We dedicate this testimony of flower and song (in xochitl in cuicatl) to Comandante Ramona, the Zapatista women, and all the women of the world who live and struggle; to the mothers, sisters, aunties, daughters, grandmothers, friends---the creators of life, art, song, laughter, and struggle. Today we reclaim our words, our voices, bodies, and lives---Our sovereignty for mother earth, for the future, and for the seven generations. Ofrecemos nuestra medicina para “un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos!” porque “Sin palabra no Existimos” (EZLN) - In Lak’ Ech,Tu eres mi otro yo, You are my other me! "I’ve known these mujeres for a long time. I was at the PRC (Popular Resource Center) for their first show. So I was honored to find that they wanted me to produce this album. I quickly rose to the occasion. I figured we would complete the project within 6-8 months. This project took a little over two years to record, mix, and master. It wasn’t the lack of creativity and artistic vision that stalled the project’s release. It was more about schedules. Chicana women are some of the busiest creatures on earth!! Like a colony of ants whom work tirelessly to simply, build. Build communities, families, sisterhood, or more importantly themselves. I must admit it was frustrating at first. Trying to pull on them, get them together to record on the same day at the same time. But their lives and responsibilities pulled at them just as hard and I usually ended up rescheduling. It was on a particular night in my home, swollen, and nine months pregnant, that I found myself listening to a mix of the completed album. As I listened, I finally understood the complexity of these incredible women. I had neglected to see the kind of poets and artists that they truly are at the their core. I had always identified with them, yet had struggled to hold them down. And just as I held those beautiful birds long enough to record them, as soon as I would press stop, off they’d go. They would fly away again, to live and strive, as all poets do. Mindful of life, exhilarated and inspired by it. These poets are committed mothers, activists, teachers, midwives, union workers, sisters, girlfriends, and wives. Pulled apart by a million responsibilities, like Coyolxauhqui and the light of her moon. So I laughed and cried in a rare and quiet moment at home. With their powerful words, they held a mirror to my face and I saw myself. These recordings are a moment in time, some of the first poems that brought these women together. They are the beginning of a movement of Chicana poetry groups that have come after them. They have written many other poems since these first works, but these pieces are historic. Listen closely to the mirror held to your face, laugh, cry, smile . . . aren’t you beautiful?" - Martha Gonzalez, producer of "Mujeres Con Palabra" "In Lak Ech will blow you away. In the tradition of Sweet Honey in the Rock, they are fierce warrior women who, like our ancestors, do battle with poetry and song, and thrown in the mix, some humor that also keeps us strong. !Adelante, Xicanas! -Ana Castillo “A lyrical orchestra of women’s power echoing ancestral wisdom, with a texture as real as the LA concrete it was born from. Ultimately, an experience of spiritual renewal.” - Maria Elena Fernandez Poet, performance artist, and Chican@ Literature Professor “In Lak Ech transcends performance where words, movement, ceremony, song, spirituality, and sensuality spill over the stage with raw power, simply put the women of In Lak Ech rock!” - Richard Montoya of Culture Clash "At the heart of this change in Axis mundi is In Lak Ech – or mujeres con Palabra – part of the Mujeres de Maiz collective. In Lak Ech is comprised of Marisol Torres, Felicia Montes, Claudia Mercado, Cristina Gorocica, Rachel Thorson Véliz, Marlene Beltran and Liza Hita. Their work – spoken word, hip-hop, poetry and song – constitutes 10 years of documentation of not simply Xicana herstory – but also ten years since this shift in axis mundi. This shift represents not simply the assertion of a voice for mujeres but also, a new voice for all peoples who have been here, not for hundreds, but thousands of years. With ancient stories and new stories. With ancient traditions and new traditions. Con Palabra. MujerCreacionMaiz." - Roberto Rodriguez © Column of the Americas 2008