October, 2014

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Today in your child’s classroom, I read the bookIn My Family: Cleaning Nopalitos & Empanadasby Carmen Lomas Garza. This book is a series of short stories based on paintings of the childhood memories of the author,Ms. Garza. She paints many special days in her family’s life that give us a peek into the Latino culture. The two short stories read today were about food. In the painting, “Cleaning Nopalitos,” Ms. Garza illustrates her sister watching their grandfather cut up the nopalitos or cactus. She tells us how cactus was the food of last resort, since they could easily be boiled and mixed with other foods.Another special day in Ms. Garza’s family was the annual empanada-making day. Her family would gather at her Aunt and Uncle’s home to enjoy empanadas, a sweet dessert turnover. Through her paintings, we get a sense of how important family was to her growing up.

With our Los Dichos program, we want to honor and share the food and traditions of the Latino culture as we explore the things we all have in common with each other. Although all cultures are different, they all share many things in common.These two stories illustrate the commonality of food and family togetherness.

This month’s dicho: “It takes a village to raise a child.”

About Carmen:Carmen Lomas Garza was born inKingsville, Texas, in 1948. Inspired by her parent’s activism with the American G.I. Forum, Ms. Garza joined the Chicano Movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. She is a graduate of the Texas Arts & Industry University, Juarez-Lincoln/Antioch Graduate School, and San Francisco State University where she earned her M.A. in 1981. Ms. Garza is a recipient of numerous awards and has exhibited her work in galleries and museums across the U.S. and Mexico.

This month’s classroom activities:The activities consisted of writing a unique family recipe or drawing a special family activity. Then, students shared their recipe or drawing with a classmate from a different culture, and were encouraged to figure out commonalities between their food recipes or family drawings.

Ideas to reinforce the message at home:

  • Talk about what foods represent your culture.
  • Ask your child about their thoughts when writing the food recipe or family drawing.
  • Ask your child to share what he/she liked most about these stories.

If you would like more information about our Los Dichos program or are interested in becoming a volunteer reader, please contact me or visit the Project Cornerstone website at

Sincerely,

______

Los Dichos VolunteerTelephone/Email