Poem: "I've got my magic back" by Leticia Alaniz

I’ve got my magic back

Moon spells breathe out of my 

mouth and exhale Medusa chants. 

The black springs turn yellow, 

petal pink, and green. 

I left behind the rush and madness 

from the old. 

I’ve put on my high priestess robe. 

Pomegranate juices drip down

my lips.

They open the seeds of 

knowledge.

An altar of onions and fleur-de-lis

winds under my feet.

Lyrical songs sing 

turning leaves, shaking the

branches of my hips.

My body is hotly possessed in

the Minerva temple.

Vanilla orchids cluster their nest 

in my hair. 

Producing Spain of blood, wine, and fire.

Nymphs of the forest tell me

your reflection is resurrect.

My heart flutters.

The ebony raven circles her ritual dialect.

You know my language,

my Astros, my heavenly body,

curves and all.

The prelude of my breath

awakens the sacred.

The verse of my rhythm wind

calls for the love spell

of my magic that

is back again.

© 2023 Leticia Alaniz

Aarian Marrivada Alaniz - Return of the Maya

Aarian Marrivada Alaniz, "Return of the Maya" 2023
Analog Paper Collage on Arches Paper (11x14 inch)
Photo © Leticia Alaniz

Becoming an artist for Aarian Marrivada Alaniz came naturally, instinctively and with deep never-ending passion.  This is Aarian’s debut showcasing the art of his young imagination.  He has demonstrated a creative interest since he could hold a paint brush at the age of three.  Painting and drawing at floor level, he instinctively created art that evolved into forms that are influenced by personal motivation and his surroundings.  Between the age of six or seven, Aarian began to create art influenced by several schools of art that he most loved, including Modern and Abstraction, with a special interest in color and Wassily Kandinsky art.  He perceived everything in a much broader and deeper sense creating narratives from memory, music and his favorite literature.  

In this first professional exhibition, Aarian presents a piece titled, Return of the Maya.  It's an authentic analog collage that celebrates a life of mementos through his eyes.  Aarian has no limits on his decision of splashy color and bold choices of narrative.  There's a cherry-red car in the shape of an ultra-cool rocket that represents suave road trips from a bygone era.  A giant Mayan stone head with an ever looking eye in black and white sits on a colorful Mayan weave.  A monkey sits in the style of Auguste Rodin's bronze sculpture: The Thinker in a playful take in front of a computer with the word "Loading" over his head.   The piece is exhibited as part of a juried group exhibition: Memento: Art That Reminds Us, at 9th Street Studios in Wichita Falls, Texas under the direction of curator and artist, Amber Day Scott.  Another aspect of the exhibition is an audio recording and a personal essay that accompanies the piece.  The essay written by the artist describes his piece:  


My name is Aarian I am nine years old. This is my very first collage. The Mayans from Guatemala and Mexico are in my heritage because my mother is Mexican and my father is from India. The giant Mayan sculpture head is ancient beauty in stone carved hundreds of years before the conquistadors from Spain arrived. I have memories of road trips, sitting on sarapes and weavings at the beach and eating fresh fruit and ceviche. I have my favorite colcha that I call the "colores colcha," the sombrero represents my grandfather, the orchids the south of Mexico. The monkey represents me, learning technology.

Photo © Jess Clark 2023

Aarian perceives art as seriously as he plays music.  Along with creating visual art, Aarian is a musician and composes on the piano original works which he declares are a continuation from his canvases.  Impressionism is another school of art which he particularly enjoys and composes melody beyond standard lyricism.  One of his first compositions is a playful melody that he titled, The Detective.  His freeform melodies are enmeshed with his visual work and his inspirations are infinite.  

Aarian Is mentored by his mother who is also an artist.  He creates in acrylic, oils, oil pastels, and paper collage.  

Aarian Marrivada Alaniz
© Leticia Alaniz 2023

The blue boat - La barca azul

Mexico
Photograph © Brent Kollock

At dawn, the north wind blew the waves strongly, beating its foamy arms with fervor until a boat was wrecked on the beach. Its blue color had faded in parts where the sea had taken its due when navigating its waters. A sign on the side in scarlet letters read Palom r. The letter a had been erased and a grayish shadow remained in its place.

The sun's rays rushed down and the light peeked out between my toes. Because of my exhaustion, I couldn't lift my eyes any longer. So I slept a while. I was hungry and thirsty.  I had to get to town before the downpour fell.  

I tried to rush my sleep. My bare chest, dry with sand, reminded me of the luck of my escape from my husband's house. I ran out into the night when he tried to lock me in a room under a padlock. I managed to shake off his anger by throwing a wooden jewelry box at the window. The cracks in the glass were my door of freedom and I ran in the moonlight until I reached the beach.

I walked towards the blue boat. Its whale-like figure had an empty skeleton belly. I 
found a rope and a fishing net. I climbed in and hid. I tried to stop the wind with my fingers. The boat rocked and the waves spoke sweetly to her.  She moved until she was stuck in a rocky corner where white flowers grew. The flowers gave off a scent of honey-pollen and the bees buzzed quickly, intoxicated by their feeding. The coarse grain of the sand was like white sugar that melts with water. I imagined eating the sand with honey and thus I calmed the anguish of my hunger.

Photograph © Brent Kollock

Thick, heavy drops began to appear. I thought it would be a light drizzle, but then it gained strength and jets of water moved the boat from its place.  Bubbles and foam from the sea crashed in and turned my refuge into a heavy belly. I abandoned the boat.

I came upon a thatched shack at a fisherman's wharf. A toothless lady dressed in a stained apron bellowed at me, "Dirty!" When they smell a strange presence, the skinny, mangy dogs come out to bark, dripping saliva. The uproar summoned people to lean out the door to take a look.  Another lady with broad shoulders and a bent forehead offered me a scratchy cloth to cover my nakedness. Her hands with luminous scales that had stuck dry to her hands smelled of guts and fish. But I felt her motherhood in her eyes and she offered me lodging in her hut.

She comforted me, “Tomorrow will dawn a clear day pronounced by the mouth of God. Come on girl, sleep. The journey is long and we women are of dominion and power. "

Written by Leticia Alaniz

© 2021

Photograph © Brent Kollock

 

 

Amber Day Scott - An Ephemeral Eclipse

Amber Day Scott - Artist
© Leticia Alaniz

Every so often, you come across an artist that has a burning inner fire ravishingly creative, that gold embellishments adorn her artwork like streaks of pre-Earth supernovae and star collisions.  In essence, gold found on Earth came from the debris of dead stars.  Several thousand years later, flecks of pure sparkly gold made their way onto the art of Amber Day Scott.    

Attracted to the Modern Art Period and Art Deco, Day Scott journeyed into lifelong learning and expressiveness.  Natural wonders, Earth’s rotation, Solar and Lunar Eclipses, and the symbolism of cosmic events became the core inspiration for her work.

Amber Day Scott was born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Midwestern State University in 2001.  As a young dreamer and nature observer, in search of the wonders of celestial bodies, she embarked on a road trip in 2017 to witness eclipse totality which had a profound effect on her creative thought process.  Careful planning gave way to be at the right place, at the right time.  Witnessing the breathtaking sight was well worth every second.  She became a seeker of truth and decided that experience rather than explanation would be the focus of her art. 

Cosmic events, extreme weather, and animal behavior, especially when darkness falls during a total eclipse and the stars fill the sky, are a source of natural poetry and inspiration for one of Day Scott’s most current body of work.  In her words, “I’m inspired by both the toxicity of the human ego, and the idea that we are all just stardust.”

Ingrained in her memories is a life-changing tornado that fiercely tore through her beloved Wichita Falls in 1979.  Her displaced family among hundreds of others were moved to FEMA housing in a public park, which was also home to a large prairie dog colony.  She learned to commune in a society beaten by trauma and fear.  Among the chaos after the storm, under her feet were villages of resilient subterranean rodents who proved to be extremely charismatic and social.  When the horizon flushed with the colors of the sunset, it was prime observational time for Day Scott.  The experience was greatly moving.  Naturally, the peeking eyes of the prairie dogs were to become immortalized in her work. 

The displacement left an indelible mark on Day Scott, which she purposefully expresses in her art.  Rather than focusing on the trauma, an understanding of given circumstances enlightened her artistic purpose.  She chose to recognize the lyricism in the imagery of the prairie dogs’ survival and social behavior.

Inexhaustible Lamp (2020)
© Amber Day Scott

In the piece Inexhaustible Lamp (2020), Amber quotes scientist and poet Carl Sagan in a mixed media depiction that encompasses the cosmic sentiment tied to the artist’s work.  A prairie dog holds a golden moon while a fiery sunset sets the stage for the darkening sky of an eclipse, which on close observation seems eternally liquified on its silent gravitation. The moon partly covered, comes full circle with beaming light in golden tonalities reflected in the eyes of the onlooking prairie dog.  It serves as a reminder that we’re a granular element.  Our presence may even be ephemeral - a flash of luminescence in a great dark ocean.  The sun is an omnipresent force on the landscape, one that the prairie dogs cannot escape.    

Known and Unknown (2020)
© Amber Day Scott

We live in an extraordinary place in the universe where total solar eclipses are possible.  Day Scott applies her observations of this magical phenomenon in Known and Unknown (2020).  A total solar eclipse is mirrored underground of a hill.  A prairie dog rests on the hill, looking out observing his surroundings, almost in gravitational suspense of the eclipse.  Hues of soft and creamy pastels radiate glowing energy from the life-giving sun.  A golden aura majestically forms a shimmering ring of darkness, void of the fragility of light.  Its a perfect example of how the artist has applied flecks of gold from the collided stars in her artistic universe.

In an astonishing burst of energy, in the piece Denier (2020), a prairie dog has come out of its tunneling city perhaps communicating to its brethren the day’s activities.  Golden embroidery stitches mark a balanced sky as dawn approaches.  Wispy touches of light remaining from the night’s twilight fall on the land.  The prairie dog’s dark, quiet eyes become amused as he stares along the horizon marking the underground road of his home as he listens intently for the rhythms of his kin.

 

Denier (2020)
© Amber Day Scott      

The artist must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world.  Adhering to this belief, Day Scott focused on the present and let go of fears and worries.  Gratefulness and the ability to change and grow opened the door for new experiences.  In the piece titled It’s in order for a Reason (2020), Day Scott found appreciation in the landscape of the prairie that had been decimated by a tornado.  She assumed a stream of consciousness in a dreamlike quality.  An upright prairie dog stands still in a ring that defines the origin of the word: Cosmos.  Quoting Carl Sagan it reads, “Cosmos is a Greek word for the order of the universe.  It is in a way, the opposite of Chaos.  It implies the deep interconnectedness of all things.”  Day Scott invites the viewer to look into the ring, to read the quote, and to think.  It makes the viewer feel as if we are part of the story and the stillness creates a sense that we are witnessing a kind of heightened reality.  The landscape painted in hues of blues and dotted with soft, fluffy clouds of white reminds the inhabitants that our landscape is green, lush, and full of life.

It's in order for a Reason (2020)
© Amber Day Scott

          

Experiencing difficulties in life in her formative years' involved engagement in reading voraciously.  It was the one thing that a person can do to create a very personal world.  Day Scott loved the magical power of books and their escape from reality.  

“I realize in retrospect that I was quite disappointed in my reality, and preferred to escape into a dream world of someone else’s story.   I have evolved over the years and no longer crave escape.  I savor each precious moment and not race ahead to the next adventure.  I now read to grow, rather than read to avoid.” - Day Scott

Day Scott is currently working on two bodies of work that encompasses an exploration of spiritual identity and interconnectivity.  A personal disconnect from her birth religion led to a journey towards something new and indefinable.  In the first collection, in utter concentration and true to her own beliefs, Day Scott interprets her personal experiences in a series that continues to grow and evolve.  

The second body of work is a collaboration with artist partner Simon Welch.  It is an effort that has taken over two years in a process that gathers force in a variety of topics such as the current political climate, general Whiteness: White culture, White privilege, White saviors according to western beliefs, and cultural appropriation.  It is an honest examination that attempts to go deep into personal culture and history.  The collection is scheduled to debut for public viewing in the summer of 2021.  

Day Scott’s diligent perseverance and attention to detail sum up the majority of her creative process.  Pre-work and research are extensive.  Working in a series of five to ten pieces at a time paired with meticulous planning of the creative outcome is essential before commencing any work with materials.  Day Scott enjoys working on her art in the evenings.  Sometimes on weekends, she works ten to twelve continuous hours.  Coffee, nuts, and cheese are favorite snacks to keep the energy going.  Benjamin Biolay or Nouvelle Vague are favorite musical artists she likes to stream to set the tone while working.  Day Scott commits to total concentration in a near-spiritual experience elevating her art to a meditative state.  Time-lapse videos are another enraptured layer that records her work in progress which illustrates the artistic visual storytelling of her pieces.           

With strong formative influences including those from a string of survival jobs, Day Scott achieved her artistic endeavors little by little before becoming a full-time artist.  Important mentors had a grateful and meaningful impact on her work.  Mark McDowell, a professional artist in Scottsdale, Arizona gave her guidance and perspective in professional opportunities.  Margie Johnson Reese (Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture) taught her how to foster public interest in the arts in ways that increase opportunities for all, rather than being motivated by individual pursuits.  Becky Rake and Linda Deason, gallerists and owners of 9th Street Studios, have mentored with tender care through the value of community.  Their agenda is to welcome many artists by “leaving the door open” and by helping people feel connected to artistic pursuits.  

In addition to Day Scott’s creative work and exhibitions, she is director and curator of the 9th Street Studio Gallery and is an administrative assistant for the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture.  Her work has been featured in the Juanita Harvey Gallery at MSU, the Kemp Center for the Arts, the Tulsa Nude Art Show, and the Homage juried exhibition in Rosendale, New York.  Solo exhibitions include the Pedroche Gallery in Dallas and the Cattle Track Art Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The most current body of work titled: Something Bigger had an impressive and profound presence at the Whiteside Museum of Natural History in Seymour, Texas.  The exhibition opened in mid-November 2020.  Due to the positive audience response, the exhibition was extended through the end of January 2021.                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Seeking knowledge of the universe Amber Day Scott adheres to the following personal philosophy, “We keep what we have by giving it away.”  

For more on Amber Day Scott please visit: 

Wichita Fallas Alliance for the Arts & Culture: https://wichitafallsarts.org/about/staff/amber-day-scott/ 

9th Street Studios: http://www.9thstreetstudios.com

Whiteside Museum of Natural History: https://www.wmnh.org/something-bigger-exhibit 

Amber Day Scott at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberdayscott

Brent Kollock: Stories from the streets of Mexico

Woman offering prayers
Photograph © Brent Kollock

Deep in the hills and valleys of Mexico lie spellbinding tales of the people that have inherited the secrets of living in ancestral tradition and newly adopted modern ways.  Quietly capturing these stories is the everlasting curiosity and talent of life and street photographer Brent Kollock.  

His travels have led him to the everyday lives of market vendors, street circuses, performers, carnivals, children, street food, religious ceremonies, Prehispanic rituals, and even burials.  Different regions have provided a background of photographs in their purest form, setting the stories in their most natural, vulnerable, and unobtrusive capture of a reality that can be seen today.  It’s a stark, black and white vérité style with subjects stopped in an eternal moment in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima, Guanajuato, and Puebla. 

Tuba Player
Photograph © Brent Kollock

Photographing everyday life confronts Kollock to see and live like a local.  To acquire a delicate sensibility to his surroundings and understand the customs of the natives and the realm of their triumphs and hardships of survival and celebration of life.  People commune with animals, with the past and the present, with the underworld, the dead and the living.  Their food becomes ritual and ceremony becomes blurred with dreams.

Armed with such sensibility, Kollock’s craft and skillful command of the camera, have led him to closeness with his subject to chronicle moments as they happen.  In many of the photographs, his subjects’ eyes seem to hypnotize and speak to the viewer which can be interpreted as an invitation to look in.

Children performing Pastorela
© Brent Kollock

Brent Kollock is an artist of life, a poet, an artist documenting on 35mm film and digital capture.  They’re scenes of relevance and passing time.  
There’s an almost spiritual quality to his photographs.  His images are filled with the beauty and absurdity that never fail to evoke a strange yet intimate sense of humanity.  

Kollock’s perseverance to capture humanity has led to an exploration of the significance of the stories he has brought from far away lands.  At the heart of his stories, lies the human spirit and the quest of seeking peace and harmony.  A quest to establish meaningful connections to people and animals and a clear representation of who we are.

Market Musicians (Abuelos)
© Brent Kollock

Kollock’s body of work is of light and darkness and assumes the perspective of his subjects.  There is a fundamental narrative of struggle, survival, joy, and even oppression and freedom.  His subjects emerge from the shadows and they belong to their societies, they may be solitary or in groups of families, but all have intricate and fascinating stories to tell.  They’re a reminder that all of humanity has a fundamental need for expression. And the photographs serve as a lasting monument to his talent.

Artist, Photographer, Writer Brent Kollock

Brent Kollock presents A World Away Just Next Door: Street Photography in Mexico in a solo exhibition at the Latino Cultural Center, Dallas.  Fine art black and white prints are selected and curated by legendary artist and activist Viola Delgado.

The exhibit is free and open to the public on November 22 through January 4th, 2019.

2600 Live Oak Street - Dallas, Texas 75204

For more on Brent Kollock or to purchase his art photography books visit:

https://www.brentkollock.com

Written by Leticia Alaniz

© 2019

     

    

Leah Chase - One Bowl of Gumbo at a Time

Chef Leah Chase in her kitchen at Dooky Chase Restaurant, New Orleans, LA
Photo by Cheryl Gerber NOLA 

One of the most iconic dishes from New Orleans, Louisiana representing Creole cuisine is seafood gumbo.  With the mighty Mississippi river going through the heart of New Orleans pushing water straight into the Gulf of Mexico, it creates an array of treasures from the sea which define much of New Orleans Creole and Cajun cuisine.  

Just as iconic is a woman who doesn’t need much of an introduction.  She’s the undisputed Queen of Creole that might as well have the title of Queen of Hearts.  Born in Madisonville, Louisiana, she possesses magical culinary skills and a big heart with which for over seven decades, has been cooking for many of the Civil Rights leaders, the rich and famous, musicians, poets, novelists, visitors, American presidents, world diplomats, blacks and whites, and anyone with an appetite for good, home-cooked, creole food in her legendary restaurant Dooky Chase.   

Mrs. Leah Chase came into the business when she married jazz musician Edgar “Dooky” Chase II.  His parents owned a corner stand that sold lottery tickets and homemade po’boy sandwiches.  Mrs. Chase worked in the kitchen during the 1950’s, and over time, Leah and Dooky took over the stand and converted it into a restaurant establishment.  Leah presided over the kitchen and was the visionary of home-cooked creole food.  She was not formally trained yet her hospitality only matched the service. She quietly served at a time when tensions in the south were brutal and the Jim Crow laws became the canon for segregation, discrimination, and cruelty.  

At Dooky Chase’s, one bowl of gumbo at a time, Mrs. Chase fed the hungry for equality, the hungry for the right to vote, the hungry for a right to live and raise families in a society of equal justice for all.  She fed the Civil Rights leaders in the 1960’s that would front the fight to end racial injustices and violence.  Her restaurant became the meeting place where strategies would be planned by Martin Luther King Jr., the Freedom Riders, and student activists.  Dooky Chase was the only place where the black communities in New Orleans could meet despite the “secret meetings” being illegal.  Quietly, congregated to take a stand against the oppressors, gumbo and fried chicken became the nourishment that would become the Civil Rights Movement.  

Much of the celebrating in New Orleans revolves around food.  Therefore, New Orleans was the destination for my birthday in November.  I had the honor of celebrating with Mrs. Leah Chase and my loved ones.  The gumbo she made that day was extra special with a  generous serving of blue crabs and gulf shrimp.  The heartiness of the stew is the story of the triumph to make the world a better place.  Her voice and loving heart touch you in a way that will forever prompt you to aspire to become a better person.

Of course, we talked about food and how it shapes us today.  Food creates memories and eventually becomes the tool of communication between cultures and races.  Best of all food becomes a tool for peace.  Because you can’t sit down for peace talks without good food.  Mrs. Chase is a defender of women’s rights.  We talked about what it means to be a woman and a part of the system today where women have come a long way in human rights.  And speaking of culture, she mentioned the Oaxacan mole negro, and how much she loves the Mexican indigenous foods and the deep south tamales of Veracruz.  She loved meeting Vijay and told him to bring her a plate of traditional Andhra Indian food on our next visit.  So I made a promise to return for another bowl of her creole seafood gumbo.   

Chef Leah Chase & Leticia Alaniz
Photo by Vijay Marrivada

- “You think creole gumbo is special?  Food is precious and we must treat it like that.  And I love a person that loves food and comes from so far away to visit me to try my food.  I know you and I have a connection thru food so that makes you special."   

Leah Chase tells it like it is.  I will forever treasure her words which did make me feel very special in her kitchen in New Orleans. 

Mrs. Leah Chase has been honored with numerous awards and accolades:

James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award (2016)

NOLA Award Best Fried Chicken (2014)

James Beard Foundation Who's Who of Food & Beverage (2010)

Southern Foodways Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award (2000)

Honorary Degree Tulane University

Honorary Degree Loyola University New Orleans

Honorary Degree Johnson & Wales University

Times-Picayune Loving Cup Award (1997)

Honorary Degree Our Lady of Holy Cross College

Honorary Degree Madonna College  

Among her other projects are a televised cooking show devoted to Creole cooking, and is the author of several cookbooks:

• The Dooky Chase Cookbook (1990) 
• And I Still Cook (2003)
• Down Home Healthy : Family Recipes of Black American Chefs (1994)

Written by Leticia Alaniz

© 2018

A Tree Within / Árbol Adentro - A Byzantine Mosaic In Honor of Octavio Paz

A Tree Within / Árbol Adentro
Byzantine Glass Mosaic by Leticia Alaniz © 2018

A pattern of design made from thousands of tiny brilliant cut glass, stone, shells, gold, or ceramic pieces has been the subject of awe and admiration in many cultures.  The physical presence of a mosaic mural has been since time immemorial a system of pictures to tell stories and convey histories.  It has been the art of eternity which explores vibrant, colorful and energetic pasts.  

Among the many design elements is the tree of life.  It’s a concept that symbolizes the beginning of life and the origin of everything.  For thousands of years in almost all cultures, religions, mythologies, and philosophies, the tree has been an icon and a theme that we encounter in daily life.  As a sacred symbol, it has mystified and has been the subject of celebration of deities and is a direct link to the divine and the mythical cosmologies.  

The tree has roots that reach deeply into the depths which take nourishment from Mother Earth and thru its upward reaching branches it absorbs light from the sun.  A tree symbolizes generations of families that grow and create new fruit to begin a new generation.  Trees have a cycle of life that regenerate with the seasons making it a symbol of immortality, rebirth and the duality of life and death.  The grandness of a tree connects all forms of creation, heaven, the underworld, and knowledge that resides in our past, present, and future.

In his poem Árbol Adentro / A Tree Within, Mexican Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz created a metaphysical metaphor of an inverted tree which grows within his body. With its canopy and leaves up in his head, the words depict an illustration of desire inspired by the beauty and presence of a woman.  The poem establishes that “Its roots are veins…”  The branches stretch out into the inner depths of his nerves and the body’s extremities, “Thoughts are its tangled foliage…”  The poet describes an escalating passion that ends with a metaphorical touch “Whose glance sets it on fire…” provoking the love and the other person’s presence to be inflamed with desire.  The themes of the tree suggest a sexual encounter with the pomegranate seeds in reference to a man’s seed, “Day Breaks / In the body’s night…”  Its an acknowledgment of his need for the love of the woman.  In the final lines, the poem entices the other to come closer and, “Hear the tree speak.”

Mexican Poet Octavio Paz

There is no doubt that Octavio Paz left his mark on the world of poetry and is a force to be reckoned with.  Just the same, his poetry has greatly influenced me in the creation of my own art, photography, and writings.  As an homage to his poem Árbol Adentro / A Tree Within, I created this mosaic tree in Mexican and Venetian smalti tesserae glass in the tradition of the ancient Byzantine art.  With branches of pure gold smalti tesserae and cobalt blue representing a life cycle.  Red as a symbol of blood and earth reaching up to the trunk and the branches feeding life to the tree giving it a sense of timelessness and eternal life.  

Filmmaker & Artist Leticia Alaniz
© 2018
Mexican Huipil Crafted & Designed by Poet Natalia Toledo

A Tree Within

A tree grew inside my head.
A tree grew in.
Its roots are veins,
its branches nerves,
thoughts its tangled foliage
Your glance sets it on fire,
and its fruits of shade
are blood oranges
and pomegranates of flame.

Day breaks

in the body's night.
There, within, inside my head,
the tree speaks.

Come closer - can you hear it?

–Octavio Paz
1914-1998

© Leticia Alaniz 2018

All Rights Reserved

Dawn in Dolores de Hidalgo

Madrugada en Dolores de Hidalgo
©  2001 Leticia Alaniz Cano
Oil on Canvas

Dolores de Hidalgo, or simply known as Dolores is an important city in Mexico with an important history.  Its in the north-central part of Guanajuato.  It is here where the cry for independence or the Grito de Dolores- the thundering for insurecction was heard for the first time in the early hours of September in 1810.  It was at the parish church Nuestra Señora de Dolores where Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla uttered his famous words and demanded the voice to be heard all the way to Spain.  Independence was imminent and Spain officially recognized Mexico’s independence after the Treaty of Córdoba was signed in 1821.  In honor of the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the citizens renamed the city to Dolores de Hidalgo.

I read about the famous battle and the history of Mexico’s independence as a child since elementary school and growing up I heard stories about the beautiful art, ceramics and culture.  The art itself is what attracted me to visit the historical city several years ago.  To say that it’s fascinating and mystic falls short because there’s an aura of wonder everywhere and in everything.  

The city was an Otomí settlement long before the arrival of the Spaniards and their essence can be found in the ambience, the mood, and especially the food.  There’s a distinct aroma in the air of wood burning, chiles roasting, fresh fruit, flowers from the countryside, and tamales steaming that’s ridiculously and intoxicatingly beautiful.  This is the real Mexico, it’s in the heart of the country and it’s where travelers can experience the colors, the vibrancy and ancient history with a jarrito de atole or a clay pot of atole in the dawn hours of the morning (atole is a traditional pre-hispanic Mexican porridge).  

From their carts, vendors sell hot atoles along with tamales in the madrugada just before daybreak.  Atoles and tamales are the traditional Mexican breakfast and vendors sing their marvelous offerings in poetic rhyming sounds that give life to the city: “Pasen a comer tamales, todos los que van pasando, tamalitos calientitos, aqui vamos preparando, pasen a tomar atole su atolito y champurrado, panza y corazón contento hacen fuerte al ciudadano.” 

A loose translation would be something like this: “Come on by and eat tamales, everyone that passes by, come eat hot tamales that we’re making here, come on by and drink your atole, your warm atole champurrado, be it known that a happy heart and a happy belly, makes a person strong.” 

At the earliest hours one morning, while the dew was cool and a blanket of light fog enveloped the city, I went out for a taste of atole and tamales.  The church bell rings every hour and it can be heard from a long distance so I followed the sound to the main plaza.  The chatter was vibrant and the tune of the vendors is a calling for a good meal.  Before the morning sun rays even made their appearance, I managed to sketch an elderly couple walking down the steps of the main church at the plaza which later I finished in oils in my studio.  I recorded a vivid picture of the colors they were wearing and the way the light spread its color cast.  It was around 5:00am and I knew that was the moment in time for my chance to live such a beautiful morning in the heart of Mexico.    

Written by Leticia Alaniz ©2016 

Madrugada en Dolores de Hidalgo

Oil on Canvas ©2001 Leticia Alaniz

The Siege of Numantia - A City Turns To Dust

The Siege of Numantia Directed by Cora Cardona.  Cast: Ignacio Lujan,
Sixto Orellana, Omar Padilla, Carlos Ayala, Sorany Gutiérrez, Leticia Alaniz, Marbella Barreto,
Enrique Arellano, Martin Mejía, Ninoshka Martinez, Nichole Sanchez 

A city has turned to dust out of the ashes of its people who called themselves Numantinos.  The blood of life ran like a river of death thru every corner and at every turn of the streets of the Iberian Peninsula; where the Celtiberian people had made their oppidum or fortified large settlement in the final centuries BC.  The citizens of Numancia had taken their own lives in order to prevent a brutal death at the hands of the Romans who had begun conquering Europe.  Terror wreaked loud and they feared for their beloved city.  Archeologically, Numancia’s bloodshed occurred in what is now north-central Spain.  

Leticia Alaniz in The Siege of Numantia
Directed by Cora Cardona
Teatro Dallas

Houses no longer had the sound of children’s laughter, nor the sweet smell of bread baking.  The people obeyed the orders of their leader Teógenes, whom would not allow their terrible fate to plunder their dignity.  They were to resist the Romans by their own hands with the blessings of their god Jupiter.  Thousands of logs were piled high, and they built a large fire in the middle of the city in its central plaza.  One by one, the Numantinos plunged themselves to their final breath before the forced entry of the Romans who were led by Scipión the consul, and his consort Jugurtha.  The Numantinos had deliberately crushed Scipión’s chances of a final victory for the Romans and his regal power was shadowed by shame.  

Enrique Arellano, Ignacio Lujan
Sixto Orellana in The Siege of Numantia
Photo Leticia Alaniz © 2016

The mission of the Romans was to capture Numancia, the ancient rich city of Hispaniola for the Roman empire.  But for sixteen years, the strong Numantinos resisted the war and their rebellion was powerful; they were few but fierce. 

Scipión had a strong iron army  that outnumbered the citizens of Numancia who were warriors and firm survivors.  With that in mind, Scipión knew that if he was to capture Numancia he had to build an outer wall around the city and isolate its citizens from any relief or provisions.  Therefore, the only way to capture the city was by starvation.  A nearby swamp was dammed and created a lake between the city walls and the outer wall that was built by Scipión’s army.  Seven towers were built interspersed to keep a watchful eye and prevent any escape from the desperate and starving people.  Sharp arrows were shot at anyone without mercy.

Omar Padilla & Sorany Gutiérrez in
The Siege of Numantia
Photo Leticia Alaniz © 2016

The gentle river Duero which surrounded the city was their only source of drinking water.  Greedily, Scipión captured it’s life giving flow and strung a large cable across with blades to prevent both boats and swimmers from leaving or entering the city.  The blockade of the river and the isolation caused death by starvation, but for the Numantinos it was preferable to starve rather than be captured by the Romans whom would brutally kill their men and enslave their women and children.

Teógenes, wishing for a peaceful outcome for his people, sent ambassadors to speak to Scipión and asked for their liberty and peace in return for a complete surrender.  But the bloodthirsty Scipión refused and offered Teógenes the flag of death.  Still, the city refused to surrender.  Starvation and dead bodies were the landscape, and cannibalism ensued.  The suicide of the remaining citizens in the fire was the dignified living death that never perished their memory.  Bravery was the face of the Numantinos and they overcame the ostentatious hand of the enemy.

Marbella Barreto as Mother Earth in
The Siege of Numantia
Photo Leticia Alaniz © 2016

The story of the Numantinos and the burning of their city was pinned by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1582 with his tragedy titled: El Cerco de Numancia/ The Siege of Numantia.  Cervantes enveloped the tragedy in descriptive dialogue and rhyme tercets, redondillas and octaves and it contains epic elements that describe allegorical figures and Spain as the Madre Tierra or Mother Earth.  Famine, domestic misery, rage, patriotism, love, and finally mass suicide play a key role in the tragic denouement.  

Leticia Alaniz, Carlos Ayala & Nichole Sánchez in
The Siege of Numantia Directed by Cora Cardona
Teatro Dallas

Artistic director Cora Cardona has brought to Teatro Dallas one of the best plays of the year by adapting a staging of the classical work that Cervantes gifted the world.  Cardona’s adaptation is an intricate weaving of an apocalyptic ambiance that reflects on past wars as well as current wars in which destruction, hunger, and sickness are the inevitable outcome.  Cardona’s vision shed light and political criticism on the condemnation of war by highlighting projections of the destruction of Syria, a current tragedy shaking the world that proves that the conquest of nations become the theater for tragedy and military, political and economic advancement.  It is the sacking of the weak in their bleak misery for the glory of the powerful.  

In some of the most horrific scenes of Cardona’s adaptation, the women bore arms with the men and cried for their slain.  Others slew their children with their own hands and threw them into the burning flames, considering death preferable to captivity.  Entire families set fire to their houses and cut their own throats.  They would not succumb to the Roman rule of making a desert of death and call it peace.  Immolation was the answer to combat slavery. 

Cardona mastered a visual staging of an allegorical Spain as a bleeding Mother Earth weeping for the pain and suffering caused upon her land and rivers and the death of her children in which blood played a central role. Celtiberian resistance to Rome was fierce, but Numancia had defied the Romans even if it was left to ashes.  

Cora Cardona is a master of the theater and she proved once again that her vision can be brought to life through the careful selection of an ensemble cast that can give voice to the tragedy of The Siege of Numancia.  It's a privilege to be a working actor and an honor to have had the opportunity to work once again on the stage of Teatro Dallas under the direction of Cora Cardona.  

The Siege Of Numantia Cast

Omar Padilla

Ignacio Lujan

Sixto Orellana

Sorany Gutiérrez

Marbella Barreto

Leticia Alaniz

Carlos Ayala

Enrique Arellano

Ninoshka Martínez

Martin Mejía

Nichole Sánchez

Fernando Lara

Omar Padilla in The Siege of Numantia
Directed by Cora Cardona
Photo Leticia Alaniz © 2016

Written by Leticia Alaniz © 2016

Chiles en Nogada - Mexico's Patriotic Dish

In late July and into September, markets in Mexico start having a peculiar resonating sound that resembles light wood or sticks being hit against each other.  Melodious calls and chatter invite passersby with, ¡Nueces, nueces de castilla!  In other words, There are walnuts, lots of walnuts everywhere!  Walnuts are picked from the trees that grow at the foot of the Popocateptl volcano in Atlautla, Estado de México and they’re brought down to the valley on large hand woven baskets. The cracking of the walnuts enlivens the markets in one of the most festive times of the year as the date of El Grito and the anniversary of the Mexican Independence approaches on the 16th of September.   The nueceras, or walnut vendors beat the nuts quickly and efficiently with only three or four knocks to crack them and reveal their sweet, tender fleshy inside that is used for the nogada sauce; a creamy, fragrant blanket that will be spread delicately over one of the most emblematic and historical dishes of Mexico: Chiles en Nogada.    

Along with the walnuts, your eyes will delight in the shimmering glitter of ruby-red pomegranate seeds neatly mounded in petite mountains that vendors proudly display.  The pomegranate seeds or granadas as they’re called in Mexico, are like glistening jewels that decorate and add crunch to the chiles en nogada.  Undoubtedly, its one of the most impressive and delicious manifestations of the Mexican culinary arts.

But those are only two of the star ingredients in the dish.  The creation was born out of the convents of Puebla in which the Augustine nuns took advantage of up to one hundred seasonal ingredients and utilized them in their ripest glory.  But Chiles en Nogada would not have existed without the indigenous women in the kitchen that lent their ancestral knowledge and tecniques to the dish.  It was a collaboration of cultures.

Grilled poblano chiles are stuffed with a spicy, fruity meat picadillo and sparkly pieces of acitrón, the dried candied flesh from the biznaga cactus that grows in the dessert; then they’re lightly dipped in an airy merengue batter called capeado and fried.  Finally, they’re cloaked in the most creamy, walnuty delectable nogada sauce finished with a touch of dry sherry and decorated with granada seeds and fresh coriander leaves.  

As with all things wonderful, industrial harvesting has had a negative effect on the cati.  The biznaga cactus grows very slow and over the years it has become a highly threatened species.  In recent years, in order to protect the species, harvest of the cactus has been made illegal, negatively affecting the indigenous populations that would harvest the cactus on a small scale as they have been doing for thousands of years for their sacred ceremonies, as well as for food and medicine.  In the caves of Tehuacan, Puebla, there is evidence of the use of biznagas dating back to 6,500 years.  

There are several versions on when exactly the Chiles en Nogada first made their appearance on Mexican tables.  But there’s no doubt that they made they’re historic debut around an important celebration which occurred in 1821, when the self-declared emperor, Don Agustin de Iturbide signed The Act of Independence and The Córdoba Treaty after The Mexican War of Independence in 1810.  

In the kitchens of the convents, the nuns were in a joyful patriotic frenzy and in the spirit of the celebration, they decided to honor the entrance of Agustin de Iturbide with a delectable dish which would also serve as a tribute to the Tri-Color army or Ejército Trigarante who fought for independence and donned the colors: green, white and red on their flag: Mexico’s National flag.  It coincided exactly in the month of September when the nueces de castilla or walnuts and pomegranates are harvested along with many of the other seasonal fruits. 

Chiles en Nogada are a great source of national pride and a tradition in Mexican kitchens; it's a Baroque dish clearly symbolic of the Mexican flag with its vibrant green, white and red; green for the chile and coriander leaves, white for the nogada sauce and red for the pomegranate.  It sets it apart as one of the most historical and unique in the world and it rightfully became Mexico’s most patriotic dish.       

Chiles en Nogada require many separate preparations, but don’t be intimidated.  All of them can be prepared well in advance and the capeado is the only last minute effort.  It's my favorite season and I just take it one step at a time.

Finally, when you serve the commemorative dish to your guests, it will surely impress- con gusto!  

 ¡Que chula es Puebla!  How beautiful is Puebla!

Cloris Leachman - Becoming Ruth Popper In The Last Picture Show (1971)

Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper in The Last Picture Show (1971)
Director Peter Bogdanovich

In the decade of the 1970’s, American cinema culture was experiencing a trend of films catering to the younger generation with films such as The Graduate and Saturday Night Fever.  Gritty crime films with elements of film noir such as The Godfather I and II, The French Connection and Serpico were enjoyed in theaters throughout the country.  Full splashy color became the norm and big-name studios demanded it.  Blockbuster had its beginning in 1975 and was another money-making distribution option.  

But there were still a few directors who set their talent on the traditional black and white celluloid for their storytelling efforts.  Such is the case of Peter Bogdanovich with his film The Last Picture Show, released in 1971.  At the time, his decision to film the script in black and white was considered a big commercial risk, but his artistic instinct stood ground and that was what gave the film its monochrome richness and a more compelling intention with the period.  It’s such a beautiful form and the cinematography by Robert L. Surtees gave the film the luminance of the classics that can only be captured in black and white.

Faces in the film are bright, beautiful and dewy just as they should be.  Nothing could take away from the actor-driven drama of the coming of age bittersweet picture.  There are so many strong characters, yet one of my favorites in which a female lead shines is that of Ruth Popper.    

In The Last Picture Show, Ruth Popper greets Sunny at the door, “Hello Sunny, what you want?”  The scene opened with the immediate introduction of the young high school student Sunny, and the wife of the high school coach Ruth Popper, played by Cloris Leachman and Timothy Bottoms, respectively.  The coach had asked Sunny to drive his wife to the doctor’s office, which she frequented often due to her “depression”.  The underlying yet unspoken background to the story of Ruth is that the coach was not affectionate with his wife and preferred the company of the star athletes of the football team.  Undoubtedly, the sad circumstance left Ruth in a loveless, dark and icy marriage.  

There’s an overwhelming power to the script and the deep-rooted story of The Last Picture Show.  There was an air of nostalgia and critical acclaim for the film that marked a brilliant portrayal of a small West Texas dusty town called Anarene.  The period is set in the 1950’s with original music playing in the background by country stars such as Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Phil Harris, Bob Williams And His Texas Playboys, and Lee Morris with his romantic song Blue Velvet, among others.  Hard gushes of wind blow thru the street into the pool hall and thus we’re transported to the stark, black and white scenes of the pain and boredom of the little town that is slowly dying economically and culturally.  

In a way, the blues ballad by Hank Williams, ‘Cold Cold Heart’ that carried scenes in the film mirrors the overall sentiment of Anarene society: A memory from your lonesome past keeps us so far apart, why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart? 

It’s close to Christmastime and the cold wind is only one of the intricately woven elements to the multi faceted-film.  When Sonny drives Mrs. Popper back home from the doctor’s office, he asks her if it’s anything serious, to which she drearily reveals a small sentiment to Sunny of her deep, unspoken depression.   She’s tormented in a sexually abandoned relationship with a man that does not care for her.  It’s at that moment that Ruth discovers she can find solace and comfort in the company of the sad-eyed, seventeen-year-old Sunny. 

Sunny presumably has a home to go to, although distant from his father but his life centers around his old pick-up truck.  After breaking up with his girlfriend, he finds comfort in the fond way Ruth treats him.  In return, Ruth desperately needed someone to talk to and appreciated Sunny’s friendship.  Anyone would have sufficed, even if that meant a dimwitted teenager. 

Ruth Popper is slow and shy and she suffers a long line of marital cruelties.  Before the morning is over, she unveils a tear-filled nervous breakdown in front of Sunny.  Sunny reacts emphatically and his tenderness is appreciated by the lonely and emotionally impoverished Ruth.  From then on, they begin a series of afternoon appointments that complicate Ruth’s sadness and hunger for attention.

In the circumstances of the story, Ruth wants the friendship with Sunny to be healthy, after all, she’s much older than him, but she gives in to his arresting charm while she’s searching for acceptance and understanding of her loneliness. 

Ruth showers Sunny with affection that’s both motherly and at the same time romantic and sexually charged.  Nothing this imbalanced can stand a chance, not in a small town like Anarene where they became the subject of daily gossip.  It was doomed right from the beginning.  

Cloris Leachman & Timothy Bottoms in
The Last Picture Show (1971)

Cloris Leachman’s vital portrayal of Ruth Popper in The Last Picture Show is delicately balanced and it opened individual intimate secrets of a small town that are often not talked about.  Everybody knows about them, they gossip about them behind closed doors, at the church suppers or tea gatherings, but no one takes out their dirty laundry to the rest of the world.  Small towns are like that. 

Most of Ruth’s life is lived in her bleak home but things change when Sunny is invited into the bedroom where she transforms into a lovely, elegant woman that can smile for fleeting moments.  At least during Sunny’s visits, she forgets her loneliness and her beauty is full of sunshine.  

Inevitably, what’s doomed is doomed and when Sunny does finally abandon Ruth, she returns to her dark depression dressing in clothes that could be described as mourning dresses.  Sunny leaves Ruth for Jayce, a girl his age played by Cybill Shepherd.  Sunny is just a kid, and when Jayce came along, he behaved as he should.  

Sunny was conned by Jayce into marrying him.  They eloped after she convinced him, but he didn’t understand that Jayce only wanted to be in center stage and to be the subject of the talk of the town.  While driving to Oklahoma, they were stopped by a trooper and returned to Texas.  Thus his marriage to Jayce ended.  A few days later, his friend Billy, the simple-minded boy Sunny took care of was run over by a truck and died.  

Hurt, shocked and nowhere else to turn to, he drives for a visit to the long-suffering Ruth.  It’s been three months since they’ve seen each other.  Ruth is in her bathrobe and is not prepared to see him.  She’s angry, yet starts preparing a cup of coffee for Sunny.       

Cloris Leachman pulled all the right stops in her role as Ruth Popper in one of the most memorable scenes in the film.  The most pivotal scene takes place in the kitchen and it starts with Ruth’s hand trembling.  You can feel something terrible will happen.  She throws the cup of coffee against the wall, shattering it to pieces followed by the pot that drips dark coffee grounds on the refrigerator resembling thick black tears of disappointment. In her defense, she has a right to turn against him for rejecting and discarding her.  She lashes out at him in a strong, explosive voice:

"What am I doing apologizin' to you? Why am I always apologizin' to you, ya little bastard? Three months I be apologizing to you, without you even bein' here. I haven't done anything wrong - why can't I quit apologizin'? You're the one oughta be sorry. I wouldn't still be in my bathrobe if it hadn't been for you. I'da had my clothes on hours ago. You're the one made me quit carin' if I got dressed or not. I guess just because your friend got killed you want me to forget what you did and make it all right. I'm not sorry for you. Youd've left Billy, too, just like you left me. I bet you left him plenty  nights, whenever Jacy whistled. I wouldn't treat a dog that way. I guess you thought I was so old and ugly you didn't owe me any explanation. You didn't need to be careful of me. There wasn't anythin' I could do about you and her - why should you be careful of me? You didn't love me. Look at me. Can't you even look at me? (Sonny slowly turns and glances at her) Y'see? You shouldn't have come here. I'm around that corner now. You've ruined it and it's lost completely. Just your needing me won't make it come back"

With Sunny’s genuine capacity for love, he’s much more sympathetic to Ruth’s fragile loneliness and in a final friendly reconciliation, he reaches to touch Ruth’s hand that’s resting on the table.  No words are spoken, yet deep pain is suffered by both.  Sunny is grieving his friend Billy and Ruth her loneliness.  Each one needing the human touch.  

Even though Sunny touches Ruth’s hand, it’s a moment that eerily marks the end of their ill-fated friendship setting a distancing effect for the inevitable finish.     

Ruth Popper ends it all while taking Sunny’s hand to her face and saying, “Never you mind, honey, never you mind”.

For director Peter Bogdonavich, this was an extraordinary cinematic achievement.  The film is based on the novel written by Larry McMurtry and each scene was treated carefully so that it captured the alienation, the sense of revolt and the atmosphere of the period.  Long takes with a tracking camera encompass the slowness and emptiness of the town and the characters themselves.    

Cloris Leachman Academy Award (1972)
Best Supporting Actress - The Last Picture Show

“Doesn’t that tell you who you are immediately?  Ruth Popper…  You have to overcome a name like that, or live with it or suffer it if you think about what the kids must have done to her in school… With nicknames, I know what they did with my name in real life.”   “It really is amazing how you become your character, it was hard.”  - Cloris Leachman

The Last Picture Show remains Peter Bogdanovich’s most accessible and most popular film.  Cloris Leachman’s Ruth Popper showed her capacity to carry a scene with strength, naturalness, and bitter beauty.  The Academy of Motion Pictures awarded her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress of 1972.  This April 30th marks Mrs. Leachman’s ninetieth birthday.  Here’s to Mrs. Leachman and a celebration of her ninety golden years!  

Written By Leticia Alaniz © 2016