Every Day is Magic: Ada Limón
In her 2015 collection, Bright Dead Things, a National Book Award finalist for poetry, Ada Limón writes of moving to Kentucky: “Confession: I did not want to live here.” It’s perhaps not a surprising sentiment coming from a coastally oriented person who was raised in Northern California, attended college in Seattle, and then spent over a decade in New York City.
But Limón and her husband, Lucas, have been in Lexington for seven years now and the effects of settling into this place are noticeable in her new book, The Carrying (Milkweed, Aug.). It’s a phenomenally lively and attentive collection replete with the trappings of living a little closer to nature. While Bright Dead Things is marked by a preponderance of light, such as images of fireflies and neon signs, The Carrying features numerous appearances by various trees, birds, and beetles. Limón also demonstrates a greater willingness to be explicit in naming colors, particularly green. “It’s crazy green, the whole book,” she says. “Lexington is the greenest place I’ve ever lived.” Similarly, where in Bright Dead Things, Limón tells a lot of stories and anecdotes, in The Carrying she is very present in her thoughts and experiences.
As it turns out, these shifts in focus have another, altogether unexpected source. While putting Bright Dead Things together, Limón was diagnosed with chronic vestibular neuronitis, which can cause bouts of vertigo. “If I’m really having vertigo, it’s pretty intense and I really have to focus,”
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Latinos Who Won Big At The 73rd Golden Globe Awards
When the cameras weren’t at the heels of Jennifer Lopez in her swoon-worthy daffodil Giambattista Valli gown or catching America Ferrera and Eva Longoria’s classy shade for Latina’s in Hollywood, the cameras saw Latinos making their mark in film and television.
Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu (pictured above) won Best Director for the motion picture drama The Revenant, which also won Best Motion Picture Drama…
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No Walls Here: Lalo Alcaraz Discusses the New Fox Animated Series, Bordertown
No Walls Here: Lalo Alcaraz Discusses the New Fox Animated Series, Bordertown
Many of us know him as the cartoonist-creator of the syndicated daily comic strip, La Cucaracha, where Alcaraz skewers bigotry and intolerance with a heavy dose of Chicano culture and humor. He is also a team member of the Pixar film COCO, consulting on the Día de Los Muertos-themed animated movie scheduled for release in 2017. Alcaraz has won five Southern California Press Awards for Best Editorial Cartoon, produced editorial cartoons for the LA Weekly for almost two decades, and creates nationally syndicated editorial cartoons in English and Spanish…
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Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu pushes the limits with ‘The Revenant’
“The Revenant,” the latest film from Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, could become a triumph. The film premiered on Christmas Day in the US, to have a shot at the upcoming Oscar nominations…
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Mexican Conductor Alondra de la Parra Makes History
Conductor and pianist Alondra de la Parra is in a league of her own. And come next year, when she steps onto the podium as the first female chief conductor and musical director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, one of Australia’s three largest orchestras, she will live in a more rarefied space—one of the few females directing a major orchestra…
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George Lucas Just Donated $10 Million for Black and Latino Kids to Study Film at USC
Written by Andrew S. Vargas It’s widely known that the University of Southern California boasts one of the world’s greatest film schools, with notable alums among its ranks, including Judd Apatow, Ron Howard, and George Lucas standing out on a list of the literally hundreds of Hollywood big shots who have graced its halls. But much like the Hollywood dream factory that plucks its recruits directly from each graduating class, USC’s alumni list also happens to be pretty damn white, and while there are undoubtedly myriad reasons for this imbalance, it probably has a little to do with the school’s exorbitant private university tuition…
The Museum of Latin American Art is Showing Chicano Artists For the First Time in 20 Years
A year ago,“Somewhere Over El Arco Iris/ Chicano Landscapes, 1971- 2015” – the most recent exhibit at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach – wouldn’t have been on display. The 25 piece exhibition, featuring artists whose styles range from experimental expressionism to urban street art, is inspired by the Chicano experience of the last 40 years. Collectively, its mixed-media, photographs, drawings and paintings make evident how instrumental some Chicano artists have been in creating and defining LA’s contemporary… Link to article
Mariachi Music as a Pathway to Higher Education in the United States
L Salazar – Journal of the Vernacular Music Center, 2015
… Due to low expectations, poverty, and possible language barriers, Latinos, particularly
Mexican-Americans, are plagued with low academic achievement and high high-
school dropout rates (Torres and de la Torre 1997:100). …
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Syndicated Chicano cartoonist to visit WNMU
SILVER CITY, N.M. — Political cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, who has been described as perhaps the most prolific Chicano artist in the nation, will be on the Western New Mexico University campus as part of the Raza Alumni Reunion for Homecoming 2015.
On Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., Alcaraz will give a presentation at the Global Resource Center on campus. He will speak about his experience as a writer and then premiere the first episode of Bordertown, an upcoming American adult animated sitcom. The premiere will be followed by a Q&A opportunity…
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Hispanic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Opens Her Dream Dance School
NEW YORK, NY — Just two years ago, Lily Urzúa came to Queens, New York from Mexico to pursue her dreams of owning a dance company. With one suitcase and $200 in hand, she founded the Urzúa Queens Center of Performing Arts.
She’s realizing her dream, but the Latina entrepreneur concedes it requires more hard work than she expected.
“You just want it that bad that you think, ‘when I’m there everything is going to be nice,'” said Urzúa. “I just want to be enjoying it without suffering it.”…
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Latin American festival showcases Mexican potters
World-renowned artisan potters from Mexico were on hand Sunday afternoon at the annual Latin American Festival in Old Town.
The outdoor event is designed to bring talented Latin American artists and their authentic folk art collections to San Diego where attendees can purchase items for sale.
Bazaar del Mundo has held the event for about 25 years. This year, there were about 35 artists showcasing their wares at the weekend event, including folk artist Irene Aguilar Alcántar of Oaxaca and Mata Ortiz potter and principal artist Jorge Quintana.
Named after a town in northwestern Chihuahua, Mata Ortiz pottery was developed in the 1970s by Juan Quezada, who learned to re-create ancient pottery near the archeological site of Paquimé. The struggling village has been transformed as a result of the resurgence of this traditional art form.
“The economy (in Mata Ortiz) has changed,” Quintana said. “But the most important part is that the people go to school. In the past, they only went to elementary school, and a few people went to secondary school. Now, more people go to college and university.”…
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Immigrant Pastoral: Midwestern Landscapes and Mexican-American Neighborhoods
S Dieterlen – 2015
… She is also a registered landscape architect with several years of full-time professional practice
experience. Dr. Dieterlen«s Page 3. … Page 4. Immigrant Pastoral Midwestern Landscapes and
Mexican- American Neighborhoods Susan Dieterlen Page 5. …
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An American in Mexico
By Celia Wren June 26
The silver jaguar carries six amethysts: one in each paw, and on its back and tail. The brooch is remarkable on its own merits, but as part of a new exhibition at the Mexican Cultural Institute, the jewelry also epitomizes the style of its designer, William Spratling…
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There’s a War Going on Here: Defending American Identity at the US-Mexican Border Through the Cinema
A Macleod
… view of the 1836 battle of the Alamo. Sam and Pilar are former lovers, kept apart by their respective
parents, Sam’s father and Pilar’s Mexican-American mother Mercedes Cruz … migrants and
drug-smugglers. The CBP agents we see are very professional and show …
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Eva Longoria Reveals How She Fought Studio for Role as Inner-City Latina
Mexican-American actress Eva Longoria is one of the most visible Latinas in entertainment, but filmmakers on her latest project needed convincing she could play an inner-city Latina.
Speaking Sunday at the Produced By Conference, Longoria fielded an audience question about juggling her identity as both a Mexican and American female. She touched on her casting in Universal’s upcoming “Low Riders,” a family drama set in the world of hydraulic cars that starts production on Tuesday…
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Interview: I want visually strong, almost silent movie: Mexican director Michel Franco
By Grandesso Federico
CANNES, France, May 24 (Xinhua) — “I wanted the film to be almost silent if possible, and to be visually strong, because I think it’s hard to discuss about these subjects and put it into words,” Mexican director Michel Franco told Xinhua during an interview presenting his movie Chronic in competition at the ongoing 68th Cannes Film Festival.
Talking about the job on set the Mexican director explained: “The shooting wasn’t complicated and, the fact that I produced and directed, allowed me to take decision faster without having to argue. What was creatively complicated was that I didn’t realize that I wrote a script with four stories and unify them because I didn’t want to give the feeling that they were separate stories”…
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When I ‘came out’ as Mexican
(CNN)On Sundays, I make tacos and my famous guacamole for my family. Food bonds us, and it’s a way for me to keep in touch with my Mexican heritage. And yet, although my childhood was full of culture, adventure and happiness, for years I denied that I was Mexican. In fact, I finally came out as Mexican only a few years ago…
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Chicano Batman on Selena, Touring with Jack White, and the Politics of Bringing Cumbia to Coachella
With lyrics in English, Spanish and sometimes Portuguese, L.A. quartet Chicano Batman has a sound that is hyper-local but also global in a very deep way. Their laid-back tunes mix well with sun and summer, but underneath the surface lies a deeper dimension of sly pop culture references, unapologetic Latin pride, and the thoughtful exploration of popular music’s all pervasive black roots…
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Photo Flash: Milagro Presents the Portland Premiere of AMERICAN NIGHT: THE BALLAD OF JUAN JOSE
Milagro is thrilled to present the Portland premiere of American Night: The Ballad of Juan José. The wild odyssey of American Night: The Ballad of Juan José by the acclaimed Latino actor, writer and filmmaker Richard Montoya, member of the comedy troupe Culture Clash, features a multi-talented and diverse cast of ten actors all under the visionary directing style of the award-wining Elizabeth Huffman (Oedipus el Rey, Mary Stuart), wrapping up Milagro”s 31st season of premieres. Check out photos of the show below!
History is made every day by all members of society, but not all of it is recorded in the history books. In American Night: The Ballad of Juan José, Montoya successfully mixes diverse elements, events and public figures that have shaped American history to create a kaleidoscopic, moving tapestry of America”s journey. 0As a theatre company engaged in risk-taking and cultural awareness, Milagro”s selection of this bold and relevant production was not only natural, but perfectly timely: recent social and political events have brought to light painful truths and uncomfortable conversations rooted in the history of the country, whether that history is true or not..
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Artist On Artist: Gary Sweeney Interviews Adan Hernandez
Adan Hernandez is one of the seminal figures in San Antonio’s Chicano art movement, which began to get attention in the 1970s. His parents were migrant cotton pickers. The family eventually settled in San Antonio, where Hernandez became interested in drawing. It wasn’t until he saw a painting show by Jesse Treviño in 1980 that it occurred to him that he could be a serious artist, and his big break came when film director Taylor Hackford chose 30 of Hernandez’s paintings for his 1993 crime-drama Blood In, Blood Out…
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Inside Voxxi’s Closure: 6 Lessons to be Learned
Voxxi, the site catering to acculturated Latinos that launched in November 2011 backed by investor Dr. Salomon Melgen, has closed. The site was not able to get enough revenues and/or get a new round of financing. It is not being updated but current content is still being monetized via ad networks. The site’s closure offers interesting lesson for other English-language media targeting acculturated Hispanics, including Fusion. Portada talked to former Voxxi employees. 6 Lessons to be learned…
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