Few things embody Chicano culture quite as thoroughly as the murals of Boyle Heights in East LA. From depictions of La Virgen Morena to heroes of the Chicano cultural movement, the murals define the fractured, contradictory, and promising history of Mexican Americans.
What does it mean to be Latino? The producers of American Family asked writer Ruben Martinez, UCLA linguistics professor Otto Santa Ana, and Fordham University sociologist Clara Rodriguez to address that question. In the essays that follow, you’ll find that their answers were all very different.
José Clemente Orozco experienced the carnage and duplicity of the Mexican Revolution, the hardship following the New York stock market crash in 1929, and rising fascism in Europe. He emerged with an aesthetic and moral vision unparalleled in 20th-century painting. Discover the story of Mexico’s legendary muralist.
Until his accidental death at the hands of the LAPD, Ruben Salazar gave voice to many Mexican-Americans on issues of social justice, civil rights, and community empowerment. His reporting for the Los Angeles Times probed the Chicano community and attempted to answer the question: Who is a Chicano? Watch this video about Salazar’s life and work.
Sam Pollard, director of the new American Masters film “Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On,” describes the process of making the film, what he learned, and what he hopes …
It’s not “beginner English,” it’s not Spanglish and it’s not watered-down Spanish. Chicano English is a distinctive U.S. English dialect. In this interview, Carmen Fought discusses the dialect common to the Southwestern United States and its roots in a bilingual culture.
On April 30, 2008 Cyberchase actor Christopher Lloyd was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the “Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program” category for …
The one-man play “Primo” recounts the Holocaust experiences of Primo Levi, an Italian chemist who was arrested and transported to Auschwitz in the final year of World War II. He was one of only 22 Italian Jews who left the camp alive. Written by/starring South African-born actor Sir Antony Sher, the play is an adaptation of Levi’s memoir Survival in Auschwitz. See an excerpt.
Renowned children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak collaborated with playwright Tony Kushner to adapt Brundibar, a children’s opera written in 1938 by Czech composer Hans Krása, into a book and …
This week, a teenage pimp, an immigrant adrift in New York City, and a child with an acrobatic imagination vied for your votes. So which film won?
