“Outside Robledo Family Winery, south of Sonoma, on a cool April Sunday, the U.S. and Mexican flags whipped up a stiff salute in the wind blowing off the San Pablo Bay. A third banner bore the winery … [Read more...]
“LOVE ARCHITECTURE? THANK THE GREEKS.” National Geographic Society Advertisement Washington, D.C. Metro Train I’m not one for getting too riled up over commercial advertising. … [Read more...]
The Sunday after the recent presidential election was particularly special at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C., where I worship. Aside from Easter, I have never seen the church so … [Read more...]
It is astonishing the lengths to which a person, or a people, will go in order to avoid a truthful mirror. —James Baldwin Recently, I visited the San Antonio studio of artist Vincent … [Read more...]
Sports have been a major presence in the lives of Mexican Americans since the early 20th century. This has been particularly true of Mexican Americans in the Midwest, where sports such as baseball … [Read more...]
The mestizo and the queer exist at this time and point on the evolutionary continuum for a purpose. We are a blending that proves that all blood is intricately woven together and that we are spawned … [Read more...]
“I never knew anyone else like me, going through the things I went through, not fitting in, always having to choose...” Kip Fulbeck, The Hapa Project Hapa is a term that emerges from … [Read more...]
Simone was able to conjure glamour in spite of everything the world said about black women who looked like her. And for that she enjoyed a special place in the pantheon of resistance. That fact … [Read more...]
The artist's sacred trinity of life, struggle, and death is not a moralistic tale; it is a representation of the Chicano experience. —Curator Selene Preciado, from the catalogue José Montoya's … [Read more...]
In 1598, a defining Spanish expedition, led by conquistador Juan de Oñate, departed Zacatecas, Mexico. The Spaniards and their indigenous servants, following trails previously blazed by Native … [Read more...]
Born to a poor Mexican farmworker family in Southern California, Robert Dávila contracted spinal meningitis at age eight, which rendered him deaf. Medical studies indicate that young children with … [Read more...]
And what should I say? That I am tired? That the road is long and the end is nowhere in sight? I did not come to sing because I have such a good voice. Nor do I come to cry about my bad … [Read more...]
"Texas trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood on the root, Brown bodies swingin' in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hangin' from the pecan trees." Adaptation of "Strange … [Read more...]
No hay mal que por bien no venga Translation: There is no bad from which some good doesn't result. Transcreation: The bitterest trials are often blessings in disguise. Jim Estrada uses this … [Read more...]
A NEW SHADE OF GREEN: THE ANTHRPOCENE, CLIMATE CHANGE AND LATINOS. "Climate change is a defining issue of our time and there is no time to lose. There is no Plan B because we do not have Planet B," … [Read more...]
THE NUEVO SOUTH: A CHANGING LANDSCAPE. Having arrived in Pelham, Alabama, several years ago and establishing a construction business, Joel Rivera walked into a small Mexican grocery store looking … [Read more...]
I recently visited the Brooklyn Museum, eager to see Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties. The exhibition is organized into eight sections and features 103 works by 66 artists. It was … [Read more...]
CÉSAR CHÁVEZ: AN AMERICAN LEGEND REMEMBERED. “We need a leader, not a martyr!" pleads the brother of beloved labor leader César Chávez in a memorable scene from the film of the same name. The … [Read more...]
FIRST VOICE, OUR VOICE. I recently attended the opening of Galería Sin Fronteras (Gallery Without Borders), an exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. The show features 92 … [Read more...]
MIAMI’S HUGE LEAP. "Miami is the capitol of Latin America!" I'm hopeful that this boastful statement by Javier Souto, Miami-Dade County Commissioner, resounded clearly with the civic and cultural … [Read more...]
WHAT'S NEW UNDER TONATIUH? My mother would occasionally remind me that: "There's nothing new under the sun." I think she said it to keep it real when I thought I had come up with some cockamamie … [Read more...]
