Hola Mis queridos!

This week Latinopia welcomes guest blogger Ernesto Hogan who writes a weekly blog for our friends over at La Bloga. If you haven’t visited La Bloga check it out–the best literary blog in the world! Ernesto hails from Glendale, Arizona and is a science fiction writer! Your Tia was blown away by his novels (yes, Raza I do read) Cortez on Jupiter, High Aztech and Smoking Mirror Blues.  Of course, we’ll  have more fun with our cartoon strip, Arnie and Porfi. This week the two esquincles discover that a beat up old jalopy isn’t all that it appears to be. And Sara Ines returns with another one of her thoughtful observations on Latino life–this week she speculates about the influence of Latino nerds on America.

We’re running a bit late on our weekly videos but here it is!  We are introducing a new video feature, Latinopia Hero.  From time to time we will showcase an individual who has made an important contribution to the Latino community in the United States. We’re starting with Dr. Maggie Rivas Rodríguez, a firme profesora from the University of Texas at Austin who has created the VOCES oral history project which to date has recorded more than 800 interviews with Latino veterans of World War Two, Korea and Viet Nam. She conducts a yearly video competition where students edit five-minute videos based on the interviews that Dr. Rivas-Rodríguez and her staff have compiled. Next week’s Latinopia will showcase three of these award winning documentaries.  Oh, and in celebration of  Conjunto Festival week in San Antonio ( May 14th thru 20th) we’re reprising our interview with San Antonio Conjunto Festival founder and director Juan Tejeda. If you’ve ever wondered what Conjunto music is about, check out this interview which shows off the conjunto’s different musical stlyes.

Bueno, sin más, enjoy!

Tia Tenopia