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Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations at the University of Georgia and in Athens-Clarke County are now underway through Oct. 15. Throughout the month, dramatic performances, films, lectures and fiestas will take place at UGA and throughout the community. Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

“With a thriving undergraduate major in Latin American Studies and a significant number of students, faculty and staff from throughout UGA’s colleges and professional schools actively working with LACSI in instruction, research and public service, participation in this year’s HHM is the largest ever,” said LACSI assistant director Paul Duncan. “The many activities that will take place over the next month will provide the UGA and Athens communities with a good sense of just how culturally diverse, and important, the Latin American region truly is.”

Thursday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m., Miller Student Learning Center, Room 142. Film sponsored by UGA’s main library in conjunction with the Big Read: From Curandera to Chupacabra: The Stories of Rudolfo Anaya (documentary 26 mins.) and Curandero (1975 Peabody entry - 27 mins.).

Thursday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m., Tate Theater. Yo Soy Latina. A funny and moving ensemble play that challenges a diverse group of Latina women to examine their identity and their connections in the contemporary American landscape. Sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Services & Programs and Hispanic Student Association.

Friday, Sept. 19, 3-5 p.m. The Latin American & Caribbean Studies Institute at 290 S. Hull Street will host its annual fall Open House to launch Hispanic Heritage Month. Live music provided by La Rondalla, traditional Latin American food, UGA Capoeira group will perform to demonstrate this blend of martial arts, games and dance that originated in Brazil. Pick up a HHM 2008 poster.

Sunday, Sept. 21, 4 p.m.,Town and Gown Theater.The Line in the Sand. The Line in the Sand is a collection of monologues and photographs of those affected by U.S./Mexico border migration. These anecdotes were written by actors and writers from Catholic Relief Services, who visited the border and interviewed citizens of both countries, immigrants and non-immigrants. The reading is approximately one hour long and there will be a reception following the performance.

Monday, Sept. 22, 10 a.m.,Tate Student Center. DALE Week-Take the Vote/Tutor Program Promotion. This event is sponsored by Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc.

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 4 p.m., Sanford Hall 213. Lecture by visiting scholar Jose Javier Leon of the University of Granada, “He was seen walking...: A New Reflection on the Life and Death of Federico Garcia Lorca.” Sponsored by the Institute for Native American Studies and Romance Languages.

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 10 a.m., Tate Student Center. Take the Vote/Tutor Program Promotion. This event is sponsored by Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc.

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 4 p.m., Athens-Clarke County Library, 2025 Baxter St. Copycat Art: Mexican Tin Ornaments for teens. Open to the first 15 teens ages 11-18.

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m., Miller Student Learning Center. El Norte is a realistic picture of both the Guatemalan government’s oppression of the Quiche Indians and the hard life of illegal immigrants in the United States. After the Guatemalan army destroys their village of San Pedro, two teenage Quiche Mayan Indian siblings journey north (hence El Norte) through Mexico to the United States to start a new life. This event is sponsored by Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc.

Thursday, Sept. 25,2 p.m., M. Smith Griffith Auditorium. Film sponsored by Georgia Museum of Art and LACSI: Orozco: Man of Fire A visually arresting and whimsical documentary portrait of Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), whose dramatic life and dynamic paintings changed the way we see art and politics. Visitors are invited to the galleries to tour exhibitions and see Orozco’s work in “From the Collection: The Authority of the Mexican Muralists.”

Thursday, Sept. 25, 4 p.m., Caldwell Hall 302. Lecture by visiting scholar Jose Javier Leon of the University of Granada, “Santiago de Espana: From Galilee to Galicia and Beyond, from Pilgrim’s Clothes to Warrior Armor.” Sponsored by the Institute for Native American Studies and Romance Languages.

Thursday, Sept. 25, 4-6 p.m., LASCI Building. The Office of International Public Service and Outreach invites the UGA community to a reception to learn about its work in Latin America and opportunities available for students and faculty in terms of international projects related to the region. Enjoy light refreshments, music, and meeting the newest international students from Mexico. Contact: Deborah Gonzalez at 706/542-6654.

Thursday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m., Miller Student Learning Center, Room 142. Film sponsored by UGA’s main library in conjunction with the Big Read Milagro Beanfield War (1988, 118 mins. Rated R) “In a series of humorous culture clashes set in contemporary Milagro, New Mexico, the people of this small Mexican village rebel against the development of their local lands.”

Thursday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m.,Miller Student Learning Center. A political discussion. This event is sponsored by Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc.

Thursday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m. Athens-Clarke County Library auditorium. iFilms: The Violin. The debut film of Mexican filmmaker Francisco Vargas follows farmer and violinist Don Plutarco as he fiddles his way into the front lines of Mexico’s peasant revolts of the 1970s.

Saturday, Sept. 27, 1 p.m. at El Banco de la Oportunidad, 995 Hawthorne Ave. “Your Rights Under the Law-Immigration and other Legal Issues.” A presentation in Spanish that will cover important legal issues, such as immigration policy and what rights individuals have while being questioned by the police. Sponsored by El Banco de la Oportunidad. The presenter is David Kennedy, a partner with the firm Corso, Kennedy, & Campbell, LLP.

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 10:30 am., Athens-Clarke County Library. Home-schooled teens read and review focusing on Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya in conjunction with The Big Read. For information, contact Mary Jean Hartel, mjhartel@athenslibrary.org

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m., M. Smith Griffith Auditorium. Film sponsored by Georgia Museum of Art in conjunction with the Athens Big Read: I Am Cuba; Soy Cuba; Ya Kuba. Four vignettes, dancing through the sensuous decadence of Havana to the poverty and oppression of the Cuban people, illustrate the need for change in Batista’s Cuba. Spanish and Russian with English subtitles. (141 minutes, not rated).

Thursday, Oct. 2, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., UGA Small Business Development Center, 1180 E. Broad St. “Cross Over Marketing for Hispanic Businesses.” A presentation in Spanish to help Hispanic businesses learn to do business with the American market. Registration is $15. Call 706/542-7436 or visit http://www.athenssbdc.org/ for more information.

Thursday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m., Miller Student Learning Center, Room 142. Film sponsored by UGA’s main library in conjunction with the Big Read: Quinceañeraa (2005 - Winner of Sundance Award - Rated R - 90 mins.) “On the evening before Magdalena’s 15th birthday Quinceañera celebration, she discovers that she’s pregnant. Forced by her family to leave her home, she moves in with her uncle and gay cousin.”

Saturday, Oct. 4,10 a.m. Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden Tour as part of Big Read program. Led by LACSI assistant director Paul Duncan, the UGA Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden behind Baldwin Hall at the corners of Jackson and Baldwin Streets is a unique space on UGA’s north campus containing culturally important plants from Latin American.

Sunday, Oct. 5, 3 p.m., Athens-Clarke County Library. Live! at the Library featuring Incatepec. Sponsored by the Friends of the Athens-Clarke County Library.

Thursday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m., Miller Student Learning Center, Room 101. An evening with Latina civil rights icon Sylvia Mendez. Come and learn about the landmark case (Mendez vs. Westminster 1947) that ended segregation in California schools and set a precedent for Brown vs. Board of Education seven years later. Video, lecture and Q&A with the woman who lived it firsthand. Refreshments will be served. Contact Erin Thompson, of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund at 706/542-4872 for information.

Thursday, Oct. 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Tate Student Center Plaza. “Voces Unidas.” Keynote speaker will be Sylvia Mendez (Mendez v. Westminster 1947), a Latina civil rights icon. This is an event where Latinos speak out about politics and legislation that affect Georgia, national and global Latino communities. Speakers include professors and students raising UGA awareness about such issues. La Raza decided this event, starting at UGA in 2005, was so rare to see in the South they announced a national day for Latino Politics called “Voces Unidas.” Today, there are over 150 colleges/universities nationwide that participate in this political event. Sponsored by the Hispanic Student Association.

Thursday, Oct. 9, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., UGA Small Business Development Center. “Cross Over Marketing for Hispanic Businesses.” A presentation in Spanish to help Hispanic businesses learn to do business with the American market. Registration is $15. Call 706/542-7436 or visit http://www.athenssbdc.org/ for more information.

Thursday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m., Miller Student Learning Center, Room 142. Film sponsored by UGA’s main library in conjunction with the Big Read: The Bronze Screen (2002 documentary - 2 hours) The Bronze screen honors the past, illuminates the present, and opens a window to the future of Latinos in motion pictures. From silent movies to urban gang films, stereotypes of the greaser, the lazy Mexican, the Latin lover and the dark lady are examined. Rare and extensive footage traces the progression of this distorted screen image to the increased prominence of today’s Latino actors, writers and directors.

Sunday, Oct. 12,3 p.m. Athens-Clarke County Library. Live! at the Library featuring Incatepec. Sponsored by the Friends of the Athens-Clarke County Library.

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 12 p.m., Drewry Room, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Silvia Inez Salazar of the National Cancer Institute will present, “Designing Usable Health Web pages for Latinos and Other ‘Hardly Reached’ Audiences.” Salazar, a public health advisor in the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Communication and Education, manages www.cancer.gov/espanol. Her talk will focus on how to create culturally responsive Web sites, moving beyond simple translation of content. This presentation is coordinated by the Center for Health & Risk Communication with the support of the Knight Professorship at the Grady College and the Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education in the College of Education. For more information, contact Terry Kaley, Southern Center for Communication, Health, and Poverty at tkaley@uga.edu or 706-542-9360 or Paul Matthews, CLASE at pmatthew@uga.edu.

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m., M. Smith Griffith Auditorium. Film sponsored by Georgia Museum of Art in conjunction with the Athens Big Read: Lili’s Apron. When an abrupt economic crisis dramatically impacts the lives of Ramón and his wife, Lili, an alternative source of income must be found. Out of a sense of panic and responsibility, Ramón poses as Lili--in both name and clothing--to take a job serving as a maid for a wealthy family. Lili’s Apron, a touching and darkly comic love story, was directed by Marian Galperin. Spanish with English subtitles. (Argentina, 2003, 90 minutes, not rated).

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This weekend our dryer died, and we had to purchase a new one. We explained to Henry that the dryer would be his one and only Christmas present. He asked if he could take a tumble or two in it, and we said only on low heat.

I'm kidding! He can't fit in there. Our dryer did die, though, that part is true. Scott and I were sad, and we turned our pants pockets inside-out and walked around like that for a while, feeling sorry for ourselves. But then this morning, an editor called and offered me some money to reprint one of my posts. The fee came out to exactly as much as the dryer cost. So it seems that we'll have a Christmas after all! And maybe a little Hanukkah, as well!

I'm hosting Christmas for my family this year, and the pressure is on. My parents have always done Christmas, every year, since before Christ was born. Somehow they got Nat King Cole to sing all these festive songs about this savior who no one even knew about. My parents have powers. Anyway, I'm a little intimidated. My mother is trying to help, except by trying to help she's making me feel increasingly inadequate. A few weeks ago she brought over some Christmas-themed trays, Christmas votive-candle holders, and several decorative wreaths she fished out of her Christmas Decorative Wreath box in the Decorative-Wreath wing of her basement. Then she asked me if I wanted to use her "Christmas goblets."
"Whurrrgh?" I said.
"You know, my festive goblets. I use them for every Christmas. You're going to need those, right?"
"I kind of thought I could just use my regular wine glasses and stuff," I said.
"Oh," she said, in the tone she'd use if I said we were going to decorate our tree with steaming dog turds. "Yeah, I mean, of course you can. I just thought, you know, because they're so festive and nice. But that's fine too."

She also wanted to know if I wanted her fancy red Christmas plates. We have plates, I said, but thanks. (I mean, usually we eat out of our cupped hands, but I think we could fashion some flat-surfaced food holders from old pie tins.) Okay, but, uh, don't we want her extra-special linen Christmas tablecloth? Christmas placeholders? Christmas napkins? We're going to need Santa, too, right? Because she's got him in the basement, next to the reindeer stalls.

Believe me, I love my mom, and she has excellent taste. It's not that I don't like her stuff; it's that I don't want to have her Christmas over here. I want our own decorations, even if they're from Target. I just heard her gasp all the way from Long Island. I swear we're going to go to the store and nothing will be there. "Some woman came earlier today and cleared the place out," the baffled salesperson will tell us. "She looked a little bit like you, actually. Said something about keeping all this cheap crap away from her daughter? She wasn't making much sense."

Now she wants to know what I'm making for dinner. I'm going to tell her we're ordering in some Chinese, just to hear her head explode. Hey, my husband is Jewish, and we have to respect his traditions, too.

UPDATED TO ADD: I turned off comments because I think some people misinterpreted my statements about my mother. I was exaggerating for comic effect, like I do, and in reality (boring, boring reality) I can't wait to have Christmas here and she and the rest of my family will be thrilled with whatever I serve. I know some of the comments would hurt her feelings, and that's the last thing I want. "Merry Christmas! I got the Internet to make you cry!" It just ruins the holiday mood, you know?