Paz Para Vieques: Civic Action Comics

Greetings from Puerto Rico!

For the past week, I've been here in Vieques doing some house-sitting (thanks again for the hookup, Heather!), beach-bumming, hammock-laying, and mofongo-eating.  The natural beauty here is incredible, and I've fallen in love with the flamboyán trees, semi-wild horses, and chirping frogs at night.

Also, this baby iguana says "hey."

However, Vieques is a complicated place with a rocky past and a problematic present.  (Don't get me wrong -- it's a beautiful island full of wonderful people, but its particular struggles are worth noting.)  Basically, back in the 1940s, the US government decided it would be a great idea to use Vieques for target practice.  The Navy, or la Marina in Spanish, purchased a large amount of land on the island and used this space to test bombs and various other weapons, resulting in the contamination of the environment and loss of livelihood for many of the local residents.

Por ejemplo...

In 1999 a Naval employee, David Sanes, was killed when a bomb missed its target during a military exercise, and the world became very aware of Vieques' situation.  Protesters in Puerto Rico, the US, and Latin America demanded that the military withdraw from the island, and by 2003 the Navy was gone.

"Get the Navy out of Vieques"

Protesters in front of the White House

When I first got here, I began to feel down and guilty about the US government's imperialist belief that they can barge into people's homes and make a mess of things.  (To be fair, the US isn't alone in this behavior -- many big, powerful governments do the same.)  But as I've learned more and more about the way that the people of Vieques stood up for themselves, I'm filled with hope.

Then the other day when I visited the old fort, I found another sign of hope and strength in the form of (surprise!) children's literature.  In the museum gift shop, I found three comic books about Vieques and immediately snatched them up.  

When I got home and read through them, I discovered that they were published by el Grupo de Apoyo Técnico y Profesional para el Desarrollo Sustenable de Vieques (GATP, or the Group for Technical and Professional Support for the Sustainable Development of Vieques), an organization of professionals and university professors dedicated to progress and positive development on the island.

Created in 2002, during the height of the protests on Vieques, these books were written by local students and deal with subjects like:

• The military's presence on the island
• Urban planning
• Ecological conservation
• Local social issues (poverty, unemployment, alcoholism, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy)
• Health
• Democratic citizenship and leadership

If you'd like to take a look at all of the books (five total), they're available online here.

How cool is that?!  These books can serve as an excellent model for students who might want to use literature as a strategy to take action against inequity.  Teachers, take note -- writing, illustrating, and disseminating civic action comics is a great way for young people to address problems at school and in the wider world, like bullying, racism, or any other type of injustice.

When I came to Vieques, I never expected to find any products of critical literacy, and encountering these comics made my day and my entire vacation.  They're symbols of resilience that I'll cherish forever.

Next up: El Yunque National Forest and then San Juan.  I'll keep you posted on what I find there!

Take Action: Book Drive for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about the crisis with the unaccompanied migrant children whom US immigration officials have detained after they crossed the border.  When I first heard about it, I felt stunned and paralyzed – it’s such a painful situation, and there doesn’t seem to be much that we regular citizens can do.

To make matters worse, politicians (on both sides) are trying to turn this humanitarian crisis into a political situation, and a lot of people seem to be forgetting the real heart of the issue – these children and the violence and poverty that they have fled in Central America.  I understand that we in the US don’t have the facilities to adequately cope with this problem, but surely there’s something we can do.  They are children.

Fortunately, the folks at La Casa Azul Bookstore in East Harlem have joined forces with the Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project at John Jay College and Safe Passage Project to host a book drive for the young people who have been apprehended by immigration and then transferred to NYC, where they await deportation proceedings.

Although collecting books isn’t going to solve the larger problems of crime and poverty in Central America and immigration reform in the US, this action can help comfort the children and provide them with something to do at the detention center.  They face an uncertain future, and, as many of us know, books can generate hope and solace.

Therefore, please consider donating.  You can find more detailed information here at La Casa Azul’s book drive website and in these articles from the LA Times and NBC News.

If you’d like to donate some books, please also remember that the organizers are asking for books that are in Spanish and also culturally relevant.  In other words, stories should be pertinent to young Central American and Mexican children’s experiences – stories to which they can potentially relate.  Additionally, books should be new or gently used, appropriate for children between the ages of 4 and 13, and high quality literature.

The book drive starts TODAY (July 10^th) and runs through August 10^th, so let’s get busy!

UPDATE:

For another way to help, check out the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Program.

Little Free Libraries & Diverse KidLit

While leaving Avid Bookshop here in Athens a few days ago, I noticed what looked like a large birdhouse covered in bottle caps sitting on a post behind the store.  When I looked at it more closely, I saw that it was filled with books and bore a sign that read "Little Free Library."

This little box made me smile -- anyone can take or leave a book and share their favorite stories with the community.  I assumed it was just one of Avid's special projects until I saw another one in front of a bank a couple of days later.

My curiosity now piqued, I went online and looked up Little Free Library, and it turns out that these sweet little boxes are all over the world!  In fact, there are 17 in Athens alone, several of which are sponsored by READ Athens.  I had no clue these things existed, so I thought I'd share this information in case y'all didn't know about them either.

You can use the website's interactive map to find boxes in your area, and you can even build or order your own, register it, and start sharing books in your community.

The best part is that these libraries are a great opportunity to share your favorite multicultural books and introduce great authors and illustrators to your friends and neighbors.  Sharing more wonderful books means more fans of diverse kidlit.  So go for it!

On an even nerdier note, I decided to celebrate the end of the semester (YAY SUMMER) by combining my love of books and Instagram, and I went and took pictures of every Little Free Library in Athens.  I hope you appreciate my skilled use of filters (ha).  Enjoy!

Little Free Libraries: A Highfalutin Photoessay

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#17 (artwork by local painter Jamie Calkin!)