La Corua Blog

My new tri-fold brochure

2012-01-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

... for the New Year. My goal was to make a hand-held mini-portfolio.

Mi Adelita - An Interpretation

2011-12-31T18:30:00.000-08:00

I created this painting styled as an ex-voto; a votive offering to a saint or divinity, given in fulfillment of a vow.

Adelita (la soldadera) stands tall, gazing forward, carrying a young child in a traditional indigenous sling. On her thigh rests a Carabina 30/30— (Winchester 30/30) decorated with a rose and two hummingbirds; both powerful Yoeme (Yaqui) symbols. She is dressed plainly, in a Tehuana style skirt. She shows signs of struggle but is poised and undeterred. She is the enduring Woman Warrior Spirit personified, the unsung strength of the world.
The girl child Adelita carries represents a new generation of life. She could be the child of Adelita, or a rescued child separated from her own natural mother. She sleeps peacefully.
Blood on the ground: Mexico’s bloody history and ongoing struggles.
Aztec “calendar” motif: embodies sun & earth deities Tonatiuh & Tlaltecuhtli – both related to sacrificial blood.
Border Fence: symbol for all that is ridiculous.
Skeletons: ancestors, perished migrants.
Rattlesnake: Animal guardian, powerful transformative medicine. Also connected to the Aztec serpent goddess, Coatilcue, and Cihuateteo; one who guards the spirits of women who died in childbirth.
Prickly pear cactus: (in this case opuntia var. Santa Rita) Food & sustenance for desert survivors.
Mourning Dove w/creosote bush sprig: Desert peace symbol.
Banner: In English: “If you want peace, work for justice.” --Pope Paul VI
River: Santa Cruz River; without which human settlement in this far corner of the Sonoran desert would not have been possible.
La Virgen de Guadalupe: Our Holy Blessed Mother and Empress of the Americas, sprung from the ancient Aztec mother goddess Tonanztin. Some believe that she holds the spiritual blueprint of the U.S. Southwest.

Tucson Hispanic Chamber annual Noche de Exitos Gala

2011-10-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

I am proud to have successfully provided a comprehensive graphics package for the Tucson Hispanic Chamber's 17th annual Noche de Exitos Gala!

The package included:

Logo & poster design creation using requested theme color
Promotional ad poster
Save-the-date cards
Billboard and bus panel ad designs
Sponsorship Packet
Formal invitations
Ads for newspaper and print publications
Gala Program (22 pgs.)
Table tents
Signs for the event
Additional Companion graphics such as a Power Point projection for the stage.

The staff at the Chamber are a true pleasure to work with and I have been informed that they want to keep me on board for next year!

Great profile of Tucson's Birthplace and Mission Gardens

2011-09-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

My Reflection on 9/11 and other musings

2011-09-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Since both my art and my business model are driven by who I am, I post the following on this decade-old day of infamy.

I was raised in a conservative, religious, and political family. My father had degrees in history & political science. My mother grew up in a missionary compound in China. As the world changed, my mother & I grew curious-- my father did not and thought Marxists & godless types lurked behind every tree. Yet when it came to 9/11, he felt that our cavalier attitude towards muslims was misguided at best. While he staunchly believed in the "WMD's", he maintained that that part of the world has been feuding for centuries and our dabbling over there was like poking a hornet's nest.

I am old enough to look at our country in terms of its history... and I note that both 9/11 and Pearl Harbor made similar changes to our collective psyche. After Pearl Harbor, we became more fearful of the 'Other' which manifested in waves of nativism, and later the communist witch hunts and the Cold War. Did any of this make us safer or happier?

After 9/11, we now see the same lessons ventured upon us-- compounded by the same financial greed that manufactured the Great Depression. A double-whammy! What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? I am forever hopeful. I'm reminded of the heroic spirit that drove the 9/11 1st responders and the heroes of Flight 93 as the truest essence of what we humans are really made of.

But we must first get past the old fears of the Other in all its insidious forms. Polarization and stratification of wealth are the most destructive of forces... May we remind ourselves that we are all people first. Somos una sangre.

La Corua Lives!

2011-08-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

In my community travels, I have found that literally none have heard of La Corua or its legend.

At the Tucson's Birthplace Breakfast, I ran into an old acquaintance, Jesús Garcia; Sonoran native and naturalist at the Sonoran Desert Museum. We discussed the future of the Mission Garden and I gave him my card. He knows of La Corua well, and told me that it indeed is a real snake - not just a mythical animal as I understood it to be. I was thrilled and told him how much keeping Sonoran folk heritage alive means to me. ♡

So, here is the biology I uncovered about my business' namesake:

The boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) is found from South America to central Sonora. In Sonora, the Mexican boa constrictor or corúa (B. c. imperator) can be a rich dark reddish color in tropical deciduous forest or a paler grayish color in coastal thornscrub. Corúa (also coruba) is a pre-Columbian name. They are often found in canyons and are thought to be guardians of the aguajes (water holes). Unlike other serpents, killing them is thought to be bad luck (the water will dry up).

http://www.desertmuseum.org/programs/alamos_fauna_tdfgallery2.htm

Photo by R. W. Van Devender near Alamos, Sonora.

Establishing one's worth

2011-05-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

One of the joys I have as a budding entrepreneur is living my own dream instead of someone else's. I love approaching others standing on my own merit; no longer as a representative of someone else's organization or company-- although it is still easier for me to promote others' work than to toot my own horn!

Here, in a nutshell, is my methodology for establishing my worth as an independent woman/business owner in our rapidly changing world:

I do not have an advertising budget. I rely on face-to-face relating and creating long-term trust, whether we ever do business together or not. I choose my associations based on maximizing principles. I look at every connection through the following lens:
1. Who are these people? (Who is this person?)
2. Can we benefit through my business and my particular skillset?
3. Can I keep my core values, and
4. Can we make a community difference together?

Using my gifts and skills in ways that make our world a richer place is what greases my wheels-- that, and the belief that if you put yourself out there for others, the money will find its way to you. It means continually stepping off a cliff in faith that you will either find solid ground or will learn to fly. I believe in shared abundance and a quaint adage, "There is enough in the world for everyone's need - not everyone's greed." (Interestingly, this quote is a remaining remnant of my ultra-conservative upbringing.)

I believe that true prosperity is built on human dignity and talent, and "slow and respectful work". :)

The 2011 Tucson International Mariachi Conference!

2011-05-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of spirit that feeds my creativity and will to create websites. An excellent piece by KUAT's Luis Carrion:

New Technology for Us Old Folks

2011-02-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

As a Baby-boomer I have learned that I am somewhat of an oddity in my generation. (During my years at Pima, I was almost always the grandma of the class.) Our view is that we've gotten along just fine for 40 years without email or Facebook, thank you very much. We keep trying to use that beige dinosaur we bought when Bill Gates was still in college, and say computers are more hassle than they're worth. The internet scares many of us-- we don't trust it, and we have buckets of excuses why we don't want to go there. To that I say, pish-posh!

The internet and web technology has transformed the world and continues to explode into new levels of cyberspace. It is a passionate belief of mine that power and relevancy in today's world depends on how we can take advantage of this amazing stuff. Using a computer needn't be a painful experience. Just as in learning a new language, once we get past our anxiety and resistance, our lives can be transformed. (It has become such a valuable tool in my life that I cannot even imagine how I used to get on without it.) In fact, it is clearer every day that living without basic technological skills and access is getting more and more difficult.

There are few things I enjoy more than teaching those who are ready and anxious to rise to this new level, how easy and safe it really is. It need not dominate our lives in order to be effective, nor replace the importance of face-to-face connections. I look to the new small business owner, the church, the community group that wants to embrace this new skill set and widen the impact they have in the world.

With a little commitment and common sense it can be done. The future is wide open --
Onward!

Next: The Hand-Held Revolution.

First, do the right thing.

2011-02-16T22:27:00.000-08:00

As a budding media professional, I have been immersed in business and personal development this past year. I have been trying to marry my personal philosophy of working for the Common Good with a profitable business model. It ain't easy! Making money through self promotion flies in the face of my love of local & regional history, culture, strength of community, and the richness of the people who continue the fight to keep it that way. (In Arizona, that ain't easy!)

Today I came away from taking pictures for St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church's new website with a distinct feeling of fullness in my heart. God definitely lives there - and I am neither Catholic, nor am I religious. But I know Divine Presence when I feel it. I have been trying to figure out how in the world I hope to fly my business when I gravitate to people who, generally speaking, have little or no money?? All I got as I drove away from St. John's was, "first, do the right thing."

I have stepped up to the plate. I'm here, let's do this thing.

My Blog...

2011-02-13T22:10:00.000-08:00

Where I comment on technology, living in the 21st Century, and my perspectives as a small business owner.