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Art & literature


Cordelia McDonald
Feb 284 min read
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.
13
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Paloma Aguirre
Jan 253 min read
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.
22
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Angélica María Veloz
Jan 155 min read
6 Essential Reads to Celebrate Dominican Heritage Month!
Celebrate Dominican Heritage Month with 6 Must-Read Books by Dominicana American Authors!
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Andrea M Escalante
Jan 143 min read
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.
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Frederick Aldama
Jan 135 min read
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.
8
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Brianna Rivera
Jan 136 min read
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.
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Frederick Aldama
Jan 79 min read
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.
13
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Ilaiah Archie
Jan 15 min read
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.
22
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Rose Padilla
Dec 15, 20244 min read
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.
71
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Sonia Gonzalez
Dec 11, 20243 min read
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
49
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Elizabeth Martinez
Dec 4, 20245 min read
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.
9
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Erika Abad
Dec 3, 20244 min read
"Poetry to Praxis: Yesenia Moya & Community Art Resistance in Southern Nevada"
"Son de Mi Ser" exhibit Challenges inarticulation and settler colonialism
56
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Sophia Yip
Nov 14, 20244 min read
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!
52
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Ujjwal Prasai
Oct 28, 20245 min read
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
233
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Trevor Boffone
Oct 23, 20247 min read
Welcome to Oxnard: An Interview with Cristina Herrera
Welcome to Oxnard celebrates Michelle Serros all while paying homage to Oxnard
60
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Melissa Castillo Planas
Oct 13, 20244 min read
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!
56
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Danielle Garcia-Karr
Oct 11, 20244 min read
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!
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Paloma Aguirre
Oct 7, 20243 min read
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...
57
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Paloma Aguirre
Oct 7, 20243 min read
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?
14
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Erika Abad
Oct 7, 20244 min read
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!
89
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Melissa Castillo Planas
Sep 27, 20248 min read
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. . .
48
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Erika Abad
Sep 14, 20247 min read
Re-membering Outside the Box: Erika Abad Interviews Xochil Xitlalli
Erika Abad interviews two-spirit artist Xochil Xitlalli
50
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Angel Avila
Sep 12, 20244 min read
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.
123
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Rose Padilla
Sep 2, 20244 min read
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?
14
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Cristina Herrera
Aug 14, 20245 min read
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!
116
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Angel Avila
Jul 20, 20243 min read
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
92
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Paloma Aguirre
Jul 8, 20242 min read
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.
76
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Melissa Castillo Planas
May 31, 20245 min read
10 Latinx/ Latine Poets for Pride Month
10 Latinx/ Latine Poets for Pride Month
420
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Erika Abad
May 22, 20244 min read
“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.
179
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Frederick Aldama
May 21, 20243 min read
“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.
41
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Ralph Villanueva
May 12, 20244 min read
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.
112
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Cristina Herrera
May 5, 20248 min read
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.
90
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Luis Torres
May 4, 202411 min read
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.
76
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Dan Johnson
May 4, 202416 min read
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.
140
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Cristina Herrera
Apr 21, 20245 min read
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
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Mariela Pinilla
Mar 27, 20243 min read
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.
107
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Sonia Gonzalez
Mar 14, 20243 min read
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...
109
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Mariela Pinilla
Mar 3, 202411 min read
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...
484
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Dan Johnson
Feb 16, 20248 min read
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...
187
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Cristina Herrera
Feb 7, 20245 min read
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...
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