Teatro Luna --Bright, Bright Light

Teatro Luna was founded in June 2000 by Coya Paz and Tanya Saracho, with an original ensemble of ten women from diverse Latina/Hispana backgrounds. They came together because they realized that the stories and experiences of Latina/Hispana women were undervalued and underrepresented not only on the Chicago stage, but beyond. Many of them had similar experiences of being asked to perform stereotyped images of that were often one-dimensional and, at times, offensive: spicy sexpots, voiceless maids, pregnant gangbangers, timid "illegal" immigrants, etc. They were also concerned that the few parts written for Latina women often went to non-Latina actresses. They felt that they had to do something. Their answer was Teatro Luna, Chicago's first and only all-Latina theater.

En el Futuro, they plan to perform published pieces and original works by new and established Playwrights along with their own original works. Teatro Luna is constantly looking for new works written by Latinas/Hispanas or about Latina/Hispana women.

If you'd like to make a submission, send a copy of your script to Reading Series Director, Teatro Luna, 5215 N. Ravenswood, Suite #210, Chicago, IL 60640 or email her at nrey1@msn.com. They look forward to nurturing la voz de la mujer Latina inside their artistic home, to giving Latina/Hispanas of all backgrounds an opportunity to tell their story.

In the meantime, a large percentage of their energia is spent on creating original pieces, developed by the ensemble. This has prompted the creation of the "Teatro Luna Developement Process." Poco a poco, the ensemble developed its own vocabulary and artistic vision which improves with every project. The ever changing process is described below. Ensemble members share stories, memories, ideas and thoughts with each other in a brainstorming session.

1 Members then bring in written stories, monologues, or more specific research to propose specific ideas for pieces.

2 During workshop/rehearsal, members divide into smaller groups (2-4 people) and experiment with adding movement, chorus, additional characters and other stylistic devices to the stories. The responsibility of these smaller groups is to find two or more dramatically different approaches to present the idea/story.

3 Versions of the story are "presented" or "pitched" to the rest of the ensemble, who critique and comment on the proposal. Often, different actresses will "try on" the same role to further expand and explore the possibilities of the subject and style of the piece.

4 Once the ensemble has chosen a "format", the scene is improvised several times (with the game of "character musical chairs" described above). The women who are watching write down character traits, story concept and themes, and any dialogue that stands out (at times particularly lively workshops have been videotaped).

5 The scenes are then scripted by an ensemble member and presented to the group in an "official" version.

6 Creating doesn't stop there. The rehearsal process remains open. Although actors work from the script in a relatively traditional manner, the entire process involves on-going discussion and collaboration from the ensemble. A couple of times, a finished scene or two were not finalized until a few hours before opening.

7 This is the "official" teatro luna process when developing original works, but they continue to refine and expand it to fit their needs, practicing our techniques in on-going workshops that include both established Teatro Luna members and newer Artistic Associates and Friends.

TEATRO LUNA ENSEMBLE

COYA PAZ (co-founder/co-Artistic Director) was raised in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Columbia, and Brazil, and moved permanently to the United States in the late 1980's. She is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, where she also holds her MA. She has collaborated with Teatro Luna on all of our ensemble built projects (Generic Latina, Dejame Contarte/Let Me Tell You, The Maria Chronicles and S-E-X-Oh!) Additional Chicago acting credits include Impassioned Embraces, Etta Jenks, Death of a Salesman and Baby Boom En El Paraiso.

Directing credits include The Maria Chronicles and S-e-x-Oh! (with Tanya Saracho), The Drag King Rooftop Karaoke Hootchie Cootchie No Name Show and Musical Latin Extravaganza (with Michelle Campbell), Diane Herrera's The Dress and Marisabel Suarez's Three Days (part of Teatro Luna's Sólo Latinas Project). She has appeared in numerous independent film and performance projects, and enjoys singing in the shower. Coya is a contributor to the Oxford University Encyclopedia of Latino/as in the United States, and is committed to using performance as a strategy for social and individual change. coyapaz@yahoo.com

TANYA SARACHO (cofounder/co_Artistic Director) is a proud Co-Founder of TEATRO LUNA: Chicago's All-Latina Theater Ensemble and a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. She was born in Sinaloa, Mexico and moved to Texas in the late 80's. Saracho attended Boston University where three of her plays, Miss Norma and the Alligator, Maya Takes a Moonbath and La Dueña, received Premiers. Tanya has studied writing with Maria Irene Fornes (Latin Am. Writers Retreat), Derek Wolcott, Kate Snodgrass and Claudia Allen. In Chicago, La Dueña received a staged reading at the Tony-Award-winning, Victory Gardens Theatre. Also while in Chicago, her writing has been featured in all of Teatro Luna's ensemble-built works including Generic Latina, Dejame Contarte, The Maria Chronicles, SOLO Latinas and S-E-X-Oh! Saracho's play Kita y Fernanda received a full production at Luna in early 2003, along with a reading at Repertorio Español while a finalist for the 2003 Nuestras Voces playwrighting competition. Other Awards include: The Ofner Prize given by the Goodman Theatre and Christopher B. Wolk Award at Abingdon Theatre in NYC (finalist).

Directing (and co-directing) credits include: The remount of Generic Latina, Piece of Ass for Estrogenfest and The Maria Chronicles for both the Goodman's Latino Theater Festival and the critically acclaimed full-length run at Teatro Luna, S-e-x-Oh!, Que Bonita Bandera and Three Days for SÓLO Latinas, and the upcoming Knowhatimean written by Idris Goodwin and Kevin Coval.

Chicago acting credits include: Sandra in Living Out with American Theatre Co./Teatro Vista, Vecina in Electricidad at the Goodman Theatre, The Angel in Angels in America, and Martirio in La Casa De Bernarda Alba with Aguijon Theater. In the winter of 2005, Saracho premiered her solo play To Red Stick at Chicago Dramatists, in Teatro Luna's critically acclaimed evening of solo work, SÓLO Latinas, which was later remounted in the 2005 Theatre-On-The-Lake Season. Tanya's voice can be heard around the country in many radio and television commercials. TeatroLuna@aol.com

DANA CRUZ (artistic ensemble) loves the ladies de Teatro Luna and is excited to team up with them. Recent Chicago credits include the Let the Eagle Fly at the Goodman's Latino Theater Festival, Maria Chronicles, and S-E-X-Oh! with Teatro Luna and Generic Latina with the touring company Teatro Luna... Anda, CityGirl & Game/Place/Show with the Neofuturists and Acts of Mercy by John Michael Garces with Flushpuppy Productions to name a few. She has performed professionally with companies in Chicago, New York and Boston and is currently teaching theater at Our Lady of Tepeyac High School and working as a massage therapist in Evanston, IL. She is an Aries. She hates talking about herself in the third person and is oh so excited to be marrying the T-man on June 2005. danamarieelez@hotmail.com

MIRANDA GONZALEZ (artistic ensemble/touring director) is an original founding member of Luna. Teatro Luna credits include the original production of Generic Latina, Probadita, Mas Probadita, both the New York and Chicago mountings of Dejame Contarte, SOLO Latinas and S-E-X-Oh! She has appeared in numerous industrials and commercials in the midwest, as well as the dearly departed Joan Cusack television series What About Joan? where she played a recurring role. Miranda is a loan officer and mother by day, and a Lunatica by night. mlina13@yahoo.com

suzette MAYOBRE(artistic ensemble) comes to us from the sunny state of Florida, where after a life of sun and fun, she decided to move to the bitter cold of Chicago! Fortunately, she met the wonderful ladies of Teatro Luna, who have made the transition easier and have provided her with numerous opportunities to nurture her art. Her roots in entertainment were planted while at the University of Miami, where she co-hosted a live, weekly morning show, worked at the university radio station, and produced a feature-length documentary entitled Last Night In Cuba, which she holds very dear to her heart. After receiving her degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Miami, she decided that she wanted to pursue her acting. She has worked on several commercials, industrials, voice overs, independent films and television, most recently as a guest reporter for Control, a Univision Network program. Her theater credits includes work with Teatro Luna, Teatro Vista, Salsation! and Eclipse Theatre among others. giugno10@aol.com

maritza Cervantes (artistic ensemble) is a Mexican-American actress/musician/artist born and raised in Chicago. Past credits include: Al son..que me toques Lorca La Molecula Artistica: Nido del Mar, La Casa De Bernarda Alba, Aguijon Theatre, Polaroid Stories, En Mortem Flush Puppy Productions, and S-E-X-Oh! with Teatro Luna. Maritza is Co-founder of the acoustic/hip-hop/soul influenced musical outfit the LUNA BLUES MACHINE. mari2420@aol.com

yadira CORREA (artistic ensemble) Crazy curly haired Puertorican who's acting credits include: Vagina Monologues, For Colored Girls/Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enough, María Chronicles, Sketchbook and S-E-X-Oh! yco76@hotmail.com

CURRENTLY PLAYING:
MACHOS

November - December 2007 at the Chicago Dramatists Teatro Luna is doing WHAT???? This fall, presentamos A new play by Teatro Luna.

MACHOS: Be a Man?...
Men. Women. Women dressed as men. Teatro Luna, Chicago's All-Latina Theater Company, announces the world premiere of MACHOS, an interview based play about contemporary masculinities. In 2006, frustrated with boyfriends, brothers, and bosses, the company of Latina women set out to answer the question: what are men really thinking?

The result is MACHOS, a performance drawn from interviews with 50 men nationwide and performed by an all-Latina cast in drag. From a young man's relationship with his correctional officer father to man cheating on his wife with himself, to an epic confrontation between fraternity brothers, MACHOS presents a range of true-life stories with Teatro Luna's trademark humor and unique Latina point of view.

MACHOS follows the critically acclaimed shows S-E-X-OH and LUNATIC(A)S and moves beyond the everyday stereotypes of gender, offering a complex look at how 50 men (and eight Latina women) learned how to be men. As always, Teatro Luna is cheeky, straightforward, and willing to ask even the most hard hitting questions: exactly how did you learn to use a urinal? MACHOS is presented In English with a sprinkle of Spanish.

MACHOS
Developed and directed by Coya Paz . Created by El Teatro Luna. Coya Paz is the Co-Artistic Director of Teatro Luna, and was named one of UR Magazine's 30 Under 30 in 2005 and one of GO NYC! Magazine's 100 Women We Love in 2007. She was the 2006-2007 Artist-In-Residence at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. Previous collaborations with Teatro Luna include Generic Latina, Dejame Contarte, The Maria Chronicles, and S-e-x-Oh!

Chicago Dramatists 1105 W Chicago Ave Chicago, Il 60622 Previews: November 5, 6, 7 @ 7:00 pm Runs: November 8th 0 December 16th 2007 Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays at 7:30 pm & Sundays at 6:00 pm

For more information, please call 773-878-LUNA or email us at: info@teatroluna.org

AND MORE GREAT NEWS

Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore
presents:
A SPECIAL AUTHOR READING & BOOK SIGNING with BETO GUTIERREZ

A Sentence with the District
A compelling collection of essays based on the actual experience of a former at-risk youth who became an inspired teacher at his alma mater high school in the San Fernando Valley. The stories reveal a moving glimpse into LAUSD, the nation's second largest school district, which repeatedly fails students of color and those on the front lines -- classroom teachers. The author sheds insight from a first person point of view that others, including administrators, dare not mention. In its frank and passionate tone, the book raises key issues that underscore a dire need for change.

SATURDAY Oct. 27th at 1p.m.
PICK UP YOUR COPY TODAY AT TIA CHUCHAS!
Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore
10258 Foothill Blvd.
Lake View Terrace, California 91342
(818)896-1479

Celebrate with Amigas Latinas!

SAVE THE DATE!!


November 3, Saturday

¡Siempre Latina!
Gala Dinner

Garden Manor
4722 W. Armitage
Chicago, IL
Tickets:
$60 advance
$70 at door

Available:

Mestiza
1010 W. 18 Street Chicago, IL
312 563 0132

Early to Bed

5232 N. Sheridan Rd. Chicago, IL
773 271 1219

Lisa Alvarado

Foto Ése: Poesia Para La Gente in the Garden. Community News Bits 'n Pieces.

Floricanto Para la Tierra

Michael Sedano

Then one day, Chicken Boy disappeared from Broadway. Que plus ça change and all that, but this icon of a fried chicken restaurant above Los Angeles’ most expensive commercial real estate locus stood as a constant reminder back in the 1970s to a Chicano grad student juggling the weighty issues of no money, ample research, and a recalcitrant dissertation, to take life with a smile.

Chicken Boy is back, lifting spirits of gente fighting encroaching gentrification of northeast El Lay. Book designer artist Amy Inouye rescued Chicken Boy. She mounted him above her Future Studio Design on Highland Park’s Figueroa Street.

Jessica Ceballos 

How sublime, then, that Jessica Ceballos, LA’s peerless promoter of poesia and all things artful, scheduled a Poesia Para la Gente reading in Milagro Allegro Community Garden, just up the alley from Chicken Boy, whose presence adds nostalgic joy to a thoroughly enchanting “para la tierra” reading.

Karen Anzoategui, Amanda Yates Garcia 

Reading your stuff al fresco creates unique challenges that Sunday afternoon’s poets skillfully engage. Flocks of parrots screech by, unmuffled police helicopters noisomely roar overhead, cars cruise down the potholed alley, bright sunlight overpowers electronic devices. For a photographer, that brilliant light creates a host of problems, from squinting eyes to wildly variant illumination when readers move into shade, into light, stand in dappled light, hold a bright white manuscript. Exposing for open shade with full sun in the background adds another complication; one’s eye easily adjusts but a camera's computer chip and lens don’t.

Karen Anzoategui

Setting renders moot standard delivery issues. The constant struggle for personalization through eye contact occurs whether on stage or in the garden. Eyes glued to a tiny telephone screen or manuscript denies eye contact, wearing shades against the brilliant day likewise shuts the window to the soul. Holding the manuscript affects the nature of gestures available. Memorization always frees the performer to use one’s entire technology of the body to create memorably dynamic experiences for grateful audiences.

Amanda Yates Garcia

Projection and volume inadequacies, ordinarily a plein aire hazard, are not in evidence today. The casual outdoor setting encourages the basking audience to interaction, “louder!” or “Say that again?” Karineh Mahdessian greets me as I maneuver for a better angle as she begins her reading, “Hey, Michael, how you doing?” A former speech coach urges one reader to go from memory in lieu of being bound to the text, a useful practice because the words are already in the writer’s mouth and memory. Besides, only the poet knows if a line changes or something drops out.

Karen Anzoategui and Amanda Yates Garcia elect the open shade under the mora tree (under the mor, under the a, under the mora tree). This encourages a manual setting of the camera to avoid exposure variance. When white paper catches and reflects light into its sensor, a camera wants to close the aperture producing underexposed, dark, faces and good values on bright spots.

Viviana Franco

In full light, automatic exposure using the camera’s partial metering system produces acceptable exposures and little-noticed changes in depth of focus as the speaker moves and turns, reflecting more or less light. Although elements of the background grow darker and lighter with the aperture/shutter changes, those don’t unacceptably affect the portrait.

Vicky Vertiz

Dappled light and portraits where the face is in shadow but the body in bright sun call for flash fill-in. Modern cameras allow flash exposures at high speeds, a wondrous benefit over conventional cameras whose flash synchronization demands 1/60 second exposures. In bright light at 1/60 second, many lenses will not have small enough apertures to produce good results without also dropping the ISO value—the camera’s sensitivity to light. Digital cameras automatically adjust ISO at the photographer’s option. In bright light, that’s not much of an issue. Lower ISO images come with Kodachrome richness. I hold my ISO at 800 whenever practical for more consistent appearance.

Alex Hohmann

Flash is not a panacea but today artificial light saves some otherwise too dark/too bright portraits. The images of Vicky Vertiz and Kenji Liu would have been too dark in the shade, or washed out in the light, except for the fill-in. Liu’s light plaid washes out despite the flash, Vertiz’ polka dots just barely survive but detail on her neck whites out. Alex Hohmann’s bright orange dress in full light, and wonderfully expressive face in open shade, would have confused the heck out of the camera’s brain. Hohmann’s skin tones render beautifully and her eyes sparkle owing to the balancing effect of flash fill-in.

Karineh Mahdessian

Kenji Liu

“Para la tierra” offered a fabulous floricanto that deserves a hearing and re-hearing. My gosh, I would love to read those pieces I could hear only in the moment and then they were gone.

Oscar Duardo, guardian of the garden, videoed the performances. Hopefully the microphone picked up with clarity and one day the readings will be sharable with others. Possibilities abound with modern technology, especially inexpensive remote microphones. If sponsors and poets want to put themselves through the hassle of donning and doffing the tiny devices and bulkier battery pack transmitters, video and mic’ing artists offers freedom from time and place. As my grandfather used to say when faced with life’s possibilities, “mmn, a ver.”

Francisco Escamilla, Bustop Poet

Seeclawleek Guehosah - Xitlalic Guijosa-Osuna

Oscar Duardo - Guardian of the Garden

Los Angeles
Late-breaking News! 

Today, Tuesday! Rush Hour Reading by Los Angeles-based poets in celebration of National Poetry Month! Come for the poetry and mingle with the poets afterwards. Rush Hour has never been so inspiring!

Be there, or be square. Levi's and Capri's welcome.

Latinopia Update: Short Fiction from Daniel Acosta



La Bloga friend Jesus Treviño is among the hardest-working documentarians in Aztlán. Latinopia, Treviño's wondrous public service on the internet, shares videos and essays on historical subjects, cooking, literature, zombies, and the continuation of the adventures of Arnie and Porfi, a cartoon series Sergio Hernández launched in the iconic raza magazine Con Safos.

This week's update--Treviño updates Latinopia weekly--includes a reading from 2010's Festival de Flor y Canto • Yesterday • Today • Tomorrow. The entire video program of that reunion Floricanto will be distributed via USC's Digital Library sometime this summer. A ver.

http://latinopia.com/latino-literature/latinopia-word-daniel-acosta-homeboy-1/

May Update and Looking Even Forwarder

CSULA (Cal State El Sereno) professor, and La Bloga friend, Roberto Cantu, looks forward to next month and welcoming visitors to a popular celebration and scholarly conference on the work of Mariano Azuela and novels of the Mexican revolución. The Conference comes to the eastside of Los Angeles in May. Except for parking and no-host lunch, the conference is free.

Looking forward to 2016’s iteration of the conference, Cantu announces a call for proposals—abstracts that will be collocated to form panels—concerning the work of Americo Paredes.

Américo Paredes belonged to a generation of Mexican American writers that included Fabiola Cabeza de Baca (New Mexico, 1894-1991), Ernesto Galarza (México, 1905-1984), José Antonio Villarreal (California, 1924-2010) and, among others, Mario Suárez (Arizona, 1925–1998), writers who served their country as educators, labor organizers, journalists, and oftentimes as soldiers during the Second World War. Conference organizers welcome papers that spotlight the work of these Mexican American writers with an emphasis on their autobiographies (Cabeza de Baca, Galarza), or on their narrative fiction (Suárez, Villarreal) in relation to border narratives, the frontier experience, the relocation of home, and the way Mexican American culture is represented in such works, namely: as one that continues to grow out of the tension between tradition and modernity. Other proposed areas of study are the critical examination of scholarly works on the corrido, such as María Herrera-Sobek's The Mexican Corrido: A Feminist Analysis (1990), and Northward Bound: The Mexican Immigrant Experience in Ballad and Song (1993); or on Paredes's life and work, for instance José Limόn’s Américo Paredes: Culture and Critique (2013); Ramόn Saldívar’s The Borderlands of Culture: Américo Paredes and the Transnational Imaginary (2006); José R. Lόpez Morín’s The Legacy of Américo Paredes (2006); and Manuel Medrano’s Américo Paredes: In His Own Words, an Authorized Biography (2010).

The deadline for a 250-word abstract is February 14, 2016. The submitted abstracts can be in Spanish or in English. Submissions will be peer-reviewed and their acceptance or rejection will be communicated by e-mail on or before February 21.  Send abstracts to rcantu@calstatela.edu.

 ¡Gente! ¡Scholars! Dust off your guitar and begin practicing a couple of corridos.


Los Angeles Theatre Center Has A Seat With Your Name On It.

LATC's new season presents a diverse array of work, with artists from Los Angeles, Riverside, Chicago, and Spain. The stories on display include topics capturing the popular imagination such as women and sex; "machismo," and what makes a man; the challenges of interfaith romance; the use of deadly force by police; and the power of love against the effects of Alzheimer's.

Cultures from around the globe make contact this spring at LATC. You should too, according to LATC's website.

LATC's East of Broadway Spring Season kicks-off with Teatro Luna, as they bare it all without blushing in Generation Sex (April 17-May17), and Dreamscape's (April 16-May 17) reimagination of 1998 police-involved shooting in Riverside.

Tickets and schedules are conveniently available at LATC's website, with a click here.

Tía Chucha Soliciting Submissions

SanAnto
15 Poets Six Hours

La Bloga friend Gregg Barrios sends the following:

Back by community demand, Mega Corazon will return on Thursday, April 30—the closing day of National Poetry Month!

Celebrating a hybrid San Anto poetic tradition that combines street, classical, and slam performance styles, at times incorporating musical performance into spoken word. The result is frontal, improvisational, inspired, and often choreographed for a highly visual impact.

Poets Performing in the 2015 Mega Corazon Include:
∙ Lahab Assef Al-Jundi ∙ Gregg Barrios ∙Nephtali Deleon ∙ Amanda Flores ∙Anthony “The Poet” Flores ∙Fernando Flores ∙ Eduardo Garza ∙Andrea Greimel ∙ Bryce Milligan ∙Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson ∙ Carmen Tafolla ∙ Juan Tejeda ∙ Frances Trevino Santos ∙ Eddie Vega


Conjunto Fest Growing Faster Than You Can Say Juan Tejeda

From La Bloga friend Juan Tejeda:
Familia, Camaradas and Colleagues, just wanted to personally invite you and your familia to the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center's 34th Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival en San Antonio 2015 which will take place from May 13-17 at the Guadalupe Theater and Rosedale Park. Check out the complete schedule and musical line-up in the attached official poster of this year's Tejano Conjunto Festival, with the wild award-winning design by John Medina. Hope to see you here in San Anto in three weeks to witness the cucuy accordion invasion. Por favor spread the palabra and the poster. Gracias. Juan



Is Your Community Event Not Mentioned in La Bloga News & Notes?

Órale, it's not that we're stuck up. More likely, La Bloga hasn't been notified! Not that it's your fault or nothing, sabes, but marketing and outreach are the keys to getting La Bloga to soma pa'ca.

Email announcements to Labloga@readraza.com

You Should Visit Denver

Today I have a guest contribution from the inimitable Flo Hernandez-Ramos, Project Director for the Latino Public Radio Consortium. Flo got a little upset because of a snub to the Latino aspects of and contributions to Denver, but instead of stewing in her juices she came up with a nifty response - her own Guide to Latino Denver. This Guide is hot off the press and just this week was made available to the visiting National Association of Hispanic Journalists, who are in town for their annual conference. The pamphlet is laid out in an attractive format that doesn't get justice on our blog and I am using only a few of the photos and images, but the information is all here. It just might encourage you to wander around the Mile High City this summer.

The Guide adds considerably to a column I did for La Bloga a while back, Five Reasons It's Great to be a Chicano in Denver. Hope you enjoy the guided tour of the city I call home - and you know how home is: messy, sometimes too familiar, but always comfortable.

_____________________

There are no Latinos in Denver. At least according to the in-flight magazine of a Denver-based airline whose name will not be mentioned but those cute animals should know better. The article was titled “The True Denver” and purported to list the attractions that would give the tourist an “authentic” experience. I read and re-read the article, but alas, there was no mention of the numerous Latinos, African-Americans, Native Americans or Asians that make Denver a truly great city. But why was I surprised? Over the years I have had the good fortune of visiting various cities and not once in the guides strategically placed in hotel rooms and lobbies has there been much more than a cursory mention of that city’s people of color.

Thus was born this Guide to Latino Denver. As a courtesy to visitors to the Queen City, the Latino Public Radio Consortium will give you some idea of the influence Latinos have on Denver and how you can rub elbows with the locals. Latinos must be doing something right in a city where we constitute 31% of over ½ a million people and which has streets (Peña Boulevard, the main thoroughfare connecting DIA to I-70), parks (Martínez Park, 10th & Raleigh), schools (Lena Archuleta Elementary, 16000 Maxwell Place) and buildings (Richard Castro Social Services, 12th & Federal) named after Latinos. But remember, this is only the perspective of a Mexican-American; other Latinos from Denver can add much more. When you meet them, ask them for recommendations too. Enjoy.

Flo Hernández-Ramos
Project Director, Latino Public Radio Consortium

Music

Denver is one of 33 cities in the United States that can boast to having a Latino-controlled public radio station on its radio dial. KUVO/KVJZ jazz89 (89.3 fm www.kuvo.org). Yes, you read right – JAZZ. The station, like the majority of the Latinos in the area in 1985 when KUVO began broadcasting, broadcasts primarily in English and offers a music mix of jazz, Latin jazz and blues. But Latin Soul Party (Friday, 8pm-10pm) kicks off KUVO’s visit to its musical roots on the weekends. Sunday is known as Latino day because it is dominated by La Nueva Voz (8 am – 9 am), Canción Mexicana (10 am – 1 pm), La Raza Rocks (1 pm – 2 pm), Salsa con Jazz (4pm – 6 pm) and if you consider Brazil part of the Latino constellation, the station also has Brazilian Fantasy (6 pm – 8 pm).

Community radio KGNU (88.5 fm/1340 am) also serves Latinos with Qué Onda, Latino USA, and La Lucha Sigue.

And of course, because the Latino population has grown so much, cruising through the dial, you’ll find numerous Spanish-language, commercial radio stations with music from Mexico.

Listening to all this music make you feel like dancing? Decide which genre is part of your groove. If it’s New Mexico and Tejano music that makes you tirar chancla, go to Rick’s Tavern (6762 Lowell Boulevard; 303-427-3427; www.rickgarciaband.com) on Saturdays and Sundays; salsa is on Thursday nights at La Rumba (99 W. 9th Avenue; 303-572-8006; www.larumba-denver.com); norteño and banda is at Tequila Le Club (5011 Federal; 303-480-0302). I’m sure there’s more, but I don’t get out much.

Arts

A vibrant Latino cultural scene has found a home a few short blocks from downtown Denver in the Santa Fe Arts District, a unique, nationally known art and cultural district with over 60 galleries, restaurants and shops. In the District you’ll find Su Teatro at the Denver Civic Theater (721 Santa Fe Drive; 303-296-0219; www.suteatro.org) whose new building gives its local presentations of plays, film, poetry and music festivals and visiting artists (recently Benjamin Bratt) a more comfortable and centrally located venue. A block north of Su Teatro are the galleries of CHAC the Chicano Humanities & Arts Council (772 Santa Fe Drive, 303-571-0440, wwwchacweb.org), one of the city’s oldest art co-ops, exhibiting the work of their members which run the gamut of emerging to internationally recognized artists. CHAC has one of the biggest Tienditas (that’s probably an oxymoron) with an extensive inventory of one-of-a-kind, affordable art and jewelry to mass-produced Lotería plates, Frida Kahlo ephemera and absolutely delightful Dia de los Muertos chachkis. There’s also Museo de las Américas (861 Santa Fe Drive; 303-571-4401) whose exhibitions include local and international artists from thoughout Latin America and which also hosts films, Spanish happy hours and children’s activities.

Literature

Denver’s robust literary scene includes novelists, poets, and storytellers such as Manuel Ramos (King of the Chicanos & Ballad of Rocky Ruiz, first of the Luis Montez mystery series; www.manuelramos.com), Mario Acevedo (Nymphos of Rocky Flats, first of the Felix Gomez vampire detective series; www.marioacevedo.com), Emma Pérez (Forgetting the Alamo or Blood Memory), Angel Vigil (Corn Mother; www.angelvigil.com); Ernesto Vigil (The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government’s War on Dissent; www.books.google.com).

Literary activists Lydia Gil, Rudy García, Manuel Ramos, and Jesse Tijerina contribute with book reviews, poetry, author interviews, and essays to La Bloga (labloga.blogspot.com) an award-winning national blog about Chicano literature y mas.

In 2007 Lalo Delgado was posthumously named Denver’s poet laureate by Mayor John Hickenlooper. Best known for his poem “Stupid America” Lalo wrote in Spanish, English and a mixture of the two languages. A prolific writer, he would compose poetry for all occasions and was inspired by almost everything. Lalo’s recitations were delivered in his booming voice that needed no amplification.

Café Cultura (www.facebook.com/pages/Cafe-Cultura/49001449645) is more a concept than a physical location. Great poets, open mics, spoken word and plenty of angst with a healthy scoop of anger and attitude happen the second Friday of each month at Denver Inner City Parish (1212 Mariposa Street; (303) 629-0636; www.dicp.org) which has hosted Denver’s celebration of Cesar Chavez’s birthday, houses La Academia, a private school.

Public Art

Traveling on Pena Boulevard from DIA you’ve probably already seen “Blue Mustang” a fiberglass sculpture with illuminated red eyes. It’s been dubbed “the killer horse” because its creator, Texas via New Mexico artist Luis Jiménez (wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Jiménez_(sculptor), was crushed to death while working on it. Local artist Emanuel Martínez (emanuelmartinez.com) has numerous pieces of public art throughout the state but you can see a prime example of his work just a stone’s throw from the Colorado Convention Center in the plaza of the Webb Building on the Colfax Street side. One of the most recent Latino-themed public art installations is at Morrison Road and Sheridan. Entitled “Un Corrido Para La Gente” the giant red guitar and papel picado sculpture is by Denver-born Carlos Frésquez (google him and you’ll find a ton of images).

Politics

Denver was one of the centers of El Movimiento, the struggle for the civil and cultural rights of Chicanos. Established by Corky Gonzales in 1966, the Crusade for Justice existed in a building at 16th & Downing. The building was razed and a post office substation erected on the birthplace of the Chicano renaissance in arts, culture and politics. The community activism was paralleled and still exists on area college campuses through the United Mexican American Students UMAS and the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan MECHA.

Latinos are active in both the Democratic and Republican politics and as a result, there are numerous Hispanics in City Council, State Legislature, the School Board and variouis commissions. A bust commemorating the late Richard T. Castro, activist and state legislator, sculpted by noted Denver artist Emanuel Martínez, sits in the rotunda of the Colorado state capitol

In 1983, with the political slogan “Imagine a Great City,” Federico Peña defeated a 14-year incumbent to become the first Hispanic Mayor of Denver, an office to which he was re-elected in 1987. In his political career he has served as United States Secretary of Transportation and United States Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Bill Clinton and served on President Barack Obama’s transition team.

Ken Salazar is a homeboy from Colorado’s San Luis Valley who served as Chief Legal Counsel for Governor Roy Romer, was elected Attorney General of Colorado and its State Senator. He is currently the United States Secretary of the Interior and part of the Cabinet for President Barack Obama.

Newspapers

News about Denver’s Latino scene can also be garnered from newspapers and periodicals that concentrate on both the Engilsh-speaking and Spanish-language sectors of the Latino Community. La Voz de Colorado and El Semanario are bilingual papers while El Hispano is a Spanish-language publication. They’re distributed free at various venues around Denver.

Schools

Anyone who says that Latinos don’t value education, probably didn’t have high SAT scores. Many of the area’s public, charter and alternative schools teach academics, social responsibility, cultural awareness and diversity. In its rosters Denver has Escuela Tlatelolco, César Chávez Academy, Academia Ana María Sandoval, Guadalupe Dual Language School, Arrupe Jesuit High School, La Academia at Denver Inner City Parish, Lena L. Archuleta Elementary and Richard T. Castro Elementary.

Comida

Just like Latinos, restaurants with a Latino flavor are everywhere. Concentrating only on the venues in Denver, a few standouts come to mind.

Downtown

Cilantro Fusion (1531 Stout; 303-685-4986; www.cilantrofusion.com) serves the favorites of Mexico but with a twist. It’s not nouveau but it sure is good; Laguna’s (1543 Curtis; 303-623-5321) gives hefty servings of traditional Mexican food; want a side of grease with those tacos? Mexico City Café (2115 Larimer; 303-296-0563) and their fried tacos are legendary and delicious; at the chic end of Larimer Street, in Larimer Square, is Tamayo’s (1400 Larimer; 720-946-1433; www.richardsandoval.com/tamayo/); on the strength of its flavorful carnitas and other outstanding recipes, Las Delicias (16th & Pennsylvania; 303-839-5675; www.lasdelicias.net) has become a Denver institution expanding from its humble beginnings as a small two-table café to huge restaurants in Denver and its suburbs; those up-scale cupcakes that are all the rage are baked daily at Mermaid’s Bakery & Pie House (1543 Champa, 303-534-0956; www.mermaidsbakery.com) which entices you with flavors like Fireball, Strawberry Lemonade and Dark Knight.

The Westside - Santa Fe Drive

Chipotles of the world, stand down and make way for the original big burrito. Out of what can only be described as a bright yellow doublewide, El Taco de Mexico (714 Santa Fe Drive; 303-623-3926) serves ginormous burritos with Mexican rice, not that wimpy white stuff, flavorful onions and eyewatering salsa. Try the chile relleno burrito; El Noa Noa (722 Santa Fe Drive; 303-623-9968; www.elnoanoadenver.com) has an extensive menu and its patio is large and multi-tiered.

The Northside - Lower Highlands

Serving the Denver metro area for 25 years, Rosalinda’s Mexican Café (2005 W. 33rd Avenue; 303-455-0608; rosalindasmexicancafe.com) is known for giving away its award-winning food every Thanksgiving and Christmas when it hosts dinner for the hungry and homeless; because the owners are from Puebla, Chili Verde (4700 Tejon; 303-477-1377; www.chiliverde.net) brings the culinary traditions of southern Mexico to North Denver; taking time out of their prayers, the Capuchin Poor Clares support their cloistered order at Our Lady of Light Monastery by baking some downright heavenly Clarissa’s Cookies (3325 Pecos; 303-455-6338; www.midamcaps.org/cookies.html). You can order these morsels on line or pick up a few boxes in person – but not on Sunday.

Like Larimer Street, West 32nd Avenue has two very distinct sections. The part of the avenue that is west of Federal Boulevard is one of the most “up and coming” (translation: high rents) neighborhoods and has upscale boutiques, cheese and wine shops, and great restaurants including Julia Blackbird’s New Mexican Café where the outstanding food is rivaled only by the vivid colors and décor of this secluded, homey café.

East of Federal Boulevard, W. 32nd Avenue is much more latinocentric. It is the area in which Latinos were originally concentrated so behind some of the facades you’ll see the marquees and box office of the Holiday Theater where Spanish-language movies were shown. Gentrification is slowly taking place here so the area is an interesting mix of restaurants but be sure to take time to have the enchiladas and tortas at Taquería Patzcuaro (2616 W. 32nd Ave; 303-455-4389; www.patzcuaros.com); and if you’re there at 10:30 am Panaderia Rosales (2636 W. 32nd Ave; 303-458-8420; www.rosalesbakery.com) has conchas hot from the oven.

W 38th Avenue

West 38th Avenue and Federal Boulevard are the main traffic arterials of the North Side, once rivaled only by the West Side as “home of the Chicanos.” Trying to eat at every Latino restaurant on West 38th Avenue is futile because they spring up everywhere or change ownership and menus. Some of the mainstays however are:

Chubby’s Hamburger Drive In or the Original Chubby’s or as they say in California, the OC (1231 W. 38th Ave at Lipan; 303-455-9311). There seems to be a Chubby’s in every quadrant of the city but they are not franchises. In fact a hand-written note on a paper plate taped to the cash register disavows any ties to other Chubby’s even though the others are run by family members. Can you say family feud? This legendary hole-in-the-wall take-out sells more than just some of the hottest green chile cheese fries and burritos with chicharrones (which are their specialty despite the hamburger in their name). The dive is almost holy ground in the Northside and a great place to watch the diversity of the city play out as customers wait for their orders.

If you’re craving a cortadito or a Cuban sandwich, you can’t miss at Buchi Café Cubano (2651 W. 38th Ave; 303-458-1538); one of the newest entries to the international flavors of Denver is Viejo Domingo Argentinean Grill (5555 W. 38th Ave; 303-433-5777) whose empanadas and grilled steaks are not to be missed; one of the first to introduce Denver to the small, soft, double corn tortilla taco was Tacos Jalisco (4309 W. 38th Ave; 303-458-1437; www.tacosjalisco.info). The varieties seem endless and if the accompanying jalapeño toreado isn’t hot enough there’s also a spectrum of salsas varying in heat and color.

W. 44th and Lowell

W. 44 Avenue and Lowell is a full-service area where you can get an exotic dinner at Café Brazil (4408 Lowell; 303-480-1877; www.cafebrazildenver.com); recharge yourself with horchata or Abuelita mexican hot chocolate with a double shot of espresso at Taza de Café (3565 W 44th Ave; 303-477-0097; tazadecafe.com); pick up some soft, moist and delicious cupcakes sans the designer prices at Heavenly Cakes (3559 W. 44th Ave; 303-433-0747; www.heavenlycakesco.com); one of the few, if not only, American Indian eatery in Denver is Tocabe (3565 W 44th Ave; 720-524-8282; www.tocabe.com) which means blue in the Osage language has warm fry bread that can be an Indian taco or dessert.

Federal Boulevard

Countless Mexican, El Salvadoran and Latino restaurants populate Federal but try healthy chicken marinated in red chile and grilled to perfection from Rico Pollo. Two of its five outlets bookend Federal. (W 52nd Ave & Federal and 2049 S. Federal); fiery New Mexico chile and larger-than-two-hands hamburgers stuffed with chile relleno await you at Jack n Grill (2524 Federal; 303-964-9549; www.jackngrill.com).

Five Points

To make room for the baseball stadium, this must-have restaurant for the downtown crowd moved to the opposite end of Larimer. The location may be different but the food remains just as great at Casa de Manuel (3158 Larimer; 303-295-1752) where the menu title “Regular Dinner” belies its excellence and there are no “smothered” burritos but only “wet” ones.

art images: Accordionist by Carlos Frésquez; For Lalo by Stevon Lucero; Blue Mustang by Luis Jiménez; Western Union by Tony Ortega; Comida by Daniel Luna.

pamphlet design and graphic work by Mercedes, Inc.

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Later.