Friday, February 26, 1999
Chicana writer receives first Cara Award for inspiring workGroups honor unknown artists to boost awareness in community
EDUCATOR: Groups honor unknown artists to boost awareness in community
By Sarah Krupp
Daily Bruin Contributor
Van Gogh sold few paintings during his lifetime. Refusing to compromise his artistic integrity for the mainstream, he died a pauper. Of course, he was also crazy.
"Selling out" tempts many artists, especially when their pockets and refrigerators are empty. But author Cherrie Moraga overtly addresses the issues that matter to her as a Chicana and a lesbian, and has attained recognition by doing so.
In recognition of Moraga's achievements, the Chicano Studies Research Center and Raza Colectiva, a graduate student organization, presented her with the first ever Cara Award.
By honoring a Chicano or Latino artist, these UCLA organizations hope to bolster public awareness of talented writers within the Chicano community.
"We have a few icons that the media focuses on who have become spokespeople for the entire community. What most people don't realize is that there are many different voices in a community," said Richard Castaniero, a Raza Colectiva organizer.
"We wanted to create an award to celebrate those that are not famous, to recognize the many faces of the Americas," he added.
Tuesday evening, Moraga addressed an audience of students and members of the Los Angeles community at the UCLA Visitors Center. Keeping in sync with the focus of UCLA's Semana de La Raza, the central issue of her speech was education.
Moraga expressed the importance of "coming home," or giving back to the community, after completing university and graduate studies.
"The reason why we are getting degrees is so that we can take them back to the community," said Josefina Lopez, a graduate student in the School of Theater, Film and Television. "But so many buy into the American dream - settle, buy a nice house and car, have huge mortgages - and never go back. They get stuck in that way of life," she added.
As a writer and an activist, Moraga practices the advice she gave to the audience to "build within the barrio." Her works are socially and politically conscious.
By accepting the Cara Award, Moraga is continuing to commit herself to activism. The award comes with a contingency - she must conduct a three-day creative writing workshop at UCLA. Moraga selected the participants, 10 UCLA students and three from the community, judging them by their writing ability and their vision of how to shape their communities.
Beneath the fundamental purpose of helping participants improve their writing is an ulterior motive: allowing young writers freedom of expression.
According to Moraga, Chicano students at a university must "whitewash" their speech in order to succeed. In order to please their professors, Chicanos must conform to an academic style that is foreign to their natural way of speaking.
"My writing voice is seen as slang; the colloquial way we speak is perceived as wrong. But I want to write so that the masses can understand me," said Felicia Montes, a fourth-year world arts and cultures student.
Moraga admits she has dual voices. In formal essays and dissertations she thinks and writes in English, but her creative voice is in Spanish.
In both her literary works and her speech, Moraga slips frequently between Spanish and English. Even though as a child she mainly spoke English, she made a "commitment" to learn to speak Spanish fluently.
"We are told that there is no room for that language as a writer. But to produce good art it can't be written in translation," Moraga said.
Moraga has found liberation from mainstream constraints through writing plays. By writing for alternative theatres, she has the freedom to mix Spanish and English to portray her life experiences .
"I express my people better through theatre. It allows me to speak through character and use different voices ... I use a lot more Spanish," Moraga said.
Despite initial criticism, Moraga refuses to suppress one identity for another. She openly addresses lesbianism, feminism and motherhood as well as issues pertaining specifically to Mexican Americans. When she published her first collection of works in 1983, she said it was very "taboo."
"There was a lot of pressure of having to choose between being a lesbian writer or a Chicana writer," said Moraga. "They were telling me you couldn't be both," she added.
As an emerging writer, she was initially invited to speak at the events of white feminist groups. But now, she finds herself speaking before more Latino and Chicano audiences. According to Moraga, the reversal indicates an improvement of Chicanos' perception of gays. But, she hesitates to conclude that there has been a complete acceptance of homosexuality within the Chicano community.
"It may not indicate a fundamental transformation, but they feel enlightened - it's a start," said Moraga.
Changing the economic, social and political circumstances of a people happens slowly, according to Moraga. While encouraging radical thought, she warned against trying to revolutionize a whole system in a day.
"If we build an entire infrastructure without building the supports, the whole thing will collapse," said Moraga. "Start with something really small that will succeed."
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