Liberal Arts Hosts Homenaje to Ben Saenz
The College of Liberal Arts and Department of Creative Writing held a homenaje to celebrated border writer and retired Professor of Creative Writing Benjamin Alire Sáenz on Wednesday evening, April 20. A capacity crowd gathered at the El Paso Community Forum in downtown El Paso to listen to an array of notables who recalled their friendships with Ben Sáenz. Chief among them was poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, who flew in from California to attend the event. Other speakers included authors Alessandra Narvaez and Tim Z Hernandez, young reader/admirers Rumi and Sal Hernandez, Bobby and Lee Byrd (former owners of Cinco Puntos Press), and border journalist Alfredo Corchado.
A highlight of the evening was the presentation to Ben Sáenz of the inaugural Ruben Salazar Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Human Spirit, given by the Department of Liberal Arts at UTEP. Ruben Salazar, who received his journalism degree from Texas Western College in 1954, is often credited as the founder of Chicanx journalism. He was murdered by a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy when he was covering the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War in August 1970.
Presenting the award, Dean Denis O’Hearn said that Ben Sáenz has truly contributed to raising the human spirit. “In his work, he is standing up against the darkness and cruelty that so many of our governors and public figures want to commit against our youth. He has enabled hundreds and thousands of young people, gay and lesbian, trans, straight and beyond, to escape the bonds of shame and to discover who they truly are.”
Sáenz accepted the award in typically humble manner, saying that “I never did anything that compares with the courage shown by Ruben Salazar. But I am proud to accept the award.”