Literally Literary, an Experience

In the first months of working in The Collaborative, I attended events in where we gave books to children and discussed with them the importance of literacy at the EPCC School Store at the Rio Grande campus this summer. I found that this subject of literacy in El Paso was something of value to me, and I about what I could do in order to help promote the idea. Hosting, promoting, and attending more events like this is definitely a start to the bigger goal I have not only through The Collaborative but also in my career in academia.


At the EPCC Rio Grande School Store

One of the first events I attended was EPCC’s Association of Women in the Community College (AWCC) book club meeting in which we discussed Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s novel, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. This meeting was quite the experience because not only was I able to discuss the novel with peers and EPCC faculty members but also Benjamin Alire Sáenz himself! I feel very grateful for having been able to listen to Ben’s ideas in developing his characters and his initial thought process towards the overall plot. Looking back at this experience, I feel that it really shaped the direction that we chose to go in, especially in coming up with the concept for Literally Literary. 


AWCC Book Club Meeting

This past weekend brought one of my ideas and passions to life. More specifically, I found myself sitting in a studio (at Power at the Pass in El Paso, Texas) recording the first episode of our podcast, Literally Literary. In this podcast, we plan to discuss books with EPCC faculty members (in this case EPCC English Professor Richie Marrufo), as well as the possibility of interviewing authors. Initially, I struggled with the idea of how often I would release new episodes. Ultimately, I felt that discussing a different book each month worked best, especially once I broke down the book into weekly segments. In the months before actually sitting down in the studio, I worked on creating the overall idea by first settling on the first book being The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo.


Recording Our Literally Literary Podcast

After deciding this, I began listening to two very different podcasts that essentially had the same idea. The first was Dissect, a podcast that takes albums and breaks them down by each episode discussing a different song. Each song is then broken down by the instruments, lyrics, tone and even the artist’s life. I felt that I could easily implement this structure into Literally Literary breaking down books by characters, themes, language along with an overall analysis. Secondly, I began listening to the podcast Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby! This podcast focuses on Greek mythology but is presented less formally.  The host Liv tells the stories and often compares them to other stories or television shows. In listening to this podcast, I felt that I could also use this technique in order to help listeners in making connections with literature through pop culture.

Along with listening to these podcasts, I also began to break down The Poet X in a way I felt would have a flow but not be overbearing to the listeners. I then selected six poems I felt really showcase the overall story being told of Xiomara and her journey throughout the novel. In the first episode, I felt it made most sense to discuss the characters, themes and setting without actually going into the novel. Then in the second and third episodes, I could dive into the story and discuss how, in terms of The Poet X, each poem then relates to each theme while listeners will already have a general understanding in the roles each character plays.

Moving forward, I am very excited to return to the studio to continue the discussion on The Poet X and next month's discussion on the next book, Black Klansman. A major deciding factor in this decision was that the author of Black Klansman, Ron Stallworth himself, will be our honoree for our EPCC Literary Fiesta on October 19, 2019, at the downtown Main Branch of the El Paso Public Library! Along with discussing his novel (and its Oscar-winning film adaptation by Spike Lee) on Literally Literary, I will be interviewing him alongside Professor Gomez and Professor Muñoz at the Literary Fiesta. Other events that we have planned in this week alone include: an open mic in collaboration with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (a local organization that works with immigrants), Papagayo Rio Grande, and the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series, a read-in at EPCC Rio Grande in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, and the Ride for Reading.

At our open mic event to be held Tuesday, September 17, 2019, at the Black Orchid in El Paso, we are collaborating with other organizations to host writers and musicians for migrant justice. This will be an exciting opportunity for talent from all across the borderland to come out and share poems, short fiction, and music to express solidarity with our vulnerable migrant community.

  

During the same week, we are also hosting a read-in for Hispanic Heritage Month at EPCC Rio Grande, just as we have in the past. This year, the theme is “A History of Serving our Nation,” though students need not strictly adhere to that theme but rather are invited to share a work by any Latinx poet, philosopher, artist, musician, or otherwise. The best student reader will receive a copy of The Poet X. More so than the open mic, the read-in opens a conversation between readers on the themes they hit on regarding Latinx identity, and issues that affect the Latinx community.

   

At the end of the week, a Ride for Reading event is planned.  Ride for Reading is a non-profit organization based in Nashville, Tennessee, that works towards teaching kids about literacy and bicycling. I became familiar with the event through my father and his friends who are in contact with the organization. Each year a different elementary school is chosen, and this year it is going to be at Rosa Guerrero Elementary School in west El Paso. Aside from promoting this at Papagayo, we are very lucky that several EPCC police officers have expressed interest in tagging along for the ride, and we hope they are able to join us. I myself am looking forward to attending this event in order to further promote the importance of literacy here in my hometown.

In the following week, we are giving a workshop at Papagayo on The Poet X, sharing with the EPCC Rio Grande students video interviews of the author, Elizabeth Acevedo, as well as a dissection of some of the poems. We also plan to discuss why we decided to select this work for our podcast, as well as for the Hispanic Heritage Read-In. 

Overall, I am so grateful for all of these moments and experiences pushing me further towards my goal of promoting literacy along with sharing my understanding of literature through Literally Literary, the first episode of which is now online! I look forward to future experiences in working with the EPCC English department and especially Professor Gomez for helping me make these connections and allowing me to explore the ideas I have for our project through The Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP. 

Written by Sandra V. Zuniga, El Paso Community College
Undergraduate Research Fellow, The Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP