Chicano Art and Literature

Pasadena Historical Landmark and Treasure

2010-10-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Quetzalcoatl - 1968

Designed by Ernest M. Saenz and painted with the assistance of local teenagers from Mary Street, Pasadena
El Centro de Accion (Corner of Del Mar and Fair Oaks, Pasadena, CA)
Painted Mural (retouched and painted over in parts during the years)

Ernest M. Saenz is the only Chicano Artist arrested for his artwork in the 60s and 70s. He was a major contributor to the Grafitti and Street Art movement of the 80s and went into recluse in the 90s. In the 2000s, he went underground and published extremely political satirical cartoons, spoofs and often material considered "Over the Edge" of civility, but none the less - true. He is back and has been declared the Father of Chicano Minimalism.

Out From Under Ground

2010-07-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Edgeware Gallery (http://www.edgewaregallery.com), located in San Diego's Kensington District, is featuring the works of over 35 San Diego street artists, live street art performances this Art Show has brought together street artists from the 1960s to the present for the first time in San Diego. The event is a fundraiser for the Autism Research Institute (http://www.autism.com).

Ernest M. Saenz - an artist known for challenging the status quo and an icon of the East Los Angeles graffiti movement of the early 60s will be presenting a live show at the event's opening. One of Saenz' murals has be declared a historical landmark in Pasadena, Ca (http://ww2.cityofpasadena.net/arts/walktour/Tour7.asp). Saenz was dubbed the Father of Chicano Minimalism by Gregg Stone, artist and curator of the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art. Stone has been featured in Low Rider Magazine for his works on the street life of La Coahuila, Tijuana's Red Light District (http://www.lowriderarte.com/featuredartists/lrap_0803_featured_artist_gregg_stone/index.html).

The opening date of the event is on July 24, 2010 from 5PM to 9PM at the Edgeware Gallery, 4186 Adams Ave. San Diego, 92116. Please call Mark Rimland at (619) 534-8120 for more information.

Hierarchy of Artists Influence from Courbet to Saenz

2007-09-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

Courbet (1819-1877)

Monet (1840-1926)

Renoir (1841-1919)

Cezanne (1839-1906)

Gauguin (1848-1903)

Matisse (1869-1954)

Marc (1880-1916)

Gris (1887-1927)

Picasso (1881-1973)

Braque (1882-1963)

Zorthian (1911-2004)

Saenz (1952- )

The works above illustrate the progression of influences from Coubert to Saenz via direct contact of the artists listed.

Saenz served as the Director of Art for Zorthian's Ranch for Children in the late 70s and early 80s. At the age of 13, Saenz met Col. Jirayr H. Zorthian in the mid-sixties at the Pasadena Art Museum. Saenz was the museums's newspaper delivery boy. Saenz studied with Zorthian and other acclaimed artists through his association with the Pasadena Art Museum. Including Rothko, DuChamp and Warhol.

Saenz is recognized as the creator of Chicano Minimalism. A credit given to him by Gregg Stone, Curator of the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art. His last existing mural has been declared a historical landmark in Pasadena View Here."

Zarco Guerrero, the Man behind the Masks

2007-04-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Zarco, "What kind of a name is that?" was the first thought that came into my head upon hearing that name for the first time. I contemplated the letters and saw that rearranging them spelled Ozcar, could this be it? I googled the name and found out that Zarco is the Portugese surname of Cristobal Colon, the European attributed with discovering the new world and its millions of inhabitants. I could never understand the concept of claiming to be the first to discover something when hundreds of millions of people already knew about before you did. I guess it’s like buying a used car and calling it new, because it is new to you.

Well, we have the same situation here with the artist known as Zarco; Zarco Guerrero to be exact. He has discovered a new world in one that has been known to many and has existed for millenniums - the mask.

Zarco takes the mask as it had been used in primitive times, and in the present he gives new life to the mask to convey knowledge and wisdom through emotions and convictions. Indeed, Zarco has bridged over obstacles of communication with his masks; which seem to possess the actor and immediately transform him into another being with its own dimensions and complexities that make up the human character we call attitude.

In Zarco’s latest work, a DVD entitled, "Face 2 Face - In a Frenzy" his talent shines through not only as a brilliant actor, but gifted writer and artist extraordinaire. His masks are more than just mantle pieces of art to display and admire; they are images of strong emotions capable of capturing your attention and taking you down newly discovered political and social territories.

Some of the characters in Zarco’s Face 2 Face are El Bato Poeta, who is a well known character in every barrio and immediately engages the viewer with his whimsical mannerisms, which later reveal a person of deep thought and lover of life - he is the embodiment of the Pachuco. Then there is El Narizon, that little voice inside all of us that tells us to love and respect ourselves. And La Comadre, who portrays the women in our lives that know who they are and what they are worth - la mujer that demands respect and gets it. The other characters I will leave for you to meet when you view Face 2 Face.

Zarco’s Face 2 Face is a worthwhile experience. What I admire most about this work, second only to creativity, is the absence of profanity, vulgarity and chauvinism, which seems to have permeated much of the art world today. It is refreshing to find an artist that doesn’t need to use the "F" word to get attention. Face 2 Face crosses gender, age and ethnic boundaries, yet remains very Chicano!

Visit Zarco Guerrero

Ernest M. Saenz
Literary Agent
Ollin Press
C/S

La Cucaracha Axed by LA Times

2007-03-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

La Cucaracha comic strip by Lalo Alcaraz has been cancelled by the Los Angeles Times!

The Art of Exclusion

This is another event in a long list of measurers to exclude Latinos from the mainstream media and, in fact, exclude Latinos from history itself - we don’t exist in the eyes of many.

Spanish language TV and Radio News programs have been cancelled nationwide.

PBS aired a 14 hour show on World War II and completely omitted the military contributions that thousands of Latinos made during that war.

PBS aired a show on music of the Civil Rights Movement and completely omitted the musical contributions that Latinos made during that movement.

Latinos funded 80% of the American Revolution, supplied George Washington with food, weapons and clothing (the Colonists uniforms were hecho en Mexico and Aztlan). Latinos served as troops in the American Revolution. The city of Galveston was named after Galvez, one of the generals of the American Revolution and in my book a founding father of this US country - but you won't find that in any history books - the art of exclusion.

Please take action and write the Los Angeles Times demanding that La Cucaracha comic strip be reinstated!

Please send emails to: sherry.stern@latimes.com and/or david.hiller@latimes.com and cc laloalcaraz@ yahoo.com

Or call the Times at (877) 554-4000

Gracias!

Aztlán Economíca

2006-12-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

We have come to realize that the Latino Economic block in the United States currently wields an overpowering $900 billion in buying power.

How much of this is spent in the barrios purchasing Chicano/Latino themed products?

We have seen an increase in ads targeting Latinos in the past year, with Bromley Communications from Texas leading the trend in Latino Advertisement. We have also seen major television syndicates cut Spanish language news shows from areas highly populated by Latinos.

We have also seen many mainstream television and radio talk shows promote hostility towards the Latino population by promoting the myth of a reconquista carried out by undocumented migrants on the directive of the Mexican government, when every self respecting Latino knows there is no reconquista and that Aztlan is the nickname Chicanos gave to Southwestern US. This campaign to malign Latinos affects our barrio economics; it prevents our cultural from being accepted as a culture that is also American.

Resulting from many years of legal segregation and the continuing division resulting from institutionalized racism, Latinos have experienced a different America than our White European counterparts. My American experience includes Quinceñeras, Pachangas, Banda, Piñatas, Mariachis, Crusing and Cinco de Mayo parades.

The problem we face as Latinos is that our culture is being suppressed at every possible turn. Even with the increase of marketing aimed at Latinos, it is to sell us non-Latino products.

We don’t have to buy into this hoopla. There are many Latinos providing products that reflect our cultural experiences as Americans without denying our roots, nor replacing them with the foreign frills and ruffles.

This year buy at least one product from a Latino – It will have a positive growth effect on our Latino economy and counter the attempts of the Antis to hurt us economically.

Here is a list of sites where you can shop for Chicano/Latino Themed Products:

Carlotta's Passion
Oh Que Pretty
chingArte
La Cucaracha
Chicano Style
Pure Chicano Sound
La Chucheria
Floricanto Press
Calaca Press

Sample Products:

Curandera Saves Life of Magu

2006-11-15T09:50:00.000-08:00

A letter from don Magu: Chicano Artist Extraordinaire!

Gente,

Well the fact is that it took a curandera (Viva La Cultura) to save my life....in it's most holistic manner.

A week ago on a Sunday I was in my studio and talking to a friend Becky Garcia, whereas I told her of some familiar symptoms resembling food poisoning or a pancreatic attack. She recommended going to the hospital but everyone was gone and I just resisted the idea.

But her caring caused a better judgment so she left work from L.A. and drove to Pomona ( 80 miles or more ). By the time she arrived I was in a curled up fetus position. She was the initial step to having this very serious situation attended to medically.

After a week of being drugged, in the hospital, as you know they do, Mardi and Risa brought me to my studio to recovery from the medical narcosis and the professional narcissism found commonly among some of them. Of course, I can tell you with profound clarity the morphine was great protector from pain.

With all those expensive fancy machines and yet complicated primitive procedures of punching, poking and endless testing to find nothing except a superficial conclusion was an incredible expense of thousands without justification.

Mardi, in her determined resourcefulness, found this lady (and with the money it takes for a luncheon special for two) gave me a complete physiological and historical overview of my condition in a detailed account.

She also 'saw' an incident of concussion in my infantile years, which my mother once told me about.

It did not stop there, she also provided the resolution(s) to initiate and continue healing with the prognostic method of iridology and ancient 'attitudes'.

Not only was there improvement in health but it will provide me with that metaphorical trip into the mountain. Yes, my hair is now white.

Another factor needing description is the incredible love and caring received from so many people to speed up the healing.

I have been overwhelmed. ...it's amazing !!!

My most emphatic gratitude to my immediate familia....and everyone in concentric circles from my liver ( the liver; as Dona Martinez stated is the real center of being ).

Naiche and Rosina provided salads that caused me premature babas. Risa, physically small, became ten foot tall with her protective shielding and tremendous. She is fantastic.

Otono and Silbina, who just had a baby boy named Sol to brighten my horizons and give me some incentives to balance my liver.

This is a short synopsis but may it also tell you that I’m stronger and will be better for it all.

Thanks to all for the concerns.

This is a common problem of some artists to be irresponsible about one's health. We might learn about this relationship of well-being.

To be ignorant of the body and its needs is a basic ignorance.

Magulandia
Website

What Is Chicano Art?

2006-10-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

Mark Vallen:

The California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives of the University of Santa Barbara, California (CEMA), describes the aesthetic in the following manner: "Chicano art is a public and political art, proclaiming and expressing public and social concerns in its themes and subjects."

That is not a description I’m inclined to argue against, though in all fairness it is one in need of further elaboration.

Historically Chicano Art - or Chicanarte - has served as the basic building blocks of a people’s self-esteem. It has exhorted the Mexican American community to stand, take pride in itself, and to resist the forces of subjugation. The earliest expressions of Chicano art were in support of the United Farm Worker’s Union and their leader César Chávez, as the battle to bring decent working conditions to California’s agricultural workers raged in the mid-60s, but artworks soon addressed other concerns - from cultural identity and immigration, to poverty and the Vietnam War. Chicanarte was - and remains - community based and tied to the culture, folk traditions and histories of people on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. Over the years Chicano art has become nuanced, accepting a multiplicity of styles and interests without becoming diluted, it has embraced performance, installation, and conceptual forms without abandoning its essence.

In their curatorial statement, the organizers of Xican@ Demiurge wrote: "Art that is innovative and aggressive in its approach is critical to developing a contemporary aesthetic that is representative of the 21st Century Xican@ artist. The cultural climate influencing this particular group today is not the same as the one that triggered 'El Movimiento Chicano' of the 1960’s."

I’m left wondering how the art presented in this exhibit could be considered "aggressive in its approach," unless the direction is one of insistent self-absorption, political retreat and apathy. The curators of Xican@ Demiurge take pains to point out that conditions currently facing Chicanos are not those of the 60s, which is true enough - but this seems an excuse not to address current realities more than anything else. Of the twenty-one artists in the exhibit, only one displayed a work addressing an overt political issue - and that attempt was not very engaging.

Armando Baeza:

Well I am! [a Chicano Artist]

By the word "aesthetics", I hope they don't mean style or something that is assumed to be inherent in all Chicano art work.

Perhaps if we were all clones, this might be true, but even cones must have a backbone with some independence in them.

I will admit that there are groups of like minded artist that work in like minded styles, but our aesthetic independence is as varied as there are individuals or groups of like minded individuals.

As "fine artists" we all belong to the world of artists expressing what we feel compelled to express without anyone's persuasion or dominance over us, unless we desire that.

As Chicanos we represent a variety of cultures boiled down to two, Mexican and American for the present, and evolving.

Even though, the American influence represents as many “cultures" as the Mexican influence does, blood remains thicker than water, but roots always follow water where abundant. Yet one thing is for sure, nothing is everlasting. I've witness many forevers disappear.

Our progeny, unless it's under chains will always decide for themselves where they make roots as we did. Even Chicanismo like everything else has a finality. But let’s give it our best while we are in it or it's in us.

Sonya Fe:

I know what isn't Chicano Art...

Chicano art isn't boring.

Chicano art isn't predictable and formulated.

Chicano art isn't techniques taught in art schools.

Chicano art isn't a passing fad.

When I see Chicano art I see plain raw emotions capture on whatever medium/media the artist chooses.

In this day and age when so many artist art stuck to one style to produce the same style and subject matter over and over again for a gallery show, I just don't see that when I see Chicano art.

The images I see aren't formulated, but come directly from the artists experiences meaning the use of his/her materials.

Ernesto:

I agree [with Sonya].

Some people think Chicano Art is only La Virgen, anything Aztec, Lowriders or Che; icons that I find interesting no matter how often they are duplicated.

It seems like to be a Chicano Artist, you must, at least, make one painting of one of those icons - it's the right of passage into Chicano Art. Once you pay your dues in icons, you can venture into what ever chingArte you want to produce.

ChingArte is the term I created to identify Chicano Art that has the "Soy Chicano, Y Que" attitude.

Armando:

The question remains, Ernesto.

What is inherent in everyone's Chicano Experience?

In other words, what is it that we all share from birth besides all the cultures and origins we do share?

Or is it just a passing thing that eventually diminishes?

Or something that will grow regardless if our progeny continue to marry into other cultures and influences.

Ernesto:

What is inherent is the realization that you are neither Mexican nor American.

That you are a foreigner everywhere except in the company of other Chicanos.

Below are samples of the artwork of artists featured at Xican@ Demiurge, which we are disputing the validity of calling it Chicano Art:

Rolo Castillo:

Camille Rose Garcia:

RETNA

Alma Mota:

Albert Reyes:

Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia:

Melly Trochez:

Tradition of Tortilla Making . . .

2006-09-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Mental Menudo Artists Exhibit New Work

2006-09-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Chicano: Pronouncing Diversity.
Mental Menudo Artists Exhibit New Work in Landmark Show.

It’s almost incredible that Chicano Art Shows keep getting better and better. An excited crowd is its own reward; energized by ambience, conversations flow among strangers sharing delighted moments of inspiration. In such moments, crowd and art fuse into the same thing, culture. Every show brings new talents to the walls, but for me, seeing the maturation of talent in new work by familiar artists offers the greater pleasure.

So it was at the opening reception for Chicano: Pronouncing Diversity, in Los Angeles’ Eagle Rock Cultural Arts Center. An encouraging display by a new generation of artists and a core of veteranas and veteranos from the old days. Holding it all together the familiar materials and attitudes of Chicanismo.

At one point during the exhibit, I was leaning against a pillar taking candid shots of Vibiana Aparacio-n Chamberlin speaking animatedly with Serg Hernandez about Pola Lopez’ irreverent piece combining loteria cards and la Virgen. Out of the blue, I remembered Salvador Plasencia saying he’s glad to be published outside the chicano mainstream. And here’s Pola Lopez placing her work squarely in the heart of that mainstream.

I asked Magu, who curated the exhibit, what qualifies a piece for the show? Not what makes the work “good,” but what makes it “Chicano.” I got the answer the question deserves: go inside and have a look! The excitement of the moment begins at the door with Raoul De La Sota’s painting of cactus pencas.

Hugely magnified and rendered in fanciful warm colors, the canvas evokes Rousseau’s “Magical Kingdom”.

Turning left into the main gallery, the visitor will be welcomed by the curator, who will nudge the visitor to take in the vendor’s cart, and photographer Oscar Castillo’s tribute to Frida.

To read more, click HERE.

Gilbert "Magu" Lujan

Vibiana Aparicio Chamberlin

Sergio "Serg" Hernandez

Upcoming Mental Menudos:

October 13th ~ 7pm
Eagle Rock Art Center
“Business, Galleries y Que"
Panel de Art Consultants
Patrick Ela
Howard Fox
Bob Squires

November 10th ~ 7pm
Mexican Cultural Institute
“Acting up y Que"
Panel de celebrities
Roseana De Soto
Evalina Fernandez
Jose Valenzuela
Herbert Siguenza

December 8th ~ 7pm
Eagle Rock Art Center
“Future of Los Angeles Art Centers”
Panel de Administrators
Jonathan Yorba
Lui Sanchez
David Tourje

For Info Contact:

Eagle Rock Art Center
Director: Jenny Krusoe
jenny@centerarteaglerock.com
2225 Colorado Blvd, Eagle Rock, CA 90041
323-226-1617

Mexican Cultural Institute
Chair: Abelardo de la Pena
Abelardo @ iconoculture.com
125 Paseo de la Plaza Por la Calle Olvera
Los Angeles 90012-2932
213-264-3660

Slideshow Venezuela

2006-09-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

Cheech: Champion of Chicano Art

2006-09-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Article by Lexi Richards

Grant Hill isn't the only celebrity whose personal collection tours the country and enlightens the masses. While neither "pro-athlete" nor "stoned comedian" would come to mind as the profile of a prominent identity-themed art collector, both Hill and comedian Cheech Marin are using their notoriety to create awareness for identity-based schools of art.

"All art needs champions, and I decided to become a champion," said Marin, who first became famous as part of the duo Cheech and Chong and has gone on to act and direct in various movies and TV shows including Nash Bridges.

While Marin won't put his collection on display at the Nasher Museum of Art anytime soon, the exhibit, Chicano Visions, is currently on display at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Chicano Visions is in the midst of a five-year tour of the country alongside the non-traditional exhibit Chicano Now, comprised of 15 commissioned videos covering themes like the border, family and style. And when the national tour comes to an end in 2008, it will continue overseas with a show already planned in Madrid, Spain.

Marin, like Hill, can trace his interest in the arts back to his childhood. He has been educating himself about art since the age of six or seven, he said, when he would go to the library in his hometown of Los Angeles and look through the art books. As he grew older, he discovered the Chicano art school.

"Chicano painters were actually a school of painters and they weren't getting space," Marin, a third-generation Mexican American, said. "They were being ignored, and I couldn't let this body of work and [the artists'] time as painters pass by without being noticed."

The Chicano Movement has been developing since the end of the Mexican War in 1848, when the current U.S.-Mexican border took form. During the 1960s, poitical leaders César Chávez and Dolores Huerta gave the movement a national voice in the poltical arena, and drew attention to the term "Chicano." A large part of the movement has always been cultural, including the evolution of the arts in various forms of expression, from visual art to music.

"For some artists Chicano [art] is precise," said Esther Gabara, assistant professor of romance studies, and art, art history and visual studies. "[But] there are people who identify as Chicano who are interested in making art that deals with a range of issues that have to do with his or her own interests."

One of the first main exhibitions of Chicano art to travel the country was CARA: Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985 in the early 1990s. About 10 years ago, Marin--who since his pot-smoking days has lent his voice to Banzai, the hyena in The Lion King, and Ramone, the low-rider in this summer's Cars--said he had the vision to get his collection on the road and to create a down-home appreciation of Chicano culture. This down-home idea came to life as the Chicano Now exhibit.

"I was the one who had the vision of, 'Hey, let's try to do this,'" Marin said. "But it was a giant effort over years by many people including scholars, artists and technicians."

The presence of a major collector such as Marin or Hill is important in setting a market price for art outside the mainstream, Gabara said.

"Often people producing art from outside the mainstream are undervalued in the art market," Gabara added. "Having a major collector who gives a profile of what a collection of Chicano art would be like is a realistic part that appears as a ripple effect."

Corporate America has also played a role in getting Chicano art the space Marin envisioned. He partnered with Target Corporation to bring Chicano art to audiences all over the country. Using Target's knowledge of their market, the collaborators chose certain cities based on demographics and then approached the top modern art museums in those cities to show Chicano Visions and Chicano Now, Marin said.

And while the cities may have been strategically selected, Marin said it appeals to absolutely everyone, giving Chicano Visions and Chicano Now the ability to break attendance records in every city.

"It's really great art. People wouldn't come if it was so-so art," Marin said. "It's like hearing music you have never heard before and thinking, 'These guys can really play,' and you're drawn to it."

chingArte

2006-08-31T14:51:00.000-07:00

chingArte

Chicano Artists use many forms to express the Chicano Experience. The works of several Chicano Artists delving in abstract, modern and minimalism art will be posted at chingArte - to see, click >>> HERE.

Cheech Marin High On Art

2006-08-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Say the name Cheech Marin, and what most people think of is the stoned-out character he played in the "Cheech and Chong" movies and records.

But there is far more to him than his onscreen persona suggests. Richard "Cheech" Marin is one of the nation's foremost collectors of Chicano, or Mexican-American, art, and his private collection has become the largest of its kind in the world.

Marin is sharing that art with the public through two national exhibits. The first, "Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge," is in the midst of a blockbuster tour of major art museums that runs through 2008. The second, "The Chicano Collection," featuring digital reproductions of paintings in his collection, has just begun its national tour in Los Angeles.

CNN caught up with him there, and he spoke about his devotion to Chicano art and his desire to break it into the mainstream.

CNN: How did it all start for you?

CHEECH MARIN: Well, I was always interested in art. I had started art as a kid by myself and went to the library, checked out art books and familiarized myself with what was up. And when I got to the appropriate place -- actually when I made money -- I started collecting art.

In the mid-'80s I kind of discovered the Chicano painters because the gap of my knowledge was contemporary art. ... At first it was you'd buy something just to go over the couch, something in green, but the more I saw, the more I realized that they were talking about something specific and that thing was the experience of being Chicano. ... And so, being an obsessive collector -- which I've been all my life -- I started collecting their works.

CNN: Are people surprised that you have this passion for art, given that you're so well known for playing this stoner hippie in the "Cheech and Chong" comedies?

MARIN: Well, I think less and less as time goes by because they've seen me in a bunch of other stuff, you know "Nash Bridges" or "Judging Amy." ...

I always feel really fortunate and almost anointed because I was the right guy in the right place at the right time. ... These guys were great painters because I knew what a great painting was and I had the interest and the money, you know, to kind of put together a collection.

CNN: Why are you doing this?

MARIN: I would like to spread Chicano art to the mainstream and have it recognized as it should be. My theory is that this is not a Latin American phenomenon, this is a school of American art. And what it does is to symbolize the inclusion of the Latin and Latinos' cultural contribution in the mainstream that has kind of not been recognized. ...

What I learned from showbiz and my dealings with corporate America is it's all about shelf space. It's all about getting your name in front of the public. You can't love or hate Chicano art unless you see it.

CNN: What is it about Chicano art that is so unique and so special?

MARIN: It tells the story of an experience and it draws upon two cultures and has the power of those two cultures that combine and then recombine for a whole different experience. Chicano is described as Mexican meets American. It's Mexican- American, but Mexican-American with an attitude -- an attitude of insistence upon rights, an insistence upon equality and an insistence upon acknowlegement of their creativity.

It's not a census term like Hispanic or Mexican-American put on you. You choose to be a Chicano. [Originally] it was a "dis" by Mexicans to other Mexicans living in this country, the concept being that Mexicans living in [this] country were not truly Mexicanos anymore. They were something smaller. They were something littler. They were chicos [boys]. ...

I grew up being a Chicano. I didn't feel Mexican-American, I didn't feel Hispanic and I definitely wasn't the Dick-and-Jane American. But when I got to Chicano, when I heard that term I felt loved. That's me. ...

The first time I saw Chicano art, it's like the first time I heard the Beatles. It was recognizable because it was built on something I knew, but it was really new and different and refreshing and full of life. And that's kind of the way I feel about Chicano art.

CNN: Have you experienced any snobbery in the art world?

MARIN: Oh, yeah. In some institutions that will go unnamed, there was kind of an ingrained snobbery against it because they didn't know what it was. You're always kind of defensive about things that you don't know anything about and also because of me.

My participation is a double-edged sword. You know I bring a lot of publicity to it because I have fame in other areas, [but] in the art world, I was an interloper. You know, "who's this doper comedian that'll come up and tell me, who has a Ph.D. in art, what's up?" Well, here I am.

CNN: So how do you deal with that?

MARIN: You know, what we're bringing to Americans is a wonderful gift. For free. Here's the best and brightest and culmination of our creativity and pictures. We come bearing gifts, we come in peace and we come to add to the culture.

Visit Cheech Marin's Art Collection >>> HERE

La Bloga

2006-07-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

La Bloga
Coming of Age in a Teenage Wasteland and the Big Easy

Manuel Ramos

SLOTH by Gilbert Hernandez

Continuing a semi-theme initiated by Gina with her great live remote report on the San Diego Comic Con, here's a review of the latest from one of the best in the world of the illustrated novel, Gilbert Hernandez.
_______________________
Miguel Serra has some issues. The teenager, described by his girlfriend as a nerd, willed himself into a year-long coma, then willed himself awake, and now that he is back with the living his general speed is slow, very slow. So slow, in fact, that the local tough guys call him Sloth, which also happens to be the name of his three-person band.

Life in suburbia apparently is not all that it is cracked up to be, especially for kids such as Serra who ostensibly have some Latino roots but who really have no anchors at all. Miguel was raised by angry grandparents who carry a huge cross of guilt because their daughter abandoned Miguel. Also in the mix, just barely, is Miguel’s father, who expounds from prison on the weak character of Miguel’s mother. Miguel’s tutor, the person expected to get Miguel back on track with his education agenda, struts in tight leather pants and too small tube tops, excoriates a vague "them" who are out to get teachers and students, and appears to be on the verge of a breakdown. Cholos harass Miguel, then appear to accept a detente in their relationship, then turn on him again. Meanwhile, Miguel’s girlfriend vacillates in her attraction to Miguel. And his best friend, Romeo, is giving off some weird vibrations. It’s just all so crappy.

Hernandez’s story has plenty of what fans of Love And Rockets, Palomar, and Luba have come to expect: angst-ridden characters adrift in a mundane, acutely boring world where everyday incidents, which in any other universe simply would be normal encounters with life, explode into serial crises. The artwork, as always, is a highlight - stark black and white illustrations capture Miguel’s stilted and claustrophobic existence as well as the dreary and repetitive suburban scenery.

The story also has some twists that are unique, like a jarring switch of characters and storylines half-way through the book. But I guess such a development should not be that surprising in a book where a teenager can lapse into a comatose state at will, or a camera can take a photograph of the invisible Goatman, or alienated and disaffected youth choose to spend time in a lemon tree orchard.

Sloth is Hernandez’s first original graphic novel. He says that it took him two and a half years to write and draw, and at only 120 pages or so a reader might initially wonder what the time was spent on. But, as in any good book, the word and page count do not, uh, count. Hernandez takes on several themes and his characters deal with concepts as benign as recognizing what is essential and important between friends but they also grapple with much more serious questions such as suicide and suicidal tendencies.

The teens are growing up, learning their differences and similarities, accepting some changes, fighting others, and not always adjusting well to the challenges of their young lives. I think it is a book that will speak to the undefined and uneasy restlessness of a generation about which, I admit, I have only a minimal understanding.

There is a reference in the story to La Llorona, and the theme of abandonment of children by adults, if not the outright killing of children by adults, sits immediately beneath the surface of the plot. However, that reference is exchanged quickly for a cloistered neighborhood legend - the haunted lemon tree orchard where women are supposedly killed and buried, and where the mysterious Goatman scampers among the rows of fruit trees. A key part of the Goatman legend is the switching of identities - the Goatman trades his existence with that of his unlucky prey. Miguel and his friends are looking for exactly that kind of trade, even if it has to come from a half-man, half-goat creature. The characters are trying to escape - through comas, loud music, and dreams, or by encountering the Goatman, a singular symbol of fear of the unknown future and its inevitable changes. They just don’t know exactly where to go after the escape is accomplished.

Unfortunately, at least in Hernandez’s book, the answer often appears in the guise of turning inward, sleeping it off in other words. Is that what is going on with this generation?

Two quibbles - how come all the Latinos are so güero ? And, are there absolutely no adults who can be turned to for at least a bit of guidance?

This book, excuse the pun, is a sleeper. It should resonate with readers on many levels. I appreciate Hernandez’s finely-tuned talent and I especially like the fact that he uses his art to probe and expose some of the complex dynamics swirling around those groups of kids all of us see in the malls, lethargic and seemingly without ambition or motivation, almost as though they were sleep-walking. Maybe they just woke up from a coma?

A NOTE FROM NEW ORLEANS
Mary Helen Lagasse (The Fifth Sun) reports that an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Navel of the Moon/Ombligo de la Luna, appears as an essay in the anthology My New Orleans: Ballads to the Big Easy by Her Sons, Daughters & Lovers, edited by Rosemary James (Simon & Schuster). The essay is a coming-of-age story about a girl of Mexican heritage growing up in New Orleans' Irish Channel. Although not a memoir, Mary Helen says that it is based "like all fiction ... on the author's observations, experiences and imagination." On July 27 from 6 to 8 PM, Mary Helen joins author Jed Horne and newspaper columnist Lolis Eric Elie in a presentation sponsored by the Faulkner Society for the ongoing series My New Orleans Is Her Precious Neighborhoods at The Cabildo at Jackson Square.

10TH ANNUAL CHICANO MUSIC FESTIVAL & AUCTION
Three days of roots music under the Colorado summer sky. Silent and live auctions nightly featuring some of the best raza artists. Past auctions have featured several donated pieces from Self-Help Graphics & Art. Noche Tradicional - August 4; Summer Pachanga - August 5; Mariachi Tardeada - August 6. El Centro Su Teatro's North Playground. Announced bands include Orgullo, Next In Line, Southwest Musicians, El Trio Los Gallos, Grupo Aztlan, Sangre Chicana, Mariachi El Rey, Mariachi San Juan de Colorado, and Mariachi Vasquez. More detail at El Centro Su Teatro.

Walkout the Movie

2006-03-24T09:58:00.000-08:00

By Ross Plesset
March 23, 2006

"In those times, people were energized, and they were more intellectual. People were processors of information, whereas today you don't see a lot of that." -- David Sanchez, former leader, The Brown Berets

David Sanchez, Ph.D.

August 7th, 2005, Roosevelt High School: Today is one of last days of production on the film Walkout, a dramatization of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement of the late 1960s and early '70s (which premieres on HBO in March). Among the final scenes being shot is a countdown to one of the walkouts.

David Sanchez, who founded the Brown Berets and is advising on the movie, is giving me a tour of the set. Many of the film's events happened on this campus. According to him, most of the police brutality occured at Roosevelt.

On several occasions, Sanchez displays nostalgia for his alma mater. "This is the same place," he exclaims, pointing to pipes in the ceiling of a hallway behind the auditorium. Adding to his nostalgia is the redressing of various areas to reflect 1968. Also, throughout the school are young adult extras dressed in '60s attire. Most of them are loitering as they wait for their next scenes. Sanchez, who himself has appeared as an extra in the film (i.e., an adult participating in a demonstration in front of Lincoln High. In the film, he is visible in the lower right-hand corner of the screen), fraternizes with many of them. "These clothes are kind of bigger than I normally wear and tighter in some areas," laughs Maple Navarro, a young Asian extra. (Sanchez will later tell me that Asians were involved in the walkouts, especially at Belmont.) "You feel like you're in a different era. It's fun."

We enter the school auditorium, where Sanchez graduated decades earlier ("I'm getting flashbacks," he laughs), and relax in the seating area among dozens of '60s-clad extras.

Q: What kind of input have you been providing on the project?

SANCHEZ: I'm advising the actor who's playing me [Douglas Spain]. I'm advising on the wardrobe: showing people how to wear brown berets, [and] I was able to get patches. . . . Also, on the script they asked me questions: "Is this right?" "Is that right?""Did this happen?" "What was going on in the coffee house?"

The coffee house was the Brown Beret headquarters. That's where the movement started.

The energy of the student movement was much higher in the 1960s and '70s [than today]. The energy of some of the actors was kind of low, so I tried to get them more energized about the movement energized about social change. In those times, people were energized, and they were more intellectual. People were processors of information, whereas today you don't see a lot of that.

. . . There were certain scenes where I would try to increase the intensity. For example, when the walkout was happening, the students were confronted by police, and the police arrested 15 of them and injured several. I increased some of the screaming.

Another time when the students were walking out of a school they didn't have any books in their hands. I said: "Wait a minute. When the students walked out, they had books in their hands. They weren't going back to school, they were going to go home!" The first time they shot it, their hands were empty when they walked out. [Then] they got some books and Pee Chees.

. . . Altogether, in 1968 there were 10,000 students that walked out of about five different high schools. It was shock to the school system. It will never be the same. The students walked out of the schools because they had demands. We organized the walkouts out of the Brown Beret coffee house, [a place] called La Piranya.

. . . The demands were: *more Latino teachers (there were hardly any Latino teachers), *better food (it's still pretty bad) and Mexican food, *Chicano history classes, *more counseling directed toward college as opposed to vocational education. Before we even made the demands, we made a survey and distributed it to the students. These were the kinds of questions we asked on the survey.

Because we made demands on the system, and they didn't want to listen to our demands, we walked out in March of 1968, and a few months later, there was a grand jury indictment to arrest 13 people. They were called the Los Angeles 13. There were nine Brown Berets and three others. We were arrested out of [our] houses, and some of us were arrested in the middle of the night. I was arrested at the Brown Beret office. I tried to get away: I jumped out the back window.

Q: Where was the Brown Beret office located?

SANCHEZ: Soto and Chavez Avenue. There's a Kentucky Fried Chicken there [now]. So we all went to jail. We were on a hunger strike for three days in the Parker Center. And the community came out: several thousand people demonstrated at the Parker Center.

. . . I think some of the things that the Brown Berets did were very creative because they did so many different kinds of events: walkouts, demonstrations, the Brown Berets started the Moratorium Committee, mass rallies, marches, caravans, occupations of parks, an occupation of Catalina Island, everything in the book in applying social change.

Q: Could you discuss the origin of the Brown Berets?

SANCHEZ: The original committee was called Young Citizens for Community Action, and then it became Young Chicanos for Community Action. I changed the name, and that's when a lot of people left the organization. I felt that we had to bring up the stakes. [The name] Young Citizens for Community Action wasn't good enough. We had to raise the stakes to become more firm and more militant in our beliefs in order to bring attention to the problems of the Chicano community. But then we wanted the stakes to be a little higher, so we changed the name again in 1967 from Young Chicanos for Community Action to the Brown Berets.

The way I became a Brown Beret was someone gave me a dark blue beret for a present, and I didn't feel comfortable wearing a blue beret. So I went downtown shopping for a brown beret, and I found [one]. I bought it, and I was wearing it, and everywhere I went people called "Hey, brown beret." I said, "That's a good name for the organization." That's how the Brown Berets got started.

I bought 12 brown berets for the people in the coffee house. At the coffee house, we asked our customers to come protest police harassment at the sheriff's station, and they were given brown berets.

Q: What were the police harassing people about?

SANCHEZ: The police were harassing the Brown Beret coffee house. They didn't like activism, so they were harassing the customers. When people would leave, the police would give them tickets, or they would come in at 10 o'clock and arrest people because of the curfew.

So we started protesting against the police. Over time, people from different schools started meeting at the Brown Beret coffee house. The building is still there on the corner of Olympic and Goodrich. It's now called Tomayo's Restaurant. We had this huge Aztec mural on the wall, and they took it out. They should have left it up. It was beautiful.

Q: Did they re-create that for the movie?

SANCHEZ: No, they didn't ask me about that. They went ahead and did some artwork, and I didn't agree with it.

Q: Do you feel that a lot of what you were trying to do in the '60s and '70s has been realized, or has not all of it been accomplished?

SANCHEZ: No, what happened was lousy. A lot of the rewards and opportunities that we gained from the movement, especially the walkouts, were lost. For example, back then there was a 50% dropout rate, and we were able to reduce that to about 15%. But today, the Latino dropout rate is as high as 63%.

A lot of the gains have been lost because of government rules: they're testing students too much now, [and] there's an algebra requirement. Students who can barely pass high school math, let alone take algebra, are dropping out like flies.

There are some [Chicano Studies] classes; that's one of the only gains that we have left. Only a very few classes are in the high schools, but there are some. The problem is that a lot the classes are not taught to promote leadership. Instead, they only teach history. You have to connect these students with what actually happened, and you have to connect them with leadership, but it's not being done.

Q: Another lasting achievement has been the hiring of Latinos in schools.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it opened up the doors to universities for Chicano students, and many of them have returned to the classroom as teachers. There were a number of good things that happened. The movement also opened the doors for hiring Latinos to some degree.

Nonetheless, even today the City of Los Angeles only hires like 15% Latinos, Los Angeles County only hires 17% Latinos, the state of California only hires seven percent Latinos. So a lot of the things that we fought for are being taken away by the conservative system.

There's a lot of discrimination, and we don't have any leaders. This is one reason why I'm running for City Council: to fight for jobs in the community, to change the political direction of our community, to put more of their energy into social action and social change to increase the employment of our people from this community.

Q: Going back to the subject of Chicano history classes, in what ways could they impart leadership?

SANCHEZ: I taught Chicano studies for 11 years. They don't want you to teach relevant politics, they don't want you to teach Chicano politics, they don't want you to teach the real action that took place then [during the Brown Beret movement] and should take place now, they don't teach people to get involved with the community, they don't teach people the need for civic duty and civic participation. Instead, most students only go into the Chicano Studies classes because they want credit or because they want to graduate from the school or university. There's no social change consciousness that comes along with that, and that's the problem.

Q: Did you teach in college or in high school?

SANCHEZ: I taught seven years at East LA College and four years at LA Trade Tech. In those colleges I always had difficulty with the conservative elements in the administrations and also conservative teachers and also conservative Chicano teachers who professed to be Chicano Studies professors but in actuality never really had their heart in the right place. Some people say, "Oh, a lot of people have forgotten where they came from." No, they didn't forget where they came from; they were never for the people in the first place. They were just out there for the opportunities.

[Sanchez strikes up a conversation with an extra seated in front of us, a Caucasian female named Kelsey Morrissey. She appears to be in her early twenties.]

SANCHEZ: Kelsey was playing one of the students who walked out at Roosevelt High School. One of the things the director asked me was "Were there Anglos going to Roosevelt at the time who walked out also?" I said, "Yes, there were Anglos who walked out." That's an important factor.

[He then resumes talking about the Latino civil rights movement.]

Why there was such a large social cultural revolution in America is because many of the people were forced to think because of the Vietnam War, [where] people were being drafted and returned in aluminum coffins; leaders were being assassinated [including] Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Ruben Salazar here in East L.A., and a number of other people.

So The entire country wanted change, and the young people were really tired of the all-white, all-American educational system, which excluded other cultures. It was a time when Latinos got tired of trying to be Anglos. Trying to be all-American wasn't working for a lot of us. [Also] many of us were witnesses and victims of poverty and victims of the selective prison system, victims of joblessness, victims of violence, victims of the chaos that was being exploited by society and which is still being exploited by society today. This kind of motivated all of us to take political action.

Today it's a little different: you have a large part of society that is just living on the comforts of society and don't know what's going on with the left-out sector. They're self-absorbed by luxury; they have received the spoils of poverty: nice houses, good-paying jobs [while] stealing everything they can from the poor and middle class. . . . We're talking about one-third of the people in America, and that one-third is the dominant society. They refuse to share the national wealth; they have controlled and conquered the national wealth for themselves. For the people who live in chaos, the left-out population, there is no direction. The left-out population really does not know what's going on today. But back in the '60s and '70s, people were more aware of what was going on.

Q: Why do you think the left-out people are less aware now than they were?

SANCHEZ: Because there's more government control. The government is promoting the chaos; the government is promoting the poverty. So when people are poor, they're not thinking about going to a meeting or getting involved with politics, they're thinking about getting food, they're thinking about finding a place to stay. Survival dominates all of their time and energy, whereas in the '60s and '70s it was not like that.

In the '60s and '70s many high school students had cars, [and] there was a different job market out there. The jobs aren't there any more. Here in East L.A we had a light bulb company and several other companies that hired a lot of people in this community, and they were paying high wages during those times.

Now they hire a lot of immigrants for low wages, so people who have been here for many generations are [excluded]. The companies don't pay what they used to because they have access to cheap labor. It's a big problem, the left-out population is growing. Here in East Los Angeles we're getting about 60,000 people released from the prisons every year, and that's adding to the left-out population. The high dropout rate of students is adding to the left-out sector. Because there's no political direction, the population has become very chaotic and has many times created
crime at our own doorstep. What they're doing is forcing the people to the point of leaving Los Angeles or staying in Los Angeles as homeless people who have been pushed out of society. Society doesn't do anything for those people.

Q: What are some solutions?

SANCHEZ: There are many solutions: we have to create jobs for the homeless people; we have to create shelter for the left-out sector. What we're doing is creating a huge left-out population that's only going to create more chaos in our society, more violence, more crime. The problem with chaos is that the government is real good at exploiting it. They make money from prisons, and the prisons become our homeless shelters. Instead of creating more jobs, we're creating more prisons and jobs for prison guards. Nobody's doing anything about that. Things are getting bad again, and there's no political basis to change any of it at this time.

I think an example of that is the anti-war movement. It was off to a good start when the United States was first attacking Iraq, but it kind of slowed down. Where is the student movement in this country? The student movement is under total control by the government. The government has taken over the schools and the
colleges and the universities. There's no longer any academic freedom for teachers to speak about certain issues because when they do, they're scrutinized by the same system that they work for. That's an example of the "1984" that's going on in our school systems today. Not only is that happening in schools but on jobs. Many times, if you get involved in a social action, your employer will take it out on you, and how can anybody function without a job?

[Sanchez starts up a conversation with another of the film's extras, Sergio Ortiz. The young actor says he feels a connection with Walkout: in 1968 his parents participated in the riots in Mexico City that coincided with the Olympics. When reenacting riots for this film, Ortiz says that he and other actors could feel the energy of the actual events.]

SANCHEZ: I think what he's trying to say--and I was [on the set], too--is you could feel the karma of social change. I think that's what's missing today, the karma is not there. . . . There are no strong student movements, there's no strong black movement, there's no strong white liberal movement, there's no strong Latino movement. Those are the elements that are missing. But I think this movie will change a lot of thinking because people will see what really took place at that particular time, so they can relate that to what's happening today and perhaps get more involved in the community the way people did during those times.

Please visit Dr. Sanchez' website at Mexican American University

Grants for Artists

2006-02-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

SOURCE

OVERVIEW

Innovation, creative expression and the energetic exchange of ideas are essential to a healthy community. The Durfee Foundation recognizes these qualities in the work of Los Angeles artists, whose endeavors are central to a vibrant civic life. The Foundation aims to support artists at pivotal moments during the course of their life's work.

The Foundation provides direct support to individual artists through two programs - the ARC Program (Artists' Resource for Completion) and the Master Musician Fellowships. The ARC and Music programs are open to application. The Foundation generally does not make grants to arts organizations, though leaders of nonprofit arts organizations may be eligible to apply to the Durfee Sabbatical program.

ARC (Artists' Resource for Completion)
ARC grants provide short-term assistance to individuals artists who reside in Los Angeles County and who wish to enhance work for a specific, imminent opportunity that may significantly benefit their careers. Artists in any discipline are eligible to apply for grants of up to $2,500 each. The applicant must already have secured a commitment from a recognized arts institution to present the work.
ARC grants may be used for such expenses as the purchase or rental of materials or space, travel, shipping, or stipends for collaborating artists. Approximately ten grants are made each quarter.

Master Musician Fellowships
The Durfee Master Musician Fellowship program supports master musicians in Los Angeles County to teach their craft to advanced students. The purpose of the program is to support the passing of musical skills to a next generation of artists through intensive apprenticeships. Musicians in any genre may apply; priority will be given to artists whose musical traditions are not widely taught at established institutions.

The Fellowship provides up to $15,000 to each master musician, for a total of $30,000 over two years. Funds may be used in any manner that will assist the Fellow's teaching efforts. Ten fellowships are awarded in each biennial cycle. Since its inception in 1997, the program has supported musicians in diverse traditions ranging from Indian bamboo flute to Persian santour to jazz saxophone. The program is currently accepting applications; the deadline is February 1, 2006.

Artist Awards
The Durfee Artist Awards program, which operated from 1999-2003, provided grants of $25,000 each to three Los Angeles based-artists annually. The purpose of the award was to nurture creativity and support the generation of new artwork. Over the course of its four-year tenure, the program provided critical support to twelve extraordinary Los Angeles artists. The program was retired in 2003 in favor of allocating additional dollars to the Durfee ARC and Master Musician Fellowship programs, thus allowing for a larger number of grants in each of those programs.

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ARC (Artists' Resource for Completion)

OVERVIEW

The ARC (Artists' Resource for Completion) grants provide rapid, short-term assistance to individual artists in Los Angeles County who wish to enhance work for a specific, imminent opportunity that may significantly benefit their careers. Artists in any discipline are eligible to apply. The applicant must already have secured an invitation from an established arts organization to present the proposed work. The work must be scheduled for presentation within six months of the application deadline.

Guidelines - Deadlines - Application - Tips & Samples - Final Report

FAQs - Past Awards - Other Resources

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Artist Representation Services: Civic Consultants

Fears of Aztan - Smartest Kids in America

2006-01-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

In March of last year, MIT named Cristian Arcega, Lorenzo Santillan, Oscar Vazquez and Luis Aranda as winners of the NASA sponsored Underwater Robotics contests.

These four have been called, "The Smartest Kids in America." Beating the well manned and funded team from MIT.

It turns out that they were undocumented immigrants, but NASA awarded them first prize anyway.

Now, that the dust has settled, reality sets in and we find these four exceptionally gifted youth resigning to the plight which is their destiny as is for many of the poor, ignored and persecuted members of our society.

Vazquez and Aranda graduated from Hayden last spring, but they're not in college now because they're undocumented immigrants and thus ineligible for student loans or low cost in-state tuition. Vazquez is hanging drywall and Aranda is filing papers at a Social Security office. Santillan and Arcega are still at Hayden; their chances for a college education are slim.

If these children were from Canada, Europe, or even Asia, they would probably have been assisted in becoming legal residents or been awarded college financial assistance, but with the current hostilities towards Mexicans in general, it is just luck that they have not been deported.

Great minds are not exempt form the xenophobic rampage gripping the drone leading to the upcoming election year.

Some Americans are advocating for constitutional amendments that would allow foreign-born persons to be elected to the presidency and repeal birth right citizenship to prevent the Mexican-American population from gaining political numbers.

Social scientists say that the true nature of these proposed amendments are to keep Hilary Clinton from being elected in 2008 and George P. Bush, who is brown skinned with a Mexican American mother from being elected in 2012.

Fears of Aztlan arise as the Southwestern United States has shown a considerable shift in demographics, where the majority in major cities are Mexican-Americans. Chicanos, the most politically active of Latino cultures in the US, have won seats in Los Angeles and Sacramento and are gaining economic control in much of the Southwest.

Last year Latinos filled one third of the US Job Market and the Latino economy continues to solidify its growing influence in the 21st century, the ripple effects already have begun to profoundly alter the nation’s political, social, cultural, and economic structures.

Anti-diversity advocates like Sen. Tancredo, Lou Dobbs, Michelle Malkin, Jim Gilchrist and Bill O’Reilly state that they have been warning Americans of this miscegenation of American culture, but what they have failed to accept is that one of Americana's most renowned icons is in essences and substance Mexican in origin - the Cowboy. They also fail to recognize the fact that Mexico, as Nuevo España, funded 80% of the American Revolution and provided troops that fought the British from the Gulf of Mexico to York Town – many were Mestizos and Mexican Indians. The Fourth of July banquet consists of Mesoamerican Indigenous foods introduced by Mexicans to the Europeans in the US: barbecue, corn-on-the-cob, tomatoes, and potatoes.

Ignorance is bliss and some Americans will live in ignorance, believing that only White people have contributed to the building of our nation. I pity them.

Juventud by Manuel Ramos

2005-12-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

December 16, 2005 - La Bloga

There's been a semi-theme on La Bloga this week about Chicana/o, Mexicana/o youth, hassles inflicted on youth, problems with the schools and education systems, etc. I started to think about several books that also deal with these issues and eventually decided that I would limit this post to a survey of the books of Gloria Velásquez.

One of her publishers, Arte Público, says about Gloria:

"Gloria Velásquez is an award-winning writer of poetry and fiction who graduated from Stanford University in 1985 with a PH.D. in Latin American and Chicano Literatures. She is the author of the Roosevelt High School series of books for young adults, which features a multiracial group of teenaged students who must individually face social and cultural issues (such as violence, sexuality, prejudice and inter-racial dating) inescapable among young adults today. The books in the series are: Juanita Fights the School Board(Piñata Books, 1994); Maya's Divided World, (Piñata Books, 1995); Tommy Stands Alone(Piñata Books, 1995); Rina's Family Secret(Piñata Books, 1998); Ankiza (Piñata Books, 2000); and Teen Angel (Piñata Books, 2003). She is also the author of a collection of poetry, I Used to Be a Superwoman (Arte Público Press, 1997).

Velásquez has received various awards for her poetry and fiction. In 1985, she was the recipient of the 11th Chicano Literary Prize in the Short Story from the University of California at Irvine; and in 1979, Velásquez was awarded the Premier and Deuxieme Prix in poetry from the Department of French & Italian at Stanford University. Velásquez became the first Chicana to be inducted into the University of Northern Colorado's Hall of Fame for her achievements in creative writing in 1989.

Her poetry and short stories have been published in numerous journals and anthologies such as: Chicanos y Chicanas en Diálogo (Quarry West Magazine, 1989); Best New Chicano Literature (Bilingual Review Press, 1989); Neueste Chicano Lyrik (Bamberg, Germany, 1994). Velásquez was featured in Latino Voices in Literature, 1997. ...

Gloria Velásquez is currently a Professor in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, where she resides with her family."

Gloria recently was named Poet Laureate of San Luis Obispo for 2006. An article at sanluisobispo.com mentions that she had more than 100 poems published by the time she was 35, and that Tommy Stands Alone was banned from a middle school in Longmont, CO for its story of a gay high school student.

Here’s what a few reviewers have said about some of the books in the Roosevelt High School Series -

Maya’s Divided World: This book deals with divorce and the antisocial reaction of the daughter to her parents’ separation. Booklist said, “there are few young adult books available in which Chicano characters and family life are central, and the author does a nice job of giving readers a window into the culture and providing some positive role models.”

Rina’s Family Secret: A violent, abusive and alcoholic father, a passive mother, and a teenager who must take control of the situation are at the heart of this book. “Velasquez offers a believable portrait of a multiethnic high-school community and realistically captures the emotions and actions (from drunken beach parties to tender moments between caring friends) of the teenagers who are part of it. The Spanish phrases scattered throughout the story ... are easily understood in context and lend further verisimilitude. Although this is the fourth book in the Roosevelt High School Series, it is both strong and complete enough to stand on its own.” Booklist.

Ankiza: "In this fifth book in the series, Ankiza, who is black, starts dating Hunter,who is white. Her friends, parents, his parents, and other students ... do not approve. At first the teen is shocked, and then hurt, confused, and angered by their reactions. It is only when Ankiza gets a nasty, anonymous letter that her friends and family rally around her. The characters are a diverse group and are true to the age group they represent. The author tackles a powerful social issue with compassion and honesty. A good discussion starter with a satisfying ending.” School Library Journal.

Another publisher, Chusma House, says this about her latest collection of poetry, Xicana On The Run:

"In Xicana on the Run, Velásquez reconstructs a Chicana consciousness that addresses issues of politics, love, war, solitude, poverty and feminism. Velásquez's poetry reveals a variety of political perspectives and themes that are both universal and personal. In paying homage to her humble barrio roots, Velasquez includes vintage photographs from her childhood, which illustrate her desire to further immortalize her parents, Juan and Francisca, and her only brother, Fini, who was killed in Vietnam. A foremost Chicana Chingona literary activist, Velásquez succeeds in empowering La Raza, young adults, women, and many other diverse ethnic groups in this powerful and compelling collection of poetry."

2006 will usher in New Opportunities for Chicano Artists and Writers

2005-12-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

With the growth of the Latino population, mainstream retailers are following a trend of offering more Chicano themed products to the general public. Rolas de Aztlan, a Smithsonian collection of Chicano Movement music was recently featured at Target Stores. Chicano artists have noticed an increased interest in their works and bookstores are offering more options in Chicano literature.

The amount of Chicano themed products in the mainstream market is still sparse in comparison to other ethnic based products. FUBU has an appeal that crosses ethnic boundaries; Asian flame designs are extremely trendy and in high demand.

So where are the Chicano themed products?

Before we can answer that question, we must first define the Chicano theme. Simply defined a Chicano theme is anything created by Chicanos, for Chicanos or about Chicanos. This definition was first introduced to the public in the late 70s by Daniel A. Castro, Ph.D. who is known to many as Sancho of the Sancho Radio Show from Pasadena’s KPPC.

Castor’s definition is similar to FUBU’s meaning of For Us, By Us referring to clothing styles created by and for African-Americans. These definitions were intended to draw a specific customer base, but FUBU is far reaching and is now mainstream Americana.

There is a concept that Chicano themed products are ethnocentric in appeal. This can be attributed to the lack of visibility in the mainstream market and not to any specific ethnic attribute i.e. a tee shirt with the words “Soy Chicano, Y Que” though such a tee shirt can be considered Chicano themed, it does not define the broader sense of Chicanismo. Yet, “Soy Chicano, Y Que” is the attitude of Chicanismo.

To understand Chicanismo, we must acknowledge the origin and development of the word Chicano. Chicano is the shortening of the word Mexicano and was coined in the US circa the early 1900s to identify Mexicanos escaping the Mexican Revolution of 1910. During this exodus, many Mexicanos and Spanish Gypsies entered the US through El Paso, TX and set up dwellings along the Texas border. The cultural collision that followed this serendipitous encounter resulted in the birth of Pachuquismo.

The youth of these two groups melded together and began to incorporate American customs and culture. It is most likely that the first product of this cultural melding was language. The word pachuco is similar in sound and meaning to the Gypsy word payuco pronounced pa-ju-co, which has roots in the Romani word gadjo and Spanish Caló payo, both words describing a non-Gypsy. With utmost certainty, the Gypsies referred to Mexicanos as payucos.

In the town of EL Paso, the young Mexicano immigrants and first American born generation of Mexicanos embraced the word, slightly changing its pronunciation to pachuco. The Pachucos dubbed El Paso “El Chuco” in the 1920s. Pachucos readily developed a unique dialect that incorporated Nahuatl, Romani, Spanish and English and named their new idiom Caló after the language of the Gypsies.

Another encounter at El Paso that brought about Pachuquismo was the music coming from the African-American enclaves that quickly gained popularity among America’s youth – Swing. Swing introduced a free spirited ambiance that the young Mexicano immigrants and first generation Americans looked to as a means of redefining their being. They were hep cats, batos locos – ah retz. Finally, Swing was the common equation that they could share with other Americans. They found a common ground; or so they thought.

Still living in the apartheid conditions of the time and dealing with America’s racial injustices, many of these young Pachucos became anti-social; then came the Zoot Suit. Suits in general are a symbol of power and prestige. These young Pachucos donned the Tacuches (Zoot Suits) and, in the custom of the paseo, strutted through town for all to see while they courted the young women. Pachucos of the Swing Era identified themselves as rebels. They took negative words and wore them like shinny Medals of Honor. One such word with negative connotations was Chicano.

Octavio Paz captured the essence of Chicanismo when he wrote this of the Pachucos, “They are instinctive rebels, and North American racism has vented its wrath on them more than once. But the Pachucos do not attempt to vindicate their race or the nationality of their forebears. Their attitude reveals an obstinate, almost fanatical will-to-be, but this will affirms nothing specific except their determination . . . not to be like those around them.”

In the 50s, many of the Chicanos that had fought in WWII decided that they would not return to the America the left, but asserted that they would dedicate their lives to fighting the injustices they had suffered before going to war. The seed was planted and Pachucos led the way to the formation of the Chicano Movement of the 60s.

Today the term Chicano stirs up controversy in any setting and among any culture. Chicano philosophy requires social, political and economic activity and assertiveness. You cannot call yourself Chicano if you do not take action in one of the latter forms.

Chicanismo, Chicanoism in Spanglish, on the other hand, is the culture that results from social, political and economic conflict, failure and success. In that sense, the definition of Chicanismo is always in the state of development or movement (Ollin in Nahuatl). Chicanismo is not easily identified, but you know it when you see it, hear it, taste it and feel it. It is the elusive definition of Chicanismo that attracts attention like the tacuches of the Pachucos and inspires the attitude behind “Soy Chicano, Y Que”.

The mainstream commercial market is ready for Chicano themed products. Our undaunted spirit has sparked interests in the diverse expressions of our Chicano culture. It is time now to form alliances that will guarantee our financial success, not only in Aztlan, but also in the international market.

2006 will be the year that starts to define our place in the economy of Aztlan. Visit this blog to share ideas, network and collaborate on projects. Please contact me for more information on projects planned for 2006 or visit the Civic Consultants website - click HERE.

Gracias,
Ernesto

Chicano activist discusses educational philosophies

2005-12-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

By Mary Ann AlbrightGazette-Times reporter
Tuesday, November 15, 2005

When famed Chicano activist, writer and director Luis Valdez met with students at Oregon State University’s Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez, he had plenty of stories to share about the center’s namesake.

“He was the first guy I ever followed anywhere,” said Valdez of Chavez, whom he first met at age six and knew as “CC.”

Cesar Chavez was an agrarian labor leader who helped improve conditions for migrant workers through unionization and protest.

[Pictured Above]
TIFFANY BROWN/Gazette-Times Playwright and activist, Luis Valdez talks to students about his experiences growing up as a migrant worker in California and his friendship with Cesar Chavez, seated next to his wife, Luis, Tuesday morning at Oregon State University’s Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez.

Valdez visited OSU Tuesday, attending classes and meeting and dining with student groups before giving a presentation that evening at the LaSells Stewart Center on his educational philosophies.

Students, faculty and staff alike had plenty of questions for Valdez when they gathered in OSU’s small white house dedicated to Chicano, Latino and Hispanic American culture and heritage.

Valdez, who sat next to Lupe, his wife of 36 years, fielded queries about his childhood as a migrant worker in California, his membership in Chavez’s United Farm Workers Union and his development of El Teatro Campesino, a theatrical troupe founded on the strike lines during California’s 1965 table grape strike.

Teatro Campesino will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year.

“We believe in survival, a kind of longevity. The work spans several generations. It’s not going to be done in one lifetime,” Valdez said.

Valdez also touched on current immigration policies, the longstanding effects of colonization on minorities in the United States and how to be an effective radical or activist while still working within given social and legal constraints.

Outside of his activist role, Valdez is perhaps best known as the writer and director of the films “Zoot Suit,” which focused on the zoot-suit riots of 1940s Los Angeles and “La Bamba,” which chronicled the life of singer Ritchie Valens.

Yecenia Martinez, an OSU senior majoring in ethnic studies, has seen both movies. She’s also read Valdez’s play “Los Vendidos,” and was excited to speak with someone who brought the stories of her heritage to life.

“My family’s background is farming, so that’s part of why I’m interested in his work. It gave farm workers opportunities to say what’s going on and how they felt about injustices going on in the labor and work forces,” she said.

Valdez acknowledged the challenges of translating the Chicano experience into English, but said he felt a sense of duty to try.

“I thought it was important for someone to start writing our history and stories down,” he said.

Jose Antonio Orosco, OSU assistant professor of philosophy, appreciated the chance to meet the man whose movies inspired him during childhood, and who played such an influential role in the Chicano civil rights movement.

“I remember as a kid going to see ‘Zoot Suit’ in Albuquerque and being totally enthralled — the music, the story, the glamour of the film was incredible. (Valdez) has turned the experience and history of Mexican Americans into narratives that can dazzle and awe, but also teach and make us aware of people and communities that have contributed to society and aren’t usually acknowledged for their effort,” he said.

Mary Ann Albright covers higher education. She can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.net or 758-9518.