We are looked down upon as mere pawns on this ruthless chessboard and Otilio Montaño in a now famous photo taken by Agustín Casasola in Mexico’s National Palace on December 6 Villa is sitting in the presidential chair “First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” That quote from the former Nazi supporter Pastor Martin Niemöller a man who once stood on the wrong side of history is about experiencing the maltreatment of a marginalized group of people He later became an outspoken critic of such injustices—injustices that we as a people are deeply entrenched in now But the greatest tragedy is that of our own isolated naivety and ignorance; our nature makes it impossible to will ourselves out of this rubble of seclusion to speak freely about the degradation of our communities In El Laberinto de la Soledad Octavio Paz analyzed the impact of our history and the overbearing feeling of loneliness and seclusion within each of us—a legacy passed down have no choice but to feel alienation—not only from our own home country but also from the American mainstream We are seen as corrupt and rapacious individuals no round of applause for our assimilation and determination None of it matters if the color of our sun-corded skin wrinkled with native impurities and the sorrows we’ve endured We are expected to assimilate, yet often face rejection deflected by impassivity. Ridiculed for not mastering a language or accessing education systematically denied to us We’re accused of malice while propping up an economy that despises us We’re seen as opportunists yet revered for our relentless work ethic—all in the same breath down to our careless pride—yet remain outsiders in both nations The Mexican has been sold a vision of prosperity But it comes at an excruciating cost—a cost that’s ignored Chingar o ser chingado: To fuck or be fucked We are not seen as societal leaders or dignified citizens but rather we are looked down upon as mere pawns on this ruthless chessboard—pawns to be disgraced Our labor builds wealth for the very system that oppresses us—from agriculture to construction to service industries—work non-Mexican Americans refuse yet blame us for “stealing.” The demonization of our people carries the subtle echoes of imperialism Our beautiful homeland of Mexico—with its unique set of innate problems and characteristics—is stripped of its people and resources while the United States reaps the benefits of our labor only to grant us the shameful refusal of belonging and shunned—not in shackles but still subjugated by the very system that profits from our toil Not only are we pawns in the economic sense but we are also victimized to an even greater extreme as our people are used for political weaponization One side vilifies us and paints us as invaders unsympathetic to the causes that bring us here The other side offers hollow sympathy but often fails to enact real change Both are sides of the same predatory and self-serving coin with their own sets of talking heads spewing ramblings with no actual merit or sincerity—just an overwhelming craving that looms large in the back of the minds of all the news anchors This in itself is another form of solitude; we Mexicans in the United States are caught in a political labyrinth where we are very much needed yet unwanted We are like the cattle they slaughter—deemed less than but necessary; dispensable yet crucial The audacity of the Mexican American who willingly voted in these indecent politicians is irredeemable You’d be a fool to believe you share the same privileges as the white American In the words of David Gaider: “Privilege is when you think that something’s not a problem because it’s not a problem for you personally.” I like to believe that our arrogance and lack of self-awareness dance a bailada del huapango spinning in circles of distraction and self-destruction It is not that we are incapable of organizing and demanding justice—it is that we are blinded abuelos—have no other way to see it but with reverence no choice but to bow their heads in quiet gratitude being in this country is not to be questioned if it is merely survival dressed in devotion Our own motherland strangled us to a forsaken life of poverty and malnourishment The United States—the haven of independence and liberation—offered salvation here too we are forsaken in this “promised land.” but it does not excuse the mess that is our people’s individualism Octavio Paz and Samuel Ramos understood: Our solitude erodes us We must reject complacency—“It doesn’t happen to people like me”—for then we are no better than those who have contravened against us They do not empathize because they have not been subjected to our lives They do not see the wrong when it is not at their doorsteps knocking in treacherous fashion They do not care because they are simply not us We do not have those privileges; we have blinders on perplexed by the idiocies of social media and trivialities masquerading as purpose it is not that we cannot organize and sustain assertiveness Our people have endured conquest, oppression, and instability for far too long. Since the Bracero Program in the 1940s and, later, Operation Wetback toiling in unsafe and abusive conditions only to receive the bare minimum And when we attempt to cross those borders we risk becoming one of the thousands of nameless skeletons in the desert—our final resting place a forgotten death in a land that never wanted us all in reckless pursuit to maintain our sorrowful livelihoods Hardly receiving the benefits of our labor due to fear of deportation A slow trickling descent of cash flow to the political conglomerates Only the weight of injustice mistaken for grace We must take a stand against the tyranny which the Mexican American faces—not because it is easy We must stand together—my brothers and sisters compadres y desconocidos—to fight for what we believe To fight the fight which conditioned us to be the resilient people we are We will not sit back and ask for freedom—we will take it We idolize our luchadores and boxers; we will strike and seize with the same precision as our heroes I call upon everyone—from the humblest to the arrogant the unheard to the outspoken—to strive for change You might even tell yourself that your minuscule efforts will not ignite change or bring about a revolution Pivotal moments in history were sparked by those who doubted their own significance The world will only ever change if the ordinary person dares to act—dares to believe that their voice will be heard We are not just the hands that labor—we are the hands that build The hands that bring rhythm and flavor to this insatiable life And when we finally rise and pull back the curtain we will not be seen as pawns in their game but instead be cast upon by the glimmering spotlight of our own making no longer unforeseen background characters but the esteemed architects of our very own making and the courage to break the chains that bind us As the great leader Emiliano Zapata once said: “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” The people united will never be defeated Jonathan Diaz Tamayo is a twenty-one-year-old Mexican American writer and activist Their work challenges solitude and marginalization calling for unity and resistance in the much-needed fight for justice el blanco y voy a luchar contigo para liberar a tu gente Sign-up for our free weekly e-mail newsletter publishes The Progressive magazine plus Progressive.org and Public Schools Advocate (KION) -- A man was found dead after a shooting in Soledad on Thursday According to the Soledad Police Department reports of a shooting came in around 9:25 p.m Ochoa was pronounced dead at the scene after attempts to resuscitate him Soledad Police are investigating Ochoa's death as a homicide Those with information are asked to call Detective Vargas at 831-223-5125 and those fishing to remain anonymous are encouraged to call 1-800-782-7463 Sergio Berrueta has been in the news for quite awhile going from studying print media to entering the realm of broadcast Berrueta started his professional news career in Eureka as a newscast producer for North Coast News (now The Northstate’s News) at KAEF ABC 23 in 2022 He pivoted a year later in 2022 going from behind-the-scenes to in front of the camera as a multimedia journalist for Redwood News Channel 3 (KIEM/KVIQ) also in Eureka Berrueta studied journalism at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) earning his Bachelor’s Degree social media manager and editor-in-chief of the university’s El Lenador the only bilingual publication in all of Humboldt County Berrueta had earned his Associate’s Degree at East Los Angeles College in 2019 after beginning his educational journey in 2012 He also was on staff for the ELAC’s publication Berrueta has also been in education as an AmeriCorps tutor in East Hollywood from 2017 to 2019 and served in a government role as a National Hometown Fellow for Lead for America with the City of Arcata in 2021 Berrueta is an avid amateur cinephile having written about films in free time attempting to get through a backlog of video games enjoys visiting new places along the California Coast and trying to keep up with the latest music and podcasts KION 46 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here EEO Report | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Community Guidelines | FCC Applications | Do Not Sell My Personal Information Super hero wings return to Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial to support the Run For The Wall 35th Anniversary and the 50th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War RFTW is an annual motorcycle ride from California to Washington D.C Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall to honor veterans and call for an accounting of Prisoners of War (POW) and Missing In Action (MIA) The inaugural RFTW took place in San Diego James “Gunny” Gregory to bring awareness of the POW/MIA dilemma the RFTW is the largest and longest organized motorcycle ride of its kind in the world Soledad as they did for Honor Ride 2021- The impressive super hero steel wings are comprised of dog tag "feathers" that represent the MIA from the Vietnam War (1573 at present) Each dog tag is embossed with the name of the MIA veteran location last seen and date of disappearance-similar to the POW/MIA memorial bracelets concerned citizens wore during the Vietnam War in hopes of their return The POW/MIA Wings is an art piece based on the wings that belong to the super heroine character LT Williams in the story"Purple Foxes United." The historical fiction story was inspired by the Son Tay raid the most daring mission executed to save Prisoners of War Many of the characters are based on legends of carrier aviation and Honor Flight San Diego alumni veterans Local WWII child Prisoner of War, Tom Crosby (91) will convey his support and share his POW experience then ride in a motorcycle escort to Ontario to meet the main group of riders for the official RFTW cross-country kick-off Tom and his family of five were held captive for 37 months shortly after the Japanese entered Manilla “I’m so honored to participate in this event in support of the Run For The Wall as it is a tremendous undertaking the riders commit to each year to ensure the Prisoners of War and Missing In Action are never forgotten Award-winning journalist, documentarian and bestselling author Soledad O’Brien will headline an inspiring symposium on women, philanthropy and leadership on March 9 at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at the University of California, Davis. Tickets are on sale now.  The event will feature a one-on-one conversation with O’Brien a trailblazing media figure who is a leading voice on social issues today Two dynamic leaders will also give thought-provoking presentations: Anna Maria Chávez a renowned neuroscientist and mindfulness expert.  The event is sponsored by Women & Philanthropy at UC Davis nurture curiosity and unite women as leaders The event will also feature the announcement of the 2025 Women & Philanthropy Impact Award winner.  This is the third Wisdom of Women symposium, following the previous event with principal ballerina Misty Copeland in 2023.  O’Brien has a powerful national presence through her podcasts She anchors Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien 1 nationally syndicated public affairs news magazine and gave a congressional testimony on media disinformation In 2013 she founded Soledad O’Brien Productions a media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on a range of social issues including four Emmys and induction into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2023.  She runs the PowHERful Foundation with her husband helping dozens of young women get to and through college while also connecting thousands more with resources through regional mentoring conferences like the Ford Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to produce impactful documentaries on topics like hunger The Wisdom of Women series presented by the Women & Philanthropy initiative celebrates and recognizes women’s leadership generosity and their role their role in improving communities around the world University of California, Davis Copyright © The Regents of the University of California Edible Monterey Bay 2025 – Intending to participate in the Monterey County Blue Zones hike through the Smith Vineyard in Soledad I arrived at the CRŪ Tasting Room (formerly Paraiso) last Sunday after the Monterey Wine Competition wrapped up There I found about two dozen well outfitted The wind was brutal and the chilly air stung my eyes Many hikers went back to their cars to fetch vests The Blue Zones project folks were handing out fanny packs It had been so long since I’d actually hiked with a group The route followed a gentle slope up to a ridge with a stellar view of the Smith-Lindley Vineyard I utterly failed to keep pace with the field Even a woman with a baby in a stroller zoomed right past me and was half a mile out in front within 5 minutes Not willing to deal with the pain that comes from pushing the pace I elected to pay attention to the beauty of the morning Bud break was happening in the Chardonnay vineyard and each vine was playing a slightly different version of the tune Some vines were very leafed out: others not so much The beauty of budbreak is hard to describe who have the enviable job of pouring the increasingly excellent lineup of wines coming from the cellar of winemaker Jose Reyes it’s the judicious and almost imperceptible use of new oak Having just tasted the platinum-winning 2022 CRŪ Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir from the Smith & Lindley Vineyard at the Monterey Wine Competition with its core of cran-raspberry and cherry fruit and a pleasing touch of spearmint I wanted to try the other Pinot Noirs in the lineup.  Santa Cruz Mountains – I’ve had plenty of renditions of this vineyard over many years most seamless wines that has emanated from this Corralitos vineyard with a view of the Bay Sweet effusive cherry with the perfect balance of acid and a pleasing dose of baking spice makes this a winner.  Santa Lucia Highlands – Deriving its meaty earthiness from the Pommard clone of Pinot Noir this persuasively charming wine exudes raspberry and blackberry woven with mountain spice Its pleasing roundness and assertive depth along with plenty of natural acid on the palate makes it a versatile food wine that can handle anything from turkey burgers to eggplant lasagna to elk medallions Santa Lucia Highlands – This wine comes from the top of the Sarmento Vineyard and is ripping with mountain assertiveness to the point that some might find it a bit aggressive in its tannin and acid profile the judges did not love it at the Monterey Wine Competition but it is just young and brash and will become something absolutely riveting in 4 to 6 years None of these wines are overpriced for their value and although most can be appreciated now this is one I would salt away and celebrate the dawn of a new era The CRŪ Santa Lucia Highlands Tasting Room offers a great space for a private event award-winning wines and friendly hospitality they will make your special event memorable and your vision come true As a part of the Blue Zones principle of moving naturally CRŪ Winery is teaming up with Valley Farm Management and Blue Zones Project Monterey County to offer a monthly hiking series through the sustainably farmed Paraiso Vineyard The hikes are offered the second Sunday of each month. They start and end at the CRŪ Winery tasting room in Soledad. Learn more about the hiking series and CRŪ Winery at cruwinery.com Robb Talbott has moved his beloved motorcycle collection out of the former museum site in Carmel Valley Village. The space at 4 E Carmel Valley Road will be available in the fall. If interested, contact Stu Clark at sclark@ccfinc.com or 831-596-8724. Website: bestinthevillage.com columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food Digital EditionText Edition our mission is to celebrate the local food cultures of Santa Cruz and that everyone has a right to healthful We think knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing website and events will inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers EMB is one of 80+ magazines in the award-winning and beloved Edible Communities family We hope you enjoy all that we have to offer Soledad Peña Plaza has served as chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Ecuador in the United States in Washington DC since February 2024 Peña has worked at various international law firms such as Cuatrecasas Her professional career began in December 2022 as a legal assistant in the Municipality of Guayaquil She then completed a legal internship at the Arbitration and Conciliation Center of the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce followed by a position as a legal assistant at Villa del Rey Peña holds a juris doctor in economic law from Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil she has a master of law in international business regulation and international arbitration from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC Peña Plaza was an event speaker at the Dialogue The Dialogue is a hemispheric organization that builds networks of cooperation and action to advance democratic resilience and sustainable development across the Americas and enhance collaboration to unlock meaningful change in the Western Hemisphere Inter-American Dialogue1155 15th Street NW | Suite 800Washington, DC 20005P: +1-202-822-9002F: +1-202-822-9553 We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns (KION) -- Two teens were arrested at a carnival while police seek the identity of a gun found on a carnival ride in Soledad during the Soledad Education Foundation Carnival Soledad Police officers patrolling the ground found a 15-year-old with a knife on him a little after 8:30 p.m He was arrested before being released to his family a separate report came of a gun found on a ride with officers finding a semiautomatic pistol An investigation is being done to identify the owner officers also found a teen on probation who tried to leave the area before being arrested and released to family (KION-TV) -- An eight year-old girl was injured in Soledad after running into traffic in Soledad the accident happened on 3rd Street around 3:30 p.m with the girl being struck by an oncoming car The victim was then taken into an Air Ambulance at a field by Hartnell College (KION-TV) -- Soledad Police confirm to KION they're investigating a homicide that happened early Saturday morning along Monterey Street Police say the incident happened around 2 a.m Police would only confirm the victim was a Hispanic male in his 40 or 50's Additional identifying information will be provided once other families are notified Family members of the victim reached out to KION and say he was shot outside of his home Police did not confirm that information in our initial requests for comment Victor Guzman is the Assistant News Director at KION News Channel 5/46 (KION-TV) -- Police are increasing their presence at Soledad High School after receiving reports of a potential school shooting high school administrators notified the department of the threat on Tuesday Police say they began their investigation shortly after and assigned officers to the campus Investigators are currently in the process of reviewing surveillance cameras and identifying the person who made the threat we're going to make sure we were thorough and investigate this to the end to rule out that any credibility to this threat the priority for the solid at police department is the safety and security of our students," Soledad Police Sgt He adds that additional officers will be assigned during high peak times (KION-TV) -- One person is dead and another person suffered major injuries after a crash north of Soledad on Sunday night The Monterey County Coroner's office is identifying the person killed in the crash as 25-year-old Uriel Morales of Salinas The CHP said three vehicles were involved in the crash along southbound Highway 101 North of Front Street They first received reports of the crash at 7:44 pm on Sunday but are still trying to determine how it happened So far the CHP said one person is dead after being ejected from a vehicle in the crash Another individual was ejected and suffered major injuries in the aftermath Two children were in the rear seats of a second vehicle in the crash but the CHP said all four occupants of that vehicle are expected to be okay The CHP said A third vehicle in the crash had two people inside one with minor injuries and a second with no injuries Anyone with information on this crash is asked to contact the CHP Former UFC champion Cain Velasquez will serve the remainder of his prison sentence for shooting at a man accused of molesting his son in a new location Wasco State Prison is often used as a temporary location until newly sentenced inmates are processed and relocated During his sentencing at Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose Velasquez was credited with 1,283 days of time served by Judge Arthur Bolcanegra Velaquez fired a handgun at a vehicle carrying Goularte and his family Velasquez was charged with attempted murder shooting at a motor vehicle or aircraft (one count) assault with a deadly weapon (three counts) willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle (one count) and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony (one count) Velasquez faced 20 years to life for attempted murder alone and prosecutors asked the judge for 30 years to life Judge Bocanegra considered Velasquez's public support and community standing before making his decision to sentence the former MMA champion to five years in prison. Velasquez acknowledged his actions as "not correct" and relayed well wishes to the Goularte family when speaking about his case Goularte is currently awaiting trial on June 2. The man accused of molesting Velasquez's son has pleaded not guilty to one charge of lewd acts with a minor. The Goularte family is also facing a separate civil lawsuit filed by the Velasquez family (KION-TV) -- Drivers in Soledad will notice some closures and construction this week as part of the Front Street Maintenance Project construction crews will work along Front Street and the Highway 101 On/Off Ramps with the following schedule for the next four days: Both lanes of traffic during each day's construction KRON4 KRON4's Lindsey Ford reports: https://www.kron4.com/?p=2158697&preview=true Made in the Bay Area and being shown on the big screen local filmmakers discuss being featured at SFFilm Festival this year Video shows aftermath of tree crushing San Francisco parklet One man is in jail and another was hospitalized after a seemingly random attack in the Castro on Easter Three people are dead and three more are hospitalized with serious injuries after a Volkswagen Tiguan hit a tree on San Geronimo Valley Road just west of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard shortly before 7:30 p.m San Francisco Fire Department firefighters rescued an injured dog and an uninjured person from a cliffside along Mile Rock Trail in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Thursday afternoon Bay Area photographer Lani Tinio shared a timelapse of the Moon rising over the Bay Bridge on Sunday with KRON4 and there is no shortage of activities going on around the Bay Area KRON4 Chief Meteorologist Lawrence Karnow has 4 Fun Things going on this weekend (KION-TV) -- Cal Fire BEU announced that they responded to a structure fire on Metz Road Tuesday night the residential structure fire north of Elm Avenue had already been fully engulfed in flames all occupants were able to safely vacate the home and so the fire department began a defensive fire attack to try and contain the blaze Cal Fire BEU partnered with South Monterey County Fire District CTF Fire as well as the City of Greenfield to battle the flames This is a developing story and more details will be included once KION has them I’ve been an international professional writer and performer for over 25 years I find the intersection between all of these skills lands itself somewhere under the term “storytelling.” This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Soledad Sevilla’s retrospective at the Reina Sofia Museum opens with a series of abstract paintings and drawings under the collective title “Mondrian” (1973) A self-explanatory nod to the Dutch Neoplasticist and his project to and the discreet ground from the established compositional order the works do not so much resemble any Mondrian painting in particular (although they come closest to the New York period) as adopt his modular approach to leave the viewer confronted by the grid—in this case Mondrian would in time arrive to see that “man’s eye is not yet free from his body Vision is inherently bound to our normal position.” Emerging from the peer group of Spanish artists whose work was defined by its adherence to the dogma of geometric abstraction (politically as much as aesthetically driven by Spain’s contemporaneous tumultuous political climate and its emerging orthodoxy of new figuration) Sevilla metabolized this lesson early on: the entirety of her oeuvre is threaded through with conviction of the inherent inseparability of phenomenology and pareidolia from the myth of “pure” abstraction The inescapable formal context (explicitly acknowledged by Sevilla herself in the work included in her exhibition Variaciones de una línea 1966–1986) here is that of the 1960s minimalist invention of the line as pictorial element fully stripped of any suggestion of either expressionistic (as in Abstract Expressionism’s trade of the narrative space for the implication of the purity of an artist’s interiority) or illusionistic (as in classical art’s “window” model) intention leaving the painting’s support untransformed by any suspicion of underlying metaphor (I am indebted for this insight to Rosalind Krauss’s canonical essay in Line as Language: Six Artists Draw.) That project reached its logical conclusion in the acknowledgment of phenomenology’s undeniability—with Krauss’s “‘Specific’ Objects,” Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings Sevilla’s work consistently leans toward the gigantic: a feature that signposts its insistence on ambient corporal immersiveness something that becomes a physical reality in the artist’s many installation works yet unfortunately largely absent from the show a hypnotizing ten-by-twenty-foot field of rich overlaid by a slanted grid and animated by repeating stripes of gold is exemplary of her typical modus operandi The edge-lapping lines of its grid outline point to the canvas being merely an extract of an infinitely larger whole while its geometrical composition denies any possibility of illusionistic depth As evident throughout the early painted pieces Sevilla’s stratagem is to optically deny the viewer a window of distinguishing the “protagonist” subject from the ground in a clever allusion to the paradigm established by the classical painting where said “ground” is presented under a clear expectation and with explicit indication of its wider extension beyond the small parcel depicted within the picture frame Sevilla employs the same pictorial trick for the benefit of abstraction the spatial extension points toward the absence of any focal element that couldn’t also be located outside the canvas on first encounter visually suggests woven fabric through the volumetric illusion and the inventive color interactions of the spellbindingly dense placement of line Diego Velázquez’s original Las Meninas (1656) is in Hubert Damisch’s penetrating formulation a painting where “the spectator is linked to representation taking place within the scene by a network of lines leading from the painting and apparently converging on a point which Foucault qualifies as ‘uncertain,’ because invisible.” Sevilla thus literalizes this description freeing the lines from the encumberment of figuration and historical narrative the most op art aligned of the new Spanish cohort of the time of Sevilla’s artistic maturation this pictorial property is not completely out of place within her work in a phenomenological engagement of the viewer’s physicality four panels: 118 1/10 × 59 inches per panel Archival photograph courtesy Museo Reina Sofía Magic Eye–like quality becomes more pronounced in “Alhambras,” the series of Granada landscapes This is where the work becomes its most literal; the paintings explicitly depict the titular buildings emerging from behind the surface-front grid the theme provides me with the tension I need to keep myself in an ambiguous middle position between an abstraction that disdains its own system and a figuration that recoils from direct images and even metaphorical reference.” To the point: there are places in “Alhambras” where Sevilla originally appears to uncharacteristically break the grid with a washy atmospheric paint smudge—only to reveal on closer inspection a pale perfectly color-coordinated grid placed right on top of the faux-expressionist daub This stylistic tension reaches its peak in the early aughts “Insomnio” cycle the pieces reinterpret the grid in a pattern of countless ornamental repetitive strokes Insomnio de paz y de conflicto (2002) in its transition from a densely saturated left side of luminous black and gray cascades that may at first blush resemble a tree canopy to the loose wash of Robert Ryman-esque white on the right is here the most representative at telling us “Look It’s only paint,” breaking with metaphor by way of pseudo-illusionistic abstraction Horizonte pequeño 7 (2023) and Horizonte blanco horizontal (2024) among them with op art–like tightly striped canvases in minutely graduated hues that appear to kinetically pulsate and undulate these point at a figurative motif only to deconstruct and abstract it all the while dazzling with their feat of manual labor: a fitting coda for the exhibition’s story of endlessly recursive oscillation between logic and phenomenology and their mutual generation and destruction Valerie Mindlin is an art historian, critic, and curator based in Madrid.  Home We use cookies to personalize content and ads and to analyze our traffic and improve our service metallic rectangles glinted in the desert light from a hilltop near Tocopilla These were portraits intricately woven from copper wire part of the project Woven Memory / Memoria Entretejida by Chilean Canadian artist Soledad Fátima Muñoz and family members of those portrayed—people who were disappeared during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship Together they gazed up at the monumental faces reflecting on what had unfolded in the same place nearly fifty years earlier The impact of the 1973 coup extended beyond Chile’s borders It not only overthrew Salvador Allende and extinguished the vision of the world’s first democratically elected socialist leader but also advanced a model of US intervention that would be repeated throughout the world in the decades to come its effects persist through the invisible violence of denialism people still don’t know what happened to their loved ones; they still comb landscapes where bodies were unceremoniously dumped Drawing from South American artistic and pedagogical lineages Muñoz’s work creates occasions for collective remembering presented at sites of disappearance throughout Chile echo the grid-style portraits of missing persons that activists paste in the streets narrative textiles in which women embroidered clandestine notes and records during the dictatorship my work is an archive,” as Muñoz explains in this conversation with artist and educator Andres L It contains information that doesn’t exist anywhere else Through site-specific research and community participation Muñoz brings the regime’s abuses and their contemporary externalities into public consciousness a step toward reopening the possibility for social transformation that the dictatorship sought to prevent While Muñoz’s projects carry a militant sense of duty they also achieve a profound emotional resonance as I witnessed in 2019 in her work Detenidxs Desaparecidxs In this installation of woven copper-wire portraits some were connected to a SuperCollider patch allowing Muñoz to modulate their sound with a granular synthesis When she stepped into the installation’s center and activated the sound “the sound is the invisible made tangible.” The dead who were never properly allowed to die rose is a dedicated space for artists to address the defining concerns of our time Hernandez I’m going to time travel a little bit: In fall 2018 I was a faculty advisor in the graduate projects section that you were enrolled in at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago I remember walking into your studio for the first time and being struck by what I saw: beautiful and haunting portraits made in copper and arpilleras—though I didn’t yet know what they were What did you enter grad school doing and what did you hope to do there Soledad Fátima Muñoz I was already a weaver and had been working with textiles but the five years before grad school were all about sound but it has different abilities and sensitivities than textiles do an electronic art symposium and mentorship program Going to grad school was like a box I had to tick I knew that to get the grants to do what I’m doing now While I was at SAIC I took advantage of the equipment especially modular synthesizers and the TC2 Loom Being a student at an art school in Chicago also meant I could access archives that I never could have accessed before I set the foundation of Woven Memory / Memoria Entretejida the project I just finished with a team of collaborators Woven Memory was created around copper-wire weavings of the disappeared detainees and political executees of the Chilean civil-military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990 thanks to a three-year composite grant from the Canada Council for the Arts I was able to make large site-specific works that were installed in four locations in Chile and a final audiovisual piece titled Copper Bodies which was presented at VIVO Media Arts Center in Vancouver in September 2024 ALH Strategically accessing those resources is very wise I learned from your work about the history of state violence and political oppression in Chile specifically its origin in an academic institution in Chicago Could you unpack who the Chicago Boys were and what their impact has been on Chile The Chicago Boys were students from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile who were sent to study under Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger in the economics department at the University of Chicago After the coup against Salvador Allende on September 11 ”the brick,” that contained the Chicago School teachings which were applied to Chile’s economy in the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship these neoliberal principles of privatization and deregulation were made part of Chile’s constitution the audiovisual piece that I made with my best friend and collaborator We wanted to show not only the personal effects of the dictatorship in Chile but also how neoliberalism continues to kill people Chile is a sacrifice zone: People can’t drink the water The 1980 constitution privatized our natural resources but Chileans don’t see any benefit from that and were shocked to hear him say that the dictatorship killed Chileans fast but the sacrifice zones kill us slowly and more cynically The effects of neoliberalism are very tangible in Chile Several of the mines in Chile are owned by Canadian companies including the allocations for arts funding Culture workers have been talking so much about financing this last year and we speak directly to that in Woven Memory water rights are sold apart from land rights and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan owns water rights in Chile’s Maule and Biobío regions SFM We are a globalized society in all the ways that neoliberalism wants us to be connected I don’t want the work to be about an event that happened half a century ago in a seemingly faraway place but the repercussions of that event that we perpetuate every day—and I include myself in that I talk to Canadians about this history through copper portraits of the disappeared ALH I’m thinking about the extraction of copper as the literal extraction of life and also SFM This is why we called the audiovisual piece documenting the project Copper Bodies. It comes from the title of an essay by Marina Weinberg that explains how mining subjectivities in Chile are constructed through extraction and how workers are fundamental to understanding capitalism’s modes of appropriation the regime employed forced disappearance as a method to suppress political organizations—most of the disappeared being union leaders or miners and workers the regime concealed or destroyed the places where these crimes occurred international mega-mining projects have turned the Antofagasta region into a sacrifice zone Communities and social organizations in Chile are actively recovering and repurposing the locations where these crimes occurred as “sites of memory.” Paula Latorre president of the Association of Historical Memory in Providencia explained that the site’s mandate is to understand that the dictatorship was not “a parenthesis,” meaning that what happened then continues to occur in different forms and their lifeblood of dissent are connected Resignifying these connections in the places where the repression happened is the role of the sites of memory and the conceptual foundation for Woven Memory ALH What I find interesting about your use of copper is its quality as both an extracted and conductive material You’re extracting these histories of oppression and you’re also employing the conductive properties of copper to recover the lives of the disappeared and the spiritual energies of the land We have to come up with different ways to communicate this history and make it tangible again because it is being forgotten Sound and textiles are complementary in my language was a culmination of years of research on the conductive capabilities of copper and how it could capture and amplify different sonic components of a space while textiles are not only conduits but also records of a historical con-text I wove a second iteration of this piece for Londres 38 The copper-woven portraits of ninety-eight people amplified the voices generating a soundscape that commemorated those detained as the granddaughter of someone who was imprisoned you’re a conduit to communicate these stories in ways that will reach people That was one of the most significant differences between presenting my work in Canada and the United States and working with people in Chile There I appreciated not being alone as a conduit I felt my artistic practice was legitimized by collaborating with people who are constantly working to continue the gestures of those silenced by the dictatorship we published a conversation between Ale Gómez a disappeared detainee from Tocopilla; Rodrigo Suárez Madariaga Our discussion touched on the importance of sustaining each other and how everyone’s contribution to the “search” was necessary regardless of their degree of consanguinity or embodiment of the dictatorship’s repression and it guided the project’s approach to privacy and sharing trauma It also brought up many personal doubts about how to better share the trauma of my family members especially those who are no longer able to speak for themselves we discussed the inclusion of the mine La Veleidosa in the Chilean government’s National Search Plan of Disappeared Detainees and the importance of art and Woven Memory in this process We understood the role of the project in bringing attention to the site’s history a vertical projection of the mine illustrating the findings of the 1991 search and a pedagogical kit distributed to students in several schools in Tocopilla A whole community understood the importance of this process and the reach of art without being artists or having any relation to the families searching for their family members Ale expressed her feelings about this by bringing up an event during the recent excavations when they found a piece of textile that could belong to her father or a family member of someone else in the group She said in that moment of heightened emotions “everyone fell into their role,” and that’s how I would also describe the process of collaboration when the role of art is understood beyond the object or exhibition That was something that we always asked ourselves: What can the objects do The weavings are important—they’re the conduits—but what’s happening around them is the art “What kind of work do you make?” And we get into these conversations with people “Sometimes art is my way of understanding the world I’m using art as a tool for communication or community building.” The mainstream public doesn’t traditionally think about the utility of art in these ways But what I love is that the makers of arpilleras and makers of other documents like them across the globe open up the creative act and the creative object to these possibilities SFM The first institution that I went to after high school was ARCIS the University of Arts and Social Sciences a Marxist university in Santiago started by artists who had been expelled from Chile during the dictatorship and the seed of the artist as a worker in society was planted there and then I went to Emily Carr University in Vancouver which was very formal but also playful and in some ways less serious and in Vancouver I was trying to find the balance between serious and playful That’s a good thing because that’s where the magic happens I cannot say that I’m not spiritual—that’s the other thing ALH One of the first assignments I give to undergrads is to create a map of their journey through the arts which is based on an assignment from a handbook about popular education in South America Through thinking about genealogies of education we discover that learning and teaching are often products of our experiences from the past I love that you’re talking about the intrinsic politicization of yourself and your experiences through pedagogy We haven’t used the term activism in regard to your work I’m curious about the levels of political analysis in your practice thinking about your own upbringing and training but also how you see the legacies of neoliberalism play out in Chile today You’re going to specific sites and working with folks What’s the climate right now in that context after the 2018 feminist revolution and the revolt in 2019 SFM Woven Memory went through many historical moments in the aftershocks of the popular revolt including working through the disillusionment post-referendum The tide turned quickly from the majority of people celebrating that Chile had woken up—Chile despertó—to voting against a new progressive constitutional draft which would have replaced the one written during the dictatorship by the Chicago Boys It was especially hard to digest because it was the result of a popular vote I was working with people who had gone through waves of widespread radicalization several times many of them ex-political prisoners or arpilleristas who understood that no matter the country’s political climate Maybe we’re not changing the world now but leaving clues for future generations to do so Our project became a conduit between the work done in the past by our ancestors who risked their lives to produce these documents and the younger generations of Chileans or people in distant geographies who want to continue this gesture ALH Most of the weavers of arpilleras are women While working on this project and feeling this misogyny I would always think about my grandma Fátima who was a political prisoner during the dictatorship and then became a respected figure in the political circles of Rancagua She did this all while contending with gender-based discrimination and violence ALH As artists, we’re involved in this larger ecosystem of folks who are challenging norms, which can be a form of activism. Our role in it is to create this aesthetic experience. Let’s get back into sound. You mentioned that your five years before grad school were dedicated to sound. What led you to sound communities? And how did your relationship to sound evolve over time to where your practice is now? SFM I started playing piano when I was about seven years old, joined the choir, and then started playing in bands of all different genres. Music has been present in my life as a means of artistic expression and a way to find my community from a very early age. I studied film at ARCIS because I didn’t want to feel the stress of producing music as a means of living. I was seventeen years old, and I thought, If I stress myself with music, what do I do to de-stress? Nancy and I codirected Copper Bodies, as part of Woven Memory, in Chile. I was so in my head making it because it was built upon interviews and visuals, and the information was crucial to me. So I asked my friend Chandra Melting Tallow to do the music for it. They came back with a beautiful composition, and I wrote to them, thanking them for reminding me of the power of sound. Chandra did incredible work—it was magical. It really was. It was like, “You taught me why my first love is sound.” ALH It’s interesting that you started studying film to protect that love for sound. Now we’re on the other end of it—or at another beginning—with this rediscovery of sound through Woven Memory. I think it’s sometimes difficult for artists to fully see and experience our work through its representation in an exhibition or its reinterpretation in someone else’s analysis. It’s difficult to see our work anew. I’m curious about your work in a variety of media relative to your personal experiences and the histories of repression and resistance you seek to recover. What does this work become for you? Lula Almeyda, Soledad Fátima Muñoz, and Amaranta Úrsula Espinoza, still from La parte de atrás de la arpillera (The Back of the Arpillera), 2020, 23 minutes. Courtesy of the artists. SFM Our goal with La parte de atrás de la arpillera was to present a community’s work and not represent it. We described this approach as making a visual arpillera, in which we took all these pieces of information that the makers gave us and stitched them together, like a quilt or patchwork. SFM I didn’t have a script beforehand because I didn’t want to presuppose my ideas against what is happening to the people in a specific place. Before filming, a decision is made about who to interview, but there’s also a purposeful “passing of the mic” and letting them communicate what is most urgent for their community. Chileans are so incredible. We have this lineage of repression and, at the same time, a history of anti-neoliberal resistance. That’s what I want to share with the world. ALH I think what she said speaks to the various understandings and values associated with what is archived and how what is archived is ultimately presented and for whom. She’s expressing the intrinsic resistance of those whose lived experience runs counter to the foreign consumer of these archived experiences, and that resistance can be through subtle yet powerful creative acts. This interview is sort of an archive itself, like Woven Memory. SFM The hard part about working with archives is knowing what to do with them. We had so much material from La Veiledosa, for instance, that we were like, “How do we fit this into a piece?” I learned all these tools that I hope to continue to use with other places and populations, but now, with the exhibition at VIVO Media Arts Center in Vancouver, I’m going to close this project. I think it’s important for the body to rest as well. ALH Thinking about the intense labor of your practice and the impact on your own body and spirit as someone who has a familial connection to these histories—this work is intrinsically overwhelming and exhausting but also necessarily ongoing. Andres L. Hernandez is a conceptual artist who explores and offers models for imagining and existing otherwise. He is a full-time faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Minh Nguyen is a writer, critic, and curator based in New York City. Armstrong Williams takes on the news of the week and asks the questions you want answered. Don’t miss our weekly town hall. Husband of Soledad Najera admits he helped take wife to a field and killed her: Warrantby KAYLEE SHIPLEY ROBERT LOCKLEAR and CHERISSE HOFFMAN | WSET (WSET) — The husband of a woman who has been missing for eight years out of Pittsylvania On Wednesday during the continued execution of a search warrant of Moorefield Bridge Road was arrested by investigators for the abduction and murder of a missing person Escalante was arrested without incident near his residence He was charged with one count of Abduction and kidnapping punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than 10 years or in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2,500 Escalante is also charged with one count of first-degree murder punishable by imprisonment for 20 years to life and a fine of up to $100,000 RELATED: Officials responding in Pittsylvania County are searching for a woman who vanished in 2016 Escalante is being held without bond in the Pittsylvania County Jail Investigators from law enforcement agencies remained on-scene at Moorefield Bridge Road to complete the execution of the search warrant ABC13 obtained a warrant into the case and confirmed that Escalante was Najera's husband The warrant details the timeline of the case the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office received a call from Escalante on March 21 who claimed that his wife had left him for another man But there were no further updates in her story until October 2022 That's when the warrant said Najera's sister called the sheriff's office wanting an update on the missing investigation which included multiple interviews with Escalante Escalante admitted he helped kill his wife the accused [Escalante] admitted he assisted another person in duct-taping his wife Soledad Najera's hands and eyes and that he assisted in forcefully placing her in a vehicle where she was taken to a field located in Pittsylvania County and intentionally murdered and buried," the warrant reads Escalante was in court for an arraignment in the Pittsylvania County Juvenile and Domestic Court He requested to be given a court-appointed attorney Despite the judge saying she didn't think he qualified for a public defender she granted his request due to the nature of his charges Escalante will be back in court for his preliminary hearing on Jan ABC13 is still working to get answers to the following questions SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Authorities reached out to the public Monday for help identifying whoever drove a vehicle back and forth across a lawn at Mount Soledad Open Space Preserve over the weekend spraying mud around and leaving behind deep tire ruts The malicious property damage near Mount Soledad National Veterans Memorial in La Jolla took place late Friday night or early Saturday morning according to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association "This vandalism not only desecrates a beautiful public space but also dishonors the memory of the veterans honored at the memorial," MSMA Executive Director Neil O'Connell said "This is a place of peace and reflection for our community O'Connell tells ABC 10News it could cost between $3,000 and $4,000 to repair the damage birthdays and military enlistment ceremonies The association is working with the San Diego Police Department the Parks & Recreation Department and San Diego County Crime Stoppers to identify the perpetrator "This act is a literally a kick in the shins to those who fought and scarified to preserve freedom 'We don't care what you did,'" said O'Connell Anyone who might be able to help investigators track down the vandal is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477 or sdcrimestoppers.org Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 (KION-TV) -- One theater in South Monterey County is switching from daily to weekend-only screenings until further notice Premiere Cinemas Soledad confirmed the news with KION stating the cinema will only be open from Friday to Sunday the change may not be for long it might continue into May The reason for the change has not been disclosed The theater is one of two in South Monterey County alongside King City Cinemas in King City Premiere Cinemas is also part of a small chain of theaters with two locations in Hollister and Los Banos These locations will continue hosting daily showtimes Those looking for upcoming showtimes for the weekend will have to wait until Tuesday at the earliest (KION-TV) -- Two suspects are being sought in a shooting near Front Street on the night of April 12 officers headed to 980 Front Street after getting a call of shots heard nearby The officers determined that two unknown male suspects had opened fire on a home hitting two vehicles parked outside before leaving the area The family in the home confirmed no one inside had been harmed No description has been provided for the suspects Filmmaker Albert Serra offers us a hypnotic and intimate look into the bullfight as bullring king Andrés Roca Rey enters the arena to face the mighty beast that forces the spectator to look at their own moral compass possibly one of Europe’s most gruesome and cruel cultural practices is the centre stage for Andrés Roca Rey toreador and unchallenged diva of the Plazas de Toros Rey inhabits the arena with the attitude of a king and the agility of an eagle leaving bare the absurdity of human behavior Rey’s elegant gowns blind the audience that claps and cheers in awe watching the beast fall Albert Serra’s perfect frames lure the spectators out of their comfort zone taking them close to the star and even closer to the death and decadence that surrounds him where the fragility and loneliness of masculinity tries to conceal itself behind blood and broderies but eventually resurfaces in flatteries and stranded gazes beyond the capacity of conveying such an experience with an impeccable style Serra’s ultimate talent is to leave the spectator alone with their moral compass and ideas A mark of respect toward the viewer that defines his cinema as one of the most necessary of our times This film contains content on potentially sensitive topics Alien fluffballs invade Earth in this surreal musical comedy from cult Japanese filmmaker Ugana Kenichi Stella embarks on a time-hopping odyssey across seven millennia to rescue her long-lost father The nonbinary X searches for transformation in this boldly experimental Join a group of curious and connected film enthusiasts new insights and inspiration accessible to everyone (KION) -- UPDATE Carlos and Noe Hernandez have been arrested at their home in Soledad in connection to an attack on the night of February 18 Soledad Police were notified by FLOCK camera systems of the grey 2021 Honda Pilot via its license plate number reading system officers found the car parked at the home of the Hernandez brothers and surrounded the residence The investigation into the incident continues Two suspects remain at large after a victim was attacked at Soledad High School in Soledad on Tuesday night Soledad Police received a report of someone with a firearm and a victim who was attacked at Soledad High School the officers found a person with major head wounds The suspects identified are 25-year-old Carlos Hernandez and his 34-year-old brother Noe Hernandez They were seen fleeing the school in a grey 2021 Honda Pilot as the investigation is ongoing Those with any whereabouts on either of the suspects' whereabouts are urged to call 911