I found time to explore the gay bars in Seattle. There were quite a few close to my hotel. I had a lot of fun and met some interesting people.

Unfortunately, my overall impression of the city was that it was not a very friendly place. I’ve since been back twice, and I still don’t care for it much. It’s a hilly city and hard on one’s legs. It’s also spread out all over the place and hard to get around. There are lots of other places I got to see this year, and they were a lot friendlier. Even New York City was friendlier than Seattle. Oh well. You can’t win ’em all!

1996 Presidential Elections

Bill Clinton had a difficult time with Republican-controlled Congress once they gained control in 1994, but he still managed to beat Bob Dole in the 1996 election, winning 379 electors to Dole’s 159 and taking 49.2% of the national popular vote to Dole’s 40.7%. The following four years would be even more challenging for him for a number of reasons, but he left the country better off when his second term was over than President Bush had. As a result of the Clinton economic policies, the US attained a budget surplus of $237 billion, shrunk unemployment, created 22 million new jobs, and reduced inflation. Too bad George Jr. got installed by the Supreme Court in 2000. Things got a lot worse after that.

Clinton wins another election, November 18, 1996.

November 26, 1996: Not So White Roundtable: A Dialogue with Our Colleagues of Color

The success of the first two Not So Straight Roundtables inspired the Diversity Council to sponsor a similar program that featured staff who were members of the Native American, African American and Latino communities. Staff spoke openly about their experiences with institutional racism. The attendees listened and came away with new insights, sensitivity and awareness, which is what we had hoped would happen.

The Dean of the Library attended the event, and was very impressed with our work, as her note below indicates. Receiving this kind of feedback at the end of such a crazy, up and down year really helped boost my morale.

Alejandro Fernandez releases Muy Dentro de Mi Corazon: 12-10-96

During this period of his recording career, Alejandro Fernandez just kept getting better and better. This album has mariachis all over it, and several songs, such as “Es La Mujer” became big hits. The following Spring, the album received a Grammy award nomination in the category of Best Mexican/Mexican American album.

Released on 12-10-96, this album achieved double platinum status in the US.

Merry Christmas!

Wow! What a year it was!. I received a bunch of Christmas cards from friends and family, including my good friends Pernela and Scott Teresa, Doreen and Jose’, among others. Below is a small sample of the cards we were sent.

My Life Story: 1995

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 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!

1995 was a busy time in my life. I turned 36 in the middle of January, and Ruben and I were living in our apartment on Shannon Road. I was still working at the University of Arizona Library as Assistant to the Dean for Staff Development, Recruitment and Diversity, and Ruben was in beauty school. Early in the year, we decided we wanted our own house, so we started looking around. It took about three months to find one, and by May we were moved into our own home on N. 10th Ave, just south of Speedway. Getting our own house was the highlight of the year. We could not have done it without Ruben’s parents’ help. They gave us money for the down payment, and we were able to get a loan from the VA. The house was small, but it had a very big lot, and it was close to my job. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.

Ruben graduated from beauty school in February, which was another highlight for us, and he started working immediately thereafter at Supercuts.

I did a lot of traveling this year. I attended ALA Midwinter in late January/early February in Philadelphia, where I gave a presentation on recruitment in a team-based environment and where I had the privilege of meeting the great gay rights leader, Barbara Gittings, and then Ruben and I went to Disneyland at the end of February. It was a fun trip. We have a photo that was taken of us when we rode the canoe on the Splash Mountain ride. It was hilarious. Ruben and I were in the front and the looks on our faces spoke volumes. In April, I attended the ACRL National conference in Pittsburgh, where I got to spend time with Mary Lynn and Doreen, two colleagues that I met at the University of Michigan, and hear the great historian Ronald Takaki, author of “A Different Mirror: A HIstory of Multicultural America,”speak. In June, I attended the ALA Annual conference in Chicago, and gave a presentation on GLBT issues in the workplace, and marched in the gay pride parade with my friend Richard DiRusso. That was great fun. In September, I traveled to San Francisco to attend the National Staff Development and Training conference with my good friend Karen Downing. I met Sue Miller Hurst, a motivational speaker and educator there and found her very inspiring.

Work was hell. I worked with a number of consultants and coordinated scores of training sessions for the staff, including anti-racism training, communication skills training, and customer service training, to name a few topics. I found this work to be thankless. It never seemed to be enough. It was in other areas of my job, however, that I found some fulfillment. Working with the Diversity Council was a lot of fun. We held a number of very interesting programs, including a session called “Not So Straight: A Dialogue with your Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Colleagues”, and a Juneteenth celebration with Barbea Williams and her dance troupe. Kriza Jennings, a diversity consultant with the Association of Research Libraries, visited in October and was a big hit with all the groups she met, both on campus and in the community. As Assistant to the Dean, I had many other responsibilities as well and attended hundreds of hours of meetings.

I was also heavily involved in professional service this year, and was a member of the REFORMA National board of Directors, the ALA GBLT Book Award Committee, the AZLA Services to the Spanish Speaking Roundtable, as well as a number of other organizations.

I also gave presentations, worked on publications and taught.

In other areas of my life, my dear friend Ana Elias’s husband Thad died in the Spring. It was a very sad time for the Elias family. In July, my niece Valerie married Wade Colwell, who was one of Anthony Quinn’s grandsons. My Aunt Carmen and Helen celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, and my niece Estrella gave birth to her daughter Gabriela.

In terms of hobbies, I continued to build my music, film and book collections. This particular year saw the release of several great music recordings, including Wrecking Ball, by Emmylou Harris and Joyas de los Siglos by Ana Gabriel, just to name a couple. Ruben and I continued to buy classic movies on vhs. We helped make Blockbuster and Bookman’s rich!

Overall, Ruben and I did well this year, even though we were a bit deeper in debt than before. We spent a lot of time furnishing our new home and making improvements to it. All in all, we made some big strides together in just over two years. We had a lot to look forward to as we settled into our first home.

For a more complete look at my work and accomplishments, click here.

The following section is a compilation of photos and graphics of all the things that happened this year.

From the Arizona Daily Star, January 14, 1995. The Barraza-Aviation Parkway was named after my partner Ruben’s uncle Maclovio Barraza, Ruben’s mother’s brother. Barraza grew up in Superior and was a miner at Magma Copper Co. He became a union leader and fought hard for worker’s rights. My dad knew him well.
I grew up just to the east of the intersection of the Barraza Aviation Parkway and 22nd St. A dedication ceremony for the parkway was held sometime in the summer. Ruben and I accompanied his parents and his uncle’s family at the ceremony. From the Arizona Daily Star, January 14, 1995.
I turned 36 on January 15. These were birthday cards from Carla Stoffle and Libby Hilmar, two colleagues at work. Carla, who was the Dean of the Library and my supervisor, sent me both birthday cards and Christmas cards every year for approximately 20 years. Libby sent me the same birthday card three years in a row. I still have all three.
Getting positive feedback from my boss was a rare occurrence. When it happened, it sure felt good! She had high standards and expected her staff to work 50 to 60 hours a week. It was insane. The affirmative action committee worked very hard on the report.
After the successful Leslie Feinberg visit that I coordinated in 1994, the folks at Wingspan offered me a seat on their Board of Directors. I accepted the offer. However, after a couple of months, I realized this assignment wasn’t for me, and unfortunately, I had to resign. I had too much going on and this job required more time and attention than I could give it.

The Library Diversity Council made presentations to all the teams in the Library, starting in mid-January. The information we shared can be found here:

Ruben and I made a quick trip to Nogales on January 22nd. I don’t remember why we went. At times, we would just go for the drive or to eat and shop for the day.

I attended ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia in February. (2/2-2/7).

This was my first visit to Philadelphia. I’ve since been there several times.
This program was held on Friday, February 3 from 2 to 5 in the Four Seaasons Hotel. I was a bit nervous, but ended up doing very well on my presentation.
Barbara Gittings was a legendary figure in the gay rights movement. She was also a librarian, and at this conference she spoke about how gays at ALA made a stance about the need for acknowledgement and acceptance. I just had to include the famous steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Scenes of the movie “Rocky” were shot here.

Ms. Gittings shared the following document about the history of the ALA GLBT Task Force with the attendees at her presentation in Philadelphia: Gays in Libraryland

I attended several programs in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the GLBT Task Force.
The gay bars in Philadelphia were in the downtown area. I had a great time.
My hotel was located at Penn’s Landing, a bit off the beaten path. I had to take the Philly Phlash shuttle back and forth every day to the conference.
More scenes from Philadelphia. The public library is on the bottom right. I fell in love with the music room.
The Reading Terminal Market was a blast. It was next door to the Gallery shopping mall. The bridge took one over to the New Jersey side of the river.

Ruben graduated from beauty school. (2/8/95)

Ruben started working at Supercuts almost immediately. He would stay with the company for many years and worked at various locations in town.
Tucson’s own Lalo Guerrero paired up with Los Lobos to create this wonderful music for children of all ages, released on February 14, 1995.
On February 20, the Library Diversity Council sponsored a program featuring scholar, oral historian and educator Ruth Edmonds Hill, who discussed her work on the Black Women’s Oral History project.

I went to Disneyland in Anaheim with Ruben in February (2/25-2/28).

We took the “northern” route (Interstate 10) to Anaheim and arrived in less than 8 hours.
Ruben and I were all freaked out, as one can tell.
We just had to go on this ride, because you know what they say…. It’s a Small World after all…
This time we took the I-8 to Tucson. It’s always nice to avoid the Phoenix traffic.
This is an amazing album. It was released on March 6, 1995. The following video is a work of art. I love the song!
I gave a presentation on resumes and cover letters on February 15 at the Library school.

I attended the ACRL National conference in Pittsburgh March 28 through April 1.

Ronald Takaki was one of the keynote speakers at this conference. Listening to him speak was a high point of the event.
The David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, where our conference was held.
My friend Mary Lynn and I visited the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. Wow, what a beautiful place!
My dear friends Doreen Simonsen and Mary Lynn Morris both attended the ACRL conference, and I spent time with them while there. It had been three years since I left the University of Michigan, which is where this photo was taken. Doreen and Mary Lynn are shown here standing at the reference desk at the Undergraduate Library. I spent an average of 12 hours a week at this desk for over five years.
My friend Doreen and I visited the Penn Brewery and had a scrumptious German dinner.
Tejano star Selena’s life came to an abrupt end on March 31, 1995. Fans from all over the US and Mexico mourned her death.
On April 5, the LIbrary Diversity council sponsored a program featuring Felipe Molina who spoke about the Easter traditions of the Yaqui people. Molina is a Yaqui deer singer who has served as governor of Yoem Pueblo and as a member of the Pascua Tribal Council. He is also co-author of Yaqui Deer Songs, a book of Yaqui poetry.
Sandra Bernhard performed at Spring Fling on April 7 on a stage at the intersection of Cherry and University Blvd. I didn’t know she could sing so well. She tore it up when she sang the song, “Janie Got a Gun”. She also trashed the Catholic Church as she looked toward the bell tower of the Newman Center. I am glad I saw her perform. She was pretty wild. Below is her version of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”. She is not from Arizona, however.
She’s amazing.
April 19, 1995 was a very sad day indeed. 158 people lost their lives and over 500 were injured when Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City.
I loved seeing Los Lobos in concert. I’ve been attending their shows since the mid-80s.
Released on May 2, 1995. Alejandro Fernandez would soon become an international superstar. The following song, which appeared on this album, was a big hit for Fernandez.

Released on 5-3-95. I really enjoyed this movie. It was really well done.
Ruben’s parents treated me like one of their own sons. They gifted us $10,000 for the down payment on our new home. We could not have bought it without their help.

We put an offer on this house in March and by April were notified that it was accepted. We were all moved in by the first week of May.

in the Spring, we bought this small, two bedroom house on 10th Ave, just south of Speedway, and moved in at the beginning of May. The neighborhood was built on top of “the Court St. cemetery”, Tucson’s old city cemetery. Unfortunately, in some cases, only the headstones were moved…
Carla Stoffle, my boss at work, sent us this beautiful dracaena as a housewarming gift. We kept it alive for years, and it got very tall.
This sideboard/buffet was the first big piece of furniture we bought after we moved in to our new home.
Then we found this beautifully preserved upright baby grand piano. The clock was purchased shortly afterwards.
Then we bought this beautiful table. The chairs came later. We also purchased a big sectional couch and a china cabinet. Our little house soon began to feel even smaller….
The Equity Institute visited the UA Libraries in 1994 and again this year. They also did community training, sponsored by the YWCA, later in the summer. Staff enjoyed these sessions, although they could get pretty intense.
Elizabeth Montgomery 4/15/1933-5/18/1995. One of my favorites.

The Diversity Council sent out to the staff a training needs assessment survey, and by mid-June, we had compiled the results.

This is one of my favorite Juan Gabriel albums. It was released on June 19, 1995. He was such a great singer/songwriter. Nobody else has come close since he passed. The following song was part of this album. It protested Proposition 187, which was passed in California the previous year, but eventually deemed illigal by the courts.
Juan Gabriel writes a protest song!

Here is one of the reports I presented to the Dean that summarized my work at mid-year.

Barbea Williams and her dance troupe visited the UA Library on June 20, 1995 and did a performance centering around Juneteenth.

I attended ALA Annual in Chicago in June. (6/23-6/28)

Chicago is my favorite big city.

Things I did at the 1995 ALA Annual conference in Chicago, according to my report to Carla

  • Not a very pleasant trip. Too humid and uncomfortable.
  • Gave a presentation on gays and lesbians in the workplace at the GLTF Pre-conference.
  • Attended a LAMA program on leadership development for minority librarians
  • Attended a LAMA Cultural Diversity Committee meeting.
  • Attended the ACRL Personnel and Staff Development Officers discussion group meeting.
  • Met with Kriza Jennings.
  • Marched in the gay pride parade in the gay librarians contingent on Sunday.
I marched in the gay pride parade this year with my friend Richard. We had a blast.

Meanwhile, back home, my nephew Marcus was doing this…

The heat wave that hit the Midwest in mid-July, 1995 took the lives of over 500 people in Chicago, and just as many across the rest of the Midwest. I had just been there to attend the ALA Annual Conference. Wow.
Selena’s English-language album, Dreaming of You, was released on July 18, about 3 1/2 months after she was killed by a deranged fan. The title cut of the album follows.

To see the actual work, click on the words “”Latin America” below.

“Latin America” in Magazines for Libraries, 8th edition. New Providence, New Jersey, 1995. Lead author and chapter coordinator, with contributions from Patricia Promis, Tom Marshall, Theresa Salazar and Susan Husband.

The great Jerry Garcia died on August 9, 1995. Deadheads all over the world were devastated.
This photo was taken in 1992 in my office at the University of Michigan Undergraduate Library. That’s my good buddy Mike Robbins sitting next to me. He died in 1997. The news hit me pretty hard.
An amazing compilation of live performances by Joan Baez and friends. Released in September, 1995. The following song was not included in the original cd, but was released later on the collector’s edition of this album. I just love this old song. She first recorded it on one of her “in concert” albums way back in 1962.

I attended a conference on staff development in San Francisco in September. (9/10-9/13)

I roomed with my good friend Karen while at this conference. We worked at Michigan together and this photo was taken in my office at the Undergraduate Library.

AULC Trip to Flagstaff in September 9/21-9/22.

I’ve been going up to Flagstaff for one thing or another since I was six years old. This particular trip was a quick, work-related visit.
Released on 9/26/95. What a joyful album! The following tune is just lovely, as are all of them!
Also released on 9/26/95 and a stark contrast to the one by Gloria Estefan. Heavy stuff, this one. The title cut follows.
I raised over $600 for this year’s Aidswalk. Most contributors were library staff.
OJ was found not guilty, but nobody believed that. He was later arrested on other charges and spent a lot of time in prison. The first magazine is dated 10/9 and the second one is dated 10/16.

As a librarian who was continuing status eligible, I had to prepare a candidate’s statement for my four-hear review, which was a critical point in the process leading toward achievement of continuing status. My statement, which summarizes my work and accomplishments for the past three years, is linked here: Joseph R. Diaz: Curriculum Vitae Statement of Objectives for 4-year review 10-15-1995

This is one of my favorite country artists. The album was released on 10-31-95.
Released on 11-21-95. Reminds me a lot of Springsteen’s Nebraska album. It’s rather dark, but so, so soulful. The song “Across the Border” follows. This is a live version Springsteen recorded in the studio. Linda Ronstadt later recorded the song on the album, “Western Wall: The Tucson sessions, which she recorded with Emmylou Harris in Tucson.
I was invited back again in the Fall to do another resumes and cover letters workshop for the students at the UA Library School. I enjoyed this work immensely.
My favorite Ana Gabriel album, released some time in November, 1995. I wish she would do another one like this. She performed the following song “Reconciliacion” live on a special program hosted by Raul Valasco on Mexican music back in the 90s. I was lucky to record it and still have it.
Coordinating staff development programming and training as well as providing the staff with funding for training and conferences was a big, big part of my job. The work was endless, and unfortunately, the staff were never satisfied. It was a thankless job. I didn’t like it, but I had to do it. I was very frustrated doing this work because I had certain colleagues breathing down my neck all the time who tried very hard to get me to resign, and worked behind the scenes to sabotage my work. I stuck it out for eight years, however. I’m glad I kept records of my work, because it’s proof of what I accomplished. To this day, I can’t stand when people use words like “competent” or “incompetent” to describe other people’s capabilities in the workplace, because I know from experience that it’s all political. These words become weapons used to attack others. They serve no useful purpose.
I don’t remember much about this particular event, but I was elected secretary of this group in late 1995. It was not my favorite assignment, if I recall correctly. I do not like the job of secretary. It is very tedious, but I’ve served in this role a couple of times over the years. I was also national secretary of REFORMA in the early 90s.
Dean Martin 6/7/1917-12/25/95. I love his voice. I think it’s gorgeous. I used to love to play the following song on my radio show.
A Christmas card from my friend Mike Robbins.

My Life Story: 1994

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 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!

This particular entry is divided into two parts. The first is the narrative for my life story in 1994. The second part includes a lot of graphics, including photos, postcards, maps, documents, news articles etc.

I began the year by continuing to work at the University of Arizona Libraries and living with my partner Ruben in a spacious, two bedroom apartment on the west side of town on Shannon Road, near Pima Community College. I turned 35 in mid-January, and was presented with a beautiful birthday cake that our friend Roberto made for me. It was delicious too. At the end of February, Ruben and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary as a couple. We had our share of ups and downs during our first year together, but we managed to work things out as we got to know eachother. We’re still together 31 years later. In March, he started school at the Allure College of Beauty, and within a year he would become a licensed cosmetologist and hair stylist. In April, we bought a new car, a 1993 Nissan Sentra, and we soon began taking road trips to places like Albuquerque and the Grand Canyon. It was so nice having a car that didn’t break down every other week, and we kept it for a very long time, 11 years to be exact.

Work-wise, 1994 was a very busy year. I passed my second year review as I continued to juggle a variety of responsibilities in my role as Assistant to the Dean for staff development, recruitment and diversity. Each area of responsibility was quite demanding. I was also a member of the Administrative Group and Library Cabinet, the library’s leadership teams, and attended every meeting and every training session held for these groups. The restructuring process was still unfolding, and there was a great demand for staff development and training. I continued to set up, as I had the previous year (for example, see: Library Wide-Training Plan Summary, June, 1993-December, 1993), scores of training sessions for the staff and the administration this particular year, and allocated several thousand dollars of funding for staff attendance at workshops and other events. However, I enjoyed the work I did in the area of diversity the most. I worked with the Library Diversity Council to set up a variety of informative programs, including a lecture on women in Islam, a Passover seder, a lecture on Black aviators, as well as a Cinco De Mayo lecture and celebration, among others. In July, the Diversity Council wrote an annual report for 1993/1994, that outlined all of the activities it sponsored and issues that it confronted. The Dean of the Library was quite impressed and pleased, and commended the group for its work. In July, E.J. Josey, a distinguished leader in African American librarianship and former president of the American Library Association, visited and gave a lecture on diversity in librarianship for the campus. In the Fall, I received funding from the University administration to host the writer Leslie Feinberg, whose novel, Stone Butch Blues, had just won the ALA Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Book award for fiction. Feinberg was at the forefront of the budding transgender rights movement, and I organized both campus and community events that gave people the opportunity to get to know this amazing individual. As a result of my organizing these events, I was invited to become a member of the board of directors of Wingspan, Tucson’s lgbt community center. I accepted the invitation, but within a month or so realized that this was too big a responsibility to take on, so I resigned. Wingspan needed a lot of attention, and I just didn’t have the time. In November, the Diversity Council hosted the Equity Institute, a diversity training organization that provided training to the Library faculty and staff on the issue of racism. This was the first of several all staff diversity-focused training events that I would be involved in coordinating while assistant to the Dean. Looking back, it’s a miracle I didn’t collapse from exhaustion. It was a very busy time for me. It was not without its ups and downs, either. I experienced some conflict with one of my senior colleagues in particular, whose good friend, one of our library consultants, told me flat out at one point that I was not qualified for the work I was doing. This was after I refused to go to the student union to buy her and my senior colleague sandwiches one night while we were working on planning training for the staff. I told them I wasn’t their errand boy. They also told me that they weren’t there to teach me, after I asked questions about the work we were doing. I later mentioned this to the Dean of the Library, and she gave me the authority to decide whether or not to bring this particular consultant back for more training. We never did bring her back as a consultant, but she managed to continue working with us in other ways.

I was also involved in a lot of service-related activities, including the ALA GLBTF Book Award Committee, which I’ve noted awarded Leslie Feinberg that year’s award for fiction; REFORMA, at both the national and local levels, and the Arizona State Library Association, where I chaired the Services to the Spanish Speaking Roundtable. I also managed the student chapter of REFORMA, and we took a number of field trips to various libraries, including a college library in Nogales, Sonora as well as local libraries like the El Rio Center Library, located in the heart of Barrio Hollywood. Because I was on the “tenure-track” at this point in my career, I also had to engage in scholarship. This took the form of either writing for publication or giving formal presentations at professional conferences. This particular year, something I had written while at Michigan, a chapter titled “Collection Development in Multicultural Studies” was published in the book, Cultural Diversity In Libraries, edited by my colleague Pat Tarin and Don Riggs, Dean of Libraries at the University of Michigan. I also participated in writing a couple of chapters for the publication, Magazines for Libraries. I recruited colleagues from the UA Library and the local public library to help me write descriptions of recommended core magazines and journals from Latin America for libraries. We also included magazines and journals focusing on the Latino experience in the US. The work would not get published for another year, but we completed it in summer, 1994, and the editor of the publication, Bill Katz, a well-respected library leader and publisher, was quite happy with our work. I also participated in a number of professional development workshops, including a seminar on time management, a workshop on working with the media, strategic planning training, facilitation skills training, and other programs. I also attended two national conferences, ALA Midwinter in Los Angeles and ALA Annual in Miami Beach, and one state library (ASLA) conference in Phoenix.

There were several major family events that occurred this year. My dad married his companion, Guadalupe Lopez, in March. They already had a child, my little brother Jose’, the previous September. The marriage took place in Bullhead City, Arizona, and was attended by most of my dad’s brothers and sisters. My great niece Estrella Ochoa had her first child, a boy named David. In December, both my aunt Dora Sainz, one of my mom’s younger sisters, and my cousin Martin Olguin died. I went to my aunt’s funeral in San Francisco, and attended my cousin Martin’s services in Tucson. I grew up with Martin, and we were very close at one point. His death made me very sad. He was only in his mid-30s.

My childhood friend, Richard (Ricky) Fass was killed in late June. He was an undercover DEA agent, and was shot by drug dealers in a botched up undercover operation. It was quite a tragedy. Ricky and his brother Bubba grew up two houses up the street from me, and we spent lots of time together as kids. Another friend, Kidd Rivenbark, also died this year. We weren’t that close, but he was a very nice man. I met him when I was with my first partner, John. They had been in the Air Force together. Kidd was from North Carolina. He was quite fond of me, but I was young and flighty and didn’t keep in touch with him.

Several major events occurred in 1994, including the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico, and the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement by the US, Mexico and Canada. Both events occurred on the same day, January 1. Later in the month, a major earthquake hit southern California and was centered in the town of Northridge, just north of Los Angeles. 1994 also saw the emergence of both the internet, the World Wide Web, and the companies Yahoo and Amazon. OJ Simpson was accused of murdering his wife, and Nelson Mandela won the presidency in South Africa, in its first ever fair and free elections. California’s Proposition 187, which would have denied many social and public services to the undocumented, was passed and then quickly repealed as illegal.

The following musicians, actors and other celebrities died in 1994: Amparo Ochoa, Cab Calloway, Papa John Creach, Dinah Shore, Jackie Kennedy, Cesar Romero, Harry Nilsson, Henry Mancini, Carmen MacRae Marion Williams, and Major Lance.

My personal interests at this time revolved around collecting Mexican music and classic movies. I loved the music of Lucha Villa, and sought out her recordings whenever and wherever I could. Pepe Aguilar and Alejandro Fernandez were two other Mexican ranchera singers who were both relatively new to the music scene, and I purchased every recording of theirs that came out. I even got to see Pepe Aguilar perform with his father Antonio Aguilar and his mother Flor Silvestre at the Pima County Fairgrounds.

Ruben and I became big movie buffs and we bought the following films, all on vhs:: The Story of Ruth, Of Human Bondage, El Cid, Paris is Burning, Shindig Soul, Two Mules for Sister Sarah, All In A Night’s Work, The Man in the Iron Mask, Stage Door, James Brown and Friends, Pretty Baby, Sweet Bird of Youth, Dark Shadows, 2,000 Year Old Man, A Stolen Life, The Children’s Hour, Barbarella, Making Love, Aretha Live at Park West, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Night of the Iguana, Reefer Madness, Norman Is That You?, The Country Girl, Nijinsky, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, Quartet, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, Guitarras, Lloren Guitarras, Where the Boys Are, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Midnight Cowboy, Yours, Mine and Ours, The Last Emperor, Fantastic Voyage, La Cage Aux Folles, The Count of Monte Cristo, In This Our Life, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Gone With the Wind.

Little did we know that the vhs format would soon be replaced by dvds. We still have some of these tapes, and they do work, but we gave many of them away and replaced them with dvds. Maybe one day they’ll, like lps, make a big comeback! You never know.

Happy New Year!

1-1-94 –The beginning of the Zapatista rebellion in Mexico.

On the same day-January 1, 1994-The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed into law in December by President Clinton, takes effect.

I celebrated my 35th birthday on January 15.
My friend Roberto Ramirez made me this gorgeous birthday cake. It was quite yummy.
An magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Southern California’s San Fernando valley on January 17, 1994.

ALA Midwinter in Los Angeles was interesting and fun. The conference was held in the downtown area. I had never really spent any time there before, so it was a new experience. I stayed at a hotel called the New Otani Hotel, in Little Tokyo, which was close to City Hall, Olvera Street, the train station and skid row. One evening I took the bus to West Hollywood with my friend Mario, and we spent the night partying at a bar called the Ramrod II. It was great. I also found some very hard to find Lucha Villa recordings at a store called Ritmo Latino and I visited Olvera Street, where I had some very tasty champurrado and bought some Jesus Hilguera prints. It’s LA’s original site, and is home to several historic buildings.

The Northridge earthquake had just hit two week prior to this conference. Some of the hotels in downtown LA suffered damage. What was I thinking? In hindsight I should probably have skipped this conference and avoided LA for the time being, so soon after a major natural disaster! Oh well. Thank goodness things turned out fine.
This was my fifth ALA Midwinter Conference. I had been to Chicago in ’90 and ’91, San Antonio in ’92 and Denver in ’93. I would continue to attend these conferences every year for many more years before I slowed down.
A map of downtown LA showing all the hotels in the area. My hotel was the New Otani on the northeast side in an area called Little Tokyo. Getting to the Convention Center took some time, as it was at the opposite end of downtown.
This is the hotel I stayed at while in Los Angeles. I’d never stayed in the downtown area before. One had to be careful on the streets as skid row was not that far away.
An older postcard of Olvera Street. This is LA’s birthplace, and there are several historic buildings in the area. I had some delicious champurrado, which is like hot chocolate, but a bit thicker, and I bought some Jesus Helguera posters. It was fun–kind of like being in the tourist area in Nogales, Sonora, only much more compact.
This place, now closed has become legendary for carrying a very wide range of Latin music. I was in heaven!
I found the cd re-issue of this recording by Lucha Villa, one of her very first, issued in 1962, at a record store called Ritmo Latino in downtown LA. I was so happy when I bought it. There’s nothing like her early recordings. I was in the middle of my Lucha Villa craze and finding this recording was like finding the mother lode.
This is one of my very favorite Lucha Villa songs.

Amparo Ochoa dies. February 8, 1994. She was a great promoter of “la nueva cancion” in Mexico, and recorded some beautiful, traditional Mexican folk music including an entire album of corridos and songs from the Mexican Revolution.

What a sad, beautiful song. Amparo Ochoa was one of a kind.

Valentine’s Day cards.

My valentine card from Ruben.

Ruben and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary as a couple in late February. He celebrated his 31st birthday in June.

Ruben started beauty school at Allure in early March. The tuition was expensive, but in the end, it was well worth it. He’s been cutting hair now for nearly 30 years.
My dad and and his partner Lupe got married on March 19. Accompanying them in this photo are my Aunt Josie, Aunt Carmen, Aunt Helen, and Uncle Ralph.
I bought a new car in the Spring, a 1993 Nissan Sentra. We needed it badly. My old Corolla was literally falling apart. Unlike the car in the photo, mine was a four door.

Nelson Mandela wins the presidential election in South Africa on April 27 in South Africa’s first fully multi-racial elections. He becomes the first democratically elected president the following month.

In celebration of El Cinco de Mayo, Lupe Castillo, a well-known local Chicana activist and history instructor at Pima Community College, was invited to the Library by the Diversity Council to speak about the cultural and social significance of El Cinco de Mayo to Tucson’s Mexican American community. She talked about immigration along the way, which ruffled a few feathers, but I thought it was great. The event included a musical performance by Mariachi Arizona and a potluck. I coordinated this program on behalf of the Library Diversity Council. When Mariachi Arizona was playing, the leader asked me if I would sing the song “Volver, Volver”, and I did! It was a lot of fun, and I wasn’t even drinking any booze! Ha ha ha!

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis passed away on May 19, 1994.
Not sure exactly when, but this album be El Vez, Graciasland, has one of my favorite songs. It’s called “AZTLAN”.
This was our second trip to Albuquerque in two years. We went in 1993 for Ruben’s birthday and again this year in early June. We visited his sister Mina while there.

ALA Annual in Miami was a lot of fun, but getting around to the various meetings was a real challenge. Some of the meetings were held in Miami Beach, and others in the city of Miami. It was a logistical mess. I had fun any way and went dancing several times, hung out at the beach, and I also enjoyed spending time with my friends Richard DiRusso and Mario Gonzalez, who drove us around in a red convertible one bright, sunny day. It was great.

This was my sixth ALA annual conference. I had been to Dallas in ’89, Chicago in ’90, Atlanta in ’91, San Francisco in ’92 and New Orleans in ’93. I was on a roll. I loved to travel!
My buddy Richard DiRusso and I roomed together at the Hotel Carlton.
On this particular ALA trip, I roomed with my friend Richard DiRusso. He and I were both on the ALA GLBTF Book Award Committee.
Everyone was glued to their television sets as they watched O.J Simpson elude the police on the California freeways. He was tried for murdering his wife. It was a huge spectacle, and people argued at length over whether or not he was guilty. It even split some families apart.
Another American Tragedy –Richard Fass, a close childhood friend, is killed on 6/30.
What a great movie! The soundtrack is wonderful!
The Library Diversity Council held a get together at Libby Hilmar’s house on July 17. Libby was a wonderful friend.
July 25, 1994 cover of Time Magazine.

The world wide web was born in 1994. According to some estimates, there were just 10,000 websites and two million computers connected to the Internet. Amazon, Yahoo! and Mosaic Communications (later Netscape) were in the beginning stages.

This was published in early August.

I contributed a chapter to this book back in 1991-1992, while I was working at the University of Michigan Undergraduate Library. It finally saw the light of day in early August, 1994. It’s available here: Collection Development in Multicultural Studies, book chapter in Cultural Diversity in Libraries, edited by Don Riggs and Patricia Tarin, Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1994.

Grand Canyon with Ruben. First week of August.

This was my second visit to the Grand Canyon taken during the first week of August. Ruben drove most of the way. My first visit took place back in 1976 when I was 17.
What fun, crazy movie. Some of the scenes are quite racy, to put it mildly.
Leslie Feinberg won the 1994 ALA GLBTF Book Award for fiction, and as a member of the book award committee, I had the pleasure of meeting her and inviting her to speak at the Univeristy of Arizona campus on September 30.

This beautiful flyer was designed by Ken Godat of Godat Design.
Gay Pride program, Tucson, 1994

California’s Proposition 187 was designed to deny social services, non-emergency health services, and public education to undocumented immigrants. California voters passed the proposed law by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent at a referendum on November 8, 1994. The law was challenged in a legal suit the day after its passage, and found unconstitutional by a federal district court on November 11, 1994.

Mom’s sister Dora died in early December. She was one of my favorite aunts. She and her husband left Tucson in the late 40s and never turned back. They lived in the city at first, but then settled in South San Francisco, and lived there until her death. Our family visited them when I was a kid, back in 1966. In 1978, I visited again. Aunt Dora was a very smart lady. She had to quit school at a young age to help support her family, however.

My cousin Tish drove a bunch of us into the city when we visited for my Aunt Dora’s funeral. I asked her to take me to the Mission District so I could buy some Lucha Villa stuff at the Mission Music Center, and I wound up purchasing a number of cassettes there. Unfortunately, many of them have deteriorated and are no longer playable. I should’ve bought the lps instead!
My crazy cousin Martin. This photo was taken while he was in high school. He was a very talented musician, but didn’t keep it up. We took a summer school class together in high school, but ended up partying a lot more than we studied. He was a travieso.

Cousin Martin dies.

Some new music releases from 1994.

I was a member of the ALA Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Book Award Committee in 1994. I received complimentary copies of a number of books, many of which are listed below. My job as a committee member was to review them and to be prepared to discuss and debate which ones were the best in their respective categories. It was quite an assignment, as there were many, many wonderful books published in 1994.

That’s all, folks!

My life story: 1993

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 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!

As I look back at 1993, I have come to realize that my job was just a part of my life, not my entire life. I’ve delayed writing about this period because I’ve been avoiding writing about the years when I served as Carla Stoffle’s assistant at the University of Arizona Library. In many ways, I felt inadequate, humiliated and burned as the Assistant to the Dean for Staff Development, Recruitment and Diversity. By the time I stepped down from the job eight years later, I was totally fried. I don’t want to just focus on the bad stuff, however, and I don’t have to, so I’m going to mostly write about all the other stuff that happened in my life. I have many fond memories.

1993 was a year that changed my life for the better overall. However, I had just been hired at the University of Arizona Library in June the previous year and was beginning to realize how intense my job was. It was very demanding, and at times I struggled to keep up with the pace. We were in the midst of a major organizational overhaul, and there was a constant demand for staff development and on-the-job training. I worked with a variety of people–national consultants, local consultants and other staff– to coordinate and deliver these efforts. We were in unknown territory, working to completely change the structure and culture of the library while consolidating units, changing work priorities and trying to convince people that diversity and working in teams were good ideas. There was a lot of resistance among the staff to these changes, but we charged forward.

My colleague Karen Downing and I worked on this project before I left Michigan in early 1992. It was finally published at the beginning of 1993. We received very positive reviews for our contribution and were later asked to conduct this workshop live at UC Berkeley. Click the link below to access the full chapter.

“Instruction in a Multicultural/Multiracial Environment”, co-authored with Karen Downing, in the book, Learning to Teach: Workshops on Instruction. American Library Association, 1993.

This recording was released on January 1, 1993. Judy Collins and Bob Dylan have known each other since early 60s, when they both were part of the Greenwich Village folk scene. Many of her albums contain Dylan material. Her versions of Masters of War and The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll are outstanding. This album is great and full of new Dylan material like Sweetheart Like you and Gotta Serve Somebody.

I lived alone at the beginning of the year and turned 34 on January 15, but didn’t do anything but watch movies at home. My car was giving me problems, so I was stuck. The photo below is what my car, a 1980 Toyota Corolla, likely looked like back in 1980, when it was brand new. After having survived 12 Michigan winters, it was not nearly as pretty as it once was, but it was what I had at the time. I spent a lot of money on repairs, but by the following year, I’d have a new vehicle.

This is a 1980 Toyota Corolla, the same model that I owned in 1993. I bought mine in 1990. It never looked as good as this one.

Here are some of my birthday cards from that 1993.

My sister Irene has been sending me birthday cards every year for over 30 years.
I really missed my Michigan friends. Barb Hoppe and I were very close. She was one-of-a-kind.
This was from the staff at the UA Library. There were some very nice people who worked there.
My buddy Richard and I attended this Charlie King concert on January 16, a day after my birthday. King is a professional protest singer, and that night I wasn’t in the mood to hear that kind of music, so I made fun of it the entire time. I still feel had about my behavior. I was being a real jerk.

Nevertheless, here’s one of the songs of Charlie’s that I really like:

I have had lots of trouble with the issue of political correctness over time. I think my leftist friends can get quite dogmatic and they easily put people down who aren’t “enlightened” like they are. I disagree with a lot of what they espouse, especially when it comes to one’s chosen use of language/ terminology and attitudes about various issues like what foods one should or should not eat. There are certain words like queer and latinx, for example, that I’ll likely never use in my own day-to-day speech because I don’t like those terms, but they’re politically correct, so to speak. I also refuse to add pronouns to my signature. If you can’t tell I’m a dude, something is wrong! Seriously, if you want to know, just ask. But don’t make me feel obliged to include it as part of my signature. Oh well. I know who I am–a gay Chicano socialist, or as Archie Bunker might say a “commie, pinko, fairy” through and through. That won’t ever change.

Bill Clinton became our new President in January. He was on several magazine covers. The one on the far right was photoshopped, for sure, but was quite popular with the gay crowd at the time.

Even though I had an uneventful birthday, a week or so later I got to go to Denver to attend the 1993 ALA Midwinter conference. I’d never been there before.

I love Denver. What an interesting city!

I was in Denver for just a few days, so I made the most of it and had a very nice time, but I was also there to work. In 1992, I had been elected national secretary of REFORMA, The National Association for the Promotion of Library Services to the Spanish Speaking, so I was obligated to attend and take minutes at all of the REFORMA meetings held at Midwinter ’93. Here are the minutes from two of the meetings I attended:

Reforma Executive Board Meeting minutes 1-24-93 Denver ALA MW

Reforma II Minutes ALA Denver 1-24-93

Denver has a beautiful skyline.
My hotel was right in the middle of downtown Denver. It was a great location. It was formerly called The Brown Palace Hotel and is now a Holiday Inn Express. At the time of my visit it was a Comfort Inn.

We were in Denver at a time when there was a lot of conflict in Colorado over Amendment 2, a ballot initiative passed by Colorado voters in 1992 that prohibited the state from enacting antidiscrimination protections for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, but that had been blocked by the courts. I and other colleagues from the UA Library, including our Assistant Dean Shelley Phipps, attended a protest rally at the Capitol in support of the gay population of Colorado. I did my best to keep up with what was happening.

These are some of the lapel buttons that I collected during my visit to Denver.
The protest rally I attended was held at the steps of the State Capitol.

The following article provides more detail about the controversial conference location and many of the activities that took place at the conference.

Under Protest ALA Midwinter in Denver

Here are two more articles that summarize the activities that took place at the conference:

A_Rocky_Time_in_Denver ALA Midwinter

American Libraries Midwinter by the Numbers

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the exhibit titled “Aztec” at the Denver Museum of Natural History. I was blown away by the incredible sculptures and artifacts that were on display. The exhibit was gorgeous. I remember I hitched a ride with one of my colleagues, Janet Fore, but the car was crowded and Janet wasn’t very happy, so I had to find my own way back to my hotel.

Exterior view of the West side of the Denver Museum of Natural History and Science at dusk.
A very fuzzy photo of the exhibit gallery.
I bought this poster and book while visiting the exhibition at the museum in Denver. I was blown away. I later gave it to my partner Ruben and we had it framed. We still have it.
This book served as the exhibition catalog. I bought a copy for my personal library.

I also got to eat at a few really good restaurants and explore the various record stores and bookstores in the downtown area, as well as the 16th Street Mall.

16th Street has always been the center of downtown. It’s now a pedestrian mall.
Waxtrax Records, Denver.
I enjoyed visiting this bookstore. It was well stocked and busy.

I also went out a few times to the gay bars and nightclubs. I remember one in particular. It was called “Charlie’s” and it was a very crowded country western bar. There were other gay bars around too, just to the east of the Capitol building on Colfax.

Colfax Avenue went on for miles and miles. It was very busy thoroughfare.

I really enjoyed the conference, but I had a lot of work to do at the Library when I got back. We were training our staff how to become teams, and we worked with a consultant named Maureen Sullivan. It was my job to communicate our plan to the staff. This work kept me quite busy. Having fun was a luxury, but I did manage to go to a few concerts like the one noted below.

This was released in 1993, the same year I saw these guys at Coyote’s on W. Lester. They were a fun group.
This was one of my friend Richard’s favorite songs of all time.
Arizona Daily Star, February 12, 1993.
Premiered on February 17, 1993. This is a great movie and the book is fantaastic too.

We held a Mardi Gras celebration for the UA Library staff on February 23. My good friend Chestalene Pintozzi helped out a lot. It was a fun party. It’s been a long, long time since I was this thin!

I recently found the following announcement in a 1993 Library newsletter.

The woman standing next to me is Debbie Friesen, a good friend. She worked in our business office and was longtime volunteer for Tucson Meet Yourself.

On the last day of February, I met someone. His name was Ruben. We hit it off and we fell in love. His mom grew up in the thirties in Superior, Arizona, next door to my dad’s family. She used to play with my aunts Carmen and Helen, and my dad knew her brother, Maclovio Barraza, a union organizer who had recruited my dad to join the union at the mine. Ruben and I had also gone to the same high school and worked at the same grocery store, but at different points in time so our paths never crossed before. It was uncanny. We became inseparable and by May, we decided to live together. It’s now been over 30 years!

I had never heard of the great transgendered writer and leftist activist Leslie Feinberg at the time of the publication of this book, but within a year or so, she would win the American Library Association’s GLBT Book Award and I would bring her to Tucson to speak to the gay community.
Released on March 23, 1993.
What a song!
Released on March 25, 1993. Dwight Yoakam is one of my favorite contemporary country singers.
I just love this song.
Ruben was born in the year of the Rabbit and I was born in the year of the Boar, and according to this place mat, which we got from a Chinese restaurant on Speedway near Tucson Blvd, it says we were compatible. I’ve kept the place mat all these years! Ruben thinks I’m crazy.
Piel de Nina was released on April 1, 1993. Alejandro Fernandez was new to the music scene, and this was his second album. He and Pepe Aguilar started out roughly at the same time, and I bought every album of theirs that I could find. At this point in my life, I was deeply into Mexican ranchera music, and Lucha Villa was my very favorite singer of all, although I sought out all the traditional material I could find. Que viva la musica ranchera!
This guy is amazing.

In early April, at Easter time, I rented a car and Ruben and I drove with his friend Enrique Gomez and another guy named Roberto, who Enrique was dating, to Rocky Point. We had to take the long way, through the back roads in Sonora to get there, because Roberto was from the other side and could not cross into the US. It was a rough road, and the rental car I drove took a beating. This was not a great trip. We had some misunderstandings with Enrique, and things got tense. I realized on this particular trip that I didn’t like Enrique at all, and was never able to get over it. Ruben and I ended up finding our own hotel room in Rocky Point. The only thing that I liked about the trip was the food. We ate grilled fish and later found a little taco stand outside the hotel that sold the most delicious tacos. There’s nothing like tacos and beer to satisfy one’s hunger!

The grilled fish was amazing.
Our hotel wasn’t the best, and the water barely made it out of the shower spigot, but we got by. We stayed for just one night.
The tacos we ate were mouthwatering. We must’ve eaten at least six apiece.
I bought this in Rocky Point. I’m sure there were a few other things I found, but I can’t remember what! It’s been thirty years!
Best American rock band ever.
Arizona Daily Star, April 18, 1993. I’ve seen this group so many times, I’ve lost count. They are my all-time favorite band.
Aaron Neville’s newest release, The Grand Tour became available in record stores on April 20, 1993. I love Aaron Neville’s voice and have several of his albums. This one includes the Song of Bernadette and Betcha By Golly Wow as well as other great classics.
It’s rare to hear a man sing this one, but he does it justice.
I missed it! This event drew thousands.
Urvashi Vaid was an Indian-born American LGBT rights activist, lawyer, and writer. An expert in gender and sexuality law, she held a series of roles at the National LGBTQ Task Force. I loved listening to her. I found her inspiring and eloquent. She is shown here speaking at the National March on Washington. I was quite saddened to learn that she had passed away in May, 2022.

At the same time as the March on Washington, Tucson was hosting its 11th annual Tucson International Mariachi Conference. This year’s featured performers were Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Mariachi Cobre, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Angeles Ochoa and Linda Ronstadt. I made sure not to miss this event!

Here’s Linda Ronstadt singing the great song, Por Un Amor.
I had the honor of meeting Cesar Chavez twice in my life, the last time just two years before he passed. My dad saved the newsclipping shown below. Chavez died on April 23, 1993. He was 66 years old.
There are various version of this corrido. This one by Los Perros del Pueblo Nuevo is great.

Sometime in late Spring, Ruben’s niece Marissa, Jerry’s daughter, had her first holy communion at St. Ambrose Church. She was only five or six at the time, and was the cutest little girl. She lived with Ruben and her grandparents. Ruben bought her a beautiful dress for the occasion. We all gathered at his parent’s house afterwards. This was the first time I had been around his extended family. Here are some photos of the occasion.

By early May, Ruben and I were living together in a two-bedroom apartment on N. Shannon Rd, on the far west side of town, just down the road from Pima Community College West. The apartment complex was called Desert Hills Apartments and had been built sometime in the Sixties. He had convinced me to move there because the rent was a lot cheaper and it was close to his parent’s house. The complex consisted of several long buildings like the one shown below. We spent a lot of time at Ruben’s parents house, and they were very nice to me. Before I knew it, I was part of the family. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about my own family. They weren’t very nice at all.

The photos that follow were taken around his birthday on June 7. Our friends Roberto and Enrique Navarro joined us during the day, and later we drove to Albuquerque and stayed for a day or two. It was a fun trip. Some of the photos were taken on our drive back through central Arizona.

Ruben and I on his birthday, June, 1993.
I had visited Albuquerque 10 years earlier when I went to see my friend Frank. Brent and I also drove through there on our way to Michigan in 1985. I’ve always enjoyed visiting this place. It reminded me to the Tucson I grew up in, before the population swelled.
Ruben and I visited the Spanish History Museum and I bought this coat of arms. It’s one of many Diaz coats of arms out there.
Central Avenue, looking east from San Mateo Boulevard. We visited several antique stores along this street.
These photos were taken somewhere near Globe Arizona. We were on our way home from Albuquerque.
These photos were taken in our apartment.

As soon as I got back to work, I had out of town guests to take care of and host. They were visiting the library from the University of Michigan. Barbara MacAdam was head of the Undergraduate Library there and Karen Downing was a librarian and member of her library staff. Lester Refigee was a student assistant who worked at the reference desk and was part of the Peer Information Counseling program. Carla Stoffle asked me to arrange for them to visit the UA Library to talk about undergraduate services and peer information counseling. They stayed at the Arizona Inn. Over the weekend, I took them on a tour of southern Arizona. We visited San Xavier, Patagonia, Tumacacori, Nogales and the Saguaro National Monument. It was a fun, but exhausting day, and they really enjoyed themselves. I did too. Barbara is now retired, and Karen still works at Michigan. Lester went on to get a medical degree and is now a physician in the Chicago area.

Barbara MacAdam is the woman with the blonde hear on the left and Karen Downing is the the right of Lester in the above photo taken in front of the Arizona Inn.
This is Gloria Estefan’s masterpiece. It was released on June 22, 1993.

At the end of June I was traveling again, this time to New Orleans to attend the American Library Association’s annual conference. Man, it sure was hot there, and very, very humid. I cannot stand this kind of weather, but I wasn’t about to stay indoors. New Orleans is a hopping place, and I made sure to visit the sites and eat a lot of good food in the French Quarter. While at the conference, I attended REFORMA meetings and took minutes, but also found time to have dinner with friends, party at the gay bars and visit various bookstores and record stores, of which there was an abundance.

This was my first of several trips to the Big Easy.
My hotel was just outside the French Quarter. It was nice.
A pocket guide to gay New Orleans. There were bars everywhere in the French Quarter.
The Rawhide. Wow, what a place! I had a lot of fun in this bar over the years.
This was one of several amazing record stores in the French Quarter. I spent a lot of money in these places. Unfortunately, only one or two of them are left. Lps, while having made a comeback in recent years, were not as sought after for a long time after compact discs and mp3 files were introduced into the marketplace, and many record stores ended up closing their doors. Now all the old records are collector’s items!
I bought this for Ruben. It was the first of three that I purchased over the years.
I spent quite a long time sorting through zillions of these, until I found just what I wanted.
This is Bourbon Street, the heart of the French Quarter. It got very, very crowded at night, with people drinking and carrying on in the street. The fist time I was there, it was fun. After that, the novelty wore off and I felt claustrophobic most of the time while there.

In early July, the Diaz clan held its first family reunion in Tucson. My dad and all of his living brothers and sisters showed up with their children and grandchildren. His brothers Raul and Val had already passed, but their children and families and the rest of the brothers and sisters and their families came from all over to partake in the festivities, which were held at St. Demetrius’s social hall and at Reid Park. We held another family reunion in 2007, and there’s currently talk of another being planned.

My dad’s family in 1993. Ruben and I felt totally out of place. I had no idea my extended family would react so badly to our being at this event together. It was awful. I was the first in the family to openly admit to being gay. It would take a few more years for others to come out. We now have several family members who are happily out and proud.
The families of Raul, Valentin, Belarmino and Tony Diaz, 1993.
The families of my tios: Ralph Diaz, Josie Diener, Helen Mendoza and Carmen Basurto, 1993.
My dad and his wife-to-be, Lupe at the park during our family reunion in 1993. She was pregnant at the time with my little brother, Jose’, who was born in September.
Premiered on July 16, 1993. What a fun film!
Ruben and I bought two birds just like these at the Desert Pet Center on July 18, 1993. The are called orange cheek waxbill finches. They were so cute!
The Clinton administration came up with this policy, which was officially enacted by the end of the year. It was disastrous. The gay community had such high hopes when he was elected, and this was a real let down. It would take years and years before more progressive measures were put in place that allowed gay men and women to serve proudly and openly in the nation’s armed services.
I was the primary organizer for the opening reception for this conference, held in Special Collections at the UA Library. I wrote a separate blog post on it. See below.

Status of Hispanic Library and Information Services : A National Institute for Educational Change, July 29-31, 1993. I was a member of the planning committee for this institute and was responsible for coordinating the opening reception. Members of the Library staff and students from the Library School assisted with the logistics and with hosting the event. A fun time was had by all.

Some of my library colleagues who helped at the event. They include Patricia Promis, who would later become my team leader, Atifa Rawan, and Mimi Hernandez. The other two people’s names escape me at this point.
Dr. Arnulfo Trejo, Tami Echeverria and Carla Stoffle, whose face is just barely visible.
I rarely wore a tie at work. It was a very casual atmosphere most of the time.
My best friend Richard with his daughter Luz. He and his wife Emily were so proud of her.

I had spent the first half of the year at work coordinating workshops, participating in training and learning how to juggle many responsibilities at the same time. In August, after new team leaders were hired or appointed, we were finally ready to get the staff together to begin designing the work of their individual teams. We held all staff workshops, led by our ARL consultant Maureen Sullivan, at the Student Union in mid-August. The photos that follow give a snapshot of the work we did.

This anthology of previously released and unreleased recordings by Los Lobos was issued on August 31, 1993. It included songs both in English and Spanish.
I furst heard Los Lobos’ version of Bertha on the Just Another Band from East LA Anthology. This live version is just great.
This is yet another film that first appeared as a book. It premiered on September 8, 1993. Both are excellent.
Released on September 18, 1993.
This rare tune appears on the above anthology. Joan sings this Donovan-penned tune with her sister Mimi Farina.
Released on September 28, 1993.
I think this is her masterpiece. Oh, Emmylou, I sure do love you!
I participated in the Tucson Aidswalk again this year. There was a high turnout at this particular event, and lots of money was raised to support the cause.

In October, I attended a workshop on management skills in Chicago. It was another program sponsored by the Association of Research Library Office of Management Services. I had attended one the year before in Raleigh, NC called “The Training Skills Institute”. Once I was done with the workshop, Ruben flew in from Tucson and we stayed and enjoyed a nice vacation in the city. It was lots of fun. I had been to Chicago before, but this was Ruben’s first visit. We went to the Art Institute, the Natural History Museum, the Al Capone Museum, and the Chicago Historical Society, and saw some great exhibits. We also went to the top of the Hancock building, and ate tons of great food.

Ruben and I stayed at this hotel on Ohio St.
We took a boat tour along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It was a lot of fun.
Visiting the Art Institute of Chicago was one of the highlights of our trip.
When we visited the Chicago Historical Society we saw Lincoln’s death bed. It was a somber moment for sure.
We visited the short-lived Al Capone museum. Public outcry over the glorification and celebration of a know murderer led to the closing of the museum. That didn’t stop me from taking a picture with him. What was I thinking?
The Chicago Historical Society was a wonderful place to visit. It had some great exhibits.
This is one my favorite Jackson Browne albums. I especially love the title cut. The album was released on October 26, 1993.
I love this song. It’s one of my all-time favorites.
Released on November 2, 1993. This album is great, one of my favorites.
I love this.

I spent a lot of time in my job establishing ties with various Latino groups, including the services to the Spanish-speaking staff of the public library and Latino faculty on campus who were members of the Arizona Association of Chicanos in Higher Education, of which I became secretary for a year. I also met with Latino students enrolled in the library science graduate program. They helped me coordinate the reception for the Trejo Institute in July, and I later hosted them for dinner one evening at my home. On November 12, several of us took a field trip to Nogales, Mexico, where we visited with staff from El Colegio De Sonora and had lunch. It was a great group of students. One of them is now a library science professor at San Jose State. Others have already retired or are continuing their work as librarians in communities across the country.

These are some of the graduate students enrolled in the library science program at the UA that I worked with in 1993. Their names are Adrian, Jose’, Ramiro, April and Pilar, if I remember correctly. Adrian works and lives in the San Jose’ area. Jose’ is now a professor of Library Science at San Jose’ State University, Ramiro is a retired public librarian, April, who is married to Jose’, works in Phoenix for a medical library, and I don’t know whatever became of Pilar. I think she moved to Colorado shortly after having graduated.
Premiered on November 19, 1993.
Premiered on November 22, 1993.

Released on November 23, 1993.
Linda’s powerful vocals on this Tish Hinojosa song transform it into something far beyond what’s written on paper.
The Arizona State Library Association conference was held in Phoenix in early December. I was chair of the ASLA Library Services to the Spanish Speaking committee, and coordinated a panel program on library services to the Latino community. It was titled, “Library Services to Latinos in Arizona: A Diversity of Perspectives,” and in addition to me, who filled in for someone who didn’t show up, it featured three speakers, including Liz Rodriguez-Miller, Guadalupe Castillo, and Pernela Jones.
The ASLA Conference took place December 1-4, 1993. I traveled by bus from Tucson and back this time around.
Ruben and I took Vivian Sykes, a library consultant to the Desert Museum on December 5. It had been a long time since I had been there.

Right before Christmas, Ruben and I were invited to Nogales by his friend Enrique Gomez, the same Enrique that we went to Rocky Point with back in April. We stayed in a hotel about seven blocks from the border, and hung out with Enrique and his friends at his house. We were supposed to go out to the bars with them, but decided to stay at our hotel. Enrique and I did not like each other, and I think we sensed that things weren’t going to go too well if we went along. Ruben, who doesn’t speak Spanish, was also badly treated by one of Enrique’s friends. We ended up eating campechanas at a small seafood stand across the street from our hotel, and shopping in the tourist area. I always enjoyed doing that.

Our hotel has since changed its name to the Motel San Luis, but when we were there it was the Motel Don Luis. It wasn’t a five star hotel, that’s for sure. Not even a two star…
Premiered on December 22, 1993.

A summary of the bulk of my 1993 staff development, training and diversity-related work activities (mostly June, 1993 to the end of December 1993) is included in the report linked below. I wrote this in January 1994. It gives one an idea of how busy I was in 1993. And the fun was just beginning….

1993 (June-December) Summary of Activities

We bought a couple of movies to help us get into the Christmas spirit.

The lady in the photo is Joanne Preston. She was our receptionist at the UA Library. I really liked her, and was said when she took a job somewhere else.
I met Teresa Jones when I was a member of Teatro Libertad back in the 1980s. We re-connected when I moved back to Tucson and would have lunch together all the time. She worked at KUAT television and produced a program called “Reflexiones” that was very popular in the local Mexican American community.

Although we had a bit of a rocky start, Ruben and I made it to the end of the year. This was our very first Christmas tree in our new apartment. We bought a lot of new decorations. Shopping for them was fun.