We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rosalilia Mendoza. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rosalilia below.
Rosalilia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
It is always meaningful to work with community: to share a vision and make it happen. In a capitalistic world, we are taught that you have to be the best and to succeed you must compete and win. Well, succeeding for me is not a recognition or gold medal, but how you build community, what message you want to project, or what truth you want to share. It is meaningful to always collaborate because you create so much more, it is more fun, and to share your story with a group is so powerful. I am grateful to Jorge and Esme Rodriguez, who encouraged me to write more and share. I am also grateful to the Infinite Poets and where they have taken me from writing a play together for the Hollywood Fringe to performing from the West Coast to the East Coast. I never dreamed of performing in New York! It was so healing to hear each other’s struggles and resilience. Poetry does that, it builds bridges and is a universal healing, transformative language. Without community, I would not be where I am at.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I got into poetry when I was eleven. I would love to hear Hip-Hop, Corridos, and folk music from Mexico. Anything that rhymed in English or Spanish! I would record the songs on a cassette tape, rewind, and replay them until I learned the lyrics. I did not know what poetry was until I read Maya Angelou’s poems in fifth grade, I loved them. “Caged Bird” really caught my attention, and I wanted to read more. I then began to question what books represented my culture or language. I did not really pursue poetry until I met community poets who created open mics and spoken word artists in the Midwest. I learned that I had a voice and my story was important as a first-generation Mexican daughter of migrant parents. I participated in poetry slams for the first time. I performed in front of a crowd in the thousands! It was electrifying! Although I did not win, I will never forget how powerful it felt to share my story. Later that day, I received emails stating”thank you for talking about your parent’s migration stories. I can relate.”
I began to write in Spanish too, and thank “La versada” and Son Jarocho, folk music of Veracruz, Mexico. Shout out to my teachers Xochi Flores-Castro and Cesar Castro who have created spaces to teach and also write “La Versada” or play music. These ways of improvising and sharing socio-political histories really pulled me to see how art is transformative and political. “La Versada” is either four to ten lines, with rhymes and metrics too in Spanish. A lot of the most known poets or versadores have never published books or had a formal education, but know how to influence and educate everyone. Most are campesinos. My paternal grandfather was from Zacatecas, MX, a farmworker. He grew many plants like onions, beans, and chiles. He made a living out of them. My maternal grandmother recently passed away. in Michoacan, Mexico. She did not have the opportunity to write or go to school. That is why I felt the need to publish a poetry book.
One of the most memorable experiences I had was when I first featured at Tia Chucha’ Open Mic. Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural has been around in the San Fernando Valley since 2003. It is a community and cultural space: where art and minds meet to make a change. My heart was broke at that time. I got fired from my job, I ended a relationship, and I also lost my car. I felt like I had nothing. Once I entered the room, I was welcomed by flowers, songs, and a beautiful community that allowed me to break to renew. I cried, I laughed, and I was my most vulnerable. Sometimes it is hard to be your raw self. I am very grateful for co-founders Luis J. Rodriguez and Trini Rodriguez, for demonstrating how art heals and community is built. I am also thankful for the current directors running the center and creating many projects like Trauma to Transformation, writing workshops, music, and more.
I am proud of continuing this path of writing and sharing poetry, especially finally publishing my first poetry book! Now that I am a mother, I want my child to learn our truths and hear our voices. I did not grow up learning from Xicana, Latin American, migrant, or first-generation authors and I wished I did. My middle and high school did not offer bilingual books. It is never too late though. Now I am learning more and more from amazing writers and poets like Luis J. Rodriguez, Yesika Salgado, Sandra Cisneros, Oombi Solis Flores, Chai Tea, Besskepp, Alex Petunia, Erica Lopez, Karo Ska, Jessica Wilson Cardenas, and many more. It is so beautiful to meet poets from all around and hear their truths.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
To see how people transform and heal is so amazing. Poetry does that. It heals the spirit, it speaks to the heart. To see people gather, and bless the mic with their truths is phenomenal. I really appreciate grassroots and community venues. Folks who organize and make it accessible for people to come together. Share their visions, and experiences, and also challenge socio-political climates that oppress people.
I also thank community spaces and places that help nourish crafts and arts, such as Hiram Sim founder of Community Literature Initiative. Through offering courses to write poetry, I met and created a beautiful community which then became the Infinite Poets. I also thank Los Angeles Poet Society who has been run by Jessica Wilson Cardenas and Juan Cardenas. I met them through Tia Chucha’s and when they began their independent press, it was beautiful to submit my poems and see them on pages. It is rewarding to support one another and also create together. I never thought I would write poetry and have it printed as text.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think everyone is creative. We have been socialized to become professionals or shut down creativity to train to become a career-driven person. It is amazing to see poets create careers out of their art. But it is also amazing to see fifty-year-olds publish books for the first time, or a high school youth draw a picture for a book that will be produced. More amazing is to see someone who is usually quiet transform on the mic and become a beast! For all those “non-creatives,” remember what you liked to do when you were young- draw, read, play music, act, or sing, problem solve, cook, plant, whatever! That is who you still are. Nourish that inner child who has either been shut down to no longer be or changed. My child has taught me to reconnect with who I was before becoming a therapist, educator, librarian, or music teacher. They are my teacher every day.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: lili_of__the_valley
- Facebook: Rosalilia Martinez
- Linkedin: Rosalilia Mendoza
Image Credits
Credit Image- Tapatio Flores, Violet Soto