187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border

The immigration debate rages on with the death of the DREAM Act, a progressive bill offering a streamlined citizenship path for illegal immigrants who were brought to the US as children.

Juan Felipe Hererra offers a personal and illuminating perspective on this issue in his new book 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross The Border: Undocuments 1971-2007. He launches his "187 Express" at City Lights on Thursday, November 15th, 7pm, with music and spoken word.

Herrera has enlisted a team of "word-callers" to join the festivities --

Emilio Robles Kirkpatrick, 12 year old wordsmith - MC
Ginny Lim, SF, Poet
Arlene Biala, Santa Clara, Poet
Margarita Robles, Fresno, Poet
Francis Wong, SF, Jazz musician
John Carlos Perea, SF, bassist
Yolanda Muñoz, San Diego, sculptor

The "Express" takes Herrera across the border states, and up and down California in a series of event/performances involving guest musicians and artists.

Raised in the fields of California in a family of migrant workers, Herrera has blended art and activism for over 30 years as a pioneer of the Chicano spoken word movement. He has spent the last three and half decades assembling the collection found in 187 Reasons – at rallies, walkouts, under fire and on the run, in cafés, under helicopters and in the midst of thousands of marchers for civil rights and new immigration policies. Some of the work is a result of secret reconnaissance information given to him by travelers in Central America as they documented the atrocities of the military. There are sections devoted to the first Chicano encounters and journeys in the Mayan Indian ground of Chiapas, now recognized globally. And there are spoofs and sparks and lists of things that speak about migrant Street Poets' experiences. Most provocative is the photo album of Herrera’s family and his journeys documenting close to a hundred years of migrante life.

Juan Felipe Herrera is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside. Author of 23 books, he is a community arts leader and a dynamic performer and actor. He is the son of Mexican immigrants and grew up in the migrant fields of California.

You'll find a photo of him attached, and an audio invitation to the event from Hererra himself here:
http://web.mac.com/juanfherrera/Site/Podcast/Entries/2007/10/25_You_are_invited_Nov._15th!.html