Latinas Writing on the Midwest: Mexicanidad Downtown Chicago and Oshún on the Michigan Lake

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Latinas Writingon the Midwest:  Mexicanidad Downtown Chicago and Oshún on the Michigan Lake
by Amelia M.L. Montes (ameliamontes.com)

Oshún on the water/lake with La Llorona

Reporting fromChicago where this week I interviewed Chicana and Cuban-American writers andactivists who were either born and/or raised in the Midwest.  More than once I have written about Latinavisibility in the Midwest.  Thereis so much significant U.S. Latina work coming from the Midwest but often it iseither consumed by both coasts (specifically Los Angeles and New York) orerroneously claimed as “southwest” or, worse, the geographic place of origin isnot acknowledged. 

U.S. Midwest

In Chicanaliterature, Gloria Anzaldúa often wrote metaphorically of place as “en medio”or “in the middle.”  We are abridge, a crossroads regarding our mestizaje.  Anzaldúa was from “el valle de Tejas” but let’s, for amoment place her in Iowa of which (in truth) she was familiar.  She would go there during the summersto teach migrant students and she became familiar with the area.  Sometimes when I read her work, I seeher there in the fields of Iowa—not in Los Angeles, not in the Southwest.
In regards toChicago—if you drive down 26^th street (in the "Little Village" or "La Villiata" area) fromdowntown Chicago going west, you will feel as if you are en Mexico.  So manyMexican panaderias, restaurants,clothing stores, beauty salons. This “place” (as well as the Pilsen barrio) was the inspiration for The House on Mango Street bySandra Cisneros.  Cisneros grew up invarious areas in and around Pilsen (Chicago neighborhood). The latest book cover (for the 25^th anniversary) does payhomage to “place.”  See the bookcover (below) and then look at the accompanying photograph I took onCermak Street in Pilsen.  These arethe buildings I passed and looked at, to see if Esperanza’s great grandmother isindeed looking out the window (“sitting her sadness on her elbow”). 

Housing on Cermak in Pilsen

Latinos did notarrive in the Midwest and specifically in Chicago just ten or twenty yearsago.  They arrived in the Chicagoarea well before the turn of the century. In fact, María Amparo Ruiz de Burton (born in 1832) lived in Chicago fora time and also died there in 1895. Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and immigrants from variousareas of Latin America all came to settle in the Midwest.

(left to right) Linda Garcia Merchant, Mary Gonzalez Koenig, Chuck Gonzalez

Today Chicago’s Latinidad continues to grow and be a significant presence in the Midwest.  The picture here of Linda Garcia Merchant and Mary Gonzalez Koenig (also pictured is Mary’s brother Chuck) is an example of two generations of mujeres in activism and art.  Mary Gonzalez Koenig (to the right of Linda) founded the Latino Council on the Media (LCOM).  The Latino presence in the media (broadcasting) is in part due to Mary’s hard work.  She also founded the Spanish Coalition for Jobs which then became The National Latino Educational Institute.  The Institute began as a job training organization and today it is an accredited educational institution. 


Linda GarciaMerchant, filmmaker and founder of Voces Primeras, a production company iscontributing to U.S. History by creating documentary features of U.S. Latinaleaders such as Mary Gonzalez Koenig. Linda is also including a feature on her mother, Ruth ‘Rhea’ Mojica Hammer who was the first Mexican American woman to run for congressional officein the state of Illinois.  She wasalso appointed by President Carter (1976) to the President’s Commission for theIWY National Women’s Conference along with Cecilia Preciado Burciaga.  This was historic because Chicanas had never been on a President’sCommission! 

(left to right) Linda Garcia Merchant and her mother, Ruth 'Rhea' Mojica Hammer

Linda Garcia Merchant and Carmen Abrego-Galindo

As well, Lindawill also be filming poet Carmen Abrego-Galindo (see picture above of Linda and Carmen) who works with Aspira Inc. ofIllinois, a youth development organization that has been around for 40years.  Carmen organizes classesfor adults in computer technology and assists students with writing programsfor the computer.  She is awell-known community activist in Chicago and is responsible for bringingtogether mujeres in Chicago by way of mujeres gatherings/dances such as LLENA.  Carmen was one of the founders of LLENA, a Latina Lesbian organization in existence from 1988 to 1992.  LLENA was important in its advocacy for queer women of color.  She also writes poetry.  


As I mentioned, Cubaalso figures prominently in the Midwest. Writer Achy Obejas emigrated toIndiana when she was six years old. She moved to Chicago in her 20s and hasalso returned to Havana, Cuba for short stays.  In an interview with Gregg Shapiro, she says: “I was born inHavana and that single event has pretty much defined the rest of my life.  In the U.S., I’m Cuban, Cuban-American,Latina by virtue of being Cuban, a Cuban journalist, a Cuban writer, somebody’sCuban lover, a Cuban dyke, a Cuban girl on a bus, a Cuban exploring Sephardicroots, always and endlessly Cuban. I’m more Cuban here than I am in Cuba, by sheer contrast andrepetition.” 


Obejas’s novelsgrapple with these identity issues from various perspectives.  For example, in her novel, Days ofAwe, the two parents read about Chicago and discuss why it would be a goodplace to emigrate: 
‘“There’swater,” my father thought to himself, and imagining Lake Shore Drive and how itmight curve around the shore, he added: “And a Malecón.”’‘“Sweet water,”my mother mused while conjuring an endless blue pool where Ochún might feel athome:  “We’ll be safe there.”’
Obejas’ father characteremphasizes place and memory while the mother character is fixed on thereligious/spiritual aspect of space. This exchange comes early on in the novel and begins the weaving ofvarious scenes which complicate religious, cultural, gender, and sexualidentity.  In just two dialogueexchanges, so much is revealed.

Achy Obejas and Amelia M.L. Montes

For the past 12years, Obejas has made her home near Lake Shore Drive and the Chicago lake (or “malecón").  Her neighborhood did remind me ofplaces I visited in Havana—grassy wide avenues for walking, abandonedbuildings, empty lots.  Below Ihave posted pictures of the Chicago shoreline and Havana’s shoreline or“malecón.” 

Havana Malecón

Michigan Lake

Obejas’ worksillustrate the Latinoization of the U.S., which is not at all about theassimilation of the Latina/Latino. Instead, Latinoization occurs upon, into, and through place (in thiscase, the U.S.) and its inhabitants. When Obejas says, “I’m more Cuban here than I am in Cuba, by sheercontrast and repetition,” she speaks of the continual desire, imagining, andtranslating of place which in Days of Awe has Oshún, (an Orisha ofYoruba mythology) reigning over the Michigan Lake. 
During my visit in Chicago I also made a trip to the National Museum of Mexican Art. I noticed how I kept questioning thename of the museum (why not Mexican-American?) as I went from room to roomenjoying the many paintings, mixed media, sculptures by Chicana and Chicanoartists.  The work done byspecifically Mexican artists (from Mexico) were very few.  However, once again—I thought about how this too is a kindof Latinoization:  the placing ofthe moniker “Mexican” on these works that primarily were imagined and createdon this side of the border (indeed--so many wonderful local Chicago artists). 

For me dear reader, leavingChicago this time (after interviewing these extraordinary mujeres) is like leaving Mexico and Cuba.  And maybe that is how it should be-- Oshún and La Virgen de Guadalupe:  right here on the Midwest.  Heart and Land. Corazón y Tierra.