La Guerra De Palabras: Calaca Press Breaks The Code Of Revolution

La Guerra De Palabras
Calaca Press Breaks The Code Of Revolution

by Jamey Bainer
From Fahrenheit Magazine - Dec 3, 2003

CALIFORNIA IS GOING AWAY. This hotly contested hunk of continental crust will eventually snap under the pressure of geological mandates set in motion at the dawn of the earth's formation. As we go sliding into the oblivion of the vast Pacific Ocean, long-suffering Arizona residents will finally obtain the beachfront property they always longed for.

But until that cataclysm occurs, this doomed state will continue to be ground zero for a cultural conflict that spans back hundreds of years. Stand at the border crossing between the cities of San Diego and Tijuana, and the reality of this unresolved conflict becomes inescapable. At the divide between gluttonous sprawl and frantic squalor, where men with guns guard against the subversive insurgency of hopes and dreams, a melting pot of languages, voices, and ideas stands ready to boil over into an inferno of human expression. In the midst of it all, patiently stirring the embers, is Calaca Press.

Calaca is an independent, family-owned Chicano publishing company that specializes in seeking out unique and iconoclastic bilingual writers. The company is as DIY as they come. Calaca was founded in 1997 by activists Brent Beltrán and Consuela Manríquez de Beltrán, and initially consisted of just the two activists and their Macintosh Performa computer. Brent Beltrán drew on his experiences from working with groups like MEChA, Union del Barrio; the newspapers Voz Fronteriza and La Verdad , as well as his stint as a co-editor at La Verdad publications, and soon enough Calaca published its first title, Bus Stops and Other Poems a collection of work by Manuel J. Vélez.

Since then Calaca has put out 15 titles in six years, and expanded its operations to include spoken word CDs. The newest release, La Calaca Review , was edited by Vélez, and features poetry and prose by several prominent Chicano writers, including American book Award recipient Francisco Alarcón, Abelardo Delgado, alurista, raúlrsalinas, as well as emerging writers Marc Pinate, Olga Angelina García Echeverría, and Rich Yañez, among others.

In preparation for the release of the Review , Calaca co-founder Brent Beltrán talked with Fahrenheit about the publishing business, his community, and the future of the culture clash.

Fahrenheit San Diego : Chicano/a literature has been making increasing inroads in the circles of critics and academia, yet there are dozens of bilingual writers still struggling for recognition and a chance at publication. How do you see this situation developing in the near future, and what kind of role will Calaca play in it?

Brent Beltrán: A lot depends on the type of writing and subject matter. If you are a Latino/a writer who writes for the mainstream there is a great chance for your work to be picked up by the major presses (as a matter of fact the big presses are actively searching out Latino writers to publish). If your work is designed specifically for the Latino/a community your chances of being published are less. Especially if your work uses code switching (better known as Spanglish, caló or pocho).

The majority of writers that we publish use code-switching and in most cases the big publishers won't touch them. I think there is a fear of language mixing. It is not "pure" and therefore it is not as attractive as if you write solely in English or Spanish. English speakers (and in a lot of cases Spanish speakers) are very puritanical when it comes to language. We're supposed to use one or the other, not both. Well ... in the case of the border region the languages are mixed in everyday life, in everyday conversations. And this is reflected in the work of many Chicano writers.

From the get go, due to the lack of publishing opportunities for code-switching writers, Calaca has taken upon itself to publish these types of writers. This is what we relate to. This is our community.

FSD: In that respect Calaca has an advantage some other DIY operations don't: The support of an entire community, the Raza culture. But it seems that real reform can only come if you reach those outside your community, the people who may disagree with you or who have otherwise ignored the issues your authors deal with. Do you think you will reach anyone outside your community and if so, how?

BB: We don't plan on pushing our work beyond our own community. If it happens it happens. If it doesn't then that's okay since we want our work to be accepted by our community.

Our main priority (other than helping publish Raza writers) is to raise the social and political consciousness of the Chicano Latino community. If we can do this then it won't matter if non-Latinos accept the type of work that Calaca does.

We have been very fortunate to be embraced by academia (specifically professors that teach Chicano Literature courses). To date at least 10 of our titles have been taught at the university level.

FSD: Geopolitically speaking, San Diego/Tijuana finds itself at the heart of a culture clash: a physical border born from an abstract (and from some perspectives, illegitimate) political declaration, an explosive mix of cultural identities, histories and personas, extreme wealth and extreme poverty, haunting images of Aztlan next to horrifying specters of shopping malls and baseball stadiums. How do you see this situation resolving itself? Do you see a future where borders are broken down, or strictly enforced? Will we always see it as a culture "clash," or can we find a more positive way to interact with one another?

BB: We would like to see no borders. We live in a time where people, thoughts, commerce, economies, etc. transcend a line drawn on a map. Especially the line drawn between Mexico and the US.

Spanish has been spoken on this continent before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock (as well as hundreds of indigenous dialects). Understanding this, it is insulting to see politicians and the various right wing demagogues demand that we speak English. We live in one of the few nations on Earth that is language-phobic. Most citizens of other countries are multi-lingual. Yet here that is considered a detriment.

We can only hope that this will change in the future. If it doesn't then there may be much conflict in the future between those that are English only and those that speak Spanish. As the demographic shift continues Latinos will become the majority in the Southwest and eventually throughout the entire US (virtually every state in the union has Mexicans working the jobs that no one else wants). As the demographics change the dominant culture will become less dominant and this may increase the chance of white Amerika lashing out against us.

Another point that must be clearly understood is that Mexico is an indigenous nation. We are Indians. The government tends to not emphasize this because as an indigenous people we have a right to the land. Though we may be called mestizos, the majority of Mexicans (on both sides of the militarily imposed border) have more Indian blood flowing through our veins than European blood.

While the future is always uncertain, Beltran is definitely right about one thing: The imaginary line separating Mexico and the United States may look unbreakable on a map, but the physical divide between the two border cultures is weak at best, and growing less substantial all the time. Our economies, our languages, and our ways of living have become inextricably linked. Between two nations lies one swirling mass of humanity, and whether it be through English, Spanglish, or hidden codes, those people will be heard.

For more information on Calaca Press and La Calaca Press Review, go to CalacaPress.com.