City of Kyle Hosts Dialogue for Peace and Progress – Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

KYLE – The community is invited to join the City of Kyle for the Dialogue for Peace and Progress 2021 – Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month on Friday, Oct. 1, starting at 7 p.m.

The Dialogues for Peace and Progress are an event series that take place in conjunction with Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Juneteenth and work to join community members and leaders for open and honest conversations to raise awareness and, if necessary, facilitate change in the City of Kyle.

“In conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month, the Dialogues for Peace and Progress will serve as a platform for open and honest conversations regarding significant issues faced by Hispanic and Latino individuals, but also to celebrate the accomplishments, heritage and culture of the Hispanic community,” Council Member Dex Ellison said. “We are immensely grateful to our panelists for taking the time to speak to us about their experiences and share how the City of Kyle can work to recognize Hispanic and Latino communities.”

A group of panelists from a multitude of perspectives and backgrounds have been recruited to speak during the discussion, including: Dr. Claude Bonazzo-Romaguera, Rubén Castañeda, Marcelina Rodriguez Garcia, Angie Villescaz, Benito Pereda, Richard Dixon, Jesús Jiménez, and Dr. Octavio Pimentel. Council Member Ellison will moderate the discussion.

Now through Wednesday, Oct. 13, the Kyle Public Library will also be hosting “Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy,” an exhibition created by the Wittliff Collections at the Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos, presented in partnership with Humanities Texas, the state affiliate for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In the early 1970s, noted Texas historian Joe Frantz offered Bill Wittliff a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—to visit a ranch in northern Mexico where the vaqueros still worked cattle in traditional ways. Wittliff photographed the vaqueros as they went about daily chores that had changed little since the first Mexican cow herders learned to work cattle from a horse’s back. Wittliff captured a way of life that now exists only in memory and in the photographs included in this exhibition.

The exhibition features 62 digital carbon prints with bilingual narrative text that reveal the muscle, sweat and drama that went into roping a calf in thick brush or breaking a wild horse in the saddle.

This exhibition is made possible in part by a We the People grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information about viewing hours or to arrange group visits, contact Adult Services Librarian Jesus Hernandez at 512-268-7411.

The Dialogues for Peace and Progress event will be held in-person at Kyle City Hall, 110 W. Center St., but other options for participation are encouraged, including streaming online through Kyle10, the City’s YouTube channel, and the City of Kyle Facebook page. For more information, go to CityofKyle.com/Dialogue.