culture clash
Three poems from Mexington, KY by Profe. Steven Alvarez (audio)
Steven Alvarez, POCHO amigo and Assistant Professor (Writing Rhetoric and Digital Media, Latin America Studies, English) at the University of Kentucky, teaches a course called Mexington, about the growing community of Mexican Americans in UKY’s hometown, Lexington. He’s a poet, too.
CON PAPELES / CON DIGNIDAD
0:03to my left is Appalachicano see & down the canyon just six miles in
0:07a thousand people oh it’s citizenship—
0:09one senses the isolation of citizenship in Appalachicano seen the twin mining
0:13communities nestled in the corner mountains—
0:15the history this area has been a history of struggle—
0:18labor struggle—
0:21do—
0:25do—
0:28since the turn of the century—when the club dinner in A district was the first
0:31major coal producer in Kentucky—
Mas…Three poems from Mexington, KY by Profe. Steven Alvarez (audio)
A funny thing happened on the way to ‘Bordertown’
Hola. I’m Lalo Alcaraz. You might know me.
I have been a Chicano political cartoonist forever. I know, I know, it’s God’s work, you’re welcome. Now, all of a sudden I’m a primetime TV writer and producer. Huh? Yes, the last two years in my life have been a super WTF. With ten percent LOL. #facepalm
Like it or not, I am now part of a historic pop culture moment: the first season of the first animated primetime TV show featuring a large cast of Mexican and Mexican-American characters: Bordertown.
Roots of Chicano Satire: Lalo Guerrero and Culture Clash (videos)
Before there was Bordertown, there was The Culture Clash show. Only about TWENTY-SOMETHING YEARS AGO, so SUCK IT humorless haters!
(It was my first showbiz writing gig!) Big props and eternal thanks to the Culture Clash guys!
And before all of us, there was LALO GUERRERO doing Chicano satire, hell, INVENTING it! Check out Guerrero’s singing There’s No Chicanos on TV!
Mas…Roots of Chicano Satire: Lalo Guerrero and Culture Clash (videos)
Lalo Guerrero via Culture Clash: ‘There’s No Chicanos on TV’ (video)
The late Chicano musical pioneer Lalo Guerrero called out Hollywood on its racist casting practices on last century’s Culture Clash TV show.
Briton Jim Tavaré is a comic and cholo playa (video)
A lanky British guy got lost driving in L.A. because Google Maps; lucky for him, he ended up in friendly East Los Angeles.
PREVIOUSLY ON LOST IN TRANSLATION:
Laugh your nalgas off with ‘The Best of Culture Clash’ (video)
Enjoy this hour-long compilation of skits from the pioneering Chicano Los Angeles comedy troupe’s television program. LOLz guaranteed or your money back.
Community offers a loving goodbye to Lupe Ontiveros
They say everyone loves you when you’re dead. Everyone can also love you when you’re alive, if you’re Lupe Ontiveros.
The funny, talented and bursting with life Mexican-American actress passed away last Thursday in Whittier, CA.
My son and I attended Lupe Ontiveros’ Rosary service last night in Pico Rivera to pay our last respects to Lupe and her family. (See my photo of program from the memorial service.)
It was overflowing with family, friends and fans. One of her three sons read an opening note (sent via Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis) from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, a message of condolence from the White House.
Everybody in Chicano theater and film was there, including Zoot Suit playwright Luis Valdez, actor Edward James Olmos, Vanessa Marquez, Pepe Serna, Evelina Fernandez, the guys from Culture Clash, UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta, current UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and many more. A girl in a “Goonies Forever” T-shirt sat near us in the balcony.
LaChata’s Music Box: Aztlan Underground’s newest video ‘Our Nature’
With love from LaChata: For 20 years, Aztlan Underground has presented an evolution of consciousness intertwined with pre-Colombian thoughts, feelings and sounds. In a search for the other — the unknown — Aztlan Underground gives birth to a visceral sound that challenges listeners.
Check out their new, visually-stunning music video Our Nature. It starts with indigenous drums, channels the apocalyptic opera of the Doors and celebrates the natural animal spirit that inhabits us all.
From the hidden vaults of the Mayan pyramids, two more videos below:
Mas…LaChata’s Music Box: Aztlan Underground’s newest video ‘Our Nature’