THE CHICANO MOVEMENT, LITERARY NON-FICTION,TURNING POINTS IN LIFE Y MÁS!

Hola my rocking Latinopians! Tia Tenopia bringing you another week of Latinopia videos and blogs. We’re still getting over the shock of the passing of our dear friend José Montoya so we will continue to post the recuerdos and poems written about him–check out the poesia from Juan Felipe Herrera, Nephtalí De Leon and Francisco Alarcón.

By now I am sure you all have been watching the landmark PBS documentary series Latino Americans. This week we visit again with producer and director John Valadez who was responsible for two of the six hours in the series. Previously we heard him speak about the episodes on “War and Peace,” now he speaks about the making of the episode titled “Prejudice and Pride.” This episode is all about the Chicano Movement and by some accounts John was able to do in one hour what the CHICANO! PBS series back in the ‘90s did in four hours. Check out John talking about how he undertook such a massive project in a video which will be posted tomrrow.

Today, we have a new art video profiling the prolific Sonia Romero. As some of you may know, Sonia comes by her art honestly–she is the daughter of renowned Chicano art pioneer Frank Romero. Sonia is a gifted in draftsmanship and design and sure shows in her work,. Sonia’s body of work is so compelling that Latinopia decided to present two videos on Sonia and her work. Check this first one–you won’t be disappointed.

We have lots of bloggers this week.  Harry Gamboa Jr. takes on a major life change in his inventive piece “End of an Era.” Erudite Don Felípe Ortego y Gasca gives us a thoughtful blog on literary non-fiction narratives and how Latinos have taken control of their own destiny through a reshaping of this ancient form of storytelling. And in line with the notion of taking control of our own futures, Eduardo Díaz offers some suggestions as to how the Smithsonian Institute should be willing to accommodate self-expression efforts by Latinos and Asian American in the years to come. Check out Eduardo’s blog Mirándolo Bien with  Eduardo Díaz.  Sergio Hernández returns with some pointed views on the current debacle in Congress in his Arni and Porfi cartoon strip. And Angela Ortiz rewards us with new imagery in her Angela’s Photo of the Week blog.

Lots to see and enjoy on Latinopia this week, so get to it!

OOXX

Tia Tenopia