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Yep, that's a scene from my play, where I incorporate a short video clip of Don Lemon's interview with Donald Trump where he (Trump) proclaims he is the least racist person that Don Lemon has ever met. Funny/Not Funny. If you haven't yet seen my show it is still available 'til Sunday night 12/5. Although the run of my play at the Re-Encuentro Theater Festival did end, some folks experienced technical glitches and were unable to watch it. So, making it available HERE 'til the end of this weekend. A big SHOUT OUT to the Latino Theater Co. of the LA Theater Center, hosts of The Re-Encuentro Festival. They did an outstanding job, and the hard work of their staff, board, and Re-Encuentro's Selection Committee made the festival a great success. First and foremost, they made 16 theatrical performances available to the general public free of charge, So grateful I was invited to participate and that my show was streamed as part of the festival. The first time I ever had an online run. What else did I love about The Re-Encuentro Festival? Pretty much everything. The promotional images they produced for each of the 16 shows were inspired and I also loved the beautifully colorful and inviting graphics that opened the videos. Kudos all around. The festival also provided the participants' ample opportunity to network with other teatristas --theater-makers -- playwrights, performers, directors, and actors, and a chance to see each others' work. the Latino Theater Co. organized a series of panels on issues that are at the heart of many of the featured plays: immigration, colorism, grief and trauma, representation, music, queer voices. Those panel discussions are available on the Latino Theater Co YouTube channel. I hope you’ll take advantage and watch these presentations, which feature very knowledgeable folks, including some of the performers, speaking on these topics. Beyond all that, each theater company (or solo performer) was invited to do a 45-minute interview where we were asked questions about ourselves and how we created the work. In my session I was joined by my director, Rebecca Fisher, where we spoke about our working relationship as well as Rebecca’s own work in social justice theater including her work with the Bay Area’s Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project (FIPPP). She serves as one of the co-directors. Check out FIPPP’s website and learn more about their work bringing stories to the stage that provide us a greater understanding of how communities of color are impacted by incarceration and the criminal (in)justice system. These online backstage activities were open not just to the participants in the festival, but to all theater companies or solo performers that applied to the festival, irrespective of whether their work was featured. I very much appreciated this spirit of openness and community which gave us a chance to interact with folks from around the country whose experiences within the Latino/x/e diaspora vary enormously. MIL GRACIAS to the Latino Theater Co. for producing such an informative and inspiring event. Seeing all that great work, got me thinking hard about my next play, although I'm still quite passionate about updating and performing ofWhy Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? I look forward to bringing it to theaters around the country, maybe to one near you. So . . . here’s your last chance if you haven’t yet seen it. You can watch it anytime between now and Sunday night, 12/5 (Midnight Pacific) by clicking HERE. A couple of screenshots to pique your interest. Thanks for sharing your reactions to the play in social media posts and in emails sent to me. I very much appreciate hearing from you, and you can reach me at irmadherrera@gmail.com. Adelante.

I woke up with this phrase: sólo tres dias, whirling in my mind. This would be the title of today’s blog. Sólo tres dias to catch my show while it’s streaming as part of Re-Encuentro, the Latina/o/x Theater Festival that ended last Sunday. All 16 plays in Re-Encuento had 10-day online runs. The plays rolled out one or two a day throughout the festival. Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? premiered November 19th and is available through Monday, November 29th (Midnight Pacific Time). So, if you haven’t yet seen it, this weekend is your última oportunidad. If you are lucky enough to grow up in a family where two or more languages are used daily, words and ideas stream out in a smooth consistent flow. You are not even aware that the thoughts forming in your mind are in English or Spanish (or whatever your home language). No matter what I’m writing I’m thinking bilingually, and I am constantly entertained and delighted, and sometimes surprised, by the meaning of words in various languages. Burro in Italian means butter and largo means wide. You shake your head after you get it wrong a time or two and then you're good. More on this in future blogs. I type Solo tres dias into Google Translate. Wow, I need to put an accent on that. And, for the first time, I notice the icon to hear its pronunciation. I listen . . . good authentic well-pronounced Spanish. The power of the internet at its best. Not knowing when an accent is necessary reminds me of the judgment I feel when I'm casually asked, can you translate this. “I have no idea how you say Motion for Summary Judgement in Spanish." “But I thought you were bilingual.” “I am. Let me ask about you. The language of your home is English, yes? How many years of formal education have you had in English? 12? 16? 20? I’ve never been educated in Spanish.” Growing up, most Raza had two years of high school Spanish, with Anglo kids whining, “so unfair, they already know Mexican (their word, not mine), they have an advantage over us. That’s not right.” Chicanos born and raised in the Southwest, many of our families here for generations, were punished for speaking Spanish, they tried to beat the Spanish out of us, and in many instances, they succeeded. Of course, this wasn’t just true for our community, this has been done by English speaking settlers to every group -- indigenous people whose lands they/we occupy, people whose ancestral homes were annexed and made part of the United States through war, waves of immigrants that came over centuries. That anyone in this country can maintain a home language (other than English) beyond a generation is nothing short of a miracle. My theory is that many folks oppose the retention and any formal education of our home languages -- whether Spanish, Cantonese, Arabic, Swahili, Hmong, Mandarin, and others – due to the deep psychic wound experienced by prior generations of white ethnics when they were stripped of their language and culture. Pay it forward in the worst of ways. A wrong was done to my people, we're gonna do it to yours. How many times have I had this conversation, “my (fill in the blank) had to learn English when they came to this country." “Hold up, who said anything about us NOT learning English. Of course, we learn English, but why should we be stripped of our home language?” I could go on for pages about the justifications for wanting English-only education. 1) it confuses children when they speak more than one language. Not true, speaking multiple languages is the norm in most countries regardless of the level of education. 2) real Americans give up their heritage, language, and ties to their homeland. Last I looked St. Patrick’s Day Parade was celebrated by the Irish and by me too. It’s beautiful to hold on to the culture and language of our ancestors no matter how many generations removed we are from those lands. For several years, I worked in the field of Education Law and was deeply immersed in issues of language acquisition, bilingualism, and equity. These are fascinating areas of law that are still of great interest to me. But back to my thinking and writing bilingually. Many a friend has had this experience in a writing workshop where we are the only Latinos in the room. We exchange manuscripts or read for 5,10, 15 minutes. Lots of good feedback but inevitably, someone says, “well, when I see/hear Spanish words you've lost me. I feel excluded. I think it’s better if you don’t use Spanish, or if you must, to provide a translation. Otherwise, I really don’t want to keep reading.” The first thought that comes to mind is pinches pendejos, we read stuff ALL the time in English that is unfamiliar to us, and we just go with it, expecting we’ll get the gist in context, we have faith, and keep reading. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Junot Diaz said it best. 'Nuf said about language. This is the last weekend to see Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?, where I code-switch between English and Spanish. That’s how I roll, and I’m betting you will understand everything, even if you don’t speak Español. To see my hour-long show, which is streaming on-demand, click here. It will take you to the Re-Encuento Registration Page where you provide your name and email address and voilà, you can watch. Wishing all of you a good weekend.

I have been so gratified by the response to my videotaped one-woman show, which was selected as part of Re-Encuentro, the Latina/o/x Theater Festival. Although the festival formally ended on 11/21, all plays selected for the festival got a 10-day run and mine is still streaming through Monday, 11/29 (Midnight Pacific Time). After that, poof, it will disappear from the internet. So here's your chance to see it in the comfort of your home. Although the name of the play remains the same, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?, it is updated on a regular basis to comment on contemporary societal issues as they relate to prejudice, racism, and respect for others. I do not know yet how many views my play has gotten, but it has been watched throughout the United States, and in other countries too. To date, I’ve heard from people in Great Britain, Italy, France, Argentina, and S. Africa. Lucky to know people all over the world and my friends and colleagues have shared information WIDELY with their communities on social media and in private emails. Thank you for sharing these reactions with me. I am very touched by the wide viewership and your kind words for the work. Here are a few comments I’ve received either on email or posted on social media. “James and I just watched your performance. It was masterful!! Your own rich memoir, plus history lessons, plus stand-up comedy - it was completely engaging and highly informative - all while providing important insights into systemic racism. Thank you, Irma! It was powerful!” ~Teresa “Irma. Me hizo reír. Me hizo llorar. Sentí tristeza. Sentí coraje. Tus palabras me trajeron tantos recuerdos de mi niñez y de la vida de mi familia. Me encantó. Lo qué haces es tan importante como el trabajo que hacías en corte. Me siento tan orgullosa de ti. Impresionante.” ~Marta "I just finished watching the film and was blown away by it. It has all the great features of your live shows -- and so much more!! I found all of the material – old and new -- so thoughtful and thought-provoking. I admire your willingness (and dedication) to use your genius to help broaden the horizons of others." ~Julie “The time has arrived for every Anglo to see the beauty and the tribulations of a Latina growing up in South Texas. Irma is a consummate performer assuming many roles alternating between the Alice, TX drawl and the Spanish accents. She's entertaining and engaging. The show is both hilarious and moving. I plan to watch it again.” ~Neil “Ayer vi a tu amiga Irma, me encantó! Si estás en contacto con ella, mandale felicitaciones, por el show y por su actitud.” ~Judith “This is a streaming version of a one-woman play by law school classmate and former colleague. Her play has had a long run in San Francisco with rave reviews and does a great job of exploring prejudice and injustice from her personal experiences.” ~ Ted And finally thanks to Jackie for her post on FB: “There's still time to watch Irma Herrera's solo performance now streaming through November 29th! It's a powerful piece and worth taking an hour to watch. For those of you gathering with friends and family this week, watching this is a great activity to do together. It may spark interesting discussions and sharing of stories. Congratulations Irma on a great show!” My transition from lawyer to teatrista has been a wonderful and rewarding experience, and I have so many more stories to tell, so stay tuned. So grateful to the Los Angeles Latino Theater Co for hosting Re-Encuentro, such an educational and exhilirating experience. A wonderful opportunity to meet other playwrights and performers and to see all 16 plays, written, produced, and performed by us, however we might identify: Latinx, Latine, Hispanic, Latino, Chicana, our identities are richly complex and multi-layered as is our work. Check out the available offerings, many plays from the festival are still streaming for a few more days. Click here to see the play descriptions and whether they are still available. A special shout out to the Re-Encuentro team for producing such beautiful graphics and presenting a seamless and successful 10-day festival. Muchisimas gracias. You can watch Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?, by clicking here, and it will take you to the Re-Encuentro's, Registration Page. After you register (name and email) you can stream the show. Much gratitude to all.

“Muchacha, pareces mosca en leche,” my mother’s words urge me to change clothes, expressing her view that the white blouse I’m wearing makes me look like a fly in the milk. The laughter and other sounds of recognition when I say these lines on stage give me a solid clue as to how many of my peeps are in the audience. By my peeps I mean Raza, a term that means community in this context, rather than race. Personally, I identify as Chicana, and I also see myself as part of that larger collective of 60+ million people labeled or self-identified as Latinx, Latina, Latino, Latine (gaining traction like Latinx as gender-neutral), Hispano, Hispanic. There is no universal agreement as to what we call ourselves or others call us, and language is always evolving. It’s becoming common to see these terms used interchangeably. But this blog isn’t about what we call ourselves, it’s about colorism, a type of discrimination that favors lighter skin over darker skin, often within the same racial or ethnic group. Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center released a report titled, Latinos and Colorism: Majority of U.S. Hispanics Say Skin Color Impacts Opportunity and Shapes Daily Life. The Pew report explained that colorism can be related to racism but is its own form of discrimination, and not surprisingly found that persons with darker skin experienced more incidents of discrimination than Latinos with lighter skin. I won’t summarize the other findings but will simply say it stated the obvious, the lighter you are the greater the chance you’ve had better opportunities for a decent education and higher status better-paying jobs, and careers. The charts that accompany the report illustrate the research finding and are visually quite interesting. You can read a fuller discussion on colorism and racism and how these -isms affect our families as people from different ethnic groups and racial backgrounds enter into long-term unions and our immediate families become multi-racial in this Time Magazine article. Colorism is not unique to the Latine community, it’s everywhere, not just here in the United States, or in Latin America, it is a global phenomenon, including in India, Brazil, and many African countries. When traveling in India some years back I saw so many billboards advertising Fair and Lovely products, holding up lighter fairer skin as the standard of beauty. And there have been campaigns by Bollywood actors seeking to counter that narrative. People are voting with their pocketbooks to lighten up. An article in Marketplace reported that the “global market for bleach creams and injectables that purport to lighten skin — and which carry many potential health risks — stood at an estimated $8.6 billion in 2020, including $2.3 billion in the U.S.” A quick bilingual internet search for the image mosca en leche produced these two books with the phrase as their title. Haven't read either, but the book covers caught my eye. No matter the language, we know that a fly in the milk (or the soup) is not a welcome sight. My mother’s message was loud and clear don’t call attention to your darkness. I purposely accentuated my skin color as a form of spite. The existence of colorism was often denied with phrases like para mi todos son iguales, everyone is equal. But everyday conversations I heard among adults confirmed this deeply entrenched prejudice. "Juan Felipe is such a smart, kind boy, too bad he’s so dark." And the never-ending praise for light-skinned babies. "Carolina’s baby is so pretty, tan güerita, such light skin, tan preciosa la niña." It is not uncommon for family members and friends to assign a nickname based on physical attributes, la negrita, la prieta, la güera, la chinita. And these names are typically uttered with great affection, I took no offense when my parents or other relatives called me mi prieta. Listen to some Cuban music (just one example) and these terms of endearment are everywhere. I spent several weeks in Havana and engaged in conversations with people I befriended about their easy-going and common referencing of someone’s skin color. They were baffled by my explanation that such references in the United States would be considered racially insensitive or outright racist. Today I am a pale version of myself, having lived in the temperate climate of Northern California. When I see current pictures of me or look in the mirror, my mind’s eye sees me in the darker hue of my younger self. As I put my hand up against the chart in the Pew Research Poll on colorism, I’m a 4 but my true color is a 6. I love beach vacations because being in the hot sun restores my true color within a matter or two or three days. Pero aqui en el norte de California estoy muy palida. Talking about colorism and naming and acknowledging prejudices in our community is a good thing and a starting point for addressing our biases. It does no good to pretend otherwise. The issue was part of a national conversation with respect to Lin-Manuel Miranda's In The Heights and the casting of few Afro-Latinos in major roles. "Lo prieto no duele," my mother would say when she’d hear my siblings tease me. "Sonriete, para poder verte." Smile so we can see you in the dark. My mother’s comment that being dark never hurt anyone simply perpetuated the lie. No different than being told that sticks and stones can break your bones, but words will never hurt you. We know better, words can and do hurt us. And so does colorism. Check out my one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? where I explore how colorism in our community, along with perceptions of us as perpetual “foreigners,” leads to devaluing Latinos. Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? is streaming, on-demand, and it’s free, between Friday, November 19th and Monday, November 29th as part of Re-Encuentro, the Latina/o/x Theater Festival. Go to irmaherrera.com, and click on the red RSVP button, this will take you to Re-Encuentro’s RSVP form, complete that and the link will be mailed to you. You must register to receive the streaming link. Thanks for watching, it’s available during the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Every year on November 2nd, el Dia de Finados (Roman Catholic All Souls Day), our family would make a pilgrimage to Collins Cemetery, the segregated cemetery in the outskirts of Alice, Texas, our hometown. My mother and other relatives would likely have gone days earlier to spruce up: do some weeding and wash the gravestones. On that day more popularly known as Dia de Los Muertos, we would bring flowers to honor my mother’s parents, Refugia Solis and Enemencio Martinez, and other family members who were buried there. We did not grow up with the colorful Day of the Dead celebrations we now see everywhere. Our remembrances were simple: we brought flowers to our loved ones, yes, marigolds and chrysanthemums. Our visit would include prayers as well as touching and saying the engraved names on their tombstones. As she has done since childhood, my only remaining sister Ida who still lives in Alice continues el Dia de Finados tradition. Collins Cemetery, now a designated historical site by the Texas Historical Society, is the resting place for my parents, Esperanza and Claudio, and our siblings, Raquel Rosario and Claudio, Jr. White people, Anglos as we called them, are buried in a different cemetery several miles down the road. A few Black families that lived in Alice also buried their loved ones at Collins in their own section, separate from us. Thankfully, the fence dividing our two groups was taken down many years ago. Throughout South Texas, we lived with cradle to grave segregation. On my father’s side of the family, the Herreras and Morenos were buried in the border town of Escobares, Texas where his family was from. We visited their gravesites less often as Escobares was 135 miles south of Alice. The current population in Starr County, where Escobares is located, is 96% Hispanic according to Census data, and it was likely that way for several hundred years. There were few, if any, opportunities for integration. How we remember the dead varies among cultures. The Black Lives Matter movement made the words Say Their Names part of our present vocabulary. I am glad for that as it is important that we remember those who have died, that we say their names. And it is equally important to remember how they died. Earlier this year on August 2, 2021, the Second Anniversary of the racially motivated mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, this image above caught my eye. I set out to learn about it and to identify its creator. Two years ago, the nation was shocked when a 21-year-old white supremacist shot 46 people on a quiet Saturday morning as they shopped for groceries and back-to-school specials at Walmart. He aimed his assault rifle at anyone who “looked Mexican.” According to the online manifesto he posted, he was stopping the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” The 23 people that were killed are remembered in this image. My internet research led me to Appalachian painter and activist, Ellen Elmes. I found her contact information and wrote her, asking permission to weave this image into my one-woman show. We arranged a phone conversation, and she wanted to know more about my intentions. I described my play and how I use theater to raise awareness about the impact of prejudice and how stoking hatred towards groups inevitably leads to violence. She kindly granted me permission but wanted me to know the back story of how and why she came to paint these individual portraits. She had read an essay written by David Carrasco Saying The Mexican Names: Reflections on Another Pandemic published on the First Anniversary of the El Paso shooting. “This past Christmas,” Carrasco wrote, “I visited the Cielo Vista Walmart to see the “Grand Candela”, the 30-foot tall golden obelisk monument which honors the people killed in this attack . . . I was disappointed that there was no plaque that listed the names of those killed . . . I stood in silence for a few moments. I pulled out the list of names from my pocket and whispered them to myself.” Click here to read the essay. Her reading David Carrasco’s essay wasn’t totally random, Ellen and her husband Don, are longtime friends with him, having attended college together in Western Maryland. Carrasco is the Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America in the Harvard Divinity School, with a joint appointment in the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Carrasco’s family is from El Paso. “I was deeply moved by David’s remembering of the victims and compassionate perspective,” Ellen wrote. “His words brought me to the point of realizing my desire to paint portraits of each of the 23 people murdered. Not knowing when I began painting if I could make such a project a reality, I started painting one portrait a day, each on a 9” x 12” canvas, throughout the month of October 2020. Painting the portraits became kind of a daily mantra for me, choosing the colors and photographs to work from for each person, recreating as much as possible a kind of visual vitality in paint to honor their life on earth. Initially, I looked up online pictures and info, whatever I could find, about each person and that is what hooked me into doing the paintings. They became real people. And spinning off of the importance of knowing and remembering their names, I decided to look up a legendary or mythological or cultural meaning of each name and incorporate that into each painting.” Read Ellen Elmes’ statement about this work on her website. Click here. With the help of the Harvard Divinity School staff and community leaders in El Paso, Ellen and Don were able to get addresses for all the families and mailed them the individual portraits she had painted of their loved ones. The families received them on Christmas Eve 2020. The story of the portraits became known to others and her images made their way to social media on the Second Anniversary of the Walmart shootings. Thank you, Ellen, for this series of portraits titled A Tribute to Beloved Lives. And thanks also to David Carrasco for sharing his experiences about growing up in a world of prejudice and segregation, something familiar to me and many of us. I have woven Ellen Elmes’ images into my one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? which is part of Re-Encuentro 2021, a National Latina/o/x Theater Festival taking place later this month. You can learn more about the El Paso Massacre and the events that gave rise to this deadly assault in this illuminating Truthout article by colleague Camilo Pérez-Bustillo. Click here for article. Thanks for reading this blog. I appreciate your sharing it with family and friends. Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? written and performed by Irma Herrera Streaming, on-demand, Free Starting Friday, November 19 @ Noon (Pacific Time) through Monday, November 29th Midnight Click here to RSVP. You must RSVP to receive the streaming link

Eureka! You can now register to watch Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? during Re-Encuentro, the national Latina/o/x Theater Festival. My one-woman show will be available for on-demand streaming starting Friday, November 19th at Noon and through midnight November 29th. There is no cost for watching any of the performances during the festival. Click here and it will take you to the page where you can complete the rsvp form, please note that you must scroll down to the end of the play's description to see the RSVP form. Although the form states "[t]his reservation is only for the premiere of Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name on Friday, November 19 at 12:00 P.M PST," you can watch the performance ANYTIME during the 10-day streaming period. You must register to get the link, so do it now, it takes less than a minute. According to the registration page, the link will be sent before 11/19. There is no indication as to when the link will be sent, but I will keep an eye out for it and I will let you know when I get my link, as I too registered to see it. Although you might well imagine that I'll be watching it on Friday, 11/19 at Noon. Did you already see the show on stage pre-pandemic or a Zoom presentation during the past 18 months? I invite you to watch it again, as it is revised and updated. This performance was filmed at StageWerx Theater in San Francisco, so if you watched on zoom all you saw was a talking head on a rectangular screen. For anyone who is fully vaccinated and comfortable with small gatherings, please consider hosting a watch party with a handful of friends. Your support has meant so much to me. Please help spread the word, tell your friends about it. Money-back guarantee that it will be an hour well-spent. What Others Have Said "This is a show for all generations. My teen son, retired mother, and I saw the show together and couldn't stop talking about it. Ms. Herrera invites us to examine racial history in America and our own perceptions in a way that opens conversations through humor and authenticity. ¡Cinco Estrellas!" ~Melinda Martinez, Teacher Training Coordinator, Puente Program “Put @irmadherrera's theater piece, "Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?" on your to-do list . . . Personal and deeply thought-provoking on issues of identity important for us to think about today” ~Professor Marsha Cohen, Hasting College of the Law

My one-woman play will be shown nationally as part of Re-Encuentro, a theater festival sponsored by The Latino Theater Company of the LA Theater Center. You can watch a recently filmed version of my play, on-demand, in the comfort of your own home. To make sure you get the registration link, please provide me your name and email address in the Contact Irma! Form on the home page of my website, irmaherrera.com, as I’ll include this information as soon as available in upcoming newsletters. I last performed before a live audience the weekend of March 6-8, 2020, in Brian Copeland’s Best of SF Solo Series in San Leandro, CA right before COVID shelter-in-place orders. Although most shows that weekend were on the cusp of selling out, even ticketed folks were forgoing activities where large groups of people gathered. Still, it was a great weekend. That was 21 months ago, the separation of immigrant children from their parents was still in the news, the Walmart Massacre in El Paso, a very recent and painful wound to the Latino community. Back then COVID was not yet dominating our lives, George Floyd had not yet been murdered by a callous police officer, the COVID virus had not yet been racialized by top government officials leading to a spike in Asian hate crimes. All this and more are incorporated into this updated version of my show. Live theater is gradually re-opening, from Broadway to local venues, and I am so excited and grateful. I love sitting in a theater, especially those intimate black box spaces. Gradually the lights dim, and darkness surrounds us. There, I am transported and can experience situations that are totally new. It is equally exciting to see myself and my community in familiar struggles and joys as their lives unfold on stage. And as much as I love being in the audience, it is a wonderful experience to bring those stories to you. The laughter, sighs, uncomfortable chuckles, shuffling in the seats, and the absolute silences are immediate feedback of audience reactions. As we develop our stories we do so quietly, alone. If we are lucky, we share our work with a small group of trusted friends, and get their reactions, we shape and reshape. We workshop our material in larger groups, in classes, in someone’s living room, and eventually, we put the play on its feet for the broader public, but we really don’t know what we’ve got until we perform our work before an audience. During the pandemic, there has been strong demand for my play and I have been presenting on Zoom. An extra-long curtain rod with a burgundy velvet curtain along the wall, extra lighting, a Panasonic camera, and a microphone connected to my iMac, transform mi oficina into a virtual teatro. I’ve presented a Zoom adapted version of my play, and short excerpts, for schools, colleges, law firms, organizations, a conference of law professors, and even as a part of a fundraising event. Audiences have varied - from a dozen folks to hundreds. It is exciting to know people are watching from Texas to Michigan, New York to California. Post-performance, we invite audience members to share their thoughts around specific questions: And we have found that audiences are receptive and engaged and often the conversations continue 30-45 minutes beyond the scheduled program time. Here’s a comment shared by a member of a law firm that used Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? as part of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program. “Irma’s one-woman performance is an engaging way to learn about racial and gender discrimination. Her performance is thought-provoking, enlightening, and, at times, quite funny. Participants overwhelmingly appreciated Irma presenting these topics in this unique way. Equally valuable were the breakout groups following Irma’s performance . . . For some, it was the first-time participants felt comfortable having these types of conversations and many felt like they gained a greater awareness of their colleagues’ work and life experiences.” During the next several weeks, I will share more of the backstory of developing this work, originally titled, Tell Me Your Name, and how the play is always evolving. So, if you aren’t already subscribed to my newsletter, please get on board by visiting my website, irmaherrera.com, and providing your name and email address on the Contact Irma! Form. Or you can email me at irmadherrera@gmail.com and ask me to add you to my distribution list. I’m so excited that no matter where you live, you can see my show. You don’t have to get yourself to the San Francisco Bay Area. Although a trip to San Francisco is always such a treat. The theater festival is on for just 10 days, and watching the play is gratis. After that 10 day period . . . poof . . . like magic, the show will no longer be available for streaming. As more theaters open up, I hope to start performing live again, maybe I’ll be invited to perform in your city. Thanks so much for reading my blog.

So pleased to announce that I am being honored by IANGEL in a virtual gala on August 19, 2021, at 5:30 pm (Pacific Time) with their Amel Zenoune-Zouoani Rights & Leadership Award. I will share this honor with Julienne Lusenge, a tireless leader on behalf of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lawyer colleague and friend Nancy Newman founded IANGEL (International Action Network for Gender Equity & Law), an international network of lawyers dedicated to gender equity and justice. It harnesses the power of pro bono legal assistance, connecting it to the cause of women’s rights locally, nationally, and around the world. Nancy’s vision and can-do attitude are a testament to the power of an individual to make enormous changes. IANGEL’s Rights & Leadership Award was named for Amel Zenoune-Zouani, an Algerian law student who was murdered by fundamentalists in 1988 for refusing to give up her law studies. The award in Amel’s memory keeps her in our hearts and minds, reminds us of the sacrifices made in pursuit of gender equality, and inspires us to continue the hard work ahead. Please visit IANGEL’s website to register for the event and to learn more about the organization and its important work. https://www.iangel.org/ The $30 ticket price supports a great cause. I will be hosting ten friends, so if you would like to attend as my guest, please send me an email, and I will put you on the list. My last blog was about a Zoom interview with author Joan Steinau Lester, sponsored by Alta Mesa Center for the Arts. She and I discussed her latest book, Loving Before Loving. The event had great attendance, thanks to all that joined. For those who are unable to be with us that Sunday afternoon, here is the video of the interview. As mentioned in the interview, Joan has received more emails and letters about this book than any other of the fine books she has published. Joan recently posted a moving story and picture on Facebook that I share here with Joan and the couple’s permission. I hope your summer is going well, the Delta variant is wreaking havoc around the nation, so please protect yourselves. Many people feel done with the CORONA virus, but the virus is not done with us. Therefore, patience and caution are in order, and that includes mask-wearing, hand hygiene, and getting vaccinated if you haven’t yet done so. Thanks so much for reading my blog post.

Please join Joan Steinau Lester and me as we discuss her latest book, a memoir, Loving Before Loving, on Sunday afternoon, July 11th, 4-5 pm (Pacific Time). The event is free, but you must register to receive the Zoom link. Register here: https://bit.ly/LesterConvo or by via the QR code. I was familiar with Joan’s work, having read some of her books and many published essays, and I had heard her commentaries on racial and gender justice on the radio over the decades. During the past two years, we have become friends, and I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about Joan’s commitment to equality that has guided her for decades. The book cover flap description captures the essence of her memoir. “Committed to the struggle for civil rights, in the late 1950s Joan Steinau Lester marched in protest as a white ally, a young woman coming to terms with her own racism. She soon fell in love with and married the Black writer Julius Lester, establishing a partnership that was long and multifaceted but not free of the politics of race and gender. Over time, as the women’s movement dawned, feminism helped Lester find her voice, her pansexuality, and the courage to be herself. Braiding intellectual, personal, and political history, Lester tells the story of her fight for love and justice before, during, and after the Supreme Court’s landmark 1967 decision striking down bans on interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia. She describes her own shifts in consciousness, from an activist climbing police barricades by day, reading and writing late into the night, to a woman navigating the coming out process in mid-life. Speaking candidly about every facet of her life, Lester illuminates her intimate journey to fulfillment and healing. Loving Before Loving is a riveting and deeply personal memoir that eloquently communicates the deep pains of sexism and racism and presents a guide to transforming those pains into strength and meaningful progress. Lester's search for a path that allows her to become the person she wants to be offers insights for anyone struggling for equality within a patriarchal society.” It was an honor to provide a book blurb and to join the numerous writers vouching for the work. “This book is the real deal, the way it was. A good book for folks to grow on. I love it! Bravo!" ~Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple "Weaving her personal history with decades of social history, Lester's memoir beautifully captures her relentless quest to find her voice as a writer and as a woman living on the forefront of social change. An engaging and inspiring narrative!" ~Beverley Daniel Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? You can learn more about Joan's work at her website: http://www.joanlester.com/. It's a good read and please consider ordering the book from an independent bookseller. Amazon offers us so much convenience and discounts, but they do NOT need our business, but small booksellers sure do. As I was re-reading Loving Before Loving earlier today, I was struck by one of the photos in the book of the FBI poster of the missing civil rights workers who were killed by a white mob, with the assistance of local law enforcement. The reason they were murdered: for registering voters in Mississippi in 1964. Joan was friends with the brother and sister-in-law of Mickey Schwerner, one of the slain young men. The right to vote was long denied to Blacks, American Indians, Mexican-Americans, Asian-Americans. And people were brutally beaten and some killed for seeking to ensure everyone could register to vote, and actually cast a ballot. Efforts are underway setting up hurdles in many states to restrict voting rights. So the battle to ensure our civil rights is very much still the fight of our lives. We cannot move our nation in the direction of equality while the vote is being suppressed. I hope you are well, that you and your family are vaccinated, and that you have had the opportunity to reunite with loved ones in person. It has been a very tough year with many people suffering immense personal losses, including the deaths of family and friends, and so much economic hardship. I haven’t been in touch for the past several months as I dislocated my right shoulder in a fall in April which caused three rotator cuff tendons to tear, requiring surgery. The recovery process has been more difficult than I anticipated and I was encumbered by a sling and belly cushion that immobilized my right arm 24/7 for weeks. I found it impossible to be on a keyboard more than a half-hour each day attending to email and some social media. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get more writing done soon and producing episodes of my Stairwell Teatro in the coming months. Not sure when my play, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? will be back on stage, and I'll certainly let you know of any upcoming public performances. I have been presenting it on zoom to law schools, conferences, and law firms, often as a component of diversity, equity, and inclusion training which has been enormously rewarding. I revise it often to reflect current events in our country. I look forward to seeing those who can join on Zoom next Sunday, July 11th, 4-5 pm, and to an interesting conversation with Joan Lester. Be sure to register here https://bit.ly/LesterConvo to receive the link you’ll need. Wishing you a healthy and safe summer.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate. I remembered this morning that I had told an Easter Story at Stage Werx in San Francisco two years ago, the last time I performed at that beloved SF venue. Lo and behold, I found the video this morning. So, I am sharing with you today. It’s 20 minutes long. I shared it two years ago. This Easter also coincides with the 53rd Anniversary of the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was struck down by an assassin’s bullet outside his hotel room in Memphis. I think of Dr. King often, remembering his global vision of fighting for justice in all forms, including economic justice. And that is inextricably tied with racial justice since so much of our nations’ economic disparity is directly related to opportunities that were not available for our parents and grandparents as a result of the nation’s laws that allowed (better yet demanded) segregation and second-class treatment of black and brown people with respect to education, housing, voting, employment opportunity, and the list goes on and on. Efforts to curtail our rights, particularly with respect to voting, are getting the full-court press, and we must fight against them, today and every day. Last Easter we were just beginning to see the toll COVID-19 was taking especially in communities of color. We were getting wildly distorted (and outright false) information from our government about COVID and what we could do to protect ourselves and each other. Little did we know what pain and sorrow awaited so many who would lose family members, in some instances, multiple loved ones. Or the financial wreckage it would leave in its wake, especially among the most vulnerable. Last Easter we had not yet seen Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin take a knee on George Floyd’s neck, and extinguish his life. As I watch highlights of the Chauvin trial, my heart breaks at the pain of those who witnessed the event first-hand, and the trauma and grief so many of us feel about how racism kills. BLM reminds us to say their names -- men and women killed by police violence. And many people die at the hands of others, filled with hate which has been stoked in no small part by politicians and so-called media personalities. The Walmart Massacre in El Paso claimed 23 lives (46 people were shot) mostly Latinos and the spa killings in the Atlanta area, which targeted Asian women killed eight people, six of them Asian women. The perpetrators - two young white men who targeted people of color. I am hopeful that justice will be done in prosecuting all these cases. And I am moved by the activism of young people (and folks of all ages) who are speaking up for racial justice. I am also hopeful that our nation is moving in the right direction. We are putting programs in place that provide a social safety net much needed right now. We are investing in our nation’s future. A highly effective vaccine was developed in record time and is being administered daily in unimagined numbers all over the country. More needs to be done to get it to the most vulnerable communities. Those of us who can afford to help others who have lost their livelihoods should dig deep in our pockets and give to the multiple worthy causes serving people in need. Right in your community, there are folks you interact with who would appreciate your generosity. Maybe your tip to the food delivery person can be bumped up to 50% rather than 20% once in a while. Imagine that person being able to buy a little something they otherwise could not give to their children, their parent, their partner. And also send a donation to a food bank. Have you seen the lines of people waiting for food? Sadly, there is much suffering and want in our country. What better time to be generous than when we are moved by the spirit of resurrection and renewal? We renew our faith in our community by service and generosity and lending a hand to those in need. Looking forward to seeing folks again in person, whenever the time may be right. Best wishes as we move forward into Spring.

Several friends have commented that they haven’t received a newsletter or a recent episode of my Stairwell Teatro. Have they fallen off my mailing list? No, dear readers, you remain on my distribution list . . . I have not published anything lately as I’ve been busy learning to use new live streaming software and continuing my education on promoting racial justice by reading books, watching webinars, and engaging in discussions, on and offline. Every Monday, in my neighborhood, we stand on our street, holding signs showing support for BLM. We’ve been doing it for 42 weeks straight. Many of us could not attend the huge demonstrations that took place around the world protesting the murder of George Floyd. Our way of showing solidarity was by coming together as neighbors. We must not remain silent about group-based hate and violence. As a popular protest sign says: Silence is Violence. The killings at the spas in the Atlanta area, where six of the eight victims were Asian women, brought back the sadness and rage I felt in the immediate aftermath of the El Paso Walmart Massacre. In August 2019, a white supremacist shot 46 people, killing 23, shattering the lives of so many families. The home-grown terrorist reported killing these people to stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas. His words echoing those of so many elected officials and “media” personalities. Words matter and the scapegoating and demeaning of Asians that we all witnessed starting with Donald Trump’s words have real consequences on the lives of individuals and our communities. No matter what explanations are offered by the perpetrators of horrific violence the identity of the intended victims, their ethnicity, race, gender reveals the true story. Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, AAPI community, people with disabilities, our brothers and sisters In the LGBT community, women, we know what it's like to be demeaned and devalued and to worry about our personal safety and that of our loved ones. This is no time for silence, we must speak up, and do our part to combat destructive forces that are hurting so many. Dr. King’s famous words have such resonance at this moment. During this past year, while theaters have been closed, I have been presenting online and I especially love engaging with students and teachers. I was pleased to learn several days ago, that anyone can watch my upcoming online presentation which is part of the “Stories Build Bridges” Speaker Series sponsored by the San Ramon Valley Unified School District PTSA. The goal of the series is to promote inclusion, unity, and community through conversations about equity. This online presentation, an excerpt of my one-woman show, will be followed by a discussion with a panel of students. It’s free, but you need to register, either through this link or the QR Code. The form will ask you which school you're affiliated with, pick either one. You'll then get asked what your role is. Use "community member" option. Stories Build Bridges Series Tuesday, March 23, 2021 6:30-8 pm (Pacific) Join us if you can, and soon, I’ll have a new episode of my Stairwell Teatro.

I am happy to present Part 2 of the Pullman Porters' Stairwell Teatro Episode. If you haven't watched Part 1, you can do so now by clicking here. This blog provides additional information about the Porters' extraordinary work for economic and racial justice along with links to articles, news clips, and the movie 10,000 Men Named George, which you can watch on YouTube. Although I had planned to complete Part 2 several weeks ago, the assault on the Capitol and the attempted coup, the Impeachment, and the transition made it challenging to focus on much beyond the news cycle. Fortunately, President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris took office with no incident, or violence, on an inspiring and hopeful day. Despite unprecedented challenges, our nation is moving in the right direction. All of us can contribute in multiple ways to get Covid-19 under control: from wearing our masks, washing/sanitizing our hands, avoiding travel and socializing, and getting vaccinated. And let's continue our work building a just and fair society as we heed the words of A. Phillip Randolph, the brilliant organizer of the Pullman Porters, who served as the union president for decades. The Pullman Porters and their union spent a century, 101 years to be exact, demanding better working conditions and dignity and respect for the Black community. They laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement and helped us realize this moment. I am so grateful for their contributions. Gracias. I appreciate your reading my blog and watching my Stairwell Teatro. If you enjoy reading my blog or the video episodes, please share them with your friends and family.