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Long before achieving institutional validation, host Ed Saavedra was interrupting dinners in at least three counties to hear directly from the artists, activists, historians, journalists, and musicians he admired most (and who for whatever reason had their numbers listed in the phone book). Decades later, in an age warped by anti-social media, where in-person, immersive conversation is a rarity even for folks whose digital avatars list thousands of “friends”, Saavedra invites audience members to join him and a guest in Southtown’s living room, Brick at Blue Star.
$3 suggested donation prior to the event, $5 suggested donation at the door, $11 suggested donation for all four events when reserved by August 1st. Pay what you can, no one will be turned away. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to a cause of each guest’s choosing.
6:00pm Doors
6:30pm: Music
7:00pm: Introduction/Preliminary Conversation
7:35pm: Break for audience to get snacks & drinks and submit written questions
7:50pm: Conversation continues
8:40pm: Questions from the audience
9:00pm: Closing reception or another twenty to thirty minutes of conversation
AUG 7: ANANDA TOMAS, Executive Director, ACT4SA
Ananda Tomas is the current Executive Director for ACT 4 SA, and the former Deputy Director of Fix SAPD, which ran the Proposition B campaign in San Antonio last May. This initiative would have removed the current police contract in an effort to create a new contract that created stronger police discipline and transparency to the public. Although the ballot initiative failed by a mere 2%, it has changed the conversation around police accountability and taking on problematic police contracts across Texas and the nation.
Before organizing for police accountability in San Antonio, Ananda attended the University of Texas at San Antonio where she received her Master’s in Political Science. Before this, Ananda worked on several electoral races in several states, including serving as a Regional Field Director for the Bernie 2016 campaign and helping elect a State Senator in Oregon in 2014. She received her Bachelor’s in Social Work and Sociology from Eastern New Mexico University in 2012.
“Our vision is to create accountable, compassionate, and transparent public safety that preserves and centers the health and well-being of our entire community without a reliance on police and prisons.”
“We are the only organization in San Antonio focused solely on fighting over-criminalization & over-policing.”
“Our goal is to expand the work of police accountability and abolitionist teachings throughout Bexar County, the municipalities surrounding it, and the state legislation that is affected as well.”
AUG 21: MARIO MARCEL SALAS, Civil rights leader/scholar/politician/professor/KROV President
Once field secretary for the last SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)/Black Panther chapter in the country and a 1972 candidate on the Raza Unida Party ticket, this radical elder statesman went on to serve two terms on San Antonio City Council and teach African American Studies at UTSA.
SEP 4: XELENA GONZÁLEZ, Storyteller/dancer/award-winning author
This former librarian and enrolled member of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation practices the healing arts through writing and movement. González’s picture books include the award-winning titles ALL AROUND US (Cinco Puntos Press, 2017), WHERE WONDER GROWS (Lee & Low, 2022), and REMEMBERING (Simon & Schuster, 2023). Her writing for adults includes poetry, essays, fiction, and screenwriting. LOTERIA REMEDIOS (Hay House, July 2024) is her collection of reflections, divinations, plant and animal medicine, and other tools for self-healing based on the time-honored game.
SEP 18: ALEX BIRNEL, Advocacy Director, MOVE Texas
As an advocate and organizer, Birnel fights for paid sick time, cite-and-release policies (won in San Antonio and San Marcos), and voting rights reforms in Bexar, Dallas, Hays, Webb, and Harris Counties. In his role with MOVE Texas, he leads a staff on issue-based campaigns affectIng the lives of young people while building power across the state. This team is actively working to close coal plants and to bring polling places to county jails.
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Thankfully, the sound system at Brick has fared much better than the battered rotary phone Ed Saavedra was still using in the late nineties! The cord was so twisted and knotted (and the connection so scratchy) that by the time Willie Nelson rang in the fall of 1998, the subsequent 45-minute exchange almost ended before it started.
Since then, Saavedra’s artwork has been acquired by numerous private and public collections, including (here at home) the McNay Art Museum and the San Antonio Museum of Art (an institution he once called, to no avail, to speak with Jesse Treviño during the reception for the artist’s triumphant post-Smithsonian hometown retrospective).
Date & Time
Aug 7 - Sep 18, 2024
Venue Details
Brick at Blue Star
108 Blue StarSan Antonio, Texas 78204
