Eugene weekly., May 05, 2016, Page 8, Image 8

REYNA GRANDE
IMMIGRATION,
MIGRATION AND
TRANSITION
Immigration. Most of us have a politically charged
idea of the word in our heads and proclaim our opinion
of it with confidence over a few beers with friends. Many
of us have experienced immigration or have parents who
made the sacrifice for us.
When it comes down to it, though, the question about
immigration is: Whose stories are you listening to?
On May 6-8, the UO will be hosting the fifth annual
CSWS Northwest Women Writers Symposium. This
year’s theme is “Crossing Borders: Women’s Stories of
Immigration, Migration and Transition.”
The topics at hand brought Reyna Grande to the table.
Grande, winner of the American Book Award and author
of the memoir The Distance Between Us (available in
Spanish and English), began writing in middle school
after growing up as a child whose parents migrated to
the U.S. from Mexico. “If we’re not a part of the story,”
Grande says, “then we get erased.”
Grande says she found herself between two worlds
when she began to write. On one hand, she struggled with
IT’S
ABOUT
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BY D AV I D WA G N E R
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May 5, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
being a Spanish-speaking woman in the United States,
but the more she learned English and assimilated into
U.S. culture, the more she was treated like an outsider in
Mexico.
Grande’s experience is a common one, though the
multi-layered stories of immigrants (or children of)
are rarely heard. To encourage more balanced, open
conversations about immigration, “I try to humanize the
issue,” she says. “I think it’s important to always keep in
mind that we’re talking about human beings. They need to
be talked about.”
Joining Grande at CSWS is a handful of other women
who share pieces of their own tales of crossing borders.
Ana-Maurine Lara, born in the Dominican Republic
and raised in East Africa and New York City, has been
engaged with LGBT and migrant communities around the
U.S. through performance arts and writing. Lara spends
time getting to know the area she performs in and opens
conversations within that community, and this year, she
will be hosting a poetry workshop at CSWS.
Peeling open another layer of border-crossing, Ariel Gore
will be on the symposium’s lineup with a memoir workshop
titled “Traveling Through the Landscape of Our Lives:
Going Beyond Gendered Traditions.” Gore started Hip
Mama, a magazine largely credited for sparking maternal
feminism and the contemporary mothers’ movement.
Novelists Miriam Gershow (The Local News) and
Chris Scofield (The Shark Curtain), along with a handful
of other writers, will be hosting their own workshops, and
Zapotec hip-hop artist Mare Advertencia Lirika will be
performing.
Grande will deliver her keynote talk 6 pm Friday,
May 6, at the Eugene Public Library during First Friday
ArtWalk downtown and will have a seat in a panel
discussion earlier that day at 1 pm in UO’s Knight Library
Browsing Room. The workshops will be held May 7 and
are free, but space will be limited.
Pre-register for events by calling Eugene Library at
541-682-5450. For event details and the full schedule,
visit csws.uoregon.edu/events-2. — Kelsey Anne Rankin
The leaves of the cottonwood trees are now all expanded.
Mother’s Day comes early this year, which means that the
The crown is full and gradually changing shades from a bright
following weekend’s Wildflower Festival at the Mount Pisgah
spring green to a tough, dark summer green. The heron nests I
Arboretum is a little early. The wildflower show is a great place
have been following seem to be doing well. They are now hard to
to review one’s knowledge about our spring
see in the foliage; careful binocular study was necessary to be
flora. Every wildflower in bloom in Lane
absolutely sure the four nests are still in place. The leaf cover
County will be on display.
doesn’t allow me to see much activity in the nest. I just have to
Many of the wildflowers are introduced
imagine nestlings having their fish dinners delivered on a proper
species brought in by settlers. A recent one at
schedule.
Mount Pisgah is the shining geranium. There
Ducklings and goslings, on the other
has been considerable concern expressed
SOFT GERANIUM
hand, are now visible and promi-
about its sudden invasion. Eradication has
nent in the Delta Ponds. Watching
to be impossible. We will get used to it as we
them swim around, tended by
did the soft geranium, which has been in
their watchful parents, is a great
our gardens for a century.
way to spend a sunny afternoon.
David Wagner is a botanist who works in Eugene. He
teaches moss classes, leads nature walks and makes
It makes me think that Mother’s
nature calendars. Contact him directly at fernzen-
Day in May is a natural celebration
mosses@me.com.
of all nature.