THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: VINTAGE ESTRADA COURTS MURALS, DON FELÍPE PROPOSES A “MODEST PROPOSAL,” SAL BALDENEGRO ON THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND ANGELA ORTIZ’S “SOME DAYS.”
Holal Latinopians! This week our bloggers have decided to focus on Chicano/Latino education in America. We offer two important essays Don Felípe De Ortego proposes a “Modest Proposal.” In his own inimitable way, he points the finger at how corporate America benefits from the public funding of education and yet doesn’t contribute for all the benefits it gets. Salomon Baldenegro takes it to the local level and asks why “public education” which was intended for everyone, is now conniving to reap profits by welcoming foreigners to the exclusion of local born and bred American citizens for whom public community colleges were originally intended. Lots to think about and don’t stop at the thinking. There’s work to be done!
Our video this week is a vintage interview with acclaimed Chicano artist and muralist Charles “Cat” Félix ((1944-1990) ). In 1973 he had the vision to start the mural project at Estrada Courts and noted photographer and filmmaker Oscar Castillo decided to record this moment. Decades later Félix’s vision is sustained with countless murals at Estrada Courts. This visionary Chicano artist made the world a better place.
And don’t miss Angela Ortiz’s latest Photo of the Week, “Some Days,” where her photography makes the ordinary and mundane suddenly become wondrous.
Enjoy your week on Latinopa!
Tia Tenopia