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westernartgirlAs American as July 4th — on May 5th
It’s true that Cinco de Mayo is more popular and more celebrated in California than in Mexico, where the Battle of Puebla that it commemorates actually took place. But contrary to popular belief, that is not because of U.S. Latinos’ flimsy grasp of history, says David Hayes-Bautista. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Hayes-Bautista, an … Read more
Eating What We’re Reading
Some of author Nicole Mones’s most avid fans got a chance on Sunday to sample what she writes about in The Last Chinese Chef when they gathered at Chang’s Garden, a restaurant in Arcadia, at an Autry-sponsored luncheon in the style of China’s most sophisticated cuisine. About 70 diners showed up at 1 p.m. Sunday, … Read more
George Sanchez: Disentangling Mexican-American Identity
George Sanchez believes those who try to “protect” their culture from “attack” or “invasion” — as immigration restrictionists do today and as Chicano Power warriors tried to do in the sixties and seventies — are like a thirsty man trying to catch water with a sieve. In other words, they fight a losing battle. Sanchez, … Read more
A Latina Writer With Something to Say About Immigration — and Motherhood
Recently I asked the writer Melinda Palacio whether Latino writers still have something to say in 2011. The question is somewhat rhetorical, but she knew what I was referring to: through the 1980s and 1990s, it seemed like every new literary star was a Latino, and readers clamored for any novel with a slightly exotic … Read more
Mona Simpson Negotiates the Nanny Chronicles in “My Hollywood”
In her latest book, My Hollywood, Mona Simpson, perhaps one of the ultimate insiders, takes a look at upper-class Los Angeles from the singularly intimate perspective of an ultimate outsider: the immigrant nanny. Simpson’s spectacularly well-received first book, Anywhere But Here (1987), was made into a movie in 1999. She went on to write four … Read more
Reyna Grande — Mexican Past, American Present
Updated May 11 — Author Reyna Grande looks off into the middle distance while she thinks about an interviewer’s question. She is mentally traveling in familiar but painful territory, and she seems to want to make sure she picks the correct words. She is in no hurry to answer. Grande, who was at the Autry … Read more
How a Line in the Sand Can Enslave a People
Updated Mar. 21 — They are mere directions drawn in the dirt, lines on a piece of paper, apps on an iPhone. Maps might seem to you and me to be the most pedestrian, the most ephemeral of documents, but to Paul Apodaca, lecturer-in-residence for the Autry’s American Indian Lecture Series, they are enduring, dangerous … Read more
No Passport Necessary: How Filmmakers Negotiate the U.S.-Mexico Border
Updated Feb. 28 – Hollywood’s preeminence in film often makes it seem as if a sophisticated movie culture can only flourish in Los Angeles. But from their beginning in the early 20th Century, movies proved a creative outlet for storytellers both around the world and next-door, in Mexico. Mexican and American filmmakers in particular always … Read more
Salsa, Son, and Staying Power, According to Paul De Castro
Talk about salsa music in the United States and most people will recall The Buena Vista Social Club — the Ry Cooder-produced album (1997) or the Wim Wenders documentary film (1999) about almost-forgotten veteran Cuban salsa performers still singing vintage Cuban standards. But to Paul De Castro, and to any Latino with more than a … Read more
Siqueiros Exhibition Closes, but Leaves Its Own Legacy in Music and Poetry
There was poetry and music in the galleries, to add to the art on the walls, at the Autry when Siqueiros in Los Angeles: Censorship Defied closed on Sunday. As a special swan song of the exhibition, actresses Yareli Arizmendi and Rose Portillo performed a dramatic reading, simultaneously in Spanish and English, of Rey David … Read more
