by Ernest HoganHad me quite a double feature the other day -- two DVDs courtesy of Barrio Dog Productions and Latinopia that blasted me from the past and slung me into the future.
First was América Tropical. I had seen it when it was originally shown on KCET -- L.A.’s PBS affiliate -- back in 1971 when I was still in high school. It blew my teenaged mind, and influenced how I would navigate my cartoonist/writer ambitions. This telling of how a mural by David Alfaro Siquieros was commissioned by an L.A. business man, then whitewashed of its controversial content, helped me focus my concept of what it was to be an artist. The way it created a cinematic time warp to connect the Chicano Movement of the Seventies with what was going on in the Thirties plugged me into history in a way I never felt before.
It also influenced my first novel Cortez on Jupiter. I found myself daring to dream about a Chicano artist taking on a hostile society in the future, and beyond this planet. And when I faced conflicts over my own controversial material, I wasn’t completely blindsided.
The
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By: ERNEST HOGAN,
on 4/26/2012
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Chicano Movement, latinopia, Chicanonautica, Chicano SF, Jesus Salvador Trevino, Add a tag
by Ernest Hogan
Recently I had the honor of being interviewed by Jesús Salvador Treviño, of Latinopia.com, and Barrio Dog Productions. His killer résumé as an award-winning filmmaker and television director impressed me. Since he directed episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Babylon Five, I had to tell him that at a science fiction convention, people would be ignoring me and crowding around him.
But it turns out he’s also a writer, and a damn good one.
His Eyewitness: A Filmmaker’s Memoir of the Chicano Movement should be required reading in schools throughout Aztlán, even though it would probably be banned in Arizona. It documents the movement, its history, and personalities like César Chávez, Rudolfo “Corky” González, Luis Valdez, and Oscar Zeta Acosta, and illustrates the importance of the media in promoting social change. Memories exploded as I read it, and gaps in my knowledge were filled in. The subject comes to life with t
1 Comments on Chicanonautica: From the Chicano Movement to Arroyo Grande with Jesús Salvador Treviño, last added: 4/27/2012
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Good piece, Ernesto. La Bloga did a Sinkhole review here:
http://labloga.blogspot.com/search?q=fabulous+sinkhole