I recently spoke with a long-time La Bloga fan in AridZona* who used these words, among others, to describe this blog: inconsistent and self-promotion. He didn't elaborate, but I liked the question he raised: What is La Bloga at this point? Here's one opinion.
1. We are not a professional organization, group, NGO, club,
association or business. The "unprofessional" look to our site shows
that.
2. We are not funded, financed, underwritten, overpaid or
financially obligated to anyone but our individual selves. Our blog bank
account (nonexistent) shows that.
3. We are not a politically consistent set of gente,
although we seem to not be pleased with many things in this country. Our posts
show that.
4. We are not one bunch of radical separatists, illegal
immigrants, extremists or ultranationalists. Our mortgages, birth
certificates/papers and health club memberships show that.
5. We are not the Chicano/U.S. version of El Instituto
Cervantes. The pochismos, Spanglish slanguage and opinions expressed in book
reviews show that.
We are one of the few Chicano/Latino sites that remains
noncommercial, so you don't see ads running down the sides or adsense streaming across
the bottom. We aren't in it for the money. [Also see #2 above.] More
importantly, aside from personal interests, we can't be bought. Only our books
can.
La Bloga is also whoever happens to be posting anytime this
century at this URL. The ten faces on our banner that are unnamed just happen
to have gathered in the same spot for some time. Some will continue, new ones
will be added.
We love writing and we love literature and we love our
specific ethnicity, histories, backgrounds and cultures. Hopefully, our posts
show the same. Es todo about that.
Yes, inconsistent is how we are, something we probably might
worry about more, but don't give much of a chingada about. Self-promotion is
inherent to blogging, so in that respect we are very American. Besides, until
some of us become much more famous, as authors we want the world to read our
published writings and except for our moms, no one but us will do a better job
at promoting us.
Every now and then, when I look at the ten fotos or read the
Bloga post of the day--except, not usually my own--the title song to the
ancient movie Camelot begins playing
in my head. (Hold onto your chones because my sensitive girl-side is going to
show.)
I always stop the
song from continuing in my head at these lines: In short, there's simply not,
A
more congenial spot,
For happily-ever-aftering than here,
In. . .
I stop it because
my brain wants to insert La Bloga a la cola. And of course, what's on this
website is nowhere near the illusion of the Hollywood screen. But I do think La
Bloga is very special.
If you don't agree
with that, think about when's the last time in your life's work of trying to get a small group of
Spanish-surnamed volunteers working together every week for an extended period
of time, like years, and that they managed to produce week after week of anything. Was there some . . . Envidia? Mofo, yes! Problemas? Nada más que! Chingasos?
Frequently! Caudillismo? Enough to make macho the M-word.
In that sense, La Bloga succeeded in surviving the curse of "what's wrong with our
gente?"
So, La Bloga will go
on until Homeland or AridZona sheriffs or El Instituto Cervantes put us out of
commission. Until then, below are some spurts of chicanada, etc. going on in
Aztlán. Inconsistently and definitely self-promotingly.
* I play with words. Since Global Heating brought
Sahara Desert haboob phenomena to cities like Phoenix, and since the state's
political climate makes it a zone of intolerance toward diversity, I suggest
the place should be renamed: AridZona.
RudyG
Nuestras
Voces - Latino Plays, Volume One and Two
by Jorge
Gonzalez, Candido
Tirado, Carlos
Lacamara
Paperback: $30.00
Three plays that examine nation-hood, identity, border crossing by three outstanding contemporary US Latino authors who have been part of MetLife Foundation's Nuestras Voces program at venerable institution Spanish Repertory Theatre in NYC.
Published by Nuestras Voces: Latino Plays from Repertorio
Español’s MetLife Playwriting Competition (Bilingual) Volumes 1 and 2
"Our goal is to make these plays and playwrights known
beyond our theatre's constituency. We are very new to publishing and looking
for suggestions where we should get the word out-about these books to attract
the attention they deserve. ¡Mil Gracias!"
Volume 1: Vieques (2000) by Jorge González, Momma’s Boyz
(2004) by Cándido Tirado and No Where on the Border (2005) by Carlos La Cámara
Volume 2: Cartas a una madre by Marcelo Rodríguez and
Locuras en Wichita by Lina Gallegos (Available at lulu.com)
Protest
the plan for a new women's jail
Saturday, May
18, 2013
12:00pm PDT
Pitchess Detention Center, North Facility, 29320 The Old
Road, Castaic
Carpool: 10 AM from Chuco's Justice Center, 1137 East
Redondo Blvd, Inglewood, Calif.
LA County Sheriff Baca applied for $100 million from the
State to expand the Pitchess Detention Center in the City of Castaic last year.
The proposed expansion would cage over 1,000 women and girls. This March the
Sheriff was scheduled to submit his expansion plan to the LA County Board of
Supervisors but instead called for a nine-month extension to explore other
options. They think that we've forgotten about the scheme to lock up women and
trans people in their so called 'female village.' Let's prove them wrong!
Come out to Castaic and stand with other community members
in opposition to this jail. If we can defeat their expansion plans here we'll
defend this city from all of the negative community impacts that jails produce
and put Baca on the run!
Critical
Resistance - No More Jails LA - The Coalition to End Sheriff Violence - The Youth
Justice Coalition
Yo Soy San
Antonio
Saturday, May
11, 2013
6:00pm – 10:00pm
Yo Soy San Antonio is the end of year art exhibition for
Brackenridge High School Art Students. The power of youth is in their
expressions of themselves and their world. Please join us on Second Saturday at
Gallista Art Gallery to witness the amazing talent of these young artists.
Paintings, drawings, digital art and photography.
Know Your
Roots
Saturday,
June 1, 2013
8:00pm – 1:00am PDT
all ages event $5 Donation
1726 S Vermont Ave Los Angeles 90006
An
exhibition of urban fine art & music
We invite you to join us on a visual/verbal exploration in
identity and personal expression. Come see the radiant colors and hear the
heart-felt stories from the resilient lifestyle of urban (youth) culture across
Los Angeles.
This is a springtime celebration of peace and prosperity
through self awareness. By sharing of our gifts/talents with each other in our
community, we cause wisdom to be cultivated in our hearts and heads. In the
face of death and destruction, wildly we create with color & inspire with
words to heal self and our hoods. This is a calling to all people of the light,
reclaim your power and rise, Know Your Roots! Our ancestors wouldn't have it
any other way....
Keepers of
Sound: DJ Survive (ICDLA) & Dj Warlock One
Warriors
of Colors: Artists Dazer RTN, Pocho ONe Photography, Rez, Enuf, Jorge
El Pintor, LA Steez, Vdah, Sen K4P, Earn Won.
Warriors
of Words: Performances by B'alam Jay, Blind Owl, Naow(DaCollective)Rezen,
Dazer (Estado de Emergencia), Luvthe Mezenger, Robwest, Sea One,ONS El Sonador,
Inner City Dwellers, Tojil, Letras y Palabras, El Comandante, El Salsa Man,
Union Station.
Event brought to you by: SoyLos, ElSalvadorrap.com and Street
Inc Media.
Your donation
towards food and beverages (I.D. for drink tickets, a must) is spiritual and
energetic sustenance for all of us putting in to make this event possible.
Tuesday, May 14, 4:30pm – 7:00pm PDT
To Santa Barbara families, from the East Side, from West
Side, to students, professors, workers, youth, elders, men, and women. To
everyone with a conscience, to everyone who is humble. We call on all of you!
Poder Santa Barbara and the community will rally to respect
our youth next Tuesday, May 14th. After 2 years, the SB City Council will
finally address the gang injunction at a public forum. But a single airing is
not enough for a decision that will change the history of Santa Barbara and
impact the lives of many residents.
PODER will facilitate a conference at 4:30pm to publicly
declare why there should be a moratorium on this injunction until there is
broad community input. There was no public participation, no transparency, and
excessive spending in pushing forward this order that will not address the
issues it claims it will at their core. It will only lead to more criminalization
of youth, racial profiling and targeting of communities of color. Please come
out and support us, the families, and our youth as we fight for real solutions,
less criminalization and enforcement.
Garcia's self-promotion of last month
I received word this week that a Columbinesque shoot-em-up short story--which my professor originally asked me to withdraw from a college writing course discussion--will be published in Romania (yes, again), this time in the anthology Looking Back – Short stories of our time. In hardback and paper, in English.
The story's entitled Class Epiphany and is the second-to-last polished story I possess that I can submit for publication. This month, if my last one gets accepted, I'll be out of stock.
As soon as I finish the YA fantasy novel I'm working on, I guess I'd better write some more shorts. Or something.
RudyG
5 comments:
Thank you RudyG for today's blog. I'm not all know it all about "the blogs" out there, but aren't most of them glittered with self-promotion? If and when I get the opportunity to promote my work and have the platform to bring a condition or cause to an extended audience; I hope La Bloga or something like it exists for me. As far as self-promotion, I too think about quotes and songs that whirl in my head. Hillel: "If I am not for myself, Who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, What am I? And if not now, when?" To take from your "Camelot" at La Bloga, "There's simply not a more
congenial spot."
Thanks again RudyG. Finally, to all at La Bloga, in the words of Billy Joel: "Don't Go Changing..."
Loved your post, Rudy. Now I can't get "Camelot" out of my head, especially with the added "La Bloga" at "la cola." Too funny. Orale!
I heart La Bloga. I might not like or agree with every post, though I usually do, but I always learn something new and am exposed to information I wouldn't otherwise. La Bloga is one of the few blogs I follow. So, thank you La Bloga writers. Mil gracias!
Rudy G, thanks for your constant authenticity and telling-it-like-it-is shots from the hip...and heart. You don't sugar-coat what must be said. You free the words from your core and let them spotlight the truth. I believe you captured the spirit of La Bloga. Thank goodness for our Latino/a Lit world that La Bloga exists. I hope to hear much more from you and "los blogueros/as."
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