OcT 11-17 Women’s Intercultural Center

Week in Review:Week in Review:Week in Review:

Unseen Beauty What’s in our World? Zumba Goodness Add Your Story Work at a Tortilla Factory? Become a Volunteer

In every issue:In every issue:In every issue:

Letter from the E.D.

Featured way(s) to help WInC

BE BE BE

YOUniqueYOUniqueYOUnique Self-Esteem Workshop led by Latinitas

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Setting goals is very important if you want to achieve your dreams. But what happens when you experience barriers, detours or are unable to reach a key goal? Most of us have been

told to “never to give up.” Or have read many quotes about continuing on and about the importance of perseverance. What do you do when your plans don’t work out? The failure to reach a goal makes many of us decide to forgo setting anymore goals. It is easy to feel hurt when you fail to achieve a goal, it’s even worse if you are a perfectionist. And the more time, energy and emotion invested, the more the failure hurts. Our participants know this first hand on a number of levels, let me share with you a recent disappointment and what one of our participants learned from it. Carmen had been working extremely hard in trying to master the English language and learning American history to pass the English version of the U.S. Citizenship Exam. Her tutor, Margaret, knew she had mastered the American History portion; however, speaking English was the area that was most lacking and extremely necessary to pass the exam. On the other hand, Carmen’s peer was having the opposite problem. She could somewhat manage the language; however, her preparation in American history was lacking. Together they were working extremely hard to overcome the barriers of their goal to become U.S. Citizens. To say the least, Carmen was invested. She had invested, time, effort, money, hope and dreams. The day of the examination, she managed to effectively respond in English to the majority of the questions; she only needed a few more to pass the exam. Her goal was within

her reach. However, during the last portion of the exam...she did not understand what the Immigration Officer was asking and was unable to respond correctly causing her to not pass the exam. In one moment, the work, the hopes and the dream was gone. If you have lost someone close to you, you understand that there is a grieving process that you must go through. The stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The only thing that’s different is the timeframe of our individual grieving process. Even after you’ve reached acceptance, you can still experience twinges of pain later on. The death of a goal isn’t much different. In many ways all of the stages of grieving exist with the main difference being “anger.” When you lose someone you can direct your anger to others; however in failing a personal goal the only place to direct your anger is at yourself. You tend to tell yourself, “If I had tried harder, if I had not panicked, if I had remembered, if I had understood.” After failing, it is easy to drag yourself down. When Carmen didn’t pass the exam she was in disbelief. Then when she realized that it had been her lack of mastery of the English language she was angry at herself. She asked, “How could I have worked so hard for so long and not get my citizenship? You can imagine some of the other things she said to herself. But here’s the lesson, having a strong peer support can help pulled you back on track. This is how Carmen realized that anger was unproductive and she let it go to move on and enroll in our English classes to help her master the English language. By supporting our participants during their times of disappointment we ensure the continuation of their dreams. We give them hope. The loss of one goal is only that, just one setback and one more learning opportunity on the way to reaching your dream.

A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

Tony Martinez Chair

Eldelisa Nava Vice –Chair

Petra Devora Treasurer

Joanne Vullo Secretary

MEMBERS Victor Acosta

Grace Jacquez-Chase

303 Lincoln St * Po Box 2411

Anthony, NM 88021 575-882-5556

Fax: 575-882-7312 www.womensintrculturalcenter.org

Letter From the Executive Director

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Our friends at Latinitas lead the Be Younique workshop for young girls residing in Southern NM. The girls warmed up by having a great dance les-son choreographed by Vanessa Esparza and Latinitas Intern Melissa

Rivas. They had a captive audience consisting of the Karate Class students that were waiting for their class to start. The workshop taught them the importance of having a posi-tive body image and a good self-esteem. As well as how to be analyzers when it comes to the messages that the media sends out and to especially reject Photoshop/air brushed im-ages that put unrealistic expectations of beauty.

During the lunch break, the girls bonded over conversation and the issues that impact them in school. It was overwhelm-ing concerning to Latinitas and WInC to learn about the cas-ual interpretation their friends had about teen pregnancy. The hands on activities really made this workshop fun for the girls and helped boost their self-esteem. Each girl proudly walked out of the workshop with their self-portraits. About Latinitas: Latinitas is a non-profit organization dedi-cated to the advancement and empowerment of Latina youth. Through multimedia enrichment programs, Latinitas empow-ers local girls to express themselves and connects them with role models and mentors who guide them in building their con-fidence and self-esteem. Latinitas members publishes a bilin-gual digital magazine focused on informing, entertaining and inspiring young Latinas to grow into healthy, confident and successful women. You can access the magazine by logging on to: www.latinitasmagazine.org.

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The Unseen Beauty Workshops are quite unique and a great experience for the young girls that participate in it. There is a sense of pride at being able to change the purpose of an old item transforming it into some-thing new and beautiful. The Camacho sisters had a great time at the workshop. Their father, Gabe Camacho, said “My daughters really enjoyed the class and were proudly wearing the scarves and proudly telling

their friends that they had made them. They really had a great time at the workshop and can’t wait for the next two.” We encourage you to invite other young girls to attend the next two workshops which are scheduled on Tuesday, Nov. 27 & Dec. 11 from 4:30-6pm. The Workshop fee is non-perishable food items or a donation to the Center’s Honey-comb Thrift Store.

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A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

Our Executive Director, Mary Carter, is not a land conservationist. Her main focus is addressing issues impacting youth and women. When Nathan Small, NM Wild conservation coordinator and Las Cruces City Councilor, educated her on the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks region and the efforts to make it a national monument; she immediately made a connection. As residents of Doña Ana County, we rarely ask ourselves, “What’s in our world?” Our busy lifestyles or constant concentration on survival make us oblivious to the discovery of the rich history, people and places around us, such as can be found in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks region. Mary had the opportunity to join a group of passionate individuals (Max, Cisco and David) from the north and south of New Mexico to advocate for national monument designation of the Rio Grande del Norte and the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks region. In meeting with the NM Delegation, it was refreshing to know they whole heartedly support the initiative. Federal offices are also very amiable to proceeding with the designation; however, this can only be done through legislation passed by

Congress or an Executive Order by the President. Unfortunately, attaining Congressional designation has been a fleeing attempt. Max Trujillo, Rio Grande Del Norte Monument Designation supporter, said, “We’ve dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s and have garnered the support from the public and private sector. We’ve done our work, what more can we do?” The response is to reach out to President Obama to utilize the power of an executive order. Attaining a national monument designation for the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks region will provide current and future generations of Southern NM the opportunity to explore their history, diversity of cultures, and how the relationships between people and places are forged. In essence, our community will have a better understanding of the idea of place and our relationship with it. Immigrants that come will have the opportunity to link to our roots and establish a connection that will facilitate their assimilation into the fabric of American life while knowing that our rich New Mexican history embraces their diversity and culture.

As adults many of us, have lost the connection to our roots so it should not be a surprise that our children find themselves disconnected as well. How does a national monument desig-nation impact our youth? It high-lights “What’s in their world.” It will en-courage them to do basic research that will identify and describe their ancestors or the people that were, and are, part of Southern NM. There are many discoveries that await not only the residents of Southern NM but the world at large who will be interested in visiting this national monument. Such as: 1. Who were the people that lived

here; when and how did they arrive? Where are the family ties between early and latecomers?

2. In what parts of New Mexico did

they settle? 3. What life stories will we find? 4. What important events happened? We invite you to explore the work being done for the national monument designation and to circle home and experience the natural beauty and rich history of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks region. Call Nathan Small and work with him to schedule a tour for you, your family and friends. When you discover your roots or the ability to connect your roots to the area, we encourage you to call, email or write a personal letter telling President Obama why making the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks region a national monument is important to YOU! To learn more about the work that is being doing to make the Organ Mountains-Desert Peak region a national monument log on to: www.organmountains.org.

“What’s in our World?” 

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As we head into the holiday season, Annette Bravo, WInC Zumba Instructor, wanted to give her students the ability to celebrate Thanksgiving together while at the same time having a canned food drive.

She is a big supporter of the Center’s Emergency Food Pantry and she thought this would be great

way for her students to support the Center’s work and to give back to the community.

So as they gathered together to celebrate Thanksgiving in the Center’s gallery, each and everyone of them brought canned food to fill our pantry for the holiday season.

Goodness: Class collects food cans for WInC’s emergency food pantry

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A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

Add your story!Write a review of WInC

Participants, volunteers, supporters, donors and partners: Take 2 minutes to review us and help us be recognized as an outstanding nonprofit in the 2012 Greatnonprofits Top-Rated Awards at: http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/write/womens-intercultural-center-inc/campaign:top-rated-awards. See the most recent reviews below: The Women’s Intercultural Center is a great place for women in the community to participate In different activities. I participate in a daily basis in the Zumba classes that are provided for all the women and men in the community. It has helped me with my health, stress and loss of weight. The center also has many other activities that everyone in the community can participate in.—Rosie Flores I began volunteering at the Center back in July and it was a great opportunity for me to give back to the community. One of my closest friends volunteers there as well and that is how I originally learned about the Center. Upon my arrival to Center it was a truly life-changing experience just walking through those doors. Everyone was so kind with me and brought me in like I was family. At the time I was helping the Center pick up donations, working in their thrift store, and being trained to help the Border Awareness Experience Director run the Border Awareness Experience. I was able to learn so much just with the few months of time I put in there. I will be helping with the Border Awareness Experience groups next year and I am really excited because it is some-thing I had not done before. Volunteering at the Center has given me not only a great experience but has allowed me to grow a lot as an individual. I set aside whatever time I can to go to the Center and help them anyway possible. If you want a great volunteering experience this is one of the places to go. — Marc Baquera I was originally brought to the Center by my friend Saif because he volunteers there as well. He asked me if I would be willing to take time to come in and help him pick up donations as well as strategizing ways to boost fundraising and create programs for the youth. I was hesitant at first but I decided to go with. After taking the time to volunteer and visit to the Center, I was amazed at how much work they do and how many people they help throughout the year. They truly are beneficial to not only the Anthony community but the surrounding communities such as El Paso and Las Cruces.

The people that I met that we were helping really changed my life. I realized what was important and how we needed to lend a hand. They brought me in with welcome arms and so did I. I am still working with Saif in fundraising and also creating programs for all the youth to help them develop as individuals and also work the border awareness experi-ence to teach individuals around the globe about the impor-tant of border and immigration issues. —Xavier Martinez This organization has helped me a lot with my life. I love coming here because I feel welcome at all times. I wish I had more personal time to spent it here because it feels like if the persons are part of my life. —Magali

Hello, my name is Annette Bravo. I at-tend the Women’s Intercultural Center for the simple reason that they have opened many doors for me that have made me grow emotionally and as a person. The Center is a place where people can come to learn and at the same time have fun. The Center opened its doors to for me to start my own micro-enterprise of provid-

ing Zumba classes to help people with problems such as obesity, anxiety, and depression. It is a pleasure for me to do what I love while at the same time help so many people. I recommend and encourage people to come to the Center and you’ll see what I’m talking about!!!. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! —Annette Bravo I don’t like to go to any other place other than the Women’s Intercultural Center including the Zumba class. —Carmen Caballero I believe the Women’s Intercultural Center gives women the opportunity to empower themselves; give them tools to be-come valuable individuals in society to better themselves and their families. Also gives youths with disabilities the op-portunity to work and most important feeds the needy. As myself I am grateful to have a place to benefit and grows as an individual. —Lilia Hernandez I attend the Center because of all the activities they have for the community. —Lili Mendez

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Book Au-thor, Paula Morton, has toured quite a few tortilla production f a c i l i t i e s , large and small, and one corn flour mill while doing research for her new

book that explores the history of the tor-tilla. So she’s taken the grand public relations tours, interesting from a tech-nological point of view. She has approached WInC to help secure a few personal stories from women who worked in a tortilla factory or neighborhood tortilleria or corn flour mill. We are currently tapping our participants for this; however, if you know of someone who may be interested in sharing her story please

feel free to have her contact our friend Paula at 1-904-471-7437 or via email at mortonpe3@gmail.com. If requested, she will not use your name. As you consider the option of sharing your story, please consider responses for the following questions: 1. What did you think of your

experience working in a tortilla factory or shop?

2. Describe the shop or factory. Was it

a dough shop or corn flour mill or a tortilla making factory? Where was it located? Was it large or small? In Mexico or the U.S.?

3. What did you like best about

working there? 4. What did you dislike about working

there? 5. What was your job? What were your

hourly wages? How many hours per

day did you work? Did you get benefits?

6. Were the women hired for certain

jobs? 7. What does the tortilla mean to you? While she wishes she were in the area to listen to the stories, she won’t be making a return trip to Southern NM until after the manuscript is submitted. Stories must be submitted before Christ-mas because she’s getting ready to start the chapter about the industrial tortilla. About the Author: Paula Morton is the author of the Tabloid Valley: Supermar-ket News & American Culture. Prior to becoming an author she was a farmer in York County, PA. She later moved to Las Cruces, NM where she spent her time at NMSU learning about horticul-ture before moving to Florida to start her career as an author.

Author Paula Morton

Worked at a Tortilla Factory? Author seeks personal stories from women who worked in a tortilla factory or neighborhood tortilleria or corn flour mill for her new book on the history of the Tortilla.

Become a Volunteer

Start making a difference today! Contact the Women’s Intercultural Center at 575-882-5556 and ask how you can become catalyst for change. Our volunteers are the are the heart of our operations. Volunteers can donate their time and talents in many ways to make a difference in the lives of the women that participate in our programs.

Simple ways to help WInc

Looking for an easy way to support WInC? Here are some ways you can help us that won't cost you but a few minutes of your time through everyday tasks: 1. Buy groceries at Albertsons: We

earn 1% of the sale when our dedi-cated community partners key tag is scanned by you. Don't have a key tag? Request a key tag at the f r o n t d e s k o r v i a e m a i l atwintctr@qwestoffice.net.

2. Donate food items: Support our efforts to feed the hungry through our emergency food pantry.

3. Donate food items: Support our efforts to feed the hungry through our emergency food pantry.

4. Recycle: Do your bit for the envi-ronment while helping us:

Recycle your empty inkjets, laser toners, laptops, i-pods & inactive cell phone(s). Recycle clothing, office equipment, furniture, electronics, small applica-tions, house wares & books for our operations or thrift store. THANK YOU 4 YOUR SUPPORT!

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A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

Upcoming Events Please feel free to share event information with people who you feel will benefit from our workshops, trainings and special events. For additional information please contact Ilse Arrieta, Programs Coordinator at 575-882-5556 or the contact number listed next to the event announcement.

Social Security Disability As-sistance When: Tuesday, Nov. 20 Contact: Homero Avalos, Ph.D. to schedule a free consultation at 915-691-5555.

Employment Assistance Services for Individuals with Disabilities When: Wednesday, Nov. 21 from 8:30am to 5pm Contact: Ramona Contreras

Thanksgiving Day Celebration Potluck When: Wednesday, Nov. 21 from 12pm-2pm Contact: Receptionist

Karate Classes for children 6 years old & up. When: Saturday, Nov. 24 from 11am to 12pm Contact: Louie Alfaro at 915-319-4096 Fee: $25/month

Unseen Beauty Workshop for pre-teens & teens When: Tuesday, Nov. 27 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. Contact: Receptionist Fee: 2 nonperishable food items / thrift store donation

Syringe Exchange Program provides sterile syringes in exchange for your used syringes, provide health referrals to social, human, men-tal health & substance abuse treatment ser-vices. The program is confidential. When: Thursday, Nov. 29 from 1 to 4pm. Contact: Merced Jasso, NM Department of Health, at 575-528-5095

Medicare Enrollment: Enroll & re-view your Medicare Advantage Plan for 2013. When: Thursday, Dec. 6 from 10:30am to 4pm Contact: Irene Hernandez Sonora at 915-833-7065

End of Semester Celebration: Participants will display their work. Bring your favorite dish to share with your family and peers. When: Thursday, Dec. 14 from 10:30am to 1:30pm Contact: Irene Hernandez Sonora at 915-833-7065

Interested in scheduling a workshop, presentation or training at WInC? Contact Ilse Arrieta, Program Coordinator at 575-882-5556 or via email at iarrieta@qwestoffice.net

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Women’s Intercultural Center WHERE IT STARTS

303 Lincoln Street / PO Box 2411 Anthony, NM 88021

575-882-5556 www.womensinterculturalcenter.org