Virginia Grise

"[9] These poems eventually transformed into the play blu, which is about a Chicano family (raised by two queer women) that tries to envision a life and sky free of police and helicopters.

[11] At the request of one of the students in the program, Grise read her first poem publicly at the juvenile detention center and later went on to study writing with Bridgforth.

[13] As a member of The Austin Project, she was introduced to experimental artists such as Erik Ehn, Robbie McCauley, Laurie Carlos, Daniel Alexander Jones and Carl Hancock Rux.

[15] As a member of Acción Zapatista, Grise served as an international peace observer in Chiapas, Mexico and organized protests, community forums, and attended the Intercontinental Encuentro Against Neo-Liberalism.

[16] Grise was also a writing, directing, performing and founding member of Teatro Callejero, at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas.

[17] And as a middle school teacher at Kazen Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, Grise was an organizing member of Books in Barrio, a grassroots organization that successfully launched a campaign to locate a bookstore in a predominantly Mexican and working class community on the South Side of San Antonio.