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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Linda Ronstadt: ‘We Should All Do Our Own Dancing, Playing and Singing’
“With more than 100 million albums sold and 12 Grammy awards under her belt, over five decades, Linda Ronstadt is undoubtedly a music icon. While the effects of Parkinson’s disease forced her into premature retirement after her final performance in November 2009, the world’s love for her has not waned. In ways big and small, Ronstadt’s fans continue to share their admiration and introduce her music to new generations: from the release of two recent documentaries, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” honoring the singer’s legacy, and “Linda and the Mockingbirds,” which features a road trip to her grandfather’s birthplace, Sonora, Mexico with the band Los Cenzontles; to an indie-rock star wearing a shirt that reads, “Linda Ronstadt Is Queen of LA,” in a social post; and this month’s PBS SoCal and KCET broadcast of “A Tribute to Linda Ronstadt at The Soraya” on “Southland Sessions” featuring notable Mexican and Mexican American musicians. Clearly, Ronstadt is as influential as ever. But ever the humble queen, Ronstadt doesn’t hoard her gifts. “I don’t consider any songs ‘my songs’ — once they’re out there, they belong to everybody,” she says by phone from her home in San Francisco.,,”
Dance student to teach his choreography in national tour
“The next move for Christopher Aguirre’s career as a choreographer is just the beginning.
The second-year dance and communication student was invited to choreograph for The Nexxt Move, a two-day dance intensive in several cities across the United States and in London. Aguirre said this will be the first time he has taught his choreography on a national level as he travels to Fort Lauderdale, Florida Nov. 7 to Nov. 8 and Des Moines, Iowa Nov. 14 to Nov. 15…”
How Black Lives Matter Made a Mexican-American Beer Writer Rethink Her Role in Craft Beer
“The first time I experienced a brew festival more than 10 years ago, my only expectation was to see a lot of people, try some new and interesting beers, and to enjoy myself. My vantage point was as a volunteer, serving beers to the masses along with my husband. Two of the first things I noticed immediately were: 1. The disproportionate number of men compared to the women in attendance; and 2. The fact that I was one of the very few people of color in attendance. As a second-generation Mexican-American from upstate New York, I have always been aware of my social surroundings wherever I am, and this was no exception.
Later, as I attended fest after fest across the Northeast, the disparities became hard to ignore. I’d say to my husband, whose family hails from Eastern Europe, “Do you notice that I’m the only brown person here?” to which he would reply, “No, I hadn’t really noticed.” Was I uncomfortable..”
Ulloa Brothers: Looking Back on Broken Barriers As Broadcasting Execs
“…Today, these brothers can be seen as key figures in a Brown Pride movement that might not readily recognize their names, but their influence on generations of Latinos and Hispanics in legacy media cannot be overstated.
They are pioneers in Spanish-language broadcasting who partly got their start in the Imperial Valley and went on to much success, as few Mexican-Americans have done in the corporate world, becoming major players in traditional media formats of television and radio, creating space for Hispanic/Latino communities to see and voice themselves in the United States…”
Facebook commits to seeking more minority directors
“…Minorities and women are underrepresented on Fortune 500 boards. Almost 70% of directors Fortune 500 companies are held by white men, according to a study from the Alliance for Board Diversity.They’re also underrepresented in the greater tech community. Facebook’s latest diversity report from August barely moved the needle: It increased its Hispanic and Black workforce by 1% each to 5% and 3%, respectively…”
https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/31/technology/facebook-board-diversity/index.html
Miami-born Cesar Conde named chief of new NBC Universal news division
“Miami native Cesar Conde has been named chief of the newly-formed NBCUniversal News Group, part of a corporate reorganization at NBCUniversal announced Monday.Conde had been chairman of Telemundo and the company’s international business.
Conde will now lead an expanded news division that combines all TV and streaming operations, according to reports published by the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article242496056.html
UCLA-led study identifies LA neighborhoods most economically vulnerable to COVID-19
“..Latino and Asian majority neighborhoods in Los Angeles County are especially economically vulnerable to disruptions caused by COVID-19, a UCLA study found.The study, which was published April 1 by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative and the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, sought to locate neighborhoods in LA County that are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus because of their large number of at-risk workers.The researchers identified two sectors of the service workforce – hospitality and retail – that are especially at risk for coronavirus-induced layoffs…”
Singing Our Way To Freedom
“…Cup of Culture presents Singing Our Way to Freedom, a multilayered look at the life of San Diego Chicano musician, composer and community activist, Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez. Borrowing from musical traditions on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, Chunky uses music and humor as powerful weapons in the fight for social justice. This character-driven film reminds us that the battle for freedom has to be fought anew by every generation…”
Netflix’s ‘Gentefied’: How young Latinx professionals are gentrifying Boyle Heights
“The Netflix series “Gentefied” (pronounced HEN-teh-fied) is set in Boyle Heights and follows a family — three cousins and their immigrant grandfather — who try to save the family’s taqueria as gentrification creeps in…”
Oscars Nominations Lack Diversity as Jennifer Lopez, Lupita Nyong’o and Awkwafina Are Snubbed
“After a promising kickoff to awards season, there was a notable lack of diversity in the 2020 Oscar nominations.The nominees were announced early Monday morning by Issa Rae and John Cho, and the first major snubbed came right away.After garnering several nominations, including at Golden Globe and SAG Awards nods, Jennifer Lopez was shockingly left out of the Best Supporting Actress category for Hustlers. She would’ve been only the eighth Latin-American ever nominated in the category, with Rita Moreno in 1961 and Lupita Nyong’o in 2013 picking up the only wins.Nyong’o, a Kenyan-Mexican actress born in Mexico, also missed out on a nomination for Best Actress for Us…
Student’s short film champions putting self first over societal pressures
“Nicole Corona Diaz said she doesn’t think it’s ever too late for someone to change their career path.
Filmed over the weekend, the fourth-year film student’s untitled 12-minute short film tells the story of a rising college senior who suddenly decides not to take the LSAT despite having prepared her entire academic career for it. The film explores the main character Nicole’s stress as she juggles notions of success while struggling to provide for her mother and sister. She said she wants viewers to sympathize with Nicole, who ultimately learns to put herself first. Although they share the same name, Corona Diaz said Nicole is not necessarily based on herself…”
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Chucho Valdés and Band: Jazz Batá
“…A protean performer who has been a singular force in music for more than half a century, Chucho Valdés’ unprecedented synthesis of folkloric Afro-Cuban rhythms, rock, funk and jazz opened up vast new musical frontiers. His most recent project, Jazz Batá, revisits an exceptional early experiment pairing a piano jazz trio with batá drums, sacred instruments used in Santeria rituals. The influential Cuban pianist, composer and arranger revamps that formative project, leading his youthful, powerhouse band of bass, congas and batá in this upbeat night with the “founder of the definitive contemporary Cuban jazz” (Billboard)…”
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Trace Elements
“…That’s where and when Ruth Hellier-Tinoco first saw a performance by the experimental theater company La Máquina de Teatro. She still remembers the work, part one of the group’s “Trilogía Mexicana,” in great detail: from the staging, set design and lighting to the actors’ movement and speech.
“The piece combined so many threads, traces and layers of history, crossing and combining stories from the 15th century through to the present day, and explored questions of power, ecology, belonging, identity and memory,” Hellier-Tinoco, a scholar of performance and theater, recalls now. “It was emotionally powerful, deeply moving and humorous, and highly subversive and complicated. I was totally captivated…”
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In the Wake of Art
“…From 1944 to 1956, the Cuban journal Orígenes was the most important arts and literature periodical in the Spanish-speaking world. Co-edited by a pair of cultural luminaries, José Lezama Lima and José Rodríguez Feo, the publication featured a cosmopolitan array of contributors: Cuban writers like Eliseo Diego and Virgilio Piñera, Mexican poet Octavio Paz, American poet Wallace Stevens and many others…”
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HOOLIGAN makes a splash with ‘The Little Mermaid’ rendition,Sylvia Camacho
“…Sylvia Camacho, a first-year English student who plays Ariel in the show, said some of her earliest memories come from her experiences singing in a church choir. Camacho never formally took vocal lessons; however, singing has always been a part of her life, making her in some ways similar to Ariel, the mermaid princess whose voice is the driving force in the musical’s plot…”
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Hector Cantú, Mexican American cartoonist
“…We did it! Thanks to the super efforts of founders and organizers Javier Hernandez and Ricardo Padilla [and their families!], the first Latino Comics Expo was a truly special event! The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco was a great host and we all had a wonderful time meeting fellow comic fans and hosting panels on creating comics. We’re hoping to do it again in May 2012. I’ll keep you posted…”
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“The Ballad of Huck & Miguel”: Huck Finn revisited, in today’s L.A.
“The mighty Mississippi has spawned many a mighty tale, but few as famous as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Although now it’s required reading in most schools, when Mark Twain first published it in 1884, some didn’t consider the book’s discussion of slavery and racism such a charming tale.
Now, Tim DeRoche, a writer in Los Angeles, wants Huck to weave us a tale again, but with some modern-day twists. “I wanted to do it in a way that honored the original but that still added something new and that would be fun,” DeRoche said.
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Redtail Press
In Twain’s version, Huck was fleeing his abusive alcoholic father, and along the way hooks up with a slave named Jim, also on the run.
In DeRoche’s re-telling, Huck remains the same troublesome teen from Missouri, but his companion has more modern-day woes to run from: immigration authorities. “What an escaped slave and an undocumented immigrant have in common…”
Link to ‘Sunday Morning’report
Artist Miguel Colon on community and learning to see himself
“…New York artist Miguel Colon suffered for years before finally receiving a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, during a hospitalization. In the psychiatric ward, he did a lot of drawing, working on a graphic novel and realizing the “life-affirming” nature of creativity and how it brought other people to him. Colon offers his brief but spectacular take on learning to see himself…”
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Review: A Timely Take on ‘Oedipus’ by Way of South Central Los Angeles
“…In America, there are stories we like to tell. Stories about meritocracy and opportunity, about talent, hope and help. We tell them, in part, so that we don’t have to voice less comfortable truths — that the circumstances of a person’s birth often prophesy the life that follows.
That’s uniquely true of Oedipus, the limping princeling fated to kill his father and marry his mother. He’s crossed seas and centuries to appear in Luis Alfaro’s vigorous and pointed “Oedipus El Rey,” at the Public Theater, which resets the tale in modern-day South Central Los Angeles. Directed by Chay Yew with energy and flair, it’s the most successful offering yet from the Sol Project, an initiative dedicated to producing the work of Latinx playwrights.
The play opens in a prison complex, as a convict chorus rushes around the stage in orange scrubs and tries to decide what story to tell. Stories are boring, some prisoners say; they’re depressing, they don’t change anything. But one chorus member says, “Stories are all we got.” So they shed the scrubs and take on the roles in this Oedipus update.
As written by Sophocles, the original “Oedipus Rex” is an oldie but a goody, provided your definition of a goody is heavy on the incest and the self-mutilation. And so it goes here. When Laius (Juan Francisco Villa), a Los Angeles gangster, learns that his unborn son will kill him, he arranges to have the baby killed, slashing the bottoms of his feet for good measure. “I don’t want him chasing me in the afterlife,” Laius says…”
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New Waves: Memories of Underdevelopment
“..Based on Edmundo Desnoes’ novel and presented here in a new 4k restoration, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) is a fictional meditation on disillusionment in post-revolutionary Cuba. Left behind by his wife and family, the protagonist Sergio elects to remain in Havana following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, an historical moment that the film chooses to reflect on through Sergio’s unmoored, flâneur-like lifestyle and anomie. The Cuban capital engulfs Sergio and simmers beneath the social and political forces of the Cold War. Ramon F. Suarez’s innovative camerawork, Nelson Rodriguez’s collage-style editing, and the film’s unique critical perspective cement Memories of Underdevopment both as milestone of new wave filmmaking, and one of the most important films from Cuba and Latin America…”
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