Tag Archives: Joseph R. Diaz

My Life Story: 1998

My Life Story, , ,

Things to know up front:

You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Click the back arrow key to return to the post.

Every chapter in My Life Story includes information about me, my work, my family and my friends. It also includes information about events that took place locally and nationally, etc. that I thought were significant to me personally, and important enough to include. You’ll also find that I’ve included films, musicians and recordings/videos, in addition to books that were released in a given year.

While I have included many personal photos, most of the graphic content included below is borrowed from the Internet. I do not claim to own this material. I am just adding it for educational purposes. If the owners of any of the content in the “My Life Story” series want their stuff removed, I am happy to oblige. My email address is jrdiaz@arizona.edu. Thanks!

Introduction

1998 was one of my busiest and most productive years. My partner and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in late February, and while we continued to experience many challenges, we stuck it out and held on, not giving up on each other. We continued to work on improving our home as much as we could. We planted bougainvilleas and had a fence put up in our back yard, and we did routine maintenance on a regular basis. We didn’t have air conditioning, so we had to be sure our swamp cooler worked. The heat in our little house could be unbearable at times during the hot summer months, especially during the rainy season. We spent tons of money collecting postcards, books and music recordings too. Our postcard collection grew and grew. We focused mostly on collecting postcards from Tucson, Detroit, Mexico City and Guadalajara. There were many more antique stores in Tucson in 1998 than there are now, that’s for sure, so we had a lot of places to buy from. We spent a lot of money, and were in quite a bit of debt, but we managed to keep going. Within a year we would be buying another vehicle and moving into a new home.

I traveled a lot, published, gave presentations, served on a variety of local and national committees, and worked my tail off at the Library. I coordinated our staff development, diversity and new staff orientation programs, and was the work team leader for the Library’s human resources team, something that was a real stretch for me, a very challenging assignment that eventually wore me down. I was also granted continuing status (tenure), which was one of the biggest milestones of my career.

Here is a list of my commitments involving serving on committees from the local level to the national level. In hindsight, it was way too much work. I should have said no more than I did.

1998 Committee memberships:

  • 1998-2003: Tucson Pima Public Library Board, member and president (2002-2003).
  • 1998-2000: UA Library Strategic Long Range Planning Team, member.
  • 1998-2000: UA EEO/AA Office RISE Planning Committee, member.
  • 1998-1999: ALA Council Committee on Minority Concerns and Cultural Diversity, member and chair.
  • 1998: UA Library LFA Salary Issues Task Force, member.
  • 1998: FAST executive assistant selection committee, member.
  • 1997-1999: Library Administration and Management Association Diversity Officers Discussion group, chair.
  • 1997-1998: UA Library Staff Environment Action plan team, chair.
  • 1997-1998: UA Library LFA liaison to SGA, representative.
  • 1997-1998: Change Management Support Team, member.
  • 1997-1998: AACHE UA Chapter, vice president, president.
  • 1997-1998: REFORMA Tucson chapter, secretary. (elected position).
  • 1995-1998: UA Diversity Action Council, member.
  • 1994-1998: Library Administration and Management Association Diversity Committee, member.

ALA Midwinter

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

From 1/9-1/14, 1998, I attended the ALA Midwinter conference in New Orleans. I had been there a few years earlier. This time, I stayed with my friend who I had worked with when I was at Michgian, Doreen Simonsen. A colleague of mine from the UA Library, Soo Young So, also stayed with her. Doreen was very gracious. She lived on Penniston Street just outside the Garden District, and she let Soo Young and I stay with her at no charge. I had a great time on this trip. I don’t really remember the conference all that much, but I do remember having a lot of fun. I enjoyed going to all the gay bars in the French Quarter and seeing live music performed everywhere. I also loved shopping at all the bookstores and record stores. I came back home with a bunch of new treasures.

One sad thing that occurred, however, was that Cass Hartnett, another former colleague of mine from the University of Michigan Library, informed me that one of my dearest friends had died the previous year. Mike Robbins was his name, and he loved girl group music and Hollywood trivia. We got a long wonderfully, and I really missed him when I moved back to Tucson. Hearing about his death was a big shock, and I clearly remember wandering the streets of the French Quarter sobbing, with tears flowing down my cheeks the night I was told of his passing. He died of cancer. RIP, Mike.

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

My Birthday

I turned 39 on January 15. I still enjoyed going out and partying. Ruben and I had a lot of fun together. It would take a long time before I slowed down.

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

Continuing Status and Promotion

I applied for promotion and continuing status in 1997, but the process takes almost a whole year. My application would have to be reviewed by a peer review committee as well as outside “referees”, and then the Dean would have to write a letter of recommendation. Here’s her letter to me informing me that she is recommending to the University administration that I be retained and granted continuing status. What a relief!

REFORMA Presidency

2-2-98: I ran for president of REFORMA, the National Association for the Promotion of Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. My candidate’s letter follows. I later ended up losing the election by just a few votes. I didn’t take it well. None of my colleagues showed any empathy towards me after it was announced that someone else won. They were very cold and I felt shunned. A simple “thanks for running, Bob”, would have sufficed. This was the beginning of a low point in my career that would last almost two years. I was not very happy, even though I was soon granted continuing status and promotion.

(click text to enlarge).

2-7-98: My niece Anadine gets married.

Anadine is my sister Irene’s youngest daughter. I grew up with her and her sisters Belisa and Michelle. We were very close. Ana Banana, as we all called her, married a guy named Peter Lopez. I worked with one of his sisters at Fry’s. Peter and Ana had two children (Jonas and Josephine) together, but they later divorced.

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

1998-2-19–Two years after presenting it, a paper gets published…

Shelley Phipps and I tried our best to give our presentation at the Finding Common Ground Conference at Harvard, but the presenters who were scheduled before us went way past their allotted time, leaving us with just a few minutes to do our program. It was a very unpleasant experience, unfortunately. I was glad when this publication finally came out so that those interested in what we were doing at Arizona could finally get a good understanding of our work.

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

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

March 24, 1998: Appointment to the Tucson Pima Public Library Board

Raul Grijalva, who was on the Board of Supervisors, appointed me as his district’s representative to the Tucson Pima Public Library Board. At the time, the City of Tucson managed the library system, but the county provided the bulk of the funding for running it. The Library administrators, who were City employees, rarely consulted the County about strategic priorities for the Library system. At one point, I let Mr. Grijalva know what the director was planning to do, (pour more money into improving facilities everywhere but in the Mexican American neighborhoods) and he overrode her decision and used the County funds to build the Quincie-Douglas branch, located in one of the more distressed areas of town, instead. Later, during my tenure as chair in 2003, I forced the director to deal directly with the Board of Supervisors by inviting them to one of the Library Board meetings to discuss priorities and funding. This had never happened before. All the City staff ever did was talk smack about the County and its lack of “efficiency and professionalism”. From that point on, however, things changed, and the County soon took over running the library system. The Library director shortly thereafter retired. I heard later that I drove her crazy and that her secretary also retired because I was such a troublemaker. Ha ha ha. It warms my heart.

More passings…

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

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

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

Diversity programming in the Library…

This is an example of the kind of programming the Diversity Council and I worked on. There were several Filipino-American staff members who contributed to this project. It was a fun event! Click on the text below to see a more complete description of the program.

A Philippine Festival and Potluck Party Program and Exhibition. June 12, 1998. UA Main Library.

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

6/24-7/1, 1998: The American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington DC.

I attended ALA Annual in Washington, DC in late June. The weather was hot and humid, which is not my favorite. In fact, I can’t stand it. This was my second visit, and in spite of the weather, it was a memorable experience. I attended incoming ALA President Ann Symons’ presidential inauguration at the Library of Congress reading room. It was spectacular. The Capitol Steps, a comedy performance troupe who specialized in political satire, performed. I also presented a poster session at the first ALA Diversity Fair, and co-presented another one on retention of faculty of color in an academic library. I also managed to have a lot of fun in the Dupont Circle area, a neighborhood filled with gay bars, record stores and bookstores. It was also at this conference that I learned that I had lost the REFORMA election. As I’ve noted, I didn’t take it too well. In hindsight, I should have been in better control of my emotions. It wasn’t the end of the world, and I was overloaded with other work as it was.

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

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

Social events at ALA…

Another publication…

SPEC Kits are compilations of policy documents gathered from libraries across the country to illustrate best practices in specific areas. The topics all vary, of course. I collaborated with my colleague Jen Tellman on this one. DeEtta Jones didn’t contribute a lot, but was added to the authors list by ARL at the last minute, since she contributed to editing our summary document.

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

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

UA Diversity Action Council Work

I enjoyed serving on the Diversity Action Council. It gave me the opportunity to meet colleagues from across campus who were committed to promoting diversity. I was also given the opportunity to travel to a couple of diversity-related conferences, one in Seattle and the other in Miami. My term ended this year.

8/7-8/8, 1998: Activate Conference in Phoenix.

This was first statewide event that I attended as a member of the Board of the Tucson Pima Public Library. The purpose of the event was to bring together museum and library supporters and professionals, elected officials and members of the public to discuss issues such as funding, the impact of technology and the need to provide equal access, as well as the changing roles of our libraries and museums.

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

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

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

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

September 1, 1998: A thank you card from Richard and Emily…

Valentin Diaz, March 11, 1917-September 3, 1998

Uncle Val died on 9/3/1998. I went to his funeral in Needles. See Happy Birthday, Uncle Val! (03/11/1917)

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

Matthew Shepard killed. 10/12/98

Matthew Wayne Shepard was an American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on October 6, 1998. He was transported by rescuers to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he died six days later from severe head injuries sustained during the attack.–Wikipedia

October 12, 1998

Matthew Shepard, victim of anti‑gay hate crime, dies

University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard dies after a vicious anti-gay attack. After meeting Shepard in a Laramie, Wyoming, gay bar, The Fireside Lounge, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lured him to the parking lot, where he was beaten and robbed.

The two attackers then took Shepard, 21 years old and weighing just over 100 pounds, to a remote spot outside of town and tied his naked body to a wooden fence, tortured him, and left him in the freezing cold. A mountain biker, who initially thought his mutilated body was a scarecrow, discovered him. Shepard died soon afterward. Henderson and McKinney went on to attack two Latino youths later that same evening, beating and pistol-whipping them. Matthew Shepard’s death sparked national outrage and renewed calls for extending hate crime laws to cover violence based on a person’s sexual orientation. President Clinton implored Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the wake of the incident.

To avoid a death sentence, Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder in April 1999 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Later that year, Aaron McKinney attempted to use a “gay panic” defense at his own trial, claiming that Sheppard’s advances disgusted him. When McKinney sought to introduce evidence that a man had molested him as a child, Judge Barton Voigt would not allow it. He ruled that the defense was too similar to temporary insanity, which is not an option in Wyoming.

McKinney was convicted of Shepard’s murder but managed to escape the death penalty largely due to Shepard’s parents. In the tense and quiet courtroom, Dennis Shepard told his son’s murderer, “I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney. However, this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy.” McKinney was sentenced to life in prison. Henderson’s and McKinney’s girlfriends, who had helped Henderson and McKinney dispose of evidence, were charged as accessories to the murder.

Leslie Feinberg visits Tucson again

One of the high points of my career occurred when I was able to coordinate a visit to Tucson by Leslie Feinberg in 1994. Leslie’s novel, Stone Butch Blues, had just been published the year before, and it won the Stonewall book award. I worked with members of Tucson’s lgbtq community to set up a talk Leslie gave at Wingspan, Tucson lgbtq community center, and I also coordinated a talk s/he gave on the UA campus. Four years later, Leslie returned to Tucson to give another presentation. I was able to convince the Library Diversity Council to agree to contribute funds for this visit. Leslie’s new book, Trans LIberation, was published this particular year too.

1998-10-27: Jackson Browne at TCC Music Hall.

Jackson Browne is one of my very favorite singer-songwriters. I started listening to his music in high school, and have faithfully purchased every recording he has ever issued. Back in 1975, my best friend Richard Elias saw Jackson in concert. I don’t know why I missed it, but Richard said it was a great show. I’m sure it was. It wasn’t until 1998 that I was able to see Jackson in concert. My friend Ted Warmbrand had worked with some local organizations to sponsor the benefit, and he invited me to attend the show. I was so happy to finally see Jackson Browne in concert. He was amazing. He still is.

Diversity and Social Responsibility / Presentation, October 28, 1998. Guest lecture in Carla Stoffle’s SIRLS Foundations class.

11/5-11/6, 1998: AZLA Conference in Phoenix.

My buddy Ben Ocon and I gave another presentation on Latin music, this time at AZLA. In the audience this particular time was Pat Mora, a wonderful writer who I got to know through REFORMA. Pat spearheaded the founding of El Dia Del Nino/Dia Del Libro, which is now a nationally recognized event celebrated by libraries across the country.

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

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

11/19/98: AACHE Conference in Tucson

I was elected secretary of the UA Chapter of the Arizona Association of Chicanos in Higher Education in 1998 and we held at conference at the end of November. The only thing I remember was the fajitas cookoff that we held at home of one of our members, Professor J.D. Garcia. Professor Garcia owned a home in El Encanto Estates, a very old and posh neighborhood about a mile away from the University.

Another legend passes…

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

Serenata Navidena, ’98…

Serenata Navidena not only featured Pepe Aguilar and Beatriz Montes, it also included three great mariachi groups, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Mariachi Sol De Mexico and Mariachi Cobre. It was a wonderful show!

A sad day for the Clintons and the nation.

Christmas 1998

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

Joseph R Diaz– Curriculum Vitae, updated June, 2024.

Curriculum Vitae, Presentations, Lectures, and Resource Guides, Published writing, Work, ,

Chronology of Education

1986: Masters of Library Science (MLS) Degree. The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

1982: Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a minor in Sociology. The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

Chronology of Employment

2011-present: Associate Librarian and Archivist, Special Collections, The University of Arizona Libraries.

Serve as curator for the performing arts and architecture collections. Work with donors to appraise and acquire new collections, physically process collections and manage other related activities, such as the creation of collections guides. Provide reference assistance, responding to customer queries in architecture, the performing arts and other areas. Participate in staffing the reading room.  Conduct classroom instruction on the use of primary resources. Supervise student interns. Participate in library-wide committees.  Since January 2020, coordinate the departments’ virtual reference service, permissions and copyright processes. From 2012 to 2018, managed the department’s exhibits and events programs.

2000-2011: Associate Librarian for the Performing Arts

Served as the Library faculty liaison to the departments of Music, Dance, Theater Arts, Africana Studies, Religious Studies and Media Arts.  Engaged in collection development and management, reference service and instruction in all areas of the performing arts. Managed the National Flute Association Library. Worked with colleagues to coordinate database training and a lecture series for the campus community. Supervised student assistants and interns from the Graduate Library School. Served on library-wide committees.

1992-2000: Assistant to the Dean for Staff Development, Recruitment and Diversity

Reported directly to Dean of the Library. Coordinated staff development and diversity programming and training for the Library, while serving as a member of the Library’s administrative group and Library Cabinet. Managed the library’s training and professional development budget, allocating financial resources to the staff for a variety of activities. Served as liaison to  several committees, such as the Affirmative Action Committee, the Diversity Council, and the Staff Development Advisory Board. Coordinated the Library’s recruitment efforts, and ensured that our recruitment pools were diverse whenever possible. Worked with other HR staff to provide training on team development, effective meetings, and new staff orientation. Supervised staff in the HR department. Promoted to Associate Librarian with continuing status in 1998.

1987-1992: Undergraduate Services Librarian, The University of Michigan Libraries.

Worked in the Undergraduate Library, providing reference service and instruction for the undergraduate community. Areas of instruction included English, Psychology and Political Science. Participated in building the library’s book collections, focusing on adding diverse titles in Chicano Studies and LGBTQ Studies to the library’s literature collections. Coordinated the reference assistants program. Duties included student supervision, coordination of the student’s desk schedules and provision of training to new students working on the reference desk. Served on the Library’s Diversity Committee and participated in diversity-related program planning and training. Was a member of the Residency Program, and founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Library Staff organization. Received a promotion to Associate Librarian in 1991.

1987: Public Services Librarian, The Nogales/Santa Cruz County Public Library.

Served as the lead reference and collection development librarian, with a primary focus on children’s programming. Conducted story hour sessions, visited schools, gave tours, and purchased materials for the collection. Collaborated with members of the local community to coordinate programming for the annual Very Special Arts Festival. Coordinated the Library’s Annual Booksale. Wrote a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant for a public programming series, which was funded. Represented the library in a number of media appearances on local television. Focused on promoting the Library’s programming and related activities.

1976-1986: Retail Clerk, Fry’s Food Stores.

Worked as a part-time as a carry out clerk, then as a stocker and cashier while in high school and college. Served as a union steward from 1983-1986.

Honors and Awards

2023: Tucson Top 20 award: Bob’s World(https://bobdiaz.net/) named one of Tucson’s top 20 local blog sites by Feedspot. See: https://blog.feedspot.com/tucson_blogs/?feedid=5494868&fbclid=IwAR1BoHoXGwl1tU7xMw5bNM3fJAXlH2ZO53MYIt1cu0iy7P3oP1-kWlSMWSM. This is my website, where I publish most of my writing, both professional and personal.

2002: Recipient, Movers and Shakers Award.  This is an annual award given by Library Journal to leaders, activists and innovators in the field of librarianship. Recipients are nominated by their colleagues and selected by the editors of the journal.  First cohort. https://bobdiaz.net/2021/09/28/bob-diaz-movers-shakers-2002/

Service/Outreach (limited to the past 10 years, approximately)

National/International

March, 2024: Delegate, representing Southern Arizona. ALA Voices For Libraries Day of Advocacy event.

2024: Chair, Harold T. Pinkett Student of Color Award Committee, Society for American Archivists.

October, 2023: Panelist/Reviewer. National Endowment for the Humanities grants in the performing arts.

September, 2023 – August, 2024: Senior Co-chair, Society of American Archivists (SAA), SAA Archives and Archivists of Color Section.

March, 2023: Delegate, representing southern Arizona. ALA Congressional Fly-In Day of Advocacy.  

2023: Member, Pinkett Award Committee, Society for American Archivists.

2023: Member, Banks Award Committee, Society of American Archivists.

September 2022-August 2023: Junior Co-chair, Society of American Archivists (SAA) SAA Archives and Archivists of Color Section. Elected position.

2022-2023: Council member, Conference of Inter-Mountain Archivists (CIMA) Elected position.

2022-2023: Member, Conference of Intermountain Archivists Education committee. Committee assignments include reviewing scholarship applications for attendance at annual CIMA conference, and setting up educational webinars.

June, 2021-June 2024: Councilor At-Large, The American Library Association Council. Elected position.

2021-2023: Member, representing Tucson chapter, REFORMA National  Board of Directors.

2021-2023: Member, Association of College and Research Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, Diversity Committee.

2021-2022: Member, Society of American Music local arrangements committee for 2022 conference.

2020-2023: Member, REFORMA Education committee; served as interim chair in 2023.

2020-2021: Co-Chair, American Library Association Rainbow Roundtable Program Planning Committee.

2020: Guest reviewer, Hispanic Leadership Alliance Scholarship committee.

2015: Reviewer, ACRL Books for College Libraires.

2012-2015: Member At-Large, American Library Association Council. Elected position.

2012-2014: Member, REFORMA Board of Directors.

Local/State

Fall, 2022-Fall, 2024 Southern Arizona representative to the Arizona Library Association Executive Board. Re-elected.

2022-2024: Member, Arizona Library Association Membership, Marketing and Outreach Committee.

2022-2024: Member, Arizona Library Association Nominating Committee.

2022-2023: President, Tucson chapter of REFORMA. Re-elected.

2021-2022: President, Tucson chapter of REFORMA. Elected position.

Fall, 2020-Fall, 2022 Southern Arizona representative to the Arizona Library Association Executive Board. Elected position.

2020-2021: Member, Arizona Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

2017-2019: Guest participant and contributor, the American Institute of Architects Arizona Chapter Archives Committee.

2015: Member, Arizona Library Association Conference Planning Committee.

2014-2016 Chair, Arizona Library Association Services to Diverse Populations Interest Group.

2014: Member, Arizona Library Association Marketing Committee.

2012-2015: Member, AZLA Board of Directors, southern region representative. Elected position.

2012-2014: President, REFORMA Tucson chapter. Elected for two consecutive terms.

Library Committees

2023: Chair, LFA Peer Review Committee.

2020-2021: Member, University of Arizona Library Faculty Assembly Awards Committee.

2020-2021: Liaison to the Executive Board of the UA Library Faculty Assembly. Elected position.

2016-2017: Member, University of Arizona Library Diversity Social Justice and Education Council.

2014: Member, University of Arizona Library, Library Faculty Assembly Sabbatical Review Committee.

2014: Member, University of Arizona Library, Library Faculty Assembly Bylaws and Standing Rules committee.

Other Committees/Activities (Internal or External)

2023: Member, search committee for the unit lead position in the Student Learning and Engagement unit at the University of Arizona Library.

2022-2023: Member, search committee for the unit lead for public services in Special Collections.

2020: Member, Future State Research Support and Partnerships Working Group, University of Arizona Libraries.

2012-2015: Member, Tucson Meet Yourself Board of Directors.

2004-2020: Program host, The Chicano Connection, KXCI Community Radio, Tucson.

Teaching (limited to the past 10 years, approximately)

Invited Teaching

Spring, 2024:

Fall 2023:

  • JOUR 306 – Advanced Reporting. Introduction to the use of archives for primary research.2 sections. Lead instructor: Pate McMichael.
  • PAH 420: Innovation and the Human Condition: Learning How to Improve Life in the Community and Beyond. Resources on local history.  Primary instructor: Jacqueline Barrios. 1 hour.

Spring 2023:

  • ARC 532, History of the Built Environment from 1350 to 1940. Introduction to classic works of architecture. Primary instructor: Natsumi Nonaka. 1 hour.

Fall 2022:

  • Music 533, Music of the Twentieth Century, Using archives and special collections to find music-related primary sources. Primary Instructor: Matthew Mugmon, Hours Taught: 1

Spring 2022

  • ARH 480/580, Art and the Environment in the US , A look at the work of Judith Chafee, American architect. Primary Instructor: Lee Ann Custer , Hours Taught: 1

Fall 2019

  • Geog 375, Metropolitan Tucson, Finding primary sources for the study of local history. Primary Instructor: Taylor Miller, Hours Taught: 1
  • GWS 240, Gender in a Transnational World , Introduction to the use of  archives and primary resources. Primary Instructor: Domale Keys, Hours Taught: 1
  • HIST 498, Capstone/Research Seminar, Using archives for historical research.  Primary Instructor: Jadwiga Pieper Mooney, Hours Taught: 1

Fall 2018

  • IRLS 560, Collection Management, Diversity issues in collection management. Primary Instructor: Stoffle, Hours Taught: 3
  • HIST 375, Histories of Memories, Using archival resources for historical research.  Primary Instructor: Susan Crane, Hours Taught: 2
  • CATS Athletics minority student leadership group, N/a, A Look at the 1968 in America exhibit, Primary Instructor: Sophia Read, Hours Taught: 2

Spring 2018

  • IRLS 560, Collection Management, Diversity and collection development.  Primary Instructor: Stoffle, Hours Taught: 3

Fall 2017

  • LIS 567, Leadership in Libraries , Leadership in archives and special collections. Primary Instructor: Carla Stoffle , Hours Taught: 3
  • High School students from Nogales High School , N/A, An introduction to primary sources housed at the UA Libraries. Primary Instructor: Luke Brannen, Hours Taught: 2
  • History 495G, Natural Resources and the Law in the Spanish and Mexican Borderlands, Finding historical materials on the borderlands in Special Collections. Primary Instructor: Michael Brescia, Hours Taught: 2

Summer 2017

  • WSIP Summer Camp, An overview of Special Collections and archives for beginnning researchers , Primary Instructor: Andrea Hernandez Holm, Hours Taught: 2
  • Anthro 150, Many Ways of Being Human, An introduction to primary source research and the use of archives. Primary Instructor: Dana Drake Rosenstein, Hours Taught: 4

Spring 2017

  • Honors course, Picturing Arizona, Finding primary research materials on Arizona and an introduction to archives. Primary Instructor: McStott, Jennifer, Hours Taught: 2
  • JH 487, American Press History, Using primary sources in archives and special collections for research. Primary Instructor: Lumsden, Johanna, Hours Taught: 2
  • HIST 301, Introduction to the Study of History, Using primary sources for historical research.  Primary Instructor: Irwin, Hours Taught: 4

Fall 2016

  • IRLS 560, Collection Management , Collection Development and Diversity. Building diverse collections. Primary Instructor: Carla Stoffle, Hours Taught: 3
  • IRLS 557, Documenting Diverse Cultures and Communities , Community engagement and Libraries. Primary Instructor: Richard Chabran
  • MFA Generative Dramaturgy class, Generative Dramaturgy, Finding primary resources in theater arts. Primary Instructor: Jessica Maerz, Hours Taught: 2
  • HIST 301, Introduction to the Study of History, Using primary sources and archives for historical research. Primary Instructor: Irwin, Hours Taught: 3

Spring 2016

  • IRLS 560, Collection Management , Collection development and diversity. Primary Instructor: Carla Stoffle , Hours Taught: 3

Fall 2015

  • MAS 265, Overview of Mexican American Studies , An overview of Mexican American music history in Tucson. Primary Instructor: Dr. Lydia Otero , Hours Taught: 1

Fall 2014

  • UA, IRLS 557, Documenting Diverse Cultures , Community outreach and engagement and libraries. Primary Instructor: Janet Ceja , Hours Taught: 1
  • UA, Theatre Arts, Theatre of the Americas , Finding primary performing arts resources in archives and Special Collections. Primary Instructor: Kevin Byrne, Hours Taught: 3

Spring 2014

  • UA, CESL Conversation class for French students, Conversation, An introduction to archives and Special Collections. Primary Instructor: Holly Wehmeyer, Hours Taught: 1
  • Apollo Middle School, Science class, n/a, Science class, An introduction to Special Collections and archives. Primary Instructor: Steve Olguin, Hours Taught: 1

Fall 2012

  • MAS 265, Overview of Mexican American Studies, A historical overview of Mexican American music in Tucson. Primary Instructor: Lydia Otero, Hours Taught: 1

Student Mentoring and Advising Activities

  • Summer, 2022:  Bianca Finley Alper, Intern. Provided supervision and mentorship.
  • January-May, 2023: Bianca Finley Alper. Student worker. Provided supervision and mentorship.
  • Fall, 2015-Spring, 2016: Jessica Redhouse. Participated in mentoring program sponsored by ARL Mosaic program.
  • Fall, 2015: Guest lecture to students on leadership in Blue Chip Leadership program.
  • Spring 2014-Spring 2019: supervised student assistants in Special Collections who helped with exhibits and events.

Publications/Creative Activity (no time limit)

Refereed Journal Articles

1999: “Helping Teams Work: Lessons Learned from the University of Arizona Library Reorganization”, article co-authored with Chestalene Pintozzi, Library Administration and Management, Vol. 13, No. 1, Winter 1999. https://bobdiaz.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Helping-Teams-Work-Lessons-Learned-.pdf

Books, Chapters, Monographs

2013:

2005:

2003:

2002:

  • “Latin America”, book chapter in  Magazines for Libraries 11th edition. New Providence, New Jersey: R.R. Bowker, 2002. Coordinator and primary contributor to a completely revised chapter with new co-authors Olivia Olivares and Veronica Reyes.  My contribution: 45%.  
  • “Latinos” book chapter in  Magazines for Libraries 11th edition. New Providence, New Jersey: R.R. Bowker, 2002. Coordinator and primary contributor to a completely new chapter with new co-authors Olivia Olivares and Veronica Reyes.  

1998:

1997:

  • “Latin America and Latinos”, two chapters in Magazines For  Libraries, 9th edition. New Providence, New Jersey, R.R. Bowker, Coordinator of and contributor to completely revised chapter, with additional contributions from Patricia Promis, Thomas Marshall,  and Theresa Salazar.

1995:

1994:

1993:

Other Publications

2023:

  • “An overview of the history of Tucson and Southern Arizona”, article that appeared in a zine produced by Jacqueline Barrios’ PAH 420 class. 100% responsibility.

2020:

2009:

2008:

2004:

Blog posts

2023:

2022:

2021

2020

Exhibitions

2018:

2017:

2016:

2015:

  • Diaz, J. R. (2015). Tucson: Growth, Change, Memories  (exhibition and programs). Special Collections exhibition gallery. Tucson, Az.: The University of Arizona Libraries
  • Diaz, J. R. (2015). Celebrating Excellence: Women in Anthropology (exhibition and program). Main Library. Tucson, Az.: The University of Arizona Libraries. https://bobdiaz.net/2020/03/08/celebrating-excellence-women-in-anthrpology-exhibition-main-library-and-program/

2014:

2013:

2012:

  • Diaz, J. R. (2012, January 6). Company Town: Arizona’s Mining Communities During 100 Years of Statehood (exhibition and program). University of Arizona Science Engineering Library. Tucson, Az.: The University of Arizona Libraries. https://bobdiaz.net/2020/02/23/2012-company-town-exhibit/

2010:

Conferences/Scholarly Presentations

2023

  • Diaz, J.R. (2023). Coordinator, “Leadership in Archives and Special Collections from a BIPOC Perspective” panel presentation given at the annual RBMS Conference, Summer, 2023. (I wrote and submitted the proposal for this event as a member of the RBMS Diversity Committee and coordinated it, but was not part of the panel).

2022

2021

2020

2016

2013

2012

Awarded Grants / Contracts

2022:

  • Received  a $3,000 grant from the Arizona State Library to coordinate events for the Tucson Chapter of REFORMA’s  El Dia Del Nino/Dia Del Libro annual event.
  • Received a grant for $2,500 from the American Society of Architectects Arizona chapter to hire a student assistant to help process architectural collections.

2021

  • Received a $2,000 grant from the Arizona State Library to coordinate events for the Tucson Chapter of REFORMA’s El Dia Del Nino/Dia Del Libro annual event.

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: 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.