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Art & literature


Another Side of History: Review of David Dorado Romo’s Borderlands and the Mexican American Story
Another Side of History breaks down the hegemonic door that has tried to shut out complexities of Mexican American and borderland history.
Samantha Ceballos
Mar 123 min read
27
0


Deep Dive into Character: A Review of Melissa Coss Aquino's Novel, Carmen & Grace
With her evocative storytelling, Melissa Coss Aquino turns a story about two cousin-turned-sisters dealing drugs into a character study.
Ilaiah Archie
Mar 45 min read
32
0


Review of My Side of the River: A Memoir by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
My Side of the River is more than a memoir it is a reminder of how stories can heal, connect, and inspire.
Cordelia McDonald
Mar 44 min read
26
0


Resisting the Future in Fernando A. Flores’ Novel, Brother Brontë!
Fernando Flores’s Brother Brontë--a novel that delves into the power of literature and the transformative role of storytelling.
Allysa Tellez
Mar 13 min read
6
0


Afro-Latina Identity: A Review of Natasha Alford's American Negra: A Memoir
American Negra: A Memoir brings attention to the issues of Afro-Latinidad with Hispanic/Latinx communities.
Genesis Stanley
Mar 14 min read
36
0

Living Beyond Borders: A Vibrant Mosaic of Mexican-American Stories for Young Readers
Every story offers the reader a different perspective on the young Chicanx experience.
Paloma Aguirre
Jan 253 min read
32
0

6 Essential Reads to Celebrate Dominican Heritage Month!
Celebrate Dominican Heritage Month with 6 Must-Read Books by Dominicana American Authors!
Angélica María Veloz
Jan 155 min read
141
0


Latinx Stories Return to Broadway with Real Women Have Curves
Real Women Have Curves: The Musical pushes against the normality of Latinas being forgotten in these spaces.
Andrea M Escalante
Jan 143 min read
50
0

Fighting for the Future: How Paula Mendoza & Abby Sher Turn Activism into Dystopian Fiction
Sanctuary is about escaping a horrific regime, while Solis focuses on fighting back to build a better world.
Frederick Aldama
Jan 135 min read
10
0

Opera of the Hispanophone Americas: Transforming Traditions, Shattering Boundaries
Opera is not just a European artifact but a global and evolving tradition capable of reflecting the lived experiences of diverse cultures.
Brianna Rivera
Jan 136 min read
45
0

Representation, Storytelling, and Writing for Change: A Conversation with Natalia Sylvester
Natalia Sylvester on her writing process, the power of representation, and the challenges and joys of telling Latina-centered stories today.
Frederick Aldama
Jan 79 min read
14
0

Reflection & Renewal: Chican(x) Futurism An Evening at Gallery 2000 (Part 1)
This exhibit challenges me to reframe past, present, and future as more cyclical than linear.
Rose Padilla
Dec 15, 20244 min read
73
0


In/Visibility by Design: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s Debut Novel Catalina
Catalina refreshes the campus novel by tackling issues like rising tuition, student activism, and racial diversity and undocumented status
Sonia Gonzalez
Dec 11, 20243 min read
59
0


Destination Mexico City: The 1970s Underbelly of Rock and Roll, Comics, & Noir in Velvet Was the Night
In this historical fiction, noir romance novel, Moreno-Garcia captures the escalating violence between Mexico’s government and protesters.
Elizabeth Martinez
Dec 4, 20245 min read
9
0

"Poetry to Praxis: Yesenia Moya & Community Art Resistance in Southern Nevada"
"Son de Mi Ser" exhibit Challenges inarticulation and settler colonialism
Erika Abad
Dec 3, 20244 min read
67
0


PUTINOIKA Unbound: Sophia Yip Reviews Braschi's Ingenious Multi-Genre Masterpiece!
PUTINOIKA writes against any definitions and forms while acknowledging the possibility of creating the unexpected!
Sophia Yip
Nov 14, 20244 min read
53
0


Ujjwal Prasai Reviews Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora
Undocumented Writers as beings of this earth, of the countries of their or their parents’ origins, and equally of America
Ujjwal Prasai
Oct 28, 20245 min read
241
0


Welcome to Oxnard: An Interview with Cristina Herrera
Welcome to Oxnard celebrates Michelle Serros all while paying homage to Oxnard
Trevor Boffone
Oct 23, 20247 min read
64
0


The Wondrous Poetic Futurisms in Pedro Iniguez’s Mexicans on the Moon
nothing can prepare you for the unique voice that is Iniguez in his debut poetry collection Mexicans on the Moon!
Melissa Castillo Planas
Oct 13, 20244 min read
61
0


An Altar of Stories: Rios De La Luz Crafts a Haunting Tapestry of Speculative Fiction
Rios De La Luz's An Altar of Stories to Liminal Saints is speculative fiction that captivates readers and pushes the genre!
Danielle Garcia-Karr
Oct 11, 20244 min read
45
0

Miguel A. Briones's Macho No Machismo: Affirming Tender Masculinities
El Paso native and current Austenite, Miguel A. Briones , reclaims Chicano masculinity in Macho No Machismo: Helpful and Nice , a...
Paloma Aguirre
Oct 7, 20243 min read
65
0


Paloma Aguirre Reviews Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher’s Sci-Fi YA Novel, Solis!
Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher’s YA novel, Solis asks, how imminent a future can dystopian fiction imagine for young readers?
Paloma Aguirre
Oct 7, 20243 min read
19
0

Aunt Lute Press: El Mundo Zurdo’s Call for Collective Solidarity
Aunt Lute Books serves as a case study of what ethical solidarity looks like!
Erika Abad
Oct 7, 20244 min read
90
0

On Latinx Pop Culture & Poetics: An Interview with José Olivarez
Melissa Castillo Planas Interviews poet José Olivarez. The talk about Latinx pop culture, translation, COVID lockdown, migration. . .
Melissa Castillo Planas
Sep 27, 20248 min read
57
0


Re-membering Outside the Box: Erika Abad Interviews Xochil Xitlalli
Erika Abad interviews two-spirit artist Xochil Xitlalli
Erika Abad
Sep 14, 20247 min read
50
0

Channeling Inner Diosa Energy: The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center Connects Comunidad through Accessible Art & Conversation
Through community conversation, artists and community members connect, share, and reflect on what "Diosa energy" is.
Angel Avila
Sep 12, 20244 min read
126
0

Rose Padilla Reviews Matt de la Peña & Paola Escobar's The Perfect Place!
Matt de la Peña and Paola Escobar's kid's book, The Perfect Place, asks, what’s so great about being perfect, anyway?
Rose Padilla
Sep 2, 20244 min read
15
0


To Cali, with Love: A Review of Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California
Offers deeply personal accounts of pockets of California and their complexity!
Cristina Herrera
Aug 14, 20245 min read
117
0

Artistry and Culture of Texas’s Lowriders
The exhibit not only showcases three-dimensional objects of lowrider culture but also provides briefs about its history
Angel Avila
Jul 20, 20243 min read
106
0

Paloma Aguirre Reviews Gume Laurel III's Samson and Domingo & Brujos of Borderland High!
Gume Laurel III’s books do something that not all YA texts do— they let queer teens be more than tropes of their sexuality.
Paloma Aguirre
Jul 8, 20242 min read
77
0

10 Latinx/ Latine Poets for Pride Month
10 Latinx/ Latine Poets for Pride Month
Melissa Castillo Planas
May 31, 20245 min read
489
2


“LatinX Marks the Wound and Space for Collective Healing”
I want to highlight how artists across the U.S. cross ethno-national borders to heal together.
Erika Abad
May 22, 20244 min read
184
1


“Structures of Feeling & The Edgar; or Abuelita’s Bowl Cut”
It’s a way to intentionally affirm the Otherness that a conformist mainstream throws at youth.
Frederick Aldama
May 21, 20243 min read
43
0


Aldama & Itzel Usher in a Sci-Fi Worldbuilding Paradigm Shift: A Review of Labyrinths Borne
Aldama offers a path forward by offering readers an emotional, intellectually spirited & collectivist minded tale.
Ralph Villanueva
May 12, 20244 min read
113
0


Frederick Luis Aldama Talks with Cristina Herrera: Misfits, Sonic Revolutions, Familial Reconciliations, & Craving More Fiction that Misfits Publishing Molds
I wanted Max Rodriguez to hit the hard truths but also, and overwhelmingly, to take readers to places of joy and compassion.
Cristina Herrera
May 5, 20248 min read
95
0


Frederick Luis Aldama’s Pressing Passion to Portray & Proclaim Powerful Truths of Youth Surviving in the US-Mexico Borderlands: A Conversation
While the borderlands shape each protagonist differently, their individual stories thread together to form a greater tapestry.
Luis Torres
May 5, 202411 min read
78
0


Jonathan Hill and the Power of Encouragement
what I took from Hill's talk was a humble attitude of gratitude for all the little lights that shone in the dark, the simple gestures.
Dan Johnson
May 4, 202416 min read
143
0


Mapping Latinidades On the Mad River: Cristina Herrera Reviews Lucrecia Guerrero’s Latest Novel
Lucrecia Guerrero’s latest novel, On the Mad River, set in the hardscrabble former factory town of Mad River, Ohio, we’re reminded of Latinx
Cristina Herrera
Apr 21, 20245 min read
73
1


Mariela Pinilla Reviews The Absolutely (Almost) True Adventures of Max Rodriguez
The novel is exactly what the “misfits, botched-jobbers, and unapologetic originals” have been waiting for.
Mariela Pinilla
Mar 27, 20243 min read
108
0


Sonia Gonzalez Reviews Olivas's Chicano Frankenstein
"He didn't seem to belong anywhere. Neither here nor there." This is how Daniel A. Olivas describes the unnamed protagonist of his new...
Sonia Gonzalez
Mar 15, 20243 min read
112
0


Chicano Frankenstein: Sci-Fi Fantasy or Gritty Everyday Realism?
Daniel Olivas’s powerful new novel, Chicano Frankenstein, takes place in a semi-futuristic— yet very present—United States. In this...
Mariela Pinilla
Mar 4, 202411 min read
507
1


Vulnerability Is My Superpower
Roughly 15 years ago, I had a major breakdown that derailed me from graduate school. It took several months and several diagnoses until...
Dan Johnson
Feb 16, 20248 min read
200
0


Para Las “Callejeras,” the “Bad Women,” and All Those Mujeres Our Mothers Warned Us About: A Review of Estella Gonzalez’s Huizache Women
My abuela, Mamá Chonita, was not an easy woman, nor was she what some would consider very affectionate. Her hugs and kisses were offered...
Cristina Herrera
Feb 7, 20245 min read
147
1
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