Pajaro Valley Arts Presents

Poetry Reading via Zoom – Pandemic Take Aways

Featuring: Claudia Meléndez Salinas, Alex Rocha, and  Gabriel J. Medina

Friday, April 16, 2021
6:30pm-8:30pm Via Zoom

Zoom Link 
Meeting ID: 910 2678 3529

Contact: Shirley Flores-Munoz, email:

In the gallery: Take Aways: ¡Arte para llevar!
Exhibit dates: April 9 – May 23, 2021

Pajaro Valley Arts invite you to join us for our fundraising exhibit, Take Aways: Art to Go! This diverse annual invitational exhibit features seventy-six local artists from Santa Cruz County.
Gallery Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11.00am – 4.00pm, by appointment only.
To request an appointment for you and/or your group please visit PVA’s website here: Make an Appointment

Alex Rocha grew up around the strawberry fields in Watsonville, California. She is currently a junior at Yale University and is majoring in American Studies with a focus on visual, audio, literary, and performance cultures. Through her writing, she seeks a better understanding of the world and her merging self within it. Outside the classroom, she spends time writing letters, catching her breath, and trying to empower her community. She has authored an essay that was published in New Journal 2020, entitled, Strawberry Fields Forever. (Vol 42, No55)

Gabriel J. Medina is a local filmmaker. He attained a B.A. in Visual Literacy; Film & Television Studies and Chicana/o Studies at UCLA. His previous work includes: Lurker, Service with A Smile, and Xilonen. He is interested in producing, script writing, and digital marketing. Gabriel works with the Digital NEST, Watsonville Film Festival, and is the owner of Calavera Media. He currently serves as the Pajaro Valley Board President. He has recently been accepted into the Peter Stark Producing MFA program at the University of Southern California.

Writer Claudia Melendez in Monterey on Monday January 5, 2015. Photo www.davidroyal.net

Claudia Meléndez Salinas is an author, journalist, open water swimmer and cat lover. She was raised in Puebla, Mexico and graduated from UCSC. She has written for El Andar, the Valley Morning Star, El Financiero, Nuevo Mundo, the Salinas Californian, and the Monterey Herald. She currently works with Alisal Schools. In her recent book, A Fighting Chance, she has crafted a vivid novel about the challenges of urban life, falling in love, and dealing with life’s consequences.