Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Benjamin Alire Sáenz (born August 16, 1954) is an award-winning American poet, novelist, writer of children's books and artist.  He lives and works in El Paso, Texas.

He was born at Old Picacho, New Mexico, the fourth of seven children, and was raised on a small farm near Mesilla, New Mexico. He graduated from Las Cruces High School in 1972. That fall, he entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado where he received a B.A. degree in Humanities and Philosophy in 1977. He studied Theology at the University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium from 1977 to 1981. He was a priest for a few years in El Paso, Texas before leaving the order.

In 1985, he returned to school, and studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso where he earned an M.A. degree in Creative Writing. He then spent a year at the University of Iowa as a PhD student in American Literature. A year later, he was awarded a Wallace E. Stegner fellowship. While at Stanford University under the guidance of Denise Levertov, he completed his first book of poems, Calendar of Dust, which won an American Book Award in 1992. He entered the Ph.D. program at Stanford and continued his studies for two more years. Before completing his Ph.D., he moved back to the border and began teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso in the bilingual MFA program which he retired from in 2022.  It was announced that Wittliff Collections acquired his complete archive.

In 2005, he curated a show of photographs by Julian Cardona.  

In The Book of What Remains (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), his fifth book of poems, he writes to the core truth of life's ever-shifting memories. Set along the Mexican border, the contrast between the desert's austere beauty and the brutality of border politics mirrors humanity's capacity for both generosity and cruelty.

In 2010, he and Daniel Chacón began hosting a local literary radio show, Words on a Wire, out of El Paso, Texas that quickly became one of the most important radio programs and podcasts about writers and books in North America.  You can hear these and other shows on KTEP.

Sáenz has been awarded the Lambda Literary Award and Stonewall Book Award and has talked about growing up and self expression in various ways.  His book Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe has been widely regarded and accepted as a seminal young adult novel in the queer literary canon and has received a movie adaptation.

https://www.latinousa.org/2022/01/21/benjaminaliresaenz/

In 2022 Sáenz had an interview at Townsend Harris High School Library for a LGBTQ+ author talk hosted by the NYC Department of Education.  He delved into how the need to label oneself, such as with gender and sexuality, can be limiting and detrimental. He chooses to not label himself as “queer” because for him that word still contains all of the negative meaning it had in his youth. However, if others are comfortable with that label for themselves, that is also completely acceptable, he said. He went on to say that while one may feel tempted to draw lines to help understand who one is, beyond that, they are nothing but limiting and that, “Young people need books that tell them there is still love in the world.”

Sáenz believes in the power of telling LGBTQ+ stories and sharing them with youth. Writing should be about what’s possible, including queer tragedy and queer joy. In that setting, the stories Sáenz writes are a sort of hopeful realism. 

https://www.npr.org/2013/02/20/172495550/discovering-sexuality-through-teen-lit

My Story: Benjamin Alire Sáenz on finding his true self

“You find yourself in writing a book.”

On April 8, 2023 he gave a TEDxElPaso talk about how the border shaped his identity and creative journey.  Length 17:59

The Last Meditation on Living in the Desert

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

I was born in the desert.

I want to die in the desert.

I want to die in the middle of the summer.

At ten o’clock in the morning.

Preferably on the hottest day of the year.

I want everyone who comes to my funeral to keep repeating

Goddamnit it’s hot. This will make me smile.

If I am not allowed to smile after I’m dead

then I want to live forever.

But only if I can continue living in the desert.

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LGBTQ+ Resources

Forgotten Gay El Paso: The Bars

Borderland Rainbow Center

Sun City Pride

Mountain Star Pride

PFLAG El Paso

The Purple Pages

Alliance of Border Collaboratives

Diversity and Resiliency Institute of El Paso

Public Health

Some Local Events

Outfest

Destination El Paso

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You can learn more at:

Benjamin Alire Sáenz Website

El Paso Public Library Catalogue Search

Border Heritage Center

Courtesy of the El Paso Public Library, Border Heritage Center,El Paso Vertical Files - Writers - SA-SH

Resources

Texas Cultural Trust - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Texas Monthly - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Wiki

Pima Library Interview

REFORMA Interview with Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Publisher's Weekly Interview

The El Paso Public Library turns 130!!! - Celebration Schedule and Timeline

The El Paso Public Library proudly invites you to celebrate with us its 130th anniversary!!! The staff at the Border Heritage Center is excited to announce the Open House events that will take place at various library branches, beginning with the Westside Library tomorrow Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 11:00 am. Celebrations will continue through Wednesday, December 11, 2024 (see schedule below). Stop by for giveaways and refreshments! See you there!!!

El Paso Public Library Timeline

Sergio Troncoso

 Sergio Troncoso (born 1961) often writes about the United States-Mexico border, working-class immigrants, families and fatherhood, crossing cultural, psychological, and philosophical borders, and the border beyond the border.

Troncoso teaches at the Yale Writers’ Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut. A past president of the Texas Institute of Letters, he has also served as a judge for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the New Letters Literary Awards in the Essay category. His work has appeared in Pleiades, Texas Highways, CNN Opinion, Houston Chronicle, Other Voices, New Letters, Yale Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Texas Monthly.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Troncoso was born and grew up on the east side of El Paso, Texas in rural Ysleta. During their first years in Texas, his family lived with kerosene lamps and stoves and an outhouse in the backyard. He attended Ysleta High School and became editor of the school newspaper. (His paternal grandfather was Santiago Troncoso, editor and publisher of El Día, the first daily newspaper in Juárez, Mexico.)

In Ysleta, Texas, Pati visits La Tapatia, a restaurant serving border-influenced tortilla, tamales and tacos since 1950. She sits down with acclaimed author, Sergio Troncoso – known for his many books and essays on border life – to discuss what it’s like to live in the middle of two cultures. Length 4:05 Sergio Troncoso on Border Life

A Fulbright scholar, Troncoso was inducted into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Alumni Hall of Fame, Texas Institute of Letters, and Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He is also a member of PEN America, a writers’ organization protecting free expression and celebrating literature, and the Authors Guild, the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization of writers. He was named a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters, the first Mexican American writer to receive this distinction.

Among the numerous literary awards Troncoso has won are the Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story, Premio Aztlan Literary Prize, Gold Medal for Best Novel-Adventure or Drama from International Latino Book Awards, Bronze Award for Anthologies from Independent Publisher Book Awards, Gold Medal for Best Collection of Short Stories from International Latino Book Awards, Southwest Book Award, Bronze Award for Essays from ForeWord Reviews, and the Silver Award for Multicultural Adult Fiction from ForeWord Reviews.

His literary papers are archived at The Wittliff Collections in San Marcos, Texas.

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The El Paso City Council voted unanimously to rename the public library branch in Ysleta as the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library. Later the author established the annual Troncoso Reading Prizes for middle school and high school students in Ysleta.

Click to Save As

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You can learn more at:

Sergio Troncoso Website

El Paso Public Library Catalogue Search

Border Heritage Center

Courtesy of the El Paso Public Library, Border Heritage Center, El Paso Vertical Files - Writers - Troncoso, Sergio 

Resources

El Pasoan Sergio Troncoso to be inducted into Texas Literary Hall of Fame

Cormac McCarthy, Sergio Troncoso selected to Texas Literary Hall of Fame; other El Paso news

Q&A with El Paso Matters Book Club author Sergio Troncoso

IndieBound - Sergio Troncoso

Sergio Troncoso Wiki

Rosa Guerrero

Rosa Ramirez Guerrero (born November 14, 1934) was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. She is an artist, educator, dance historian, and humanitarian. Her efforts have enhanced her commitment in promoting cultural awareness around the United States. She has also taught for EPISD, The El Paso Community College and at The University of Texas at El Paso. Mrs. Guerrero was the first of seven children in her family to graduate and earn her BA and MA from Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso.

Mrs. Guerrero founded and became the artistic director of the International Folklorico Dance Group.  Her film “Tapestry,” based upon creating cultural harmony and understanding, was honored with a national award for documentary filmmaking.  She was awarded a lifetime membership with the Texas PTA and was the first Hispanic woman in El Paso to have a school, Rosa Guerrero Elementary, named in her honor.

 

She has been honored with many local, national, and international honors for her efforts as a humanitarian, which includes being a Distinguished Alumni of The University of Texas at El Paso, Inductee into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation Award, the LULAC Arts and Humanities Award, the NEA Human Civil Rights George T. Sanchez Award, and the Mexican Consulate OHTLI Award for her work with Mexican Americans and other minorities.

Rosa Guerrero wanted to be a teacher since the third grade.  Her own teachers in the early 1940’s and 1950’s were not kind and did not understand her cultural background.  She, like thousands of others, was punished for speaking Spanish in school.  This was the reason she became an educator and swore to never punish her students for their racial and cultural differences.

Rosa Guerrero has been called “a tapestry of many cultures whose mission is to share this tapestry of cultural diversity, and how it is woven, with all people.”  She continues her mission of love, peace, and cultural understanding to this day as an educational consultant giving presentations and lectures.

You can learn more at:  

Rosa Guerrero Website

El Paso Public Library Catalogue Search

Border Heritage Center

Courtesy of the El Paso Public Library,Border Heritage Center, Citizen Vertical Files, Guerrero, Rosa

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If you are interested in free dance classes, residents can learn to dance bachata, cumbia and salsa with free lessons from the Live Active El Paso Program.

Learn to dance, keep fit with free Baila El Paso! program

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Resources

Texas Archive - Rosa Guerrero

EPCC LibGuide - Borderlands: Rosa Guerrero: Cultural Dynamo 27 (2009-2010)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Ramirez_Guerrero

National Hispanic Heritage Month 2024

National Hispanic Heritage Month (NHHM)
September 15 - October 15

A City in Tears - August 3rd, 2019

Saturday, August 3rd, 2019, was a normal day for many, for some, a regular workday, for others, a shopping task, and for a handful, a day to go look around and relax.  More than likely, none of them had any idea of the surreal events that were about to occur.  Outside the Walmart-Cielo Vista area, as cars were browsing for a spot to park, one particular vehicle pulled up into the parking lot.  One man stepped out of it, not to shop, neither to look, but to self-lead a rampage of deadly bullets targeting Mexicans. He aimed his rifle at shoppers, employees, and/or passersby.  

Ruled as an "act of domestic terror", the gunman, Patrick Wood Crusius, first drove through town for about an hour, stopped at a pizzeria, then arrived at Walmart to end up shooting and killing 23 people and injuring 22 others. As a result, the "El Paso Strong" campaign was born in our city, merely to embrace a robust sense of unity, strength, and resilience. August 3, 2024, marks the five-year anniversary of the August 3rd tragedy, and to commemorate it, a new memorial,a set of seven angled pillars that silently "speak" the names of the 23 victims,was unveiled at the El Paso Eastside Walmart where the shooting happened.  

Below are a few excerpts of images and articles from the El Paso Times' telling the story.  

Retrieved from El Paso Times, August 12, 2019

Retrieved from El Paso Times, August 13, 2024

Armijo Library's Mural 30th Anniversary

You are cordially invited to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Armijo Branch Library's mural room with the artist, Carlos Callejo.

Mr. Callejo will be in attendance to describe the process of the creation of this iconic El Paso mural. There will be live music and free refreshments as part of the program. Saturday, August 24th from 4 PM to 6:30 PM at the Armijo Branch Library, 620 E. 7th Street.

We have an online exhibit that shows the mural progression on our website for you all at the highlighted link below:

https://elpaso.quartexcollections.com/exhibition

HISTORIC REOPENING - LIBRARIES & POST-COVID19

 On July 1st, 2020, KFOX14 reported an update on the status of library services and projected reopening. While library officials were earnestly working on the best possible solution to provide media access services to the public, the uncertainty of the dangers that the deadly virus represented, still existed. It was a difficult decision to make, always with a mindset of service and meeting the needs of patrons.  As a result, a variety of online access to materials, became a reality for library users. Libraries posted signs on front doors and billboards advising patrons of the closure until further notice.   The image below was posted on the KFOX14 website.  

Later in January of 2021, curbside services at Richard Burges, Dorris Van Doren, Irving Swartz, and the Bookmobile were available for people's disposal.  

 Fourth of July 

Independence Day in El Paso, TX

For decades, El Pasoans have celebrated Independence Day in many different ways.  The most common one is the use of fireworks. Parades and music festivals have also been practiced, commemorating the declaration of US Independence from Great Britain on July 4th, 1776. The statement was adopted by 56 delegates, giving our nation the right to select our own government.  In El Paso, the History Museum and local newspapers have diligently tracked and published many events that have happened in observation of this remarkable holiday: 

• On July 4, 1942, as published by the El Paso Herald Post, calvary men from Fort Bliss and infantrymen from Cd. Juarez, marched the streets of downtown El Paso. Mexican senators, deputies, generals, Chihuahua governor Alfredo Chavez, and Juarez mayor, Antonio J. Bermudez, along with several American civil dignitaries and military commanders, including Sen. W. lee O'Daniel, Consul General W. P. Blocker, and Mayor J.E. Anderson, gathered together at a reviewing stand of the San Jacinto Plaza to watch the historical parade.  Thousands of spectators from both sides of the border lined the parade route while simultaneously cheering: "Hoo-ray!" (Americans), and "Viva Mexico! Viva Los Estados Unidos!" (Mexicans).

                                                                         

• On July 2, 1959, The El Paso Times advertised a 4th of July dance, which was sponsored by Father Rahm, a legendary Catholic priest and Jesuit who helped and advocated for at-risk teens.

        

                Source: Private collection of Skip Clark     Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History's Digital Wall (DIGIE)    

• In the past, KLAQ radio station sponsored raft races on the Rio Grande.  The picture below was retrieved from the El Paso History Museum's Digital Wall (DIGIE); it shows race participants on a 4th of July day.  

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                                                                                                    Area: Upper Valley / Borderland
                                                                                                    Source: T.E.DENT
                                                                                                    Uploaded by: barbara 2

Juneteenth

Commemorating Juneteenth

Did you know that Juneteenth is a federal holiday to celebrate the freedom of African-American slaves in Texas...?

:Let's dive back in time!

June 19, 1865

• The word 'Juneteenth' is abbreviated version of June & Nineteenth.
• Juneteenth is also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Black Independence Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day
• It is basically the '4^th of July' for African Americans.
• A preliminary proclamation to abolish slavery was issued and signed by Abraham Lincoln in September 1862 and effective January 1, 1863.
• This proclamation was unknown by Texas; it was the last state to free slaves.
• The slaves were lonely and homesick because they were forced to leave their country, their homes, and in most cases, their families behind.  During their journey to the America, they were malnourished, weak, and sick, some did not make it. 
• Upon their arrival to America, these people were sold as slaves.  They were beaten and humiliated, forced to work for free and without rights. 
•  Mexico was against slavery, thus some of the slaves fled to Mexico and lived comfortably there, some became rich.  Texas treated its slaves better than other states so that they would desist from escaping to the neighboring country. 
•  TX first state to recognize “Emancipation Day” as an official holiday
• On June 19, 1865, General Order No. 3 was issued informing Texas slaves of their freedom.  Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX to read/announce the President Lincoln’s proclamation to 200,000 slaves, granting them their freedom.
• As soon as slaves knew of their freedom, most left their owners and began a new life.  A lot of them joyfully started dancing, singing, barbecuing, and doing fun things that were prohibited to them as slaves.
• Since that day, for decades, people in El Paso, across Texas, and through the US, celebrate with parades, pageants, festivals, music, free food, craft booths, free entertainment, dance, breakfasts, traditional barbecues, festivals, and even fireworks.  Multiple organizations and clubs, including the McCall Neighborhood Center, InterClub Council of El Paso, UTEP’s African American Studies Program, coordinate and sponsor the festivities.   

Shown below is a photograph of a Douglas School in a parade and past newspaper clippings from El Paso Times with images and articles of previous El Pasoans' Juneteenth festivities.  

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