Latinos Celebrate
Feast of Our Lady
VIDA/ Araceli Loredo
During the Virgen de Guadalupe Mass, many families gathered to celebrate in the re-enactment of the
Virgen. Many Latinos present were in awe.
Teach-In Enlightens the Community
By Nancy Leiva
On October 29, the Associ¬
ated Students of Loyola
Marymount University in coop¬
eration with the Division of Aca¬
demic Affairs presented LMU
Town Hall “Making Diversity
Work,” held at Gersten Pavilion.
Ever since the Rodney King ver¬
dict lighted up the riots in Los
Angeles, members of the LMU
community saw themselves con-
frontingissues of racism and dis¬
crimination.
The reason for the Teach-
In was to address these issues,
while at the same time letting
students express their feelings
and comments.
The main speaker was Dr.
Antonia Darder, who is a profes¬
sor in the Education Department
at Claremont Graduate School.
Dr. Darder stated, “enrollment
for white students has increased
over 3%, while on the other hand,
Native American students have
increased .1%, Asian students
have increased 1.6%, Black stu-
By Marisol Barrios
Carmen Lomas Garza, a
Chicana painter, presented her
exhibition entitled “Pedacito de
mi Corazon” (“A Piece of my
Heart”) in Laband Art Gallery
from November 4 through De¬
cember 12.
While growing up with her
brother, Mucio, they found them¬
selves punished for speaking
Spanish during school hours. To
express herself, Garza found her¬
self speaking out for Chicanos by
paintinganddepictingtheMexi-
can-American lifestyle.
Garza’s confusion began
when Mucio questioned their
parents about his teacher who
had punished him for speaking
Spanish in the classroom, their
parents where silent.
“It must have been such a
painful moment for them. How
could they explain that the pun-
dentshave increased .3%, Latino
students have increased 2%, and
foreign students have increased
by .4% ”
A question raised to Dr.
Darder by a student was, “Why
is a Western Traditions class so
much more important than any
other history?” Dr. Darder’s re¬
sponse was, “It’s time to
deconstruct and reconstruct the
textbooks, and begin telling the
entire and truthful history of
America. It’s not possible that
important contributors to Ameri¬
can History be left out.”
The floor was opened to
the students who wanted to di¬
rect questions to a panel which
consisted of administrators, fac¬
ulty and students.
Many students addressed
the issues of sexism, sexual ha¬
rassment and homophobia.
A Jewish student expresses
having been discriminated be¬
cause of her religion. She ex¬
pressed her feelings of anger
when she was classified as being
in the white m ajority when she is
ishment was for racial and politi¬
cal reasons (as a minority group
in an Anglo community) and not
because he had done something
bad?” recalls Garza.
At the age of 13, she de¬
cided to become an artist. Dur¬
ing her college years and the
Chicano movement, the process
of healing became real. In
addition, her goal was within
reach and the Chicano move¬
ment gave her back her voice.
“The anger, pride and self-
healing came out as Chicano
art,” Garza said. She graduated
from Texas Arts and Industries,
Kingsville where she received
her Bachelor of Science in 1972.
Garza’s paintings are of
everyday life in a Mexican-
Amerian family. Some events
depicted are of the birthday cel¬
ebrations, the making of tama¬
les and the visits by the faith
healers.
a minority in the university.
“How would you feel if you had to
give up your cross?” she ad¬
dressed the panel.
The concluding speaker
was Edward James Olmos, who
has done a lot of humanitarian
work since the riots. He stressed
that ethnic cooperation and the
need to “move away from racial
stereotyping” is very relevant.
Olmos also stressed that the
change has to come from within
each person.
“I think that the results of
the Teach-In are positive, be¬
cause now everybody is talking
about it. The Teach-In helped in
raising the issue and bringing it
out into the light,” expressed
Angel Michel as a reaction to the
Teach-In.
By Les Santos
Coordinator Office of
International Services
Loyola Marymount
University’s First Annual Inter¬
national Friendship Day on Oc¬
tober 22, 1992 was the Interna¬
tional Roundtable’s response to
the global celebration of United
Nations Day (October 24).
The International
Roundtable(IR)ofLMU is a con¬
sortium of leaders and organiza¬
tions of the international and
American communities at LMU,
who meet regularly to discuss
ways of nurturing and promot¬
ing international and cultural
exchange at the university. The
IR also serves as a leadership
team of the Office of Interna¬
tional Services (OIS).
“A Taste of the World” at
Regent’s Terrace Lawn, coordi¬
nated by Patrick Musgrove
(USA), became the backdrop for
the food booths of the Belles,
Chinese Club and Indonesians
at LMU. The day was showered
with sunshine, and the fragrance
of gourmet ethnic foods in the air
brought together students, fac¬
ulty, and staff. The sponsoring
By Araceli Loredo
Many Latinos were as¬
tounded, others were in tears
and felt an awakening with in¬
tense sensibility in the depth,
the core of the indigenous self.
For others, the experience was
nothing but mesmerizing.
On December 6, the LMU
community united at the Sacred
Heart Chapel to commemorate
the Feast of Our Lady, La Virgen
de Guadalupe.
To the Latinos, this cel¬
ebration means a great deal. It
symbolizes a protetorate of the
Mexican people and a defender
of all the Latino people, particu¬
larly the downtrodden, poor, and
the disempowered.
“The stars on her veil were
symbolic of a new civilization.
The fact that the Virgen was
standing in front of the sun and
on the top of the moon meant
that she was more powerful and
important than both the sun
and the moon gods.
“ Her eyes were downcast
in a position of humility, reveal¬
ing that although she was great
there was One coming Who was
Greater. The belt on her waist is
similar to that used by women of
the tim e who were about to give
birth,” explains Leticia Vidal, Di¬
rector of Chicano Latino Student
Services, (CLSS) ,
Sacred Heart Chapel was
filled with guests anxious to view
and experience there-enactment
of the Virgen de Guadalupe.
Father Wayne Negrete
gave a brief description of the
meaning of the celebration and
proceeded with the sermon. As
Mass continued, the guests were
organizations had agreed to do¬
nate a portion of their net profit
to the relief efforts in Somalia.
The Belles, however, donated all
of its food sale profit.
The colorful “Parade of
Nations” down Alumni Mall rep¬
resented the many nations
present at LMU. Coordinated by
Robin Fry (USA) and Diana
Kocnim (Peru), the silent parade
included at least 30 participants
carrying national flags. Theflag-
poles were made by volunteer
parent team Ben and Maura
Santos (Philippines). The con¬
crete flagpole stands were made
possible by the efforts of Les
Santos (USA, Philippines), Siow
Wee Lim (Singapore), and Sandy
Pan dhumas (Thailand).
As the flags reached Re¬
gents Terrace, they were met by
Dr. Dirk Verheyen (Nether¬
lands), who formally opened the
celebration and welcomed the
spectators around Regents Ter¬
race.
The entertainment seg¬
ment of the festivities, coordi¬
nated by Ceci Avincula (USA,
Philippines), included the dances
of the Philippines by Isang Bansa
and Hawaii by Na Kolea. The
able to experience the awe, the
love and the endearment felt by
Juan Diego when the Virgen
Mary appeared to him and of¬
fered the indigenous people new
hope. Students volunteered to
participate in the re-enactment
of the appearance.
As the M ass cam e to a close,
Dr. Graciela Limon delighted the
guests with a charming perspec¬
tive of the importance of La
Virgen de Guadalupe to the Mexi¬
can culture. Her words filled the
room with a special warmth, as
many of those present felt the
meaning of her words.
The celebration ended
with a roar as the Grupo
Cuauhtemoc danced towards the
center of the chapel. This ex¬
pression of our culture filled the
room with a profound sense of
strength, love and devotion; the
drums roared and the symbols
rattled.
Outside the doors of the
Sacred Heart Chapel, the
Mariachi Juvenile de Belvedere
Junior High School entertained
everyone and all were welcomed
to enjoy Mexican sweet bread,
coffee, and hot chocolate.
The LMU community Was
able to experience and under¬
stand a very important aspect of
the Mexican culture.
Said Vidal, “It helped edu¬
cate others in the community to
come in contact with something
really beautiful in our culture
that runs very deep and spiri¬
tual for all Latinos.”
With the aid of Special
Projects, Campus Ministry,
CLSS, and those students who
volunteered, the celebration was
successful.
cultural fashions of Indonesia
was presented by Indonesians of
LMU.
The celebration continued
with the OIS International
Speakers Program at 4:00 pm in
St. Robert’s Auditorium. Aca¬
demic Vice President, Joseph
Jabbra, introduced Dr. Anatoly
Zhuplev (Russia) who presented
“Russia Today and Tomorrow:
Social, Political, and Economic
Development.” Dr. Zhuplev re¬
turned to campus this fall follow¬
ing a year of intense changes in
his home country. His candid
sharing of life in Russia today
provided an appropriate ending
to a festive day and a challenge
to continue international friend¬
ship.
International Roundtable
would like to express its signifi¬
cant gratitude to the following
persons or organizations for as¬
sisting in the celebration: Stu¬
dent Development Services ad¬
ministrators and support staff,
Calendar Office, Gene Perkins of
Marriott Food Services, Lisa
Piumetti, Heidi Russell-Kalkofen
(Marymount College), and Rich¬
ard Dawson (Pepper dine Univer¬
sity).
Garza Paints to Heal
Friendship Day Highlights Campus
