WINNER OF 2023 ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS PACEMAKER AWARD, NEWSPAPER/NEWSMAGAZINE NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Volume 162 No. 19 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SJSU celebrates CHI Day events By Nikita Bankar
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The savory scent of fresh tacos lingered through the air, traveling along the line of white tents and pink, teal, navy and yellow balloons on Seventh Street Plaza during the Day of Celebration for Chicano Activists event on Wednesday afternoon. The purpose of CHI (Chávez, Huerta and Itliong) Day, hosted by the César E. Chávez Community Action Center, was to honor the legacies of labor rights leaders César E. Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong, according to their Instagram. Among the variety of art and crafts stands scattered along the plaza was a colorful piñata-making station by the Event Center, led by organizer Irma Juri. A collection of colorful party hats were placed on the table, along with colorful paper streamers, glue and string for people to use. Juri taught eager crafters how to create the decorations, giving them a step-bystep tutorial. Juri said she has been making piñatas for over 20 years, and looks forward to sharing her now professional work at CHI Day. “It is my pleasure to teach students, and it makes me happy because they love it,” Juri said. “I really enjoy events like these, because I love not only being outdoors, but I love the people.” Juri said it is important that schools hold events like these to celebrate important figures in history. She also said everyone can gather and celebrate people like César Chavez, who mean a lot.
“It is important because they are all important people,” she said. Accounting senior Marlene Moreno said piñata-making was her favorite part of the event She said both her and her friend planned on spending the most time at the station. “I’ve only been here for 15 minutes and I’m already enjoying myself,” Moreno said. “I really want to try the food a little bit later.” Moreno said she came to the event because of how lively it was, and how many people were there. “I’m Mexican, so I think it is really important to educate people on topics like these, and when it includes fun activities it makes (them) more enjoyable,” she said. During the event, vendors sold a variety of fresh tacos and flavored agua fresca in front of The Arch of Dignity, Equality and Justice. Agua fresca is a sweetened, waterbased drink made of fruit, cereal, grains, seeds or flowers, according to an article by Shape. The Arch of Dignity, Equality and Justice was created by Chicana artist, activist and scholar Judy Baca in 2008, and commemorates the work of César E. Chávez, according to an SJSU X post. Across from the arch, next to the education booth and the table giving away free tote bags was a screen printing tent, where a stencil of Chávez, Huerta and Itliong could be used to create a painting of blue gradients. Graphic design freshman Sriya Gopalan said she was excited to create a screen painting, since it was a physical version of her major. “I had not done it before, so I was
NIKITA BANKAR | SPARTAN DAILY
Business junior Judy Trinh (left) and accounting senior Marlen Moreno (right) work on a balloon craft together on Seventh Street Plaza during the Day of Celebration on Wednesday afternoon.
glad I got to try it,” Gopalan said. “I love when students create and display art in their free time.” Gopalan said she loves when SJSU holds cultural celebrations like these on campus. She also said she admires the effort that goes into organizing all parts of the events, since there are so many people that must plan every aspect of it. “It is really something to admire,” she said. “It is almost like a carnival, but with a deeper purpose behind it.” Wearing colorful hats and detailed, flowy dresses were Mexican folk dancers from Ensamble Folclórico Colibrí, who performed numerous times on stage in front of the Event Center. Ensamble Folclórico Colibrí promotes the pride of identifying
as an LGBTQ+ Latinx through the art of Mexican folklórico dance, according to its website. Its mission is to preserve costumes and traditions through cultural and educational projects, according to the same site. Across from the assortment of food, drinks and desserts was a live mural art station, with numerous canvases set up for those who wanted to step in and paint. Pedro Rivas Lopez, one of the organizers at the station, said he believes it is important to stand for justice in today’s world. Lopez was painting a portrait of Chávez, using various shades of purple, brown, black and orange to bring life to his work. He said this event hits home for him because he is a farm worker and
immigrant. “I believe in everything that these three human beings do,” Lopez said. He said it is important for people who have an opportunity to express themselves creatively to echo leaders who have been here before us. “It touches my heart when we celebrate people of color who made an impact in the United States,” he said. “I’m a big social justice supporter and I always use my art as a means to create social justice and awareness.”
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Poet hosts talk & writing workshop By Melissa Alejandres STAFF WRITER
San José State’s MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center hosted a women’s history poetry workshop at the Student Union on Wednesday night. Special guest speaker and professional writer and poet, Olivia Gatwood walked students through creating poetry. Gatwood said she was introduced to poetry in high school and was intrigued by it because she was a vocal teenager. “Poetry has made me understand my life through a lens that makes sense to me, rather than makes sense to the rest of the world,” Gatwood said. She said poetry allows people to be creative with the way they talk about life and talk about identity. Gatwood said mental health is essential, and people forget that they can heal emotional wounds through poetry and that she has learned so much about the people around her through poetry. “I think poetry is made up of tools we have which is an emotional compass,” Gatwood said. She said poetry has been demonstrated in the educational system as a grade-based assignment, or something that limits imagination and creativity. Gatwood said this is the reason why a lot of younger people refrain from writing poetry, sharing it, or using it to heal. She said the poetry workshop’s main purpose is to honor Women’s
History Month and to openly discuss shame associated with womanhood. “A lot of women are raised to feel shame about their bodies or voice,” Gatwood said. Gatwood said everyone at the workshop had different perspectives and shared personal hardships. She said people were shy at first, but by the end of the workshop, people had more courage to speak up. Jessica Short, full-time staff member and coordinator at the Gender Equity Center said she also writes poetry and was inspired to reach out to Olivia Gatwood. Short said with the help of Francesa Dolor, the program coordinator of MOSAIC, they were finally able to get Gatwood to come and speak to students. We also thought students would be inspired to read their poetry. “We wanted to have a speaker to inspire intersectional feminism specifically for this month,” Short said. She said poetry has helped people artistically explore themselves and build communities at SJSU. “I think poetry has helped me work (through) traumas (in) my life and difficulties,” Short said. “It has been there for me when I felt I had no other way to express myself.” Short said she’s seen poetry motivate people and help them find their voice. “I feel poetry is unique, but it does not band-aid over mental health completely,” she said. “It allows us
MELISSA ALEJANDRES | SPARTAN DAILY
A group of students workshop their poetry at MOSAIC in the Student Union on Wednesday night.
to have a voice and possibly heal from (things) as many times as necessary.” Short said when it comes to treating mental health the most common options are medical treatments, but she said poetry being an art form is equally helpful for the same kinds of mental health challenges. “It can’t be solely medicine, or solely a hospital, or certainly a therapist or a counselor,” Short said. “Those are all wonderful (resources) but they can’t be the only thing that can heal us.” Meg Ross, a forensic science and crime scene investigation senior, said she got into poetry after writing poetry in her middle school class. “I was going through a hard experience in my life and I decided to put my feelings into words, ”
Ross said. Ross said Gatwood represented Women’s History Month well because she used symbolic and simple examples of red lipstick and tampons in her poetry reading. “Anyone can write a poem,” she said. “We had someone who has never written poetry before and was able to express so many words and loved it.” Francesca Dolor said she feels encouraged to host more multicultural events in the future where people can feel a sense of belonging. “We are one of the first organizations at SJSU who had to fight to create a space of all different aspects including social justice and cultural identity centers,” Dolor said. Dolor said the purpose of the
MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center is to continue the legacy of student activism by providing a space for students to share their different identities and express themselves. She said that is why events like these are important. “To me, poetry feels like the truth,” Gatwood said.
CAMMY TAN | SPARTAN DAILY
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