Nueva Cuenta: An Author Talk with Freddy Gutierrez

On Wednesday, November 10, at 5:00 p.m. The Cushing Library hosted a virtual author talk with HNU’s own Freddy Gutierrez. Gutierrez is HNU’s Director of the Center for Social Justice and Civic Engagement and adjunct faculty in the English department.

To begin the event, Freddy invited HNU’s VP for Student Affairs Laura Lyndon to read a poem she wrote entitled “Where I’m From” – a piece she worked on as part of Gutierrez’s “Telling Your Story” class in HNU’s Confronting Racism Certificate Program. This set the tone for the event, which created a space for dialogue around personal experience and expression. Gutierrez then read selections of poetry from his book, Nueva Cuenta (Nomadic Press, 2015). Here is one of those selections:

Of Might

Might there have been poet warriors
mud plume slingers
call em tar flickers;
if there ever existed such a thing,
may it exist now.

And then, might there be more of

such colonial terrors
such indigenous daughters
such native sons
such nonconforming children.

Tlacuilohs of the smoking tongue,
obsidian scribes and conch shell singers
colibri vatos de aquellos
hummingbird homegirls for the cause.

Might there be
more than so-called brown blight
on the gentro development
call em ruby throated shot callers
calling the jaguar thunder cats on the boulevard.

To recover.
To relearn.
To reclaim.

Attendees then began a deep discussion about the ways we may creatively respond to ongoing issues of race, culture, gender equality, and intersectionality in our lives. They also discussed Gutierrez’s inspirations and creative process, comparing it to those of other art forms.

Watch a recording of the event on Youtube.

Want to read more? Nueva Cuenta is available for pick-up at the HNU library. It is also available for purchase on the Nomadic Press website.