News » Solidaridad Latina

Bates to host benefit concert for Honduran relief

Bates News — Tue, 16 Mar 1999 15:28:48 +0000

In order to raise funds for those Hondurans still in need of aid as a result of Hurricane Mitch, a group of Bates College student organizations will host a benefit concert at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 21, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. Admission is $1, with additional donations accepted.

A number of musicians will perform, including guitarist John Smedley, associate professor of physics at Bates; the Deansmen, a Bates a capella ensemble; saxophonist Linda Williams, assistant professor of music at Bates; the Yankee Jazz Ensemble; and Cheyn Band.

College sponsors of the concert include the Multi-Faith Council, Solidaridad Latina and the International Club.

Bates students to discuss gay-rights strategies

Bates News — Thu, 12 Feb 1998 19:02:34 +0000

Members of several Bates College student organizations, including the Bates Democrats, the New World Coalition, the Gay-Lesbian Bisexual Alliance and Solidaridad Latina, will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the Bates College Chapel to discuss political strategies that support gay rights in Maine. According to David Lieber, a senior political science major from Chicago, Ill., and president of the Bates Democrats, the group will discuss plans to encourage state legislators to reintroduce a gay-rights bill.

For further information, contact Lieber at 207-777-7633.

Cuban musicians to perform

Bates News — Tue, 11 Nov 1997 13:20:29 +0000

In celebration of Latino Heritage Month, the Cuban roots fusion ensemble MEZCLA will perform at 8 p.m Nov. 18., in the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building, 130 Central Ave. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

The Havana-based MEZCLA has played for audiences worldwide, fusing Cuba’s diverse African, Spanish and Carribean origins. The ensemble’s sound features a hybrid of Afro-Cuban rhythms mixed with jazz and reggae.

The performance is presented by Solidaridad Latina at Bates College.

Writer to discuss political activism at Bates

Bates News — Tue, 04 Feb 1997 14:13:14 +0000

A writer-activist of Puerto Rican and Jewish heritage will discuss political activism during a visit to Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Aurora Levins Morales will speak on Walking the Talk, Dancing to the Music: Art, Politics and the Activist Life in an exploration of living a sustainable life as a political activist.

Levins Morales’ fiction explores the people of rural Puerto Rico and the cultural crossfire of immigrant identity. Her work Getting Home Alive, co- authored with her mother Rosario Morales, is widely used as a college text.

Levins was born in Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mother and a father of Eastern European Jewish descent. Her parents met as political activists in New York.

As someone who is both Puerto Rican and Jewish, Levins Morales understands the pain experienced by each group. “I think one of the pitfalls that oppressed groups fall into is trying to say to one another that my pain is as important as your pain,” Levins Morales said. “There’s no virtue in stuggling over who got hurt worse. What we need to do is listen. The only way to build the trust so that we can hammer out the issues is to treat each other’s history of pain with respect and compassion and with a willingness to learn,” she said.

Levins Morales is a contributor to This Bridge Called My Back: Writing by Radical Women of Color. Her visit to Bates is co-sponsored by the Multicultural Center, Women of Color, the Jewish Cultural Community and Solidaridad Latina.