Tag border

news + new Debate erasures

José Angel Araguz 1 Comment

I wrote in my journal last night: Made it to August, no thanks to July. It’s been tough. If this is you and your situation as well, please know you’re not alone.

This week, I’m sharing some quick news as well as two new additions and an update to the Debate series of erasures I’ve been doing. Enjoy!

First up, I’m excited to share a review of my lyric memoir, Ruin & Want (Sundress Publications). Poet and translator Dana Delibovi was kind enough to spend time with the book and share some insights through her review “Exposing the Wounds” published by Cable Street.

One moment that stood out to me from the review:

An intriguing aspect of Araguz’s memoir is the set of connections forged between youthful and adult experience. Much of the book’s lyricism—its truly poetic quality—comes from the way it braids these phases of life. The adolescent’s high school affair sours or frustrates the adult’s search for love and identity. The adult hates looking back “because I cannot make it all cohere…cannot reconcile anyone’s intentions…cannot move forward without acknowledging the shame…” Growing up, moving away, getting an education all occur in the presence of pain that seems even more intense in the light of new experiences. As Araguz climbs upward toward noble things, the weight of what he carries is even harder to bear.

This passage stood out to me as the dynamic pointed out here–that of braiding different phases of life and sitting with what comes from the juxtaposition–feels like a key into the project. This idea also stands as a metaphor for life right now. Figuring things out. Making do with what you have.

Thank you to Delibovi for this review! Check out the review here and check out Dana Delibovi’s site for more info on their work.

I’m also excited to share about a local event next week featuring friend and poet Amelia Díaz Ettinger. She’ll be the featured reader at the Boston Poetry Slam @ The Cantab Lounge. Here are the deets:

WHAT: Boston Poetry Slam @ The Cantab Lounge hosts Amelia Díaz Ettinger
WHEN: Wednesday, August 7th: workshop at 6:30PM; open mic at 8PM; feature at 10PM (all times EST)
WHO: Amelia Díaz Ettinger
WHERE: 738 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square, Cambridge [directions]

I wrote about Amelia Díaz Ettinger and her work previously here on the Influence.

Finally, here are the latest additions in the Debate series (for more info on the series, check out the original post). A few updates to the project:

  • First, I’d like to recognize that the presidential election (and the whole world it feels like) has changed since the first debate.
  • That said, both sides continue to place emphasis on the border in their campaign speeches and talk.
  • For that reason, I plan on continuing with the project and eventually have a series that includes the 38 times the word “border” was said during the debate.
  • Essentially: despite the change in circumstances, the theme of the project holds.
  • Also: I have decided to do only one erasure per screenshot where formerly I was hoping to do two from each. This change is mainly practical, but also feels right due to the changes mentioned above.

All that said: Please enjoy the latest additions to the Debate series below!

Debate Series: parts 4 & 5

An erasure that reads: we hang in a situation across the border that’s going to continue with more border.
An erasure that reads: Trump? what he knows Look, border border border.
An erasure that reads: Trump? what he knows Look, border border border.

Abrazos,

= José =

Thoughts on the 2024 Presidential debate + new project

José Angel Araguz 2 Comments

I looked it up—which is to say I found the transcript and hit CTRL+F—and can verify that the word “border” was used a total of 38 times during the first 2024 Presidential debate.

Trump said it the most, of course.

Mind, I didn’t go in expecting to have a good time. What surprised me, though, was how I felt every time Trump brought it back to the border: badgered, bullied, berated. All the B words.

I also thought of my students and what they must be feeling. That this is the world we must contend with together.

Because as much as Trump kept on about the border, there was more violence in what wasn’t spoken about by either candidate.

And when the two candidates went off about their golf game, I felt like so much of the world was erased.  

What often gets lost in discussions about “borders” is the reality and history of U.S. involvement in Latin America as well as in other parts of the world. More and more, people are compelled to cross borders because they are fleeing violence, persecution, extreme poverty, or environmental disasters.

Behind every number cited in a statistic, there are individuals, human faces and needs. Every time Trump said the word “border,” those human faces were reduced to rhetoric.

It’s like he is building a wall, only its made of words, and the more he foments hate against marginalized communities, the more words are weaponized against us, and the more obfuscated I feel from the world.

And I know I’m not the only one.

Human beings are not problems to be managed. The scapegoating of migrants has broad implications. It perpetuates stereotypes, fuels division, and distracts from addressing the systemic issues that contribute to migration flows. It risks normalizing discriminatory attitudes and policies that can have far-reaching consequences for our communities and abroad.

This presidential debate serves as a stark reminder of the power of language and discourse in shaping public opinion and policy. I mean, the word “border” was used a total of 38 times—which is to say that 38 times I felt the world get smaller—and here I am trying to show how presence is political.

My act of presence this time around includes this post but also a series of erasures based on the aforementioned transcript. I’ll be sharing the Debate Series here and on my Instagram account, @poetryamano, over the next few weeks. See the first set below. I ended up doing two takes on each quote to represent the “two sides” of the debate.

More than my communities are hurt by this mix of violence, neglect, and erasure by those in power.

For now, I can only speak about my corner of it and let it be known that at least here, in these words, is the debate continuing—not the slapped-together debate we saw last week, but the debate of how we will survive despite it.

Debate Series: takes 1.1 & 1.2

  • An erasure poem that reads: here the border a border most dangerous most dangerous it’s a terrible thing.
  • An erasure poem that reads: here many people border a border where in anger opened a terrible thing.

Debate Series: takes 2.1 & 2.2

  • An erasure poem that reads: borders illegally cross border on border states and cities and in some cases trust.
  • An erasure poem that reads: border resident rants border on overwhelm border and burden using us to crisis.

Abrazos,

= José =