THE GAZETTE
Thursday, August 8, 2013 lr
Page A-5
Farmers market shopping a ‘snap’
Star talent
Riverdale Park among first to take part in nutrition assistance program n
BY
ERIC GOLDWEIN STAFF WRITER
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Alexia Rivera (top), 12, of New Carrollton strikes a pose while being held aloft by teammates as head coach Karen Ross offers encouragement Aug. 1 during cheerleading practice for the Explosion Elite All-stars outside Robert Frost Elementary School in New Carrollton.
Hyattsville poet tries hand at publishing Spanish professor spreading written word in two languages n
BY
ERIC GOLDWEIN STAFF WRITER
José Ballesteros of Hyattsville said he wrote poetry for two decades without sharing his work beyond his friends and family. “As a writer, I always felt comfortable that the stuff that I was working on was a work in progress and that I would know when my writing personally would be ready to be sent out,” said Ballesteros, a Spanish professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Now, Ballesteros is sharing his work as the founder and editor of Zozobra Publishing, a bilingual press featuring poetry and prose from Latino writers. Zozobra is the only bilingual publishing company in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area, said Judith Freidenberg, a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, who specializes in Latino issues in Prince George’s County. Stuart Eisenberg, executive director of the Hyattsville Community Development Corp., said the Gateway Arts and Entertainment District — consisting of Brentwood, Hyattsville, Mount Rainier and North Brentwood — would benefit from having a bilingual publishing group, citing the region’s growing Hispanic population. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Prince George’s had 57,057 Latinos and Hyattsville’s Latino population was 5,972. “The fact that [Zozobra] is intentionally bilingual, I think it really honors the large Spanish-speaking community we have in Hyattsville and Prince George’s County that is not always in the forefront,” said
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BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
José R. Ballesteros, owner of Zozobra Publishing, a bilingual publishing company, holds a copy of its first book, “The Light of the Storm,” at his home office in Hyattsville on July 26. Abby Sandel, Hyattsville’s community services director. In February, the company published its first book, “The Light of the Storm,” a poetry anthology by Carlos Parada Ayala of Washington, D.C. The book, available in English and Spanish, was translated by Ballesteros. Fernando Mancuello, Zozobra cofounder, designed the cover. Ballesteros, 42, said he wants Zozobra to tap into the county’s championing of the arts by giving it a bilingual literary presence. “One of the important things for me personally is that eventually Hyattsville feels like it has a press here,” he said. Ballesteros, a native of Ecuador, studied at the University of Kansas and worked at St. Mary’s after receiving his Ph.D. He lived in Fredericksburg and the District before moving to Hyattsville in 2008. Ballesteros read at an open mic poetry event and his work caught the attention of Parada Ayala of the District, one of the
event organizers. Parada Ayala invited him to participate in a Spanish poetry anthology, “Al Pie de La Casa Blanca” (At the Foot of the White House), which featured Hispanic writers from the metropolitan D.C. area. That prompted Ballesteros to become more involved with the region’s Hispanic writers. Last year, Ballesteros put together a panel with the anthology’s writers at the Split This Rock Poetry Festival in the District, where they discussed the empowering role of Spanish writing in the United States. Ballesteros, a father of two, said he wants Zozobra to promote Spanish reading and writing at a sophisticated level, without neglecting English. “Why wouldn’t you want to develop that kid’s Spanish as much as you could?” he said. “Even from an economic perspective, from a city planning perspective, we have this ability.”
Riverdale Park Farmers Market customers say a new program is making it cheaper — and more convenient — to shop locally. On July 25, the market launched the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, an electronic benefit transfer providing financial assistance for low-income individuals and families to purchase food. The farmers markets in Riverdale Park and Suitland are the first in Prince George’s County to implement the program, said Amy Crone, an agricultural marketing specialist with the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Carol Barrans of Hyattsville, who was using SNAP at the weekly market for the first time Aug. 1, said the program benefits customers and farmers. “I’m certainly going to be getting more fruit today than I normally would,” Barrans said. Eligible customers can use SNAP EBT cards at the farmers market’s cashier and receive wooden, EBT tokens, which are accepted by market vendors. The vendors are reimbursed by the market for the tokens they receive, said Crone. Additionally, SNAP users can receive up to $10 in additional incentive vouchers to spend at the market, paid for with grant money from Eat Fresh Maryland Network, a statewide network comprised of more than 20 farmers markets, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. Peggy Harris, owner of Harris Orchard in Anne Arundel County and a vendor at the Riverdale Park market, said the program has given customers an incentive to buy local produce that they previously might not have been able to afford. Crone said the program also encourages healthy eating for low-income residents who might otherwise turn to cheaper, artificial foods. “It provides a new venue for them and helps to increase the amount of locally produced foods they get in their diet,” Crone said. The grant also provides incentives for shoppers using federally funded Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Fruit & Vegetable Checks (FVC), said Crone. Riverdale Park’s market has been running since 1998, said its marketing coordinator, Jim Coleman. He said the market earned the grant because of its stability and longevity. “We have plenty of horsepower in our organization to be able to handle new things,”
egoldwein@gazette.net
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PHOTOS BY BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Gerardo Gonzalez of Riverdale uses the SNAP/EBT program bonus to buy extra vegetables for his daughters Janeyri, 6, and Jastelyn, 3, from Sam Taggart of the Thank God It’s Fresh Farm at the Riverdale Park Farmers Market on Aug. 1. Wooden tokens for use in the Riverdale Park Farmers Market SNAP/EBT program.
Coleman said. In 2009, Crossroads Farmers Market in Takoma Park, now called Crossroads Community Food Network, became the state’s first market to use SNAP. There are currently 37 SNAP-compatible markets in Maryland, Crone said. Terri Melvin, who sells produce for Musachio Farm in Ridgely, said only about 5 percent of her sales were in wooden tokens at Riverdale Park’s farmers market, but in
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other markets where SNAP has been running longer, like Crossroads, tokens account for an estimated 25 percent of revenue. Allison Milchling, program coordinator at Crossroads, said she expects the program to take off at Riverdale. “Word of mouth is king for the farmers market world,” Milchling said. egoldwein@gazette.net