THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: TONY GÓMEZ IN SEARCH OF THE BROWN BUFFALO, REVISITING THE CON SAFOS LITERARY COLLECTIVE, DON FELIPE ON A DREAM DEFERRED AND SERGIO HERNANDEZ ON CALIFORNIA FIRES.
Hola mis queridos! This appears to be Con Safos week on Latinopia. As many of your may know, Con Safos is the name of one of the earliest Chicano publications (the idea began in 1964 and the first issue was published in 1967-68). At a time when there were few Latinos writing, a group of intellectuals, writers, poets, painters and photographers got together and started publishing a magazine that put the barrio on the map.
We begin with an new video interview with Antonio Solís Gómez, a co-founder of Con Safos, whose recent novel The Search for the Brown Buffalo, imagines a fictitious road trip by the real life members of the Con Safos group in search of an elusive friend, Oscar Zeta Acosta, also known as the Brown Buffalo. Acosta was a Chicano civil rights attorney who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Mexico in the 1970s and has never been heard from. Gómez accomplishes a unique feat, bringing real life characters to life this rowdy, rollicking fictional road trip in search of Acosta, the Brown Buffalo.
And who and what was Con Safos? We reprise two videos giving the background and history of the group as explained by members of the notorious collective. Check out Con Safos 1 and 2.
Don Felipe De Ortego returns with his monthly blog, Bravo Road. Don Felipe reflects on a lifetime as an educator and recalls a dream deferred, his attempts at becoming a University President.
And as many of you know, California has been ravaged by fierce fires all summer long. One of these fires came close to the home of artist and cartoonist Sergio Hernandez, another member of the original Con Safos group. Sergio offers us a look at this fire up close.
Lastly, Check out Chilean songster Angela Roa as she performs an original song, “We Face the Storm.”
Enjoy your week on Latinopia!
Tia Tenopia