Takeaways from the Librotraficante Literary Showcase

by David Safier

Here is a collection of one liners from last night's Librotraficante Literary Showcase:

Dagoberto Gilb, author of The Magic of Blood and other works:

• (Talking before the event about the effectiveness of the MAS courses in stimulating student interest and raising achievement.) "I think that's what they call AP, when they're not Mexican-American."
• (Talking about the virtues of Austin, Texas, where he lives, then turning the discussion to Tucson) "Tucson is the Austin of Arizona."

Tony Diaz, Leader and MC of the Librotraficante Caravan, founder of Nuestra Palabra, author of The Aztec Love God and other books:

• "We're living in the 60's again — caravans, protests, teach-ins — so we're gonna use the love child's language: 'The Whole World is Watching.'"
• "How you define the term 'banned' shows what side of history you're on."
• "Huppenthal is a plagiarist. HB2281 was originally written by Bull Connor."

Roberto Rodriguez, UA Assistant Professor and member of the MAS-TUSD community advisory board:

• "If all we do is resist, we're just reacting."

Lorna Dee Cervantes: Poet, author, editor:

• "In order to eliminate racism, we must illuminate racism."

Harbeer Sandhu, Fiction writer, poet:

• "Multiculturalism is the next stage in human evolution. . . . Oh, wait, they don't believe in that either."