SPOTLIGHT ON DÉSIRÉE ZAMORANO

Monday’s post from Daniel Olivas…

Désirée Zamorano is Director of Community Literacy Center at Occidental College. She attended St. John's College, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and received her BA from UC Irvine. She obtained her multiple-subject teaching credential from Point Loma Nazarene University, and her MA in Multicultural Education from CSU Dominguez Hills.

Zamorano says that she is delighted to be supporting Occidental's student teachers. With fifteen years of experience in public schools, her main goal is for student teachers to incorporate a variety of strategies in their instruction, strategies which should ensure equity in participation and access to the curriculum for their own students.

A produced playwright and published author, Zamorano brings her passion for engaging elementary students in enriching language arts expression and experiences to Occidental's Community Literacy Center. Zamorano is fascinated by the way cultures connect and collide, within countries, cities, and families.

Fiction Writing Highlights:
• “Souvenirs,” short story, nominated for a Pushcart Prize
• “Reina” Touring Children's Musical produced by The Bilingual Foundation of the Arts
• “Bell Gardens, 90201” Touring Young Adults Musical produced by the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts
• "Mercy," short story, appeared in West Magazine (Los Angeles Times)

Non-Fiction Writing Highlights:
• Commentator on NPR’s Latino USA
• Articles in the Los Angeles Times and San Gabriel Valley News
• Contributor to NFT Los Angeles • Contributor to Free LA (Troy Corley Publications)

◙ NEW LIT: I just got my copy of a new literary journal, PALABRA: A Magazine of Chicano & Latino Literary Art. It is quite beautiful with a clean, easy-to-read design and “incidental” art (I hate that term…there’s nothing incidental about art, right?). It’s edited by elena minor and is designed by randy nakamura. The website is still under construction but is http://www.palabralitmag.com/ for future reference. This first issue includes the work of Wendy Ortiz, Margarita Engle, ir’ene lara silva, Carlos Martinez, Harry Gamboa, Jr., Daniel Martinez, Jose Gonzalez, Carmél Carrillo, Margaret Lopez, Alma Luz Villanueva, Caridad Svich, Toni Margarita Plummer, Rigoberto González and Moisés Zamora. For guidelines, write to PALABRA, P.O. Box 86146, Los Angeles, CA 90086-0146, or for additional INFORMATION ONLY, E-mail: palabralit@earthlink.net.

◙ UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: Isabel Allende with Gioconda Belli at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A., on Tuesday, November 28, at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit http://www.writersblocpresents.com/.

◙ VERMIN ON THE MOUNT: I get word from my friend and journalist, Daniel Hernandez (currently of the L.A. Weekly, formerly of the L.A. Times), that he will be a guest reader at Jim Ruland’s magnificent reading series, Vermin on the Mount, on December 3, 8 p.m., at The Mountain, 473 Gin Ling Way, Chinatown. Other readers will be Stephan Clark, Theresa Duncan and Rolf Potts. I’ve done this reading series before and it is simply one of the best (and booze is sold downstairs so the audience will be well-primed).

All done. So, until next Monday, enjoy the intervening posts from my compadres y comadre at La Bloga. ¡Lea un libro!