So much happening at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center!

As a graduate of UCLA’s law school, the husband of a woman who earned both her undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA, and as the parent of a fine, young man who will be transferring from Pierce College to UCLA this fall, I am a proud Bruin (okay, I also went to Stanford for my undergraduate degree in English, so I do have torn allegiances during certain times of the sports calendar).

UCLA is also home of the Chicano Studies Research Center (“CSRC”) where it is housed in beautiful Haines Hall which also houses the Anthropology Department (where our son, Ben, who is an anthropology major, will be spending much time...it all connects, you see?).

So, let me share some of the news from CSRC sent to me by its director, Chon A. Noriega (pictured below in photo by Mark Berndt):

◙ The CSRC has received a grant from the California Community Foundation to support public programming for Mapping Another L.A.: The Chicano Art Movement at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Among the events planned is a half-day symposium on Sunday, November 6, and a series of “undocumented events” throughout the fall that will be announced through social media. The exhibition, which opens in October, is part of L.A. Xicano, a set four interrelated exhibitions developed by the CSRC for the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time initiative.

◙ Álvaro Huerta, CSRC visiting scholar and PhD candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley (and frequent guest essayist for La Bloga), has received the American Planning Association’s Advancing Diversity and Social Change Award in Honor of Paul Davidoff. Huerta received his MA in urban planning from UCLA.

◙ Andrea O’Reilly Herrera’s book, Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora (University of Texas Press), measures the influence of home and history on artists like María Brito, who is featured in the CSRC’s A Ver: Revisioning Art History series. The book is listed in the New York Times’s Bookshelf for May 19.

◙ Self Help Graphics & Art will celebrate its reopening on Friday, June 24, 6:00–1:00 p.m., at its new location: 1300 East 1st Street in Boyle Heights. Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director, is a member of the event’s honorary committee. For more information about the reopening, send a query to Evonne Gallardo at evonne.gallardo@selfhelpgraphics.com.

◙ Summer operating hours for the CSRC Library will be Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m.–noon and 1:00–5:00 p.m. For research assistance, please contact the CSRC librarian, Lizette Guerra, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.

◙ Over the past few months the CSRC has acquired several additions to its collections. The library recently received 3 additional linear feet of material from Father Gregory Boyle for the Homeboy Industries Papers. The large collection of photographs, artwork, correspondence, and organizational materials is related to Homeboy Industries’ outreach efforts. Maria Morales and Margarita Padilla donated an additional 8 linear feet to the Dionicio Morales Papers. These materials document Morales’s career in the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF). Researchers who wish to consult these collections may contact the librarian, Lizette Guerra, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.

◙ Malaquias Montoya, the sixth volume in the A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, will be available in July. In this first major book on Montoya, Terezita Romo offers a comprehensive exploration of the artist’s drawings, paintings, murals, and silkscreen prints, and she explores his social role as an educator, community member, and world citizen. The volume includes sixty color images and black and white photographs as well as an exhibition history and selected bibliography. Order Malaquias Montoya online from the University of Minnesota Press, the distributor for the A Ver series.

◙ Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies is currently considering submissions for 2012. Each issue of Aztlán presents three different types of articles: peer-reviewed essays, thematic dossiers, and book reviews. All submissions are considered on a rolling basis and should be sent to our submission inbox at submissions@chicano.ucla.edu. For complete information about Aztlán and the submission guidelines, please visit the CSRC Press website. To ask questions or discuss ideas with the journal’s staff, please contact Assistant Editor David O’Grady at dogrady@chicano.ucla.edu.

◙ To learn more about the CSRC, visit its website. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center • 193 Haines Hall • Box 951544 • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1544 • Tel: (310) 825-2363 • Fax: (310) 206-1784.

OTHER NEWS:

Well, I’ve now completed a mini-book tour for my new novel, The Book of Want (University of Arizona Press). I want to thank the wonderful independent bookstores for hosting me, and also thank those who came to hear me read. I likely will have other appearances sometime this year, but nothing is planned as of now. If you’d like to purchase an inscribed copy of my novel, you may visit (virtually or in person) these bookstores:

Libros Schmibros, 2000 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA. Phone: 323-302-9408.

Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA. Phone: 650-324-4321.

Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA. Phone: 626-449-5320.

Metropolis Books, 440 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA. Phone: 213-612-0174.

Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore, 13197-A Gladstone Ave., Sylmar, CA. Phone: (818) 939-3433.

If you want more information regarding The Book of Want including a chance to read some of the kind reviews we've received, visit my web page. And if you'd like to choose my book for your book club, I'd be happy to participate if you're located in the Los Angeles area and schedule permitting; just drop me an email at olivasdan@aol.com.