Elena Diaz Bjorkquist

I spent the morning finishing the sitting area in front of my studio. I put another row of pavers in and added a small “Tata patio” in front of them. My grandfather had a patio he built from river rock he collected from the nearest river in Morenci, El Aguila. I never asked him when, but I know he used to pan for gold there during the Depression so he may have brought the rocks then. he probably brought them on a burro because he didn’t have a car. The stones were polished by his children and grandchildren as we played on the patio under the mora tree. My “Tata” patio is a small but fitting tribute to him.

I hosted a small gathering yesterday of comadres, friends, and poets. It was the first time in three years that I felt like having a party. My dad had his last heart attack in December, the week before we were hosting our annual tamalada. My Morenci girlfriends and I were preparing the masa, mole, and carne when I got the call he was being rushed to the hospital. Three days later, he died and I was caught up in funeral preparations, contacting family, writing a eulogy, and an obituary. The tamalada my husband and I had hosted for 20 years was postponed until January. Needless to say I wasn’t in a party mood but the fixings for the tamales were in the freezer and tamales had to be made.

In the ensuing years, I couldn’t bring myself to continue the tradition of our annual tamalada or think about having a party. We made tamales but it was only my husband, Kurt, and my Morenci friend, Shirley, and I. For my 70th birthday this year, I toyed with the idea of a party but didn’t feel up to it. That was last month. This month I was ready and sent out invitations before I could decide not to.

I had a lot to celebrate. Sowing the Seeds, my writing collective is 13 years old this year. Shirley and I, friends since fourth grade turned 70 this year. We had a wonderful poetry workshop presented by friend, Pam Uschuk for Sowing the Seeds. Carmen Calatayud, fellow moderator for Poets Responding to SB 1070 and her husband Ricardo were in town visiting from Washington, D.C. it was the first time I’d met her but through our Facebook connection, I felt like I’d known her for a long time.

After sharing a pot luck dinner al fresco on the long portal overlooking the pool garden, we gathered in the living room and shared poetry. A wonderful floricanto! We started out with Rosalie, a comadre from Sowing the Seeds who read her poem selected by the moderators of Poets Responding to SB 1070 to showcase on La Bloga this past Tuesday. Another comadre, Gail, read her latest poem. Bill Pitt Root, Pam’s husband, read his translation of a Neruda poem from his book of translations, Sublime Blue. Pam read a poem dedicated to mothers from her latest book, Wild in the Plaza of Memory. Carmen read a poem from her book, In Company of Spirits. Her husband Ricardo read a poem dedicated to his mother that he wrote in an airport on the trip out here. I read my latest poem, written in Pam’s workshop, “The Proof is in the Food.”

It was a memorable evening and I enjoyed it immensely. I think that maybe now I can again have a tamalada this year.

The presentation I did at the Pinal County Historical Society Museum on el Día de los Muertos went very well. I was pleased that 45 people attended. Most of them had heard of the holiday but the majority didn’t know much about it. I’m glad that I took the approach that I did to share information about it because afterward, many people came up to thank me because they understood what it was about.

I decided to use calaca (skull) makeup and wear a costume to do my presentation to give the audience a flavor of how it’s celebrated in Mexico. My Power Point presentation included many photographs that Kurt and I took when we were in Pazcuaro in 2005 for the celebrations there.

I’m looking forward to doing another presentation of this AHC program on Wednesday, October 24th in Safford at the library at 6:00 PM. Safford is close to Morenci where I was born, so I hope to see many people I knew from Morenci.

Elena in calaca makeup

I picked up the watercolor today and found out that it was a painting in the courtyard of the Tucson Museum of Art. Love the work! Have hung it in our bedroom.

Shirley, Linda, and Gail (three of my Comadres from Sowing the Seeds) Kurt, and I went to Raices Taller 222 for a Tucson Freedom Summer Event. They had a silent auction and we bid on several things. We went for dinner at La Indita afterward and enjoyed visiting for awhile.

Just received a call that one of my bids was a winner! I got a watercolor of papel picado on a village street. Beautiful! The money from the auction goes to the Mexican American Studies fund.

At the entrance to the gallery was a giant “book” with the titles of the 50 books that were banned by TUSD. My book Suffer Smoke was listed right after House on Mango Street.

A young lady told me she’d seen my Chautauqua at Albuquerque. She’s from New Mexico, here to support Freedom Summer. Also ran into Patricia from the U of A whom I also saw at Albuquerque.

I did a presentation for the NMU class on Curanderismo in Albuquerque on July 21st, 2012. I shared with them what it entailed “Being Teresita Urrea.” The class met in a large amphitheater that held over 100 students of all ages. My digital poem “Ode to Teresita” didn’t work from my thumb drive on their laptop so we tried YouTube. Fortunately, I had planned ahead and uploaded it to YouTube. No sound! The movie and poem was to give a review of Teresita’s life before I did my presentation. ¡Ni modo! I went on with the rest of my presentation—at least the Power Point worked while an aide worked on getting the YouTube sound to their laptop. I was able to show the movie after the rest of my presentation. Afterwards Tonita and Rita, two curanderas, presented me with a white Mexican dress embroidered with colorful flowers on the front.

Introduction at Curanderismo Class

I’ll be bringing Teresita Urrea, renowned curandera, to the Southwest Branch Library tomorrow at 5:30.