• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / Bravo Road with Don Felípe / BRAVO ROAD WITH DON FELÍPE 2.10.13

BRAVO ROAD WITH DON FELÍPE 2.10.13

February 10, 2013 by

Immigrant signThe country is beset these days with controversies of opposition—guns, immigration, abortion, national debt, profiling, civil rights, freedom of speech anent book banning, environmental justice, global warming, poverty, reproduction rights, food production and security. Some shrill voices cry that the country is going to hell in a handbasket. Others alert us that we’re on the wrong road to the future. Despite the gravity of these issues individually and more so collectively, American Hispanics are rarely if at all at the discussion table. They are certainly absent on the ubiquitous talk shows that hawk mainstream views on these issues—oftentimes ad nauseam (inanely) with little or no thought for Hispanics impacted by these issues In effect all these issues are Hispanic issues as well.

Controversies of opposition have been with us since the beginning of the nation (perhaps since the beginning of time)—Whigs and Tories, “taxation without representation,” etcetera, bringing to mind Socrates’ exclamation at his trial for heresy that the “unexamined life is not worth living.” Controversies of opposition produce tension. It’s that tension, perhaps, that churns up Henri Bergsen”s elan vital, that vital element that helps us determine whether it’s fight or flight when we encounter challenges or adversity on Bravo Road.

Street scene with LatinosBravo Road is an ephemeral path, a little like Antonio Machado’s road constructed with each step we take. Though ephemeral, Bravo Road is real for all of us—it’s the road of life. In particular, it’s the weary road Latinos tread every day of their lives in the United States. Not every step is weary. Some steps take us to byways of exultation, of great joy, of discovery, epiphanies and triumphs. For many it’s the road of success. For others like the colonial American Puritans it’s a road to be endured. For me, Bravo Road is the title of my memoir with the subtitle “An American Odyssey.”

Like the road of the Beatles, Bravo Road has been a long and winding road of tears and laughter. At times we are solitary travelers on that road; at other times we are traveling with companions, with mirth and joys of great tidings. Sometimes we can see the light at the end of the road; at other times the elements obscure that light. But like the hordes of Par Lagerkvist, we keep on keeping on.

New Mexico LandscapeHere in New Mexico, life keeps on keeping on. My fingers are not on the pulse of all that is going on in the state. Though born in Illinois to itinerant Mexican workers, I grew up in San Antonio, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Nevertheless, I have a great affinity for New Mexico. I started my university career at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces in 1964, studied for the Ph.D. in English at the University of New Mexico from 1966-1971, culminating my academic career since 2007 at Western New Mexico University in the mountain heights of Silver City in the southwestern portion of the state where the Continental Divide at 6,000 feet above sea level cuts across the Gila Wilderness.

Albuquerque at nightWhile I don’t know about all that is happening in New Mexico, I’m involved in a number of activities that keep me engaged with the state. I’m co-chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee of the New Mexico Library Association, a board member of the New Mexico Humanities Council, a board member of the Southwestern New Mexico Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, a member of the Silver City LULAC Council 8003 (named national Council of the year in 2012), and a paid-up-for-life member of the Silver City American Legion chapter. Extramurally, I’m also Editor-in-Chief of the ABC-CLIO Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Issues Today (2 volumes, forthcoming), and a member of the Advisory Board of the Mayborn Literary Non-Fiction Conference sponsored by the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of North Texas in Denton. All of this pretty much fills up my time in addition to teaching courses at Western New Mexico University where I’m Scholar in Residence.

Laguna Pueblo photoI suppose this biographic information is to shore up my bona fides to write this blog reporting and commenting on what is happening in this part of Aztlan–Nuevo Mexico, whose history is vital in the story of the Hispanic presence in the Americas. The Spanish entradas into North America (what is now the United States) could not foresee the future of the region they traversed, though they aptly named one part of that region Nuevo Mexico—New Mexico. Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo, and an enslaved Moroccan Berber named Esteban passed through New Mexico in their search for a way back to Mexico City after an 8 year trek following their 1528 shipwreck on what is today Galveston, Texas. Coronado passed through New Mexico in his memorable journey (1540-42) in search for Quivira. With Juan de Oñate, Gaspar Perez de Villagra (author of La Historia de la Nueva Mexico) chronicled the entrada of Juan de Oñate and his vicious attack of the Pueblos at Acoma—a degüello as brutal as the Roman extermination of the Jews at Masada in 73CE. New Mexico is full of such history—and still making history.

It will be stimulating, pleasurable, and a challenge to report on New Mexico with sallies into national issues for Latinopia’s Notes/ News from Aztlan.

Sante Fe in the snowAt the moment, the state legislature is meeting in Santa Fe, starting on the 3rd Tuesday in January. As an odd-numbered year, the legislature meets for 60 days. The most pressing issues for the solons at this legislative session are balancing the budget and keeping Governor Susanna Martinez at bay in her efforts to ban issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented workers. Mas en el proximo reporte.

Filed Under: Bravo Road with Don Felípe Tagged With: Bravo Road, Chicano Literature, Dr. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 07.03.25 BRILLIANCE OF ÁNGEL RODRÍGUEZ-DÍAZ

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

The Brilliance of Latino Artist Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz Among the major acquisitions by the prestigious Smithsonian American Art Museum in the 1990s was an Ángel Rodríguez-Diaz painting of famed Latina novelist Sandra Cisneros. Rodríguez-Díaz painted Cisneros in a black Mexican dress decorated with sequins and embroidery, and she “holds a patterned rebozo that snakes around her […]

MIS PENSAMIENTOS with ALFREDO SANTOS 07.03.25 NO KINGS DAY PROTESTS

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

THE NO KINGS PROTEST RALLY IN AUSTIN, TEXAS On a pleasant Saturday afternoon on June 14, 2025, Austin participated in a nationwide ‘NO KINGS” protest rally along with 2,100 other cities and towns and 5,000,000 others citizens across the U.S.A.. It’s estimated that the Austin rally, held on the Texas Capital grounds, drew over 20,000 […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07.03.25 VIEQUES PARAÍSO AGRÍCOLA

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

Burundanga de Zocotroco José M. Umpierre Vieques Vieques es la Isla Nena del Archipiélago Borinkano que descansa a diez leguas al este de la Isla Grande;  cuenta con 132 kilómetros cuadrados, 33de largo por 7,2 de ancho, con una topografía de montes, colinas, pequeños valles y planicies costeras; abundan playas espectaculares, lagunas con algunos manantiales […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07. 03.25 VIEQUES AN AGRO PARADISE (ENGLISH)

July 3, 2025 By JT

Umpierre Agro Vieques Vieques is the Nena Island of the Borinkano Archipelago that rests ten leagues east of the Isla Grande; it has 132 square kilometers, 33 long by 7.2 wide, with a topography of mountains, hills, small valleys and coastal plains; spectacular beaches abound, lagoons with some springs and ravines but insufficient to supply […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin