7th Annual Pico Festival
Sunday, October 28th

By Lookout Staff

October 1, 2012 -- Santa Monica's Pico Youth and Family Center will host author Jeff Bigger's new show, “Welcome to Arizona Libre” and a discussion on immigration Thursday.

Biggers will present his new show -- based on his book, State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown Over the American Dream -- at Virginia Avenue Park's Thelma Terry Center at 7:30 pm.

“We have a long-standing relationship with the State of Arizona through youth organizations,” said PYFC Founder Oscar de la Torre. "We are proud to bring a renown author from Arizona like Jeff to a progressive community to educate, entertain and inspire us all."

De la Torre said that Thursday's event is about educating people about what he considers to be a dangerous trend in American politics, referring to Arizona's increasingly stringent anti-immigration laws.

“I think young people will learn that you have to resist, you have to stand and fight, early on when these attacks surface to avoid catastrophic situations from evolving,” he said. “People need to know the intentions of the evil-doers and how they operate. Biggers -- who won the American Book Award for his books The United States of Appalachia and In the Sierra Madre -- has attempted to get to the heart of Arizona's struggle with immigration in “Welcome to Arizona Libre.”

The show is “a take-no-prisoners and funny theatrical performance about the myths, facts, and contradictions in Arizona history,” according to PYFC officials.

“Biggers diagnoses the root of the problem in Arizona's past-attributing the 48th state's current nativist anxieties to its turbulent entry into the Union and identity crisis as frontier country,” PYFC officials said.

His award-winning stories have appeared on National Public Radio, Public Radio International and in numerous magazines and newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, Salon, among others.

The performance will be followed by a discussion moderated by Chicano Secret Service and Selina Barajas, the PYFC program director.

Those in attendance will also enjoy a musical performance by PYFC artist. There will be snacks.

For more information about Biggers, visit his website here. For more information about the PYFC, visit http://www.picoyouth.org.