THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: JOSÉ MONTOYA READS “LIKE BEFORE THE WAR,” JESÚS TREVIÑO READS “ARRULLO,” JOSE UMPIERRE ON THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE SINNERS IN PUERTO RICO AND SAL BALDENEGRO ON THE WAR AGAINST THE WORKING CLASS.
Latinopia has a couple of cool new videos this week. A rare video features the late José Montoya, known as the patriarch of Chicano letters. Captured at a performance of his group CasIndio at Sacramento’s Washington Community Center, the poet, artist and civil rights activist reads from his original poem reflecting on the long journey Chicanos have undergone from the time of World War Two to the present and the resilience that inspires our struggle into a new generation, a generation that is as committed as Chicanos were “like before the war.” Check out José Montoya reading, “Like Before the War.”
Latinopia’s own Jesús Salvador Treviño participated in a recent literary salon celebrating the publication of the latest issue of the Huizache literary anthology. Treviño reads from his short story “Arrullo” (Lullaby).
Also this week, Latinopia’s regular blogger José Umpierre returns with his thoughtful analysis of conditions in Puerto Rico–a crisis that, Umpierre reminds us, is rooted in decades of corrupt leaders shaped by the legacy of colonization of Puerto Rico by the United States. If you read Spanish, don’t miss this particularly poignant commentary by one of the island’s leading intellectuals.
Sal Baldenegro returns with his Political Salsa y Más blog, this week addressing the war against the working class. Highlighting current data and demographics, Baldenegro calls out both Republicans and Democrats for waging an economic war against the poor and elderly in the areas of college tuition, public school vouchers and the pharmaceutical industry. Check out Sal’s pesado commentary.
Enjoy your week on Latinopia.
Tia Tenopia