Special Acknowledgements

This project was made possible by a grant from the CALIFORNIA COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES, and is supported by the Regents of the University of California (at UC Riverside) and the UCR Ernesto Galarza Applied Research Center. I am honored and thankful for all the contributions that were made towards my documentary projects and also wish to extend a special thank you to: the California Museum of Photography staff for their commitment in connecting this project with the community by premiering this touring exhibition and hosting the project's website; Joe Mota at the United Farm Worker's Union in Coachella Valley for his involvement in promoting this work in the desert communities; La Sierra University's Brandstater Gallery and Art Institute for Multimedia at Los Angeles Mission College for their support and interest in continuing the exhibition tour; the John Robert Powers Peforming Arts Academy in Palm Desert for their generous support in providing promotional materials for distribution; CRC Business Unit at UC Riverside for managing the project's budget; Desert Mirage High School for allowing me to train a cadre of youth in various aspects of the documentary process; Hispanic Research Center of Arizona State University for promoting the exhibition on their Latina/o Online Art Community; Millard Sheets Gallery for the premiere of Cultural Crossings and RAICES for also presenting Cultural Crossings at the Film Festival in Coachella; Division 9 Gallery for the framing materials; Intellicolor Photo Lab in Riverside for the photographic enlargements; and the producers of Maximás Productions who selected my work for a segment on American Latino TV.

MIL GRACIAS to: God; my team of Humanities experts - Dr. Carlos Veléz-Ibañez, Dr. Travis Du Bry, Richard Chabran, and Joe Mota who each stood beside me, challenged me and offered their support and encouragement throughout the process; each of the seven families - Familia Chaidez, Gonzalez, Lerma, Macias and Rodriquez, Perez, Toner and Vasquez, and other community members who graciously offered to participate in the documentary process including Noe Lerma, Jose Perez, Dora Ocampo, Jose Becerra, Don Miguel, Father Rudolfo, los Amezcua, Chavez and Montero families, and a list of others whose names shall remain anonymous (at their request) for allowing me to document their personal histories; DJ Rex, Carlos Garica, Darren J. de Léon, and Laura Araujo-Salinas who collaborated with me on the Cultural Crossings videos; UCR Ernesto Galarza Applied Research Center team of researchers who provided invaluable assistance - Alfonso Taboada, Marianna Gonzalez, Hue Tang, Rex Garcia, Gabriela Ocon, Venus Flores, Roberto Labada, and Eszter Delgado; Jorge Fiffe who also played a critical role in collaborating with me on designing the project's website; project volunteers - Sergio Piña who gave a generous amount of time and energy to assist me in conducting the interviews in Spanish, including Cristena De La Pena, Cuca Garcia, Al Acevedo, and Helena Romero, who provided further assistance in transcribing the Spanish interviews into English documents; Georg Burwick the project's curator for challenging me do my very best work and Shane Shukis who believed in my project from the very beginning and who helped me with the grant writing process; my beloved Father (Henry Lee Lopez) who invested years of training in the development of creativity as an artist; my husband (Carlos) and my two sons (Rex and Xavier) for their understanding and support while I was away; my mother (Sara Quiroz Laborin) and all my relatives from the Quiroz family that journeyed here to the U.S. by way of the Mexican border with a determination to succeed in life - it is by far your courage and spirit that has greatly inspired me to push the boundaries between politics and art in my multimedia artworks.