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Voice of OC – “Why End Santa Ana’s Cinco?”

by Pocha Peña, Op Ed on the elimination of Santa Ana’s Cinco de Mayo festival, 2018:

City Festivals do more than provide cheap entertainment, fun rides and new customers. They can create a sense of place and the anticipated joy which pulls populations thru difficult times. Even the Romans knew the importance of “Bread & Circuses” to keeping the civic peace!

So why would a group of folks presume, however well-meaning, to eliminate a nearly 20-year tradition? It seems foolhardy, reckless & short-sighted. Not only are festivals of Santa Ana Cinco’s size (over 100,000 attendees each year) huge cultural assets, they hold the potential to build huge revenue.

https://voiceofoc.org/tag/pocha-pena/

OC Register – “A Taste of Santa Ana offers food, music and more”

by Richard Chang, Report on arts & culinary festival in Santa Ana, 2012:

You’ve probably heard of “Taste of Newport” and “The Taste” of Los Angeles, but have you heard of “A Taste of Santa Ana”?

You may be hearing much more about the Santa Ana version, since it starts this weekend.

The first-ever Taste of Santa Ana takes place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the historic Santora Arts Building downtown. It’s co-presented by United Artists of Santa Ana and the third annual OC Film Fiesta, which kicked off last weekend and continues through Sept. 16.

https://www.ocregister.com/2012/09/08/a-taste-of-santa-ana-offers-food-music-and-more/amp/?source=images

ArtsOC Newsletter -“California Arts Council meets again in Orange County”

by Arts OC, 2012:

Santa Ana City Council Member Vincent Sarmiento (left), ArtsOC Executive Director Rick Stein, and OC Film Fiesta Director & VP, United Artists of Santa Ana Sandra Pocha Pena at the reception co-hosted by ArtsOC and the Bowers Museum following the September 12 meeting there by the board of the California Arts Council. 

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs009/1102237885473/archive/1110959167548.html

OC Register – “OC Film Fiesta screens free films in Santa Ana”

by Richard Chang, Report on OC Film Fiesta in Santa Ana, 2011:

Here in Orange County, we’ve got film festivals celebrating indie movies, classic oldies, student projects and Vietnamese productions.

But one significant audience has been overlooked, until recently.

The second annual OC Film Fiesta gets underway Saturday in downtown Santa Ana. This festival’s focus is on Orange County’s growing Latino community, as well as its history and culture. More than 1 million Hispanics live in Orange County, comprising the largest non-white ethnic group, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

 https://www.ocregister.com/2011/09/03/oc-film-fiesta-screens-free-films-in-santa-ana/

OC Register – “Latino Veterans gather at the Yost on 911”

by Theresa Cisneros, Story on the honoring of Latino Veterans at OC Film Fiesta, 2011:

A group of Latino veterans gathered at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana on Sunday to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, and to speak about the experiences of Latinos in the military.

Alfonso Alvarez (California National Guard), Alex Diaz (Navy), Maria T. Solis-Martinez (Air Force), Sam Romero (Marine Corps) and Louie Olivos Jr. (who didn’t serve in the military, but comes from a long line of veterans) made the remarks during an OC Film Fiesta screening of “The Longoria Affair.”

https://www.ocregister.com/2011/09/12/latino-veterans-gather-at-the-yost-on-911/

Hand Held Visions – “Truce in the Culture Wars”

by Dee Dee Halleck, Post on the ending of the Centro Boycott, 2007:

I hadn’t been in San Diego too long in the early eighties when I found the Centro Cultural de la Raza. This former water tank in Balboa Park was the dynamic nexus of cultural expression in the border town. The Border Arts Workshop was just beginning. There was always a buzz of activity: poetry readings, art exhibitions, performances, fiestas and lively discussions. Victor Ochoa was the presiding spirit: his murals graced the exterior and his gentle humor was a benediction to all the activities of the place. It was the only place in San Diego where farm workers, pipe fitters and college professors mixed. As a weekend approached, friends would ask, so what’s going on at the Centro this weekend? And like as not there would be something happening there: perhaps a poetry reading by Jesus Papoleto Melendez, an opening of an exhibition of envelopes drawn by Latino prisoners in California prisons, a performance by a folkloric group from Mexico, a film about Nicaragua that Tania Winter had dug up.

http://deedeehalleck.blogspot.com/2007/06/truce-in-culture-wars.html

La Pensa San Diego – “Reunited and It Feels So Good”

by Raymond Beltran, Report on the end of the Centro Boycott, 2007:

This Wednesday, artists re-entered a place they hadn’t seen in nearly seven years, El Centro Cultural de la Raza, an old city-water-tank-turned-arts-venue created by Chicanos back in 1970.

They’ve been boycotting it, with vigor, after a new board of directors took control in 2000, uncompromisingly changing by-laws, ousting members and dismantling committees that had been in place for three decades.

This year, with the help of a third party resolution group, a long awaited compromise between the old guard and the new has been achieved. A boycott that has tarnished reputations, led to demonstrations and a lawsuit, and more importantly, left Chicanos without a consistent cultural venue, has been lifted.

http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/2007/june29-07/Reunited.htm

San Diego CityBeat – “The Knitters”

by Vi White, A profile of my knitting group, 2006:

When one of the oldest of old-school trends reared its warm and woolly head in 2000, no one was ready for the swarms of hot urban goddesses, tatted arms swinging and tattered Pumas, Fluevogs and Chucks keepin’ rhythm to the clicks of the needles, the sway of the conversation and the chill indie noise.

Whether it’s a take-it-back feminist bent, a throwback to what your foremothers taught ya, or just a way to keep your fingers busy and your neck warm, knitting groups have popped up across urban landscapes in almost every shape and form. So what else is there for these quietly creative, urban trendistas to do but pick up some yarn and get to it?

http://sdcitybeat.com/culture/art-culturethe-knitters/

La Prensa San Diego – “The Struggle Continues…”

by Pablo Jaime Sainz, Report on the SOCC Boycott on the Centro Cultural de LA Raza, 2005:

After three months of not doing any demonstrations as part of a truce, the Save Our Centro Coalition (SOCC) held a protest last Thursday September 8 outside the Centro Cultural de la Raza, in Balboa Park.

The reason? The Centro’s board hadn’t shown any sign of continuing the dialogue, according to Sandra Peña Sarmiento, SOCC’s member and organizer.

“When we cooperate and promise not to put any pressure, nothing happens,” she said. “The Centro’s board stops every effort for dialogue.”

http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/september16-05/centro.htm

OC Weekly – “Attack of the Pochos”

” by Gustavo Arellano, Profile of my gallery inside the Santora Arts Building next to the Artists Village Promenade, 2003:

Tenaya HillsSandra Sarmiento heard the epithet whispered constantly after she returned to Santa Ana from Chapman University during the early 1990s: pocha.

“When I got home from college, everyone could tell my accent and mannerisms were changing from Mexican to more American. Soon, a chorus of ‘pocha‘ began greeting me everywhere I went,” the half-Mexican, half-Bolivian beauty remembers over a bowl of bún in Little Saigon. “I would be walking down the street and hear people yelling from their cars ‘¡Pocha!‘ One time, I was at El Toro Meat Market and when I asked for a price check, they announced ‘We need a price for this pocha!’ Over the store’s PA system!”

https://www.ocweekly.com/attack-of-the-pochos-6401136/