Embedded Files
This toolbox was created by Tamitha Curiel, Lyrique Jaye, and Priscilla Rice with community members of Pleasant Grove. The more we worked on the toolbox, the more we understood that we are the toolbox. Many times we are focused on action items-"what do you need, how can I help, Let me connect you"-this process of curating the "what" we were going to put in our toolbox caused us to slow down, listen to each other's frustrations and dreams, and imagine a community more connected by our passions for each other and dreams for the future. This toolbox is a living living work to be updated as more connections are made and community visions are refined. Please connect with us and share your ideas.
Contributors: Edith Rodriguez, Lorena Tule-Romain, Alicia Ramirez-Serrato, Prisma Garcia, Amy Zapian, Tonie Ward and Chloe Curiel. Featured community members are El Palote, Chris Curiel, Molly Martinez, Antoine, Ofelia Faz-Garza, Khadafy Hart, Drew Looner, Leo Diaz, Lucina Montañez, and Iam450.
Prisma Garcia discusses Pleasant Grove.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Plantita Knowledge
Plantita Knowledge
Plant life for beauty, healing and sabor.
Plant life for beauty, healing and sabor.
Surviving is killing us and we die to survive.
Homemade Teas for combatting Covid symptoms
Homemade Teas for combatting Covid symptoms
Receta 1
Receta 1
1 hoja de eucalipto
1 diente de ajo grande
Raíz de jengibre (3 dedos de ancho)
1 litro de agua
Se pone a hervir por unos 10 minutos
Lo cuelas a la mitad le exprimes el jugo de un limón y se toma con miel , una taza de mañana y una de noche
Receta 2
Receta 2
Diente de león
Lo hierves por 10 minutos en un litro de agua, al tomarlo le pones una bolsa de té verde y una de manzanilla y miel
Pleasant Grove Business Inspiration
Pleasant Grove Business Inspiration
Betabel Poem
Betabel Poem
by Priscilla Rice
by Priscilla Rice
Betabel Poem by Priscilla Rice
Este poema es un homenaje para mis abuelos Petra y Luis y todos los trabadores del campo,
que nos alimentan día a día
This poem is a tribute to my grandparents Petra and Luis and all of the farmworkers, who feed
us day to day.
1960s. Carrizo Springs, Texas
Last day of School
Ese mismo día que se acababa la escuela
On the very last day of school, mi abuelo le decia a sus hijos:
“arreglan sus cosas porque vamos pa’ Minnesota”
Y mi abuela y sus hijas spent the evening packing
Packing clothes, packing shoes, packing sartenes, etc etc
Preparing for the next few months spent away from home
So the very next day Ramos family of 6 left in la madrugada to Minnesota y North Dakota
Para trabajar en el betabel
Grandpa compro a trailer o como dice grandma “un trailito”
Y ponían todas las cosas para hacer la comida, clothes, y todo
El viaje a Minnesota y North Dakota
Horas y horas en el carro
My mom, tías y tio cansados
Entreteniéndose en el viaje
Inventing games along the way
Despues del viaje
La pizca de Sugar beets, betabel
From sun up to late afternoon
6am on the road to the field/
pa’l campo porque estaba retirado de donde se estaban quedando
Era puro trabajar, mija
It was nothing but work
Tractors on site
A Cortar yerba del betabel
Limpiarlo, clean it
Hasta la tarde
Trabajo de 6am hasta 6pm
Trabajando para alimentarnos
A pesar del trabajo duro, fue bonito dice mi abuela
“ porque Conocimos North Dakota y Minnesota”
The only other places she had traveled to outside of Carrizo Springs and
Her hometown of Cienega de Flores, Nuevo Leon Mexico
Y el fin de semana cuando ya tenia unas 3 semanas de trabajar
Grandpa would talk to the dueno y les daba dinero por el trabajo que hiciencon
Iban al pueblo a comprar
They’d drive to town to buy clothes
Las tiendas ponian todo bien barato - -zapatos, blue jeans,
And grandpa would tell his daughters “Logralo, vayan.”
And my mom y sus hermanas y su hermano would buy clothes
We’ll se cuanto alcanzamos para comprarle ropa a los muchachos, decía mi abuelo
When it was time to go back home to Carrizo,
Allá venían muy contenos mis hijos, grandma said
Con sus tennis shoes
Iban bien vestiditos, well dressed with new shoes and blue jeans
Bien contentas mis tias y mi mama
Grandpa Petra and Grandpa Luis would say to their children
“Necesitan seguir con sus estudios para que tengan educación, para que no trabajen así”
You need to continue your studies so you can have an education, so you don’t have to work like this
Grandpa shared those same words with me, his granddaughter, muchos años después
Estudia mija, me decía
Grandma (my only living grandparent) says that grandpa was very poor growing up
Eran tan pobres
Losing his mother at an early age
Being the oldest son,
And having to leave school at 6th grade
To work to support his siblings
Pero si tenia talento tu abuelito, dijo grandma
Era buen trabajador y buen hombre
Thank you grandpa for passing on your wisdom
Thank you for feeding my soul
For sharing your plantita knowledge
Nourishing me and helping me grow
Than you for working and honoring the land
To everyone like my grandparents,
Who gave their life and continues to give their lives to feed us
Who nurtureus with food, stories, and consejos
Who have worked the land
And continue to work the land
Un trabajo digno
Que merece mucho repeto
I see you, I hear you
This is part of my family’s story
Trabajando en el betabel
But there are many stories
right now
Families working in the fields to feed our nation
Familias trabajando para alimentar nuestra nación
From sun up to sun down
You honor and respect the land
And we must do the same
By honoring and respecting you
Art is life
Art is life
Opportunities to inhabit joy through creativity and connection.
Opportunities to inhabit joy through creativity and connection.
I just have one question for you. Are you a revolutionary? YHIKM (p.76)
Amy Zapien
Artist and filmmaker Amy Zapien's recording of her poem, "Pobrecita". Click the image to hear Amy reading her poem.
Chloe Curiel
"Pieta" is a visual prayer and embodiment of loss. Chloe Curiel is primarily a video and installation artist. In her practice, she makes personal altars that help her process her life and identity. Listen to her artist talk on this piece here.
Tamitha Curiel
The film, written and shot by Tamitha Curiel , edited by Chloe and Tamitha Curiel, explores the aftermath of destruction in a post-apocalyptic world and the possibility that love is still possible in the middle of chaos. A poem written in the middle of marital crisis, reimagines what it means to be a dreamgirl.
Iam450
IAM450 Artist Talk.movIam450, a Pleasant Grove visual artist discusses a series he created for his mother.
Virtual Zine Making Workshop by Ofelia Faz Garza.
https://exhibits.lib.utexas.edu/spotlight/zines-at-utl/catalog/31-239/manifest
Khadafy Hart
Khadafy.mp4
High School to Freedom Pipeline
High School to Freedom Pipeline
Reimagining success and envisioning radical futures.
Prisons both physical and metaphorical, the boxes people try to put us in, and state violence are tropes that recur in my writing. Writing, in part, is my attempt to liberate myself from confinement, conventional rules, norms and structures, an attempt to imagine freedom. YHIKM (p. 77)
Here’s why I think the non-profit, Los Primos Dallas is an important and necessary organization:
Listen, I went to Arts Magnet in the 80’s and most everything about visual and performing arts that I love today, I can trace back to an experience I had there.
However, when it came time to go to college, I was lost. I got into my dream schools and had no idea how to get there. And for the record, my counselor cared for me. I’m not sure I would have made it through 10th grade without him, but counselors are asked to do way too many things, and I fell through the cracks.
I ended up going to UNT because a friend sat me down towards the end of the summer and made me fill out the application. (It’s a great school, just wasn’t in my plan, but it was in Chris' plan, because you know, JAZZ.
Chris and I both came back from UNT after our first year fairly disillusioned. We lost my young cousin that summer, I felt unmoored, we got married a bit too young, had kids and I, eventually, graduated college-seven LONG years later.
It. Was. Hard. All of it. Every year.
Every visit to the financial aid office that ended in tears WAS A BEAT DOWN.
This organization provides mentors that help students graduate high school, transition from high school to college and other training programs, and they stay with the students through the process! -Tamitha
Chris Curiel
Chris Curiel discusses how his great-uncle gave him his first gigs in a mariachi band in high school and how he acknowledged him as an artist.
Molly Martinez
Molly Interview.MP4
Language of Your Heart
Language of Your Heart
It is a human right to engage in the language that you are most comfortable in, the language of your heart-- the language or languages that you dream in.
Language matters. YHIKM (p.59)
Click the song title to hear Snow tha Product's song "Bilingue" that pays homage to all who navigate two worlds-- who code switch linguistically and culturally. Straddling two worlds and being treated that you're not from "here' nor 'there" is a struggle, but in the song, Snow proudly states "I'm from here, and from there."
Priscilla Rice discusses her translation work with a cooperative HERE.
Language Justice Statement for zoom calls.
Hi, my name is Priscilla. I’m here with the Community Language Cooperative and we’re here to help to create a space for Language Justice. What that means is that we want to create a space where everyone can participate and engage in the language of their heart or the language that they feel most comfortable in. We will use simultaneous interpretation to create this space. When I finish saying this in Spanish, we will turn on interpretation and you will see a globe icon that says interpretation. If you are not fully bilingual - we ask that you select your preferred language. If you are bilingual, feel free to listen to everyone in their language. When you select your language, you can check - mute original audio so you don’t hear both languages at the same time.
Declaración de justicia lingüística para llamadas de zoom.
Hola, mi nombre es Priscilla y estoy aqui con la Community Language Cooperative y estamos aquí para ayudar a crear un espacio donde practicamos un compromiso a la justicia del lenguaje. Lo que eso significa es que queremos crear un espacio donde todos puedan participar e involucrarse en el idioma de su corazón o en el idioma en el que se sientan más cómodos. Usaremos la interpretación simultánea para crear este espacio. Cuando termine de decir esto, activaremos la interpretación y verá un icono de globo que dice interpretación. Si no es completamente bilingüe, le pedimos que seleccione su idioma preferido. Si es bilingüe, puede escuchar a todos en su idioma. Cuando seleccione su idioma, puede hacer click en: silenciar el audio original para que no escuches ambos idiomas al mismo tiempo.
Please select your language and I will check to make sure you can hear me - give me a thumbs up - Selecciones su idioma y voy a ver si me pueden escuchar - denme una señal que si me escuchan.
Gracias
We can turn on interpretation.
Podemos prender la interpretación
Priscilla Rice-Poet
Click on the image to hear Priscilla Rice speak about being inspired by Selena to reclaim her language in her teenage years.
Heal Thy Self, Healthy Self
Heal Thy Self, Healthy Self
Food, Movement and Meditation
We can begin to acknowledge both the context and conditions in our communities that are causing us to suffer from mental and physical distress. YHIKM (p.64)
Going Vegan
Going Vegan
The Family Owners of El Palote, explain why they went Vegan and talk about the delicious food they serve at their restaurant.
The Family Owners of El Palote, explain why they went Vegan and talk about the delicious food they serve at their restaurant.
He said make America great again
Code phrase for make America hate again
Rewind America’s clock
Where the big hand is always pointing to white supremacy
And the little hand gives minimum privilege to minorities
And every day at noon... Jim Crows
Sets the alarm to stand down and stand by
For the protection of the white race
To wipe out any other race
For fear of the eradication of white control
They call it protecting their heritage
We call it domestic terrorism
Your healing...
Is the scab full of our blood and tears
It is the white skin growing over your fears
Protecting your false pride
Your healing...
Is racial pay disparity- giving others what they don't deserve
refusing to give me what I do
Your healing...
Is stimulating racial bias
Inequitable treatments for medical care
Systemic racism, Economic disparity, Underfunding schools
Leaving our children strolling streets to survive
While your children strolling streets driving Audi A5’s
Your healing...
Is not marrying with other races
To keep your blood line pure
Says it’s in the bible
But scripture didn’t stop centuries of white slave masters from raping black women
I guess he kept the bible in the big house and his fetish in the lil’ house
Called it slave quarters... Not worth a quarter
Full of copper skin
Not worth a penny
Your healing...
Sends dope to poor communities
Hoping this will increase crime rate
Dope starts looking like boot straps
To kids who've never had anything to pull themselves up by
Your healing...
Doesn’t want us to become productive members of society
Building prisons and receiving funding based on the number of inmates and time they serve... so you start racial profiling
Then make a killing off families disadvantaged by mass incarceration
Your healing...
Makes profit!
Makes a killing in neighborhoods too poor to afford living, eating healthy and having adequate medical care is not a care of this world
Sometimes we can't even afford to die... so we collect money for funerals, to bury our relatives
Your healing...
Calls us immigrants, illegal aliens, bad people
Calling us undocumented gives us a pass as long as we work hard for you
Use our muscle to make your houses
Then tells us to go back home
Tells us not to speak unless its English
Carved our African tongues into Ebonics
Treated Spanish like a forbidden language
Washing native tongues with borax
Whipping African tongues into submission
Your healing...
Moves you out of neighborhoods we move into
Draw red lines around our communities
Deny our loans Make sure the only thing we ever own is the ghetto
Your healing...
Is killing my heritage
It’s killing our chance at healthy lifestyles
It’s killing the dreams of children
The hope of parents
It’s killing my right to be human
To be equal
To be free
Your healing is killing... ME!
NURSESARE HEROES
Lyrique Jaye Honors her Aunt and all the caretakers in the field of nursing with a visual poem.
Lyrique Jaye Honors her Aunt and all the caretakers in the field of nursing with a visual poem.
RECOVERY
RECOVERY
Click HERE to hear Lyrique Jaye's interview with Tonie Ward about her 30 Year Sobriety Journey.
Tamitha's Uncle Ricky has struggled with addiction his whole life. He is currently sober because the last time he was in jail, he thought his mom was going to die. So he's managed to stay sober for quite a while.
Mental health
Listen HERE to Tamitha Curiel's poem about using her imagination and mundane every day tasks to silence suicidal ideations during post-partum depression.
I wanted to share this free resource for therapy, it’s in Plano but it’s really a great non-profit, they are lgbtq friendly and work free of cost for survivors of sexual abuse or domestic violence, including people who have supported others experiencing these traumas. - Amy Zapien
Stories as Medicine
Stories as Medicine
Sra Petrita
by Priscilla Rice
Priscilla Rice presenting Sra Petrita poem in honor of her grandmother at Pleasant Groove open mic, in front of El Palote Restaurant in Pleasant Grove:
Brown Boys
by Tamitha Curiel
Brown Boys.MOVTamitha Curiel turns her gaze o the Brown Boys she has known and the ones she has yet to meet who do not see themselves represented in the stories told in main stream media.
Tejana Cosmica Poetry Performance Reel
Pleasant GRoove Open-Mic
OFELIA FAZ-Garza features at Pleasant Groove Open MIc-Tacubaya Restaurant
Economic Development
Economic Development
Like the young Puerto Rican student, I felt like I was going crazy trying to navigate a system without any tools for self-defense because I was trying so hard to live in gratitude, for this work that I do like, for this life. YHIKM (p.75)
Lucina Montanez Mota
Brand Introduction
Hello, my name is Lucina Montañez Mota, originally from Aguascalientes Mexico, I am a full-time mother and wife turned business owner. In 2005 I arrived in Texas looking for a calmer life after living in Los Angeles for some years. We came to live in a small town barely under construction, almost without neighbors, without a pedestrian pathway and with a single car that my husband used for work. Our home was so isolated, it took me almost two weeks to get our phone installed. I’d spend the summer all day with my children and I knew I had to occupy my mind with something else because I had always been very active and was fear of falling into a deep depression.
One day, on a late night trip to our nearest supermarket I saw strips of stones and jewelry design magazines and I said to myself, “I can do this.” With $30 dollars I bought an all-in-one box of acrylic stones, elastic bands and tweezers.
That’s where the story begins for Motcy Designs...
Hola, mi nombre es Lucina Montañez Mota, originaria de Aguascalientes, México. Soy madre y esposa a tiempo completo y dueña de mi propio negocio. En 2005 llegué a Texas en busca de una vida más tranquila después de vivir en Los Ángeles durante algunos años. Vinimos a vivir a un pequeño pueblo apenas en construcción, casi sin vecinos, sin un sendero peatonal y con un solo automóvil que mi esposo usaba para trabajar. Nuestra casa estaba tan aislada que me llevó casi dos semanas para instalar nuestro teléfono. Pasaba el verano todo el día con mis hijos y sabía que tenía que ocupar mi mente con algo más porque siempre había estado muy activo y tenía miedo de caer en una depresión profunda.
Un día, en un viaje al supermercado más cercano, vi tiras de piedras y revistas de diseño de joyas y me dije: “Yo puedo hacer esto". Con $ 30 dólares compré una caja que incluya piedras acrílicas, bandas elásticas y pinzas.
Ahí es donde comienza la historia de Motcy Designs...
#MarchMeetTheMaker #artisanjewelry #handmadeproducts #womanownedsmallbusiness #latinaowned #aretesartesanales
Antoine
Antoine Sequence.mp4
Civic Engagement
Civic Engagement
Growing up it was a given that my sisters and I should read and think about the world around us critically and politically. My father believed that thinking critically and politically was everyone’s responsibility regardless of one’s education, race, class, or gender. YHIKM (p.27)
Click on the song title Wake Up to hear Brass Against's cover of this Rage Against the Machine song reminding us why it is important to pay attention and be involved.
"All that new stuff they're building, it's not for us. It's for the ones who come after. " Tamitha Curiel
by Tamitha Curiel
Ama, I still see the trees
through your back door.
Waking up on the porch
the bean bag, my temporary bed
A quick turn of my head
and there your are leaning against the kitchen sink
in your house coat
staring into the back yard like me
but there is a warning behind your eyes,
when you catch my eyes, catching yours,
as if to say
don’t end up like me, don’t end up like me, don't end up like me.
You stick out your tongue at me, click on the fire, and crack an egg.
Pop steps into the frame of the door,
all business, one foot on the stoop,
surveying the land we will
have to give up one day to the Hunts.
And later on, after bean tacos
I’ll sleep again on the side of your bed with one eye on
Godzilla or King Kong on your postage stamp sized black and white TV
and Pop will laugh when I jump,
a sing song laugh, like an old dog barking
as if to say
remember me, remember me, remember me.
Immigrant Assistance
Immigrant Assistance
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