An interview with the local Latina author regarding her latest novel; her two previous books, Fragile Night and Let Their Spirits Dance; and her current work on the women of Juarez project. Duarte has been descriped as a “major, new literary voice in America.”
>> >> José Cárdenas:
Good evening, I'm Jose Cardenas. Welcome to "Horizonte." Coming up, analyzing the state of the emerging Latino market.
>>> José Cárdenas:
We will talk with a leading researcher in the field to find out what makes Hispanics tick. Also how a Mexican folk game became the inspriation for an artist. And a local author talks about her novels.
>>> Funding for "Horizonte" is provided by Bank of America who applauds those who strive for excellence. Bank of America, higher standards. And by SRP. SRP's business is water and power, but our dedication to the community doesn't stop there. SRP, delivering more than power.
>> José Cárdenas:
In Arizona, the Hispanic buying power is $19 billion. And by 2008, the Hispanic purchasing power in the U.S. is expected to be $1 trillion. The Behavioral Research Center has been examining the Latino market for more than two decades. On an earlier "Horizonte," we talked about the new Latino market with the Center's president, Earl De Berge.
>> José Cárdenas:
Tell us what the research center is? Earl De Berge: We're a private market and policy research firm established back in 1965. We do research all over the United States, Latin America, and we have a specialty in Latino studies or Hispanic studies.
>> José Cárdenas:
As we mentioned in the intro, the behavior research center has been doing this kind of work for over two decades, but recently, they decided to do it differently. What was the old methodology and then explain the new one.
>> Earl De Berge:
The old methodology, which has been used all over the United States was fundamentally to concentrate interviewing in census tracks where there was a significant population identified by the U.S. census as Hispanic, generally 10% or more. We became increasingly aware that in doing that, we were leaving huge parts of the population out, because we could see that in our other studies in the general population that we were doing, so we made a shift when the new census came out that allowed us to get down to the census track level the way we needed to and began interviewing across Arizona with only one issue that would put a person into our Latino studies, and that is do they consider themselves to be Hispanic. If they considered themselves in that category, we accepted them into the study. If they felt they were fully aculture rated and no longer thought of themselves as Hispanic, we did not take them into the interview. We looked at people across Arizona who say "I'm Hispanic."
>> José Cárdenas:
The results are what you call the new Latino market. Let's talk about what that is.
>> Earl De Berge:
It embraces all of the old markets that we looked at. It's not a change in that regard, but it is an expansion in the sense that we look at a much larger group of people than we had in the past. The immediate results of the study were dramatic. We began to understand more fully how much more of what we're seeing, how gentrified this market is. I think most of us understand that the stereotypical view of Latinos in Arizona as being, you know, first generation, second generation Spanish dominant just really doesn't hold any water.
>> José Cárdenas:
Let's start with the language aspects of it. What does the new Latino market reveal with respect to language preference?
>> Earl De Berge:
The first thing you need to understand, this was a part of Mexico long before it was a part of the United States. We have very old families here, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh generation families here, people who have been here a long time. When we compare it to the United States as a whole, the first thing we notice right away was that the proportion of the Hispanics in Arizona who are bilingual, that is to say speak English or English dominant totals 80%. In the United States as a whole it's 60%. Quite a big difference here. It has profound implications for communications in business, and politics, public policy and so on. The notion that most Hispanics in Arizona are Spanish dominant simply is not true. It's probably about a fifth of the market may be in that category.
>> José Cárdenas:
What would it mean to advertisers here in Arizona?
>> Earl De Berge:
Well, it means that they have to be a lot more careful about how they are approaching the marketplace. They have to think about Hispanics as a segmented market. There is Latinas. There is Latinos. There are young Hispanics, old Hispanics. There are retirees that were not identifiable in the marketplace before. There are early adopters. There are all types of segments in this market that are the same as any other market. So marketers today have greater choices about how they can approach this market, using Spanish language media, English language media, depending on who they are trying to reach. If they are trying to reach young Hispanics who are native born in the United States, which is the majority, they better be looking at the same kind of stations and same kind of media as you might look for those youngsters if they were Anglo or --
>> José Cárdenas:
Perhaps with a Spanish flair. We've seen commercials with prominent Latina actresses, Selma Hyatt, for example, speaking Spanish and English.
>> Earl De Berge:
One of the most popular radio stations in America is a bilingual station in Los Angeles. The second most popular I think is in Tucson. That's exactly so. The cultural relevance of the message still has to be embedded inside of what's been going on, but you don't necessarily -- well, you shouldn't think that you can reach the Hispanic market on Spanish language media alone. You will not reach that set that's English dominant, and depending more on English media, the newspapers, Internet. I'll give you an example. We did a study, six, seven months ago on the U.S. of the Internet by Hispanics. They use 21 portals. Of those, three out of four are English language.
>> José Cárdenas:
Well, let's go back to the traditional market definition, the results yielded by that and now this new Latina market definition. Let's talk about demographic. Age profiles. Are there significant differences that these two definitions generate?
>> Earl De Berge:
Yeah, the first thing we saw in that area, it's a much older market than we thought. I should use the term "mature" rather than "old". We think of the Hispanic market of being made of very young first generation people that are in this country. It's not the case at all. By way of comparison, the proportion of the traditional market definition that's over 45 is 31%. In the new Latina definition which includes both, it jumps up to 45%. The portion which is retired is 16% or 17%, which is 3 or 4% of the same figures that we see in the general population. It's a more mature market.
>> José Cárdenas:
What about with respect to the language issue that we were discussing earlier in what are the differences generated by the change in definitions?
>> Earl De Berge:
Big definitional difference there. The portion who are lean English in the old definition is about 12%. In the new definition, it's almost 42%. There is a huge difference. The degree holders, people that hold college degrees, jump from 4% to 24%. That's still only half of the general population, but it's a very, very different view of this market.
>> José Cárdenas:
With respect to Spanish dominant, there seem to be just really significant differences there, depending upon which definition you use.
>> Earl De Berge:
Yeah, the older view would say approximately 53%, 54% of that population is Spanish dominant. That is to say, can't get along in English. The new definition says that's only 20%.
>> José Cárdenas:
Let's talk about some of the information that you gathered, again, using the two definitions with respect to income and family size.
>> Earl De Berge:
These are some of the bigger surprises. And I think as you start compiling these numbers, you understand what you are looking at. Family size shrinks. The new definition of smaller families, they are doing the same thing that other gentrified groups, if you will, or assimilated groups have done. They understand there is a relationship between income and family size, and their values with respect to family size are changing. We find the proportion who have five-plus children in the old definition is around 42%, in this definition. The new definition, it drops down to 23%. Income similarly jumps to proportion. This is what marketers are really interested in, the proportion to earn over $36,000 a year jumps from 14% to almost 45%. So this is a market that has a lot more money. This is why you are seeing all of these figures coming in about the trillions and billions of dollars. In Arizona alone the Hispanic market is a $20 billion market today.
>> José Cárdenas:
Again, the reason for these significant shifts is because we're gathering more information and it presents a different picture of the market; is that right?
>> Earl De Berge:
No, actually, the market is changing. This market is getting older, getting more mature, and they are having more success in education. They are having more success in occupation. The proportion of Hispanics who are in white color occupations are rising by the rate of 1% a year.
>> José Cárdenas:
If you used the traditional definition you would have lower numbers than using this broader definition; correct?
>> Earl De Berge:
That's correct. And we find that they are still at poverty level, they are entry level in terms of the economy and employment and other types of opportunities.
>> José Cárdenas:
Let's talk about your findings with respect to religion and politics.
>> Earl De Berge:
Very interesting. We've presented this information and some people don't care for them, others care for them a lot, but in the category of politics, basically what we're finding is that the more gentrified, if you will, part of the Hispanic market is moving toward the Republican party. In 1990, about 80% were Democrats. Today that's down to about 62%.
>> José Cárdenas:
Are we talking Arizona or nationwide?
>> Earl De Berge:
We're talking Arizona. We have not looked at that nationwide. I suspect Arizona is probably further ahead in that because this is an older marketplace here in terms of the length of time that Hispanics have lived in this marketplace. They are a more dominant part of the whole thing. The figures on religion are also interesting. The proportion who think of themselves as Catholic is definitely related to age. They are less likely to consider themselves Catholic, about 54%, if they are under 25, compared to 45-year-olds who are about 78%. But the one that jumped off the page at us was the relationship between their religious preference, if you will, and politics. About 78% of Democrats who are Hispanic consider themselves to be Catholic, drops down to 55% amongst Republican Hispanics. They are going towards Christian groups that they have not done so in the past. There is a real movement there.
>> José Cárdenas:
We have to wrap it up. We only have a few seconds. Any comments on the primary that we just had as it relates to Hispanics?
>> Earl De Berge:
I wrote a block about it the other day. I said keep your eyes out. This is a changing market. We're going to see definitional shifts and a lot of preference shifts; don't count on them going one direction. They have shown that and will continue to show it.
>> José Cárdenas:
Earl, thank you for joining us. We appreciate you being here.
>>> José Cárdenas:
She has been described as a major new literary voice in America. And her work has won awards and honors nationwide, including the nomination for the Pushcart Prize in literature. Stella Pope Duarte was born and raised in south Phoenix. Duarte began her career in 1995 and is joining us this evening to talk about her latest novel and the women of Juarez project. Stella, Thank you for joining us on "Horizonte."
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
Thank you for inviting me to the show.
>> José Cárdenas:
You've been an educator all of your life. How did you get into the writing world just nine years ago?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
Yes, that was a magical way for me to get into the writing world. Actually, I had a dream, and I journal a lot. So in the dream, my dad, who had been deceased for 10 years in 1995, shows up in my dream, with a huge spiral staircase to indicate to me that my destiny from then forth was to become a writer, that I was destined to write.
>> José Cárdenas:
And you've done now two books, and you've got a third one on the way. The books you've done reflect your experiences growing up in south Phoenix in the Rosarita barrio. Tell us about that. How is that a reflection of your life's experiences?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
Rosarita barrio is off of 7th Avenue and Buckeye and it also borders 18th Avenue and the freeway. And in "Let Their Spirits Dance" you will see it as a -- so it totally permeates my life as a writer.
>> José Cárdenas:
"Let Their Spirits Dance" being your second book.
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
Yes, my second book. "In Fragile Night" of course being my first book, a collection of short stories. The first story that every came out of me was "What Rosarita Knew," and "barrio" is an ancient Aztec word. Everyone knew who she was, because she is the official ghost of the Latina people. It permeates all of my work and that was the first story that came out of me. So "In Fragile Night" you'll see people encountering their own souls. I say to people, in the short stories that I wrote there like turning points, moments, and I tell them if you come to terms with the dark parts of who they are, you won't have to marry them, just recognize them.
>> José Cárdenas:
And your books brought you the distinction of being the first author from south Phoenix to be published worldwide. So you've been a tremendous success, you're being compared by some to Laura -- the author of -- what's your reaction to that kinds of comparison?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
I love her work. I really do, and I read her work, and I hope to meet her some day, because the editor, my editor in New York also handles her and Marquez, so I'm really in good company.
>> José Cárdenas:
Both famous authors.
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
I look at these authors, and I'm just in awe of them. I still am in awe of them. And their work.
>> José Cárdenas:
Let's talk about the themes that are reflected in the two books you've written today.
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
The first one, as I mentioned, the short stories is turning points, people meeting their own soul and not running way. See, that's a fragile night. It's a moment of truth. Of course, the second one is wow, that's my heartthrob. This is dedicated to our Latino youngsters who died in the Vietnam war, their names, the names on the wall. So it's a mother in "Let Their Spirits Dance" who makes a promise to go to the Vietnam memorial wall and touch her son's name and honor his memory before her death. So here you see an entire history, not just of the Ramirez family who issues from Elsialito (phonetic) which is La Rosarita barrio, but they trek all the way to the Vietnam memorial wall because of mother's promise, and they come to terms with the death of their son Jesse in the story of "Let Their Spirits Dance."
>> José Cárdenas:
The Vietnam war and service in it has been in the papers a lot because of senator Kerry's emergence as the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination and his service in Vietnam. He's reached out a lot to veterans groups. What kind of response have you gotten from veterans and their families to your book?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
It's been beautiful. Lots of healing. People telling me so much transformation because, see, a lot of unfinished business was put into the people because of the Vietnam conflict. It was never really declared a war. And when I went to the Vietnam memorial wall, I was on my knees. I promised these youngsters that I would tell their story to the world because almost every fourth or fifth name on the Vietnam memorial wall is a Spanish surname, and that's not including other Latino youngsters who did not use their Spanish surname. The book is dedicated to Sergeant Tony Cruz, and he had told his family, I never knew him, but I vowed I would dedicate the book to the first family whose youngster had died in Vietnam, and that was the Cruz family. He told his family, mom, I'm going to be famous, you are going to read about me in a book, I'm going to make history, and I have lived out that prophecy in writing "Let Their Spirits Dance" and honoring them.
>> José Cárdenas:
You talked about children, youngsters. How does that complement your work as a writer?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
It complements beautifully because I am able to go in front of these wonderful youngsters, not just from the high school district where I worked, but all over the city, all over the nation. I've presented to huge audiences of young people, and just to see them get inspired and find meaning in life, in their own talent, and in the beauty that they have to give, that's just so touching to me. It means the world to me.
>> José Cárdenas:
What is it that you say to them that provides inspiration?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
I tell them everything that's beautiful is already inside of you. You just need to discover it. That's the only debt you owe to the world, is a debt to give your talent and your gifts to the world. That's what you owe, and all of that love, that's it.
>> José Cárdenas:
Do you have any specific recommendations for students or writers who are interested in writing?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
I would say for people who are writing, continue to write. You know, collect all of your work, don't throw anything away. You know, save it all. Because you might use the idea at some other point in time, and don't get discouraged. Because in this world, people want, you know, action right away, like after the dream of my dad, I signed my first book contract one year after. But it usually doesn't happen like that, Jose. It could take years. So it takes people -- sometimes people get discouraged, but I would say don't get discouraged. Do your what your heart tells you.
>> José Cárdenas:
And your heart is telling you to work on this new project, the "Women of Juarez." Tell us about that.
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
That one is going to be in my mind such an important book because of the horned does murders in Juarez who have been murdered since 1993?
>> José Cárdenas:
How many?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
Over 400.
>> José Cárdenas:
This has been in the papers a lot?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
Yes, brutally murdered. These women have been desecrated and you know, their flesh ripped from their bodies, anything that you can imagine. It's just the most horrible crimes have been committed against these women. And these women have come to my attention. The books chase me, Jose. They really do. They come after me. And this book is coming after me, big time. I already went to Juarez, and I interviewed one of the mothers who received the remains of her daughter in a box, the bones of her daughter, and I mean, this is something that I hope that I can contribute to the end of these murders. That is my desire in "The Women of Juarez."
>> José Cárdenas:
What will the focus be? A lot of the attention in the news articles has been on the Mexican governments inability to solve the crime. There has been a lot of speculation as to whether they are sons of prominent families who have been involved. What's your focus going to be in your book?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
My focus is going to be the story of a young woman, and in the book she's going to tell her story. She's going to be, you know, captured.
>> José Cárdenas:
Is this from the actual victims?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
What I'm going to do is research. And so I'm going to from research create an actual story of a woman who is kidnapped and who is tormented and tortured, and who lives to tell. So in the story, you are going to see an actual, you know, rendition of what is going on in Juarez. And I hope to do, like in "Let Their Spirits Dance," a historical novel.
>> José Cárdenas:
Any insights as to what is happening in Juarez and why these crimes continue and why they haven't been solved?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
What I saw when I was there this past weekend, was that people are concerned because there seems to be a lot of government -- the government is really covering up. And nobody has really done anything to help that.
>> José Cárdenas:
Why would the government be interested in covering it up?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
A lot of political struggles are going on, and a lot of powerful people may be involved. Some of it may be the porno industry who do like what they call snuff videos, where they show the murder and the death of a young woman, and they sell the video for huge amounts of money. And some of it might be drug related. So there could be a lot of money being exchanged because, you know, of political leaders who are being silenced by the money.
>> José Cárdenas:
What do you hope to accomplish with your book in terms of having an impact on how this investigation, how these murders are resolved?
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
What I'd like to do is bring more worldwide attention on this because it has to stop. The unjust murder of these young women has got to stop. And I think sometimes if people see it in a story, they are more likely to read it, than if they have to turn to a documentary or, you know, something that is information like, and whereas if they have a story, they might be able to read it better that way.
>> José Cárdenas:
I'm sure it'll be a great story, and you'll be adding another prize to the many that you've already earned.
>> Stella Pope Duarte:
I'm very proud to be from Phoenix.
>> José Cárdenas:
Thank you for being with us. We're proud to have you here.
>>> Stella Pope Duarte:
A popular Mexican folk game was the inspiration for La Loteria and exploration in Mexico. It was on display in Tucson. Producer So Yon Lee (phonetic) tells us more.
>> Teresa Villegas:
People are absolutely wonderful. They are so giving and family oriented. They are kind and happy, and they are joyful, and they celebrate life and death, and they really know how to live it.
>> Son Yon Lee:
Painter Teresa Villegas has long had a fascination with Mexican culture. This has led to the new faces of hundred year old folk game, La Loteria.
>> Teresa Villegas:
I see images of it and people playing it, and I was curious about it because I'd see these little iconic images, graphic images, and I was curious about where it came from, and so I thought that I would like to do my own series of paintings, similar in that format of the Loteria. So I wanted to do 54 images representing my experiences in Mexico through my eyes, viewing Mexico, and what it meant to me and gave back to me.
>> Son Yon Lee:
Villegas grew up in the Midwest. It was her grandfather who planted the creative spark and interest in other cultures.
>> Teresa Villegas:
My grandfather was a playwright in Davenport Iowa and he wrote plays about other cultures and so that's how he introduced me to the culture of Mexico. He was very Catholic, and he was interested in the way that the Mexicans practiced Catholicism. He traveled down there, and he would bring people back with them to help authenticate his plays with the culture, to bring culture to the United States, especially to the middle western part of America.
>> Son Yon Lee:
Similar to the American game of bingo, La Loteria has been a source of spreading humor, folk, history, gossip, and political viewpoints.
>> Teresa Villegas:
Well, my take was my experiences, and what it meant to me, my experiences, what it meant to me traveling in the 20th century as opposed to the 19th century. In my images, I include some of the history of Mexico, like the strong women in Mexico, like Juana de la Cruz. She was a famous poet. She used to be a nun. A little bit of gastronomical with the foods, the -- and the sweet breads and things like that.
>> Son Yon Lee:
It started as a personal interest, and now these images appear in the real game.
>> >> Teresa Villegas:
As soon as I started doing this Loteria series and the people at Gallo, the family who produces the game, they liked what I was doing in the game, my work and research, and they decided, well, we love your work, would you mind if we printed a game using your artwork, so I was like sure, of course. I was so thrilled to death that they would even consider it. I mean, I was doing it on my own as an art piece. I never imagined they would print a real game out of it. They sponsored an exhibition in Mexico for one year. They curated it and sponsored it meaning that they shipped and made all of these games, so wherever the art exhibit went, the games went with it, and so they got a lot of response from the games, and they wanted more. So they decided, well, let's go ahead and print this up as a real game. So what we decided to do was in the games left over, anybody who wanted to buy them, the money would go to Save the Children Mexico. So this way, I felt really good about it because that way it's like me giving back to Mexico a little bit of what they had given me. And I was really grateful.
>> Son Yon Lee:
Villegas says her art is all about connecting cultures for better understanding.
>> Teresa Villegas:
We know so little about Mexico sometimes except people know they work in their yards or clean their houses. They have so much to offer us. Loteria helps do that in a fun and exciting way. So people can play the game and they can understand, and it's bilingual and you learn words in Spanish, so it opens up this whole broad range of communication between what we know and what we don't know about other cultures. You can learn and create a dialogue. That's what this whole purpose is. So far it's been doing that. It makes me really happy to see that.
>> José Cárdenas:
That's our show for tonight. Thank you for watching. I'm Jose Cardenas. Enjoy the rest of your evening.
Stella Pope Duarte: Author;