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by Rudy Garcia

Last week, Juan Felipe Herrera was appointed California poet laureate by Gov. Jerry Brown. If this is confirmed by the California Senate, Herrera will become the first Chicano to ever receive this recognition.

You can go here to read about it, here to read more about him, and you can send him felicidades via E-mail to juan.herreraATucr.edu.

La Bloga can only say: Era tiempo!


Last Call for Ice Cream?

Not as significant as Herrrera's achivement, this zany story of mine was accepted by Rudy Rucker (of cyberpunk fame) for his Ezine Flurb #13. You can access a copy for FREE to see what at least one Chicano is doing to widen our presence in the spec fiction world. You can get Flurb #13 as an ebook that can be read on any e-reading device---Kindles, iPhones, Androids, NOOKs, Windows laptops, iPads, whatever. Mobi (for Kindle) and Epub (for the others) available for download at http://www.flurb.net/ebook/
Please leave comments there.


Chicano summer arts camp

Denver's Museo de las Americas is proud to present the 2012 summer camp program, "Animales." Students will have the opportunity to discover the wild world of animals through this multidisciplinary summer arts camp.

For three consecutive weeks, participants will immerse themselves in visual arts, dance, music, and theater classes to better understand the bond between animals, humans, and the environment. Each class is conducted by a trained teacher who is committed to advancing the students' understanding of animals through arts integration techniques and cultural competencies.

Dates: June 25th -July 13, 2012
July 4th: No Camp
July 13th: Final Performance

Hours: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, snack provided
Ages: K through 6th grade
Cost: Scholarships available to DPS students on a first-come, first serve basis

If interested, contact Christina Gese, our Education Director at [email protected], (303) 571-4401, ext. 28, or in person at 861 Santa Fe Dr., Denver.

Space limited; request registration form today. Deadline May 1st, 2012.

Skyhorse's Madonnas: CACA

From amigo Rigoberto Gonzalez comes word of his El Paso Times Book Review of Brandon Skyhorse's The Madonnas of Echo Park.Does Rigo sound negative about the novel? Sounds more like the book deserves my CACA award for double cultural appropriation. The article's entitled Ouch: Stereotypes, clunkers fill stories in 'Madonnas' (special to the El Paso Times).

Here's a sample from the review:
"One character says, 'My sisters had left America and moved South, to a small Mexican village in Guadalajara.' (Don't see the problem? Guadalajara is a city.)"

Simón, like I live in the small American village of Sunnyside in Denver.
Check out Rigo's biting analysis here.

Chicano SF in FLURB

Ernest Hogan of Charla-Interview fame, and Chicano author of Cortez on Jupiter has a new story up on Rudy Rucker's FLURB, A Webzine of Astonishing Tales. It's entitled Doctora Xilbalba's Datura Enema, a story about what can happen to The Man if he gets too deep into a futuristic Narcolandia. Who said Chicanos don't make good SciFi characters? Hogan also gave La Bloga a nice plug at the end.

8.29.10 Denver celebration 'taba suave

Described in Manuel Ramos's post last week, my wife Carmen and I made to Rick's Tavern (Denver) to help fin