Women Who Rock: Making Scenes, Building Communities Altar @ Dia de Los Muertos exhibit at El Centro  Opening today November 1, 2016 @ 5pm. Free

For address see:

http://www.elcentrodelaraza.org/events/event/dia-de-los-muertos-exhibit-opening-event/

Women Who Rock: Making Scenes, Building Communities, an ofrenda to a world without violence

The Women Who Rock: Making Scenes, Building Community Collective seeks on honor those who use music to bring joy and healing to all, especially to people and families who have been subject to intimate partner violence, sexual violence, street violence, anti-trans violence, queer violence and state violence.   We also seek to honor those women who have been prevented from singing, playing music, and dancing even when their hearts desired to.  And last we honor the survivors who continue to struggle for equality by using their music to imagine and share visions of our world where all people have access to housing, health care, education, and clean water and food.   We stand with the Water Protectors of Standing Rock, who are fighting to protect all living creatures on our planet for now and the future.

The Women Who Rock: La Colectiva de Haciendo Escenas, Construyendo Communidad busca honrar a aquellos que usan la música para traer alegría y sanidad a todos, especialmente a las personas y familias que han sido víctimas de violencia de pareja, anti-trans,  anti-queer violencia,  violencia callejera y violencia estatal. También buscamos honrar a aquellas mujeres que han sido impedidas de cantar, de tocar la música, y de bailar especialmente cuando sus corazones deseaban. Y por último honramos a los supervivientes que continúan la lucha por la igualdad usando su música para imaginar y compartir visiones donde todas personas tienen acceso de vivienda, recursos de salud, educación, agua potable y comida saludable. Apoyamos con los Protectores de Agua de Standing Rock, que están luchando para proteger a todas las criaturas en nuestro planeta por ahora y por el futuro.

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April 7th and 8th 2016 in Yakima, Washington…

Goal: To build community and instigate social change via workshops grounded in creativity.

This year is going to be a BLAST! Stay tuned for more information!

This is a photo of Yesenia Hunter and her partner, James.

Yesi is an artist and community activist in Yakima, Washington. Underneath the threads of capitalist, patriarchal values that drive music industry and popular culture, agents like Yesenia Hunter inspire vibrant communities centered around music, art, love, and positivity. Yesi works as an illustrator, linographer, and program coordinator for Yakima Music en Accion. This year, Yesi is the lead coordinator for the Women Who Rock UNconference that will be held on Saturday, April 23rd in Yakima.

Yesi was recently featured in a podcast on Latino USA Radio. Listen here for an enjoyable and inspiring story about Yakima history:

#1547 – Reservations

“community is what makes us powerful”.

Later on in my time at the conference the area I was in began to die down so I decided to go downstairs and check out what was happening there. I saw many tables and many people interacting with one another. I walked up to the first table that caught my eye and had a conversation with a woman whose name escapes me. She told me that she is involved in radio and it is a way for youth to have a voice. At that time I observed two young girls conducting an interview. The involvement of young females in Women Who Rock is very important. I observed many girls who were not only enjoying themselves but seemed to have confidence in just being them.

– Markayla

When I first arrived at the Women Who Rock conference I encountered a performance of Latin music outside, on a small stage they shared their culture with those around them and I was intrigued by the demonstration. Then I entered the cultural center to find another, different performance. There were women on stage singing and I didn’t quite hear the words but I enjoyed the melody. After they ended they asked for people to come up and to learn the song and to sing with them and I thought this was a great idea. A way for people to take a step further, not just to observe the culture but to be able to interact with it but just in the way you wanted to.

– Markayla

The second workshop I attended at the WWR conference was a workshop to learn how to screen print shirts with a logo. At first I thought the shirts were going to be made with a press because that’s the only way I knew how to put logos on shirts. But when I saw their machine, I was really surprised. The way they made the shirts was they would open their machine and lay down a shirt flat in the middle. Then why would close the machine and on top there was screen with the logo on it. After they poured some black ink and use a squeegee to spread out the ink. They lifted the screen and the logo was on the shirt. I was really surprised how clear and bright the logo was. It looked better then a pressed shirt. One of the ladies at the workshop explained to me you can either buy a screen printing machine or you can make one, it’s really simple. Now if I ever feel like making a shirt, I know I’m going to try and make it using a screen print.

La jente aqui pueden bailar y bailar y no se cansan! Abi jente afuera jugando musica por mucho tiempo. La musica que estaba jugando estaba en espanol, pero toda via via jente que no eran espanos jugando guitarra para todos. Era algo muy buenito, todos se parecian unificados. Es triste que toda la jente no se pueden handar quentos como la jente aqui en este retrato. It didn’t matter if you were white, black, Hispanic, or Asian, everyone dancing and playing music was just trying to have a good time together. I love the picture I posted along with this blog post because it shows a mother and her nina bilando juntos. So everyone involved is making this a growing event that could be an experience passed on from one generation to another.

Que puedemos acer para ayudar a otra jente? Todos somos differentes, y la jente aqui saben eso. La jente aqui quieren que todos se sientan importantes. The Panal speaking right now never keeps their mouths shut, they’re aware of everything that goes on in the world that isnt fair to us people of color. These women are all activist, they want to inspire people to help others who may not know how to get help. There is a women who is originally from Canada who made a strong point about the present. At this very moment there are women and children being raped, used for human trafficing, and beaten, and just because CNN doesn’t tell the world about it, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be aware of it and try to inform others. El Mundo es un lugar cruel, y ay jente que eson muy cruel, pero no toda la jente en este mundo eson crueles. Ay jente como las mujeres aqui que son buena jente y que quieren ayudar a otras persons. These people are all acting out of selflessness and passion for something they believe in.

-Heaven Aguilar