La Fuerza La Fuerza Spring 2009 Table of Contents EDITOR’S NOTE In the effort to keep day and night together. was later changed to “A Night in Havana”, Opinion 3 It seems just possible that a poem might happen but the cultural/historic theme remained the To a very young man : but a poem is not poetry -- Editorial 4 That is a life. same.) For one side, it was a peaceful and simple dance, for another, an insensitive Briefs 8 War is not a life : it is a situation ; dismissing of a history of dictatorship. On a Feature 11 One which may neither be ignored nor accepted, more personal level, Rubén Gaytán Lemus A problem to be met with ambush and stratagem, Art 18 Enveloped or scattered. shares an editorial mingling his early child- —From T.S. Eliot’s “A Note on War Poetry” hood in Mexico with the present Mexican Campus 25 Drug War. New Haven 28 My suitemate is taking a class on Tolstoy The Feature section brings us Mike Amezc- and has been coming in to my room just to ua ’10 interviewing the DIY Punk/Hardcore Profile 30 read quotes, at length, from War & Peace. band Sin Orden in “Razacore Riot!” as they When we’re not calmly wrestling with big attempt to complicate the concept of La- La Fuerza I Spring 2009 words like determinism or ontology, we fight tino music, punk aesthetics, and language. loud battles in Smash Bros. or Mario Kart These musicians keep their music closer to Editor in Chief Wii. their city and personal lives as their ways Benjamín González of dealing with global peace or racism on It could be the Tolstoy, it could be my story Editors as a last semester senior at Yale, but I can’t a larger scale. This personal inspection of Jennifer Angarita help but read War or Peace into things these life through music is also what drives Ed- gar Díaz-Machado’s Campus piece that ob- JuLondre Brown days. Hugo Martínez Bernardino Whether it’s looking back on the election serves the peaceful schisms of Latin@ reli- year and rereading opinion pieces only to gious life and identity on and off campus. Copy Editors see battle lines drawn in red and blue, fight- On the lighter side of this ideological brawl, Hugo Martínez Bernardino ing for the right to marry in my home state, there is the Burrito Fight! Article on the new Benjamín González or the Yale culture war over gender-neutral capitalism of burrito carts as well as the Arts section featuring a series of drawings that Layout Editor housing, it seems that there is contention José Meza in every corner. This issue of La Fuerza also sets the tone for the issue: “The Death attempts to bring about as many possible of the Matador” by Santi Correa BR ’12. The Arts Editor meanings of War & Peace for Latin@s in answer to the question of this fight depends Hugo Martínez Bernardino New Haven, Yale, and beyond. The cover, on the perspective of the Bull or Man. Indagación filosófica de la Guerra, by Urpi It’s been a stressful honor wielding the Staff Writers Pariona DC ’11 expresses this beautifully as Editorship of La Fuerza. Yet I can’t say I’ve Mike Amezcua this issue does not look to provide answers learned how to fight my own battles if they’re Jennifer Angarita so much as try to find different ways of think- not papers or poems. I can see the hell of Sandra Caballero ing about the ideas of War & Peace so that my past, maybe a utopia of our future, but Rubén Gaytán Lemus we may calm the pieces at war within us. can’t help feeling the purgatory that is the Edgar Díaz-Máchado In the Opinions section, Jennifer Urgilez present of a lingering senior project. These José Meza decries the decision of the Young Members’ inner heavens and hells have made my life Leticia Moedano Committee of the Yale Club of New York City philosophy as such: We have to save the to advertise its February 20th celebration world and destroy ourselves. Or hope that Contributing Writers as the Batista Ball. (The name of the event someone else will be the martyr and Kitty Ofelia Canals Genovese syndrome won’t tip the Santiago Correa balance of Peace & War in a darker Krystal Flores light. Christina Ruíz But having culled these pieces to- Jennifer Urgilez gether and worked with an amazing staff at La Fuerza and La Casa, I Cover Design have hope. And that seems to be Urpi Pariona the secret and overlooked middle- child between War & Peace. Yet I La Fuerza would like to thank Dean Rosalinda García and La have hope: Casa cultural for their financial Yale’s well that ends well. support. La Fuerza discourages anonymous letters and/or submissions, and reserves the right to edit for length or clarity. Unpublished submissions will not be returned. Poetry, short fiction, and/or photos are welcome. Drop La Fuerza Board: Benjamín González, Jennifer Angarita, Hugo Martínez Bernardino, José Meza off submissions at La Casa Cultural, 301 Crown St., or e-mail them to [email protected]. On- 2 line submissions preferred. La Fuerza OPINION Spring 2009 BATISTA BALL: ALLITERATIVE INSENSITIVITY by Jennifer Urgilez In hosting an all-Ivy “Batista Ball” on February 20th, countless university students, journalists, intellectuals, and the Yale Club of New York’s Young Members’ Committee political activists. The Yale Club makes light of history by commemorates Cuba under the Batista regime with a night distorting Batista’s role in terminating democracy in Cuba. of Caribbean dancing amongst long, flowing dresses and The elite education of Yale University graduates creates 1950s-style hats. Yet, this historical fantasy under the dic- a reasonable expectation for cultural sensitivity. The “Ba- tatorship of Fulgencio Batista implicitly galvanizes a Cuba tista Ball: One Night in Havana” was announced in the Yale marked by bloodshed and repression. alumni newsletter and remained as the title of the event in Why are there no parties celebrating and sanitizing numerous Ivy League websites, bolstering Yale’s perceived European dictators—Franco Fiestas or Mussolini Mixers? endorsement of the committee’s acts. While initial, behind- By hosting a “Batista Ball,” the Young Members’ Committee the-scenes criticism prompted the committee to change the has committed an equally abhorrent act of historical amne- name to “One Night in Havana” on the Yale Club’s website, sia, brazenly sanitizing the authoritarian regime of Batista. in admitting to choosing the title for its “alliterative” scheme, In appropriating one of the most ferocious Cuban dictators the committee’s cultural indifference and ignorance, not as an impetus for “flowers in hair” and dancing with moji- malice, becomes apparent. However, their lack of shame tos in hand, they exploit the Cuban community’s pain and and unapologetic nature in not addressing the problem is suffering—an insult to Cuban history as grave, for some in perhaps the biggest predicament of all. In hosting a party in the exile community, as celebrating Fidel Castro. The great- honor of an implacable dictator, Yale widens the disconnect nephew of Carlos Bastidas, the last journalist assassinated between the undergraduate population and the Yale Club, by the Batista police force is one of our own, a Yale under- effectively reinforcing its stereotype as an elite, egocen- graduate. The committee displayed a self-serving forgetful- tric social club. Neither status, knowledge, nor education ness about Batista’s dictatorship that sterilizes his great- grants Yale graduates the right to exploit others’ pain. Their est crimes: the censoring, jailing, torturing, and killing of blatant cultural insensitivity is emblematic of larger, endur- ing attitudes toward Latin American societies that excuse and underplay the United States’ former support of oppres- sive right-wing dictatorships. Attaching Yale’s name to this event strengthens the resilience of these attitudes toward Latin America. This apathy is an insult to the Latin American community at Yale. Given that they chose to use Batista’s name, the Young Members’ Committee should not only acknowledge their ignorance but also the history behind this callous dictator. The original flyer for the event hosted by The Young Members’ Committee at the Yale Club of NYC. Jennifer Urgilez, a junior in Saybrook College, is the president of CAUSA, the Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association. 3 La Fuerza EDITORIAL Spring 2009 society. What about the Latinos and CHINESE STUDENTS ASK: Native Americans? Were they not im- portant factions of American society? TELL US ABOUT AMERICAN DIVERSITY? Did they not contribute to many of the sociopolitical questions that polarized by Krystal Flores the nation and led these Chinese stu- dents to question American diversity? I was supposed to be concentrating ticed this during my trip, I feel that the As the conversation continued, my del- on the bilateral relationship between beauty of Chinese culture far overshad- egation completely skipped over these Americans and the Chinese. I was sup- owed any negativity I may have experi- issues. Fuming, I attempted to interject. posed to be focusing on establishing a enced. Rather than focusing on criticism We had already spent 45 minutes dis- connection with Chinese students. I was of this country, I was able to learn some- cussing everything else. We were just supposed to be emphasizing the benefits thing from it. During our group discus- about to move onto a new subject, when of progressive democracy. Unfortunate- sion later that day, one of the students I stood up and stated that I had to make ly, on that warm Thursday morning, I had posited this question: “America is such a point that I feel was necessary to prop- trouble concentrating on the purposes of a diverse country.