Latino arts, history and culture
“Today, the old oak tree in the courthouse square in Goliad provides welcome shade from the south Texas sun. Once, however, it served another, more sinister, purpose. A historical marker reveals that … [Read more...]
“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...]
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 Valdez. … [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...]
“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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
"Chicanos are Mexican Americans who aren't kidding!" —Dan Guerrero I love that Dan Guerrero came up with this shorthand definition of Chicano; it succinctly captures both a personal reflection … [Read more...]
What Might Have Been; Treaties and Nation-Building "Great nations, like great men, should keep their word." - Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Nation to Nation; Treaties Between the … [Read more...]
"ROLE TIDE" AND OBAMA'S EXECUTIVE ACTION. Like many in this country, Priscilla Hancock Cooper is among those breathing a sigh of relief with President Obama's recent executive action on … [Read more...]
LATINOS IN ATYPICAL DESTINATIONS. Annually, as the eve of Hispanic Heritage Month dawns, I field around 10 requests to speak on a variety of Latino cultural topics, to groups representing … [Read more...]
THE MANY JOURNEYS OF MAIZ. Innovation is, among other things, the act of introducing something new. In 1932, with this country in the throes of the Great Depression, a restless C.E. Doolin walked … [Read more...]
CELEBRATING WHAT’S IN THE MIDDLE. The majority of Latinos in the United States share an indigenous root and legacy, many more than one. As a Chicano, I was taught about the Aztec and Mayan Empires, … [Read more...]
IN THE SHADOW OF THE GREATEST GENERATION. Magdaleno (Leno) Díaz passed way on February 10, 2015, at the age of 95. His passing gave me pause to contemplate the significance and impact of what is … [Read more...]
THERE, BUT FOR THE MAMBO, GO I... The Mambo craze had reached an apogee in Los Angeles in the 1940s, when my Mexican parents first met and found love. My parents, now 96, always danced well and … [Read more...]
