CALEXICO – After a rigorous selection process, the Calexico Arts Council selected longtime author and artist Jimmy Dorantes as the local history books second series director.
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Arts Council President Carmen Durazo said that in preparation for the second book, the council plans to hold some community workshops where local residents can provide images and other materials to prepare the second edition.
The workshops will take place on July 13th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to gather information about the 1930s and 1940s while also receiving material from the 1950s and 1960s a week later.
Dorantes will interview participants in the workshop. The author will not keep any items as images and other material will be digitized at the Carmen Durazo Cultural Arts Center. The author also said that damaged images selected for the project could be restored, repaired or enhanced for publication.
“We want to work with the community because the information in our book comes from them,” Durazo said. “They are the important people. They are the ones we want to honor.”
The second book covers government affairs, education, business and labor, and arts, culture and society.
“People have told me a lot of stories. I wasn’t there,” Durazo added. “We need their help. That’s why we all have to spread the word here.”
The Arts Council also plans to distribute a questionnaire that residents can fill out and bring photos and other items such as medals.
Like the first book, the second edition will be available in English and Spanish, Durazo said.
Months ago, the Arts Council called for authors to submit their proposals for the upcoming second edition, and three responded. The Board members of the Arts Council interviewed these applicants and the decision was made in a separate meeting.
The author assured that this will be a book about the Calexico community during the decades covered, including the farm labor movement, the construction of the All-American Canal, the Bracero Program, and other historical events.
“We have all kinds of problems that arose in Calexico during the Depression (and that particularly affected the border),” the author said. “There were hundreds of people who were really angry about (…) Operation Wetback, in which Dwight Eisenhower tried to (…) limit the number of people working here.”
Dorantes said he hoped to find some people who could testify about that time, so the author called on residents to ask those who knew about that time to give their opinion.
The author said he began his artistic career at the age of three when he received a camera as a gift from his mother and began photographing his neighborhood and family members.
“When I was growing up on First Street before the border, I started photographing the fence and the people who would illegally cross the fence into our yard,” Dorantes recalled. “They would hide in our backyard and on our roofs or wherever.”
The author has worked for Time magazine, dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country, and book publishers, while his photographs have been published in many places.
Eventually, the photographer published his first book – “Life Along the Border” about the history of Calexico and other border towns. From then on, Dorantes worked with Edward James Olmos on the book “Americanos”.
The photographer also has some experience filming for HBO, contributing footage of Mexicali native Lisette Garvey, who became the head of the El Centro Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol.
“I hope to find many such stories about these eras here in Calexico by talking to people and getting involved in the community,” said Dorantes, who saw it not only as an honor to be chosen as the author of the second edition, but also as something he can’t wait to do. “Calexico has a very special meaning to everyone who is from here – and it’s very special.”
So far, the Arts Council has no idea what the price of the second edition will be, as no budget has been agreed with the publisher. However, Durazo said those interested in purchasing the book can donate $100 or more and receive a free copy, while those who donate at least $500 will have their name on a plaque on the center’s walls.
Calexico Deputy Mayor Javier Moreno, who attended high school with Dorantes in the 1960s, thanked Durazo for her commitment to the history book, which was her personal lifelong dream. He also congratulated Durazo and the Arts Council on the success of the first edition.
“I think it was a great choice,” Moreno said of award-winning journalist Dorantes, before stressing that the city had given 120 percent support to the book edition. “He’s been doing this his whole life and you can’t choose anyone better.”
“Calexico is a very special town,” Moreno added. “Anyone who has been here – whether passing through or living here – knows that we have a long history.”
The mayor pro tempore emphasized the importance of knowing Calexico’s history.
“As you all have said, Calexico has a long history,” said Calexico City Councilman Victor Legaspi, before recalling the time he met UFW leader Cesar Chavez. “There were a lot of famous people who came to Calexico that a lot of people didn’t know.”
Legaspi said he plans to contribute to the second edition by donating his poems and other personal items to the author, his late uncle Louis.
“That would be very, very honorable,” Legaspi said.
