Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Cruzita and the Mariacheros


Written by Ashley Granillo 

 

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books

Language: English

Hardcover: 248 pages

ISBN-10: 876560850J

ISBN-13: 979-8765608500

Reading age: 11 - 14 years

 

 

Cruzita is going to be a pop star. All she has to do is win a singing contest at her favorite theme park and get famous. But she can’t go to the theme park this summer. Instead, she has to help out at her family’s bakery, which has been struggling ever since Tío Chuy died. Cruzita’s great-uncle poured his heart into the bakery―the family legacy―and now that he’s gone, nothing is the same.

 

When Cruzita’s not rolling uneven tortillas or trying to salvage rock-hard conchas, she has to take mariachi lessons, even though she doesn’t know how to play her great-grandpa’s violin and she’s not fluent in Spanish. At first, she’s convinced her whole summer will be a disaster. But as she discovers the heart and soul of mariachi music, she realizes that there’s more than one way to be a star―and more than one way to carry on a legacy.

 

 

Review

 

"Mariachi, family, and pan dulce are the ingredients for this perfect middle grade novel. Highly recommended for all middle grade collections."―starred, School Library Journal

 

"Cruz's inner conflict and search for identity are sensitively drawn, and Granillo weaves a believable sense of community pride into the heartfelt and enjoyable story."―Horn Book Magazine

 

"This excellent debut has heart and soul, with an obvious deep love and appreciation for the culture in each word."―Booklist

 

"Granillo gently tempers the Tayahuas' grief over Tio Chuy's death by focusing on the characters' lighthearted developing relationships and relates the feeling of being disconnected from one's heritage via Cruzita's learning more about her roots."―Publishers Weekly

 

"Many readers will resonate with the demands on her time, and the children and grandchildren of immigrants will likely identify especially strongly with Cruzita's journey toward connecting with her roots. A sweet summer quest for identity and belonging."―Kirkus Reviews




Ashley Jean Granillo is a Mexican American writer and educator hailing from the San Fernando Valley. She has her BA and MA in Creative Writing from California State University Northridge and holds her MFA in fiction from the University of California Riverside, Palm Desert. She is also a member of Las Musas, a collective of Latinx authors whose gender identity aligns with femininity. Her short story "Besitos" was featured in Where Monsters Lurk & Magic Hides, a Latine/x short story genre anthology. Cruzita and the Mariacheros (Lerner Publishing) is her debut middle grade contemporary novel.

 

 

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Turning the Earth on a Super Sunday

La Tierra is La Raza’s kissing cousin
Michael Sedano. Fotos by Thelma T. Reyna.
Site of Backyard Floricantos, Casa Reyna this year includes a vegetable garden

“La Tierra is La Raza’s kissing cousin,” Abelardo Delgado writes, putting his green thumb on what makes me tick when I have a plot of tierra to plant. I turn the earth and plant. 

Around LIX years ago, I started turning the earth on superbowl Sunday. The practice lapsed during the years I lived with Alzheimer’s, and now after Alzheimer’s, it’s taken me time to regain the energy to touch la tierra and bask in this special mode of cultura and spiritual renewal. 

In 1968, I rent a house on Ortega St. near Haley in Santa Barbara. A shady side yard of hard packed clay gives me the joy of breaking earth one Summer day thinking how my bride, whose family did not garden, would feast on vegetables from her own yard. I find two silver dollar coins and hope these are portents of a good harvest. The Draft summons me before the garden can produce its bounty. 

When I return from Korea--to Temple City tierra--I have outstanding cosechas until moving to a Highland Park apartment and grad school. 1974 finds me digging in the rich tierra of Eagle Rock where nine years turning and planting give the soil beauteous tilth that made for sure-fire results of anything that got water. 

1985 we move to Pasadena where a generous slice of backyard with great soil and sunlight generously adds exquisite provender to our daily table almost year-round. When Alzheimer's dementia overwhelms the household in 2018, I abandon the garden.

2025 was to be the year I returned to la tierra. I promised myself, then the Eaton fire burned us off the land. 

Scarifying soil for scattering bunching onions 

I lamented to my friend, Thelma Reyna, that gameday would pass with my 2025 goal frustrated. Thelma offered me a plot of land and my heart leaped. 

A few days later, Sunday afternoon arrives to find me at the gates at Casa Reyna with tools, plantitas, and semillas. My primal urge to work la tierra, to turn the earth on superbowl Sunday, would be satisfied after all. 

In fact, I decide to go whole hog and turn la tierra and plant. In gardens past, I learned to turn then wait for the hidden weed seeds to sprout in freshly-turned earth. I will not wait and will pull the unwanteds when they show their cotyledons.

Sedano plants a Serrano chile

Step one is clearing Thelma’s iris patch to free up the planting bed. I spare two Hyacinths showing early color.

I approach the task confidently but cautiously. I push the four-tine garden fork under the rhizomes, push and lift the handle to leverage the Iris loose. I rejoice in the strength my arms display. 

I broke the right shoulder in December and mira nomás how I lift and break clods, working steadily with intensity that gets my muscles groaning and despite feeling like that vato with a hoe, in the Millet painting, I persist and get the whole plot turned without collapsing or running out of breath.

With the bed turned and its borders defined, I use the three-tine fork to separate out sinuous white roots that infiltrate from nearby trees and hedges.

Another pair of rakes and I have a smooth level surface free from extraneous roots.

Taking a breather in the seedbed

Thelma uses a short-handled hoe to plant radishes around the perimeter of the bed. In a few weeks we’ll have leafy edge definition, and snacks. 

I put butterhead lettuce and spinach seedlings in an "L" shape to define two bush bean rows. When the leafy greens have been harvested--before the heat comes—they’ll be replaced with hot weather crops or root crops.

At the far end, or top of the plot, we have a steel tomato tower with early tomato varieties and the novelty Sweet 100. Below the jitomate, a few chile and bell pepper seedlings. The peppers will be late arrivals; we’ll be eating cherry tomatoes by Cinco de Mayo. 

In between the tomatoes and the greens, we’ve sown bush beans, bunching onion, two hills of yellow crookneck squash, garlic cloves, and yellow onion sets. 

2025 is going to be a good garden year. The football game must be well along when I return to my motel room. I don't turn on the teevee. I welcome the fatigue and sore muscles of getting closer to la tierra, another benefit of a good day's work. 

The finished project, for now

I sleep comforted at being in touch with a continuous line of gardens antedating my own. Familia history extends into a rich past and looks forward to a memorable cosecha in my future. 

What happened in Thelma Reyna's backyard on superbowl Sunday reflects an imperative of la tierra: turn it and it will grow.

Sunday, February 09, 2025

“Pilgrims on the Way towards New Multidisciplinary Encounters”

 Xanath Caraza





“Pilgrims on the Way towards New Multidisciplinary Encounters” 

Última semana de envío de propuestas para el volumen derivado del XIII Congreso internacional sobre literatura chicana y estudios latinos continúa abierta

Los artículos deberán girar en torno a los siguientes temas relacionados con la #LiteraturaChicana y los #EstudiosLatinos:

🔵Caminos, vías, carreteras en la literatura chicana

🔵El camino como forma de vida

🔵La vida como camino

🔵El camino como lugar de (auto-)descubrimiento

🔵El camino como lugar de encuentro

🔵El camino como viaje hacia un destino

🔵El destino como principio de un nuevo camino

🔵El inicio del camino

🔵El camino como vía de escape

🔵El camino como retorno

🔵El camino como vía de reencuentro y reconciliación

🔵El camino en el espacio y en el tiempo

🔵El camino como paisaje natural

🔵El camino como paisaje humano

📅Fecha límite: 13 de febrero de 2025

Toda la información, a continuación ➡️https://bit.ly/4jlDPB7

Para publicarse en la Colección Emily Dickinson


Friday, February 07, 2025

Life Growth Spurts


Presenting a life-affirming essay by educator, author, community leader, and La Bloga's good friend, Frank Dávila.

_________________________________

Life Growth Spurts
Frank S. Dávila, PhD 
Nov 2024

Moments of Pondering

Have you pondered lately why you are in a certain state of mind or in a particular location or emotional phase? And can you describe the growth spurts or eventful episodes along the way that guided your personal trajectory leading to the personal stage in which you now reside?

We did not get to choose our parents or family when we were born, nor the village, town, or city. The human and societal conditions, location, and language we inherited became our natural surroundings. Our setting, filled with so many multi-sensory and emotional activities molded our personality and outlook in life. Looking back at different pieces of our life history can give us some poignant moments where we can say, “Ah, those special, intimate, and dramatic times were definitely growth spurts for me.”

For some, life growth spurts can be those unsettling and unpredictable moments as an orphan, abandoned child or a family spat, while for others, it is receiving a healthy dose of love and nurturing from friends and family members. Some of those varied experiences may have placed us in a bubble where we felt protected with minimal risks, while for others who chose to engage in reckless, adventurous, and painful activities led them to see and experience the naked world spinning around them.

At an early age, we did not always understand those pivotal growth periods that were revolving around us. We simply soaked it in and kept on moving, dodging some of the unsavory steps that came our way. Now, we can reflect on how some of these life encounters impacted our thinking paving the road to our current phase in life.

The Gift of Family and Friends

In the midst of the death of a parent, family member, or a close friend, many of us can sense that genuine and heartfelt love and support from friends and family. The immense pain and loss will no doubt continue for some time, but for those brief moments where a quiet embrace touches our soul, we comprehend and sense the importance of close ties with our family circle of love. Having a healthy and supportive family connection whether biological or one we choose, is a life growth spurt that still drives our life and the decisions we make.

Each of us can think of a relative or close friend in our formative years that lifted our spirits by simply giving us a smile, a hug, or by asking us a question that made us feel we were valued. Frequently I would wrote little positive messages on yellow posted notes to my twin daughters in the mornings and placed them on the mirror so they would see them first thing in the morning. I didn’t really think it was such a big deal until later, as adults, they mentioned how meaningful those words of encouragement were.

Letting someone else know we love them and value them is not a rocket science process. Just turning your head to them and focusing on their message or doing a simple task to make their life easier or being present at an event that is important to them sends a boat load of undeniable appreciation for who they are.

Close friends and caring family members can also be a reservoir of strength during those times when we are at the “end of our rope.” At that point we realize they are the only secure tether that holds us together. I have a close friend, Máximo, to whom I can share any and all triumphs and frailties and I know I will walk away with my spirit uplifted and the friendship still intact. What a comforting feeling to have that special bond.

I get calls from one sister in particular who misses our two deceased brothers and our mom and dad. The unexpected phone call serves to remind us both of our family members who once filled our life with laughter, joy, stories and jokes. On any given day and time, those memories and feelings surface and we want to share them with another loved one to honor their memory. They remind us of those special life growth spurts that our friends and family created for us.

Performing and Fine Arts

I am more of a performing arts kind of person since my visual arts skills are relatively absent. I have amazing friends and family members who have cultivated such impressive artistry in sketching a captivating and colorful painting or designing and molding, with their own hands, stone or bronze sculptors. You gaze and admire the art pieces and realize the deep commitment and sacrifice given to create those amazingly beautiful works of art.

I am a wannabe guitarist and singer and occasionally play and sing knowing it relaxes me and builds up that inner spirit to appreciate all artists. I follow a personal motto where I do not walk away from any musician or artist who is sharing their work until they finish their song, read their poetry or describe their artistic rendition. They have earned that respect after the hours of practice and then the humility and willingness to come before an audience who may or not be appreciating their artistic offering.

A special friend, Boogie Bob, was an extraordinary and highly gifted pianist. He always entertained us with gusto along with his personal set of lame jokes and commentary. After losing him, we all remembered his unparalleled musical skills that he shared with us. I am profoundly gratified that I was able to express my gratitude and admiration to him for his gift when we could still chat with each other. We even recorded a musical CD, indeed a unique life growth spurt.

Presently, one of my personal getaway moments is via my Bluetooth earbuds and my playlist that includes a variety of music. This is an escape that soothes my soul.

Military Service

Many of the military veterans I have met are quiet and unassuming warriors who are deeply proud of their service. They are hesitant to share their inner wounds. When we gather as comrades in arms, we come to a point when the doors open and some begin to share some of the tightly held emotions. We all realize these intimate experiences as a soldier served as deep emotional life growth spurts!

Patriotism is a highly valued principle that is widely recognized as being a strong defender of one’s native land and its beliefs. For military veterans, it is the flag and the country that we represent and defend regardless of the background, gender, ethnicity, language and status of the citizens that reside in that country. Military vets understand that we are not pawns to be exploited by the political machinery. Resiliency, leadership, and discipline are some of the traits we cultivated as military veterans.

Bilingual & Bicultural Roots


“A person who speaks two languages is worth two people.” That is an expression I heard a long time ago. I never thought of the value or asset of being bilingual; I just knew I had to learn English well to compete in the social and working world. I used my Spanish primarily with friends and family who were bilingual and in some cases where we had the flexibility of code switching or speaking both languages in one sentence or phrase. Some folks call that “Spanglish.”

It was not until my Dad was ill that I made a serious effort to learn more about his Mexican roots and my own heritage. As I traced his route from his home town in Concepcion del Oro in Zacatecas, Mexico, I began to capture the extraordinary journey his family made as they trekked from their village to the Texas border town of Piedras Negras (on the Mexican side) or Eagle Pass to go to San Antonio. He mentioned how they initially used a horse drawn carriage and later getting on a flatbed train to move toward the Mexican and US border.

This new information renewed my interest in knowing more about his family. I submitted to a DNA search to get more details of my heritage and begin reviewing documents in the ancestral registries from both the United States and Mexico. The historical information gave me a panoramic view of my origins and ancestry. I now feel more complete as a person knowing more details about my background and roots, those life growth spurts that molded me.

However, now I realize that I am just a moving family piece because my children and grandchildren will continue to build on that heritage. One of my responsibilities is to provide a foundation they can access to help them appreciate the continuing saga of their family roots so that they too will experience their own life growth spurt.

Social Injustice

It is unfortunate that negative and painful actions that we experience such as discrimination, disrespect, and personal challenges, can also serve as life growth spurts. During those moments, we can accept defeat or fight back using our smarter instincts to outmaneuver the opponent. I am reminded of César Chávez and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and their approach but also the strategy of interrupting the status quo using the group’s own protocols and guidelines to thwart and discourage their mindset. The growth part is discovering the more solid approach to seek and attain change. Social injustice will always be present given the divisiveness within our world and the refusal to listen to our neighbors and fellow citizens. Some folks will never outgrow those tendencies while others will look around and see the possibilities to experience yet another growth spurt. To some, this may sound naïve but indeed we always have choices.

Mentoring and Advocacy

My dissertation focused on the impact of mentoring for leaders who were seeking a new assignment. Almost 80% indicated that when they had a mentor present, their confidence grew and their pathway had more clarity. My growth spurt as a school leader, I owe to a quiet and wise mentor, Tom Maes, who believed in me and nudged me to the next level. I have learned to practice what I researched by being a mentor.

Similarly, we encounter opportunities and individuals who feel stranded or dismissed waiting for someone to advocate for them and open the darn doors. As we move within our professional and life routines, we come across some actions and situations that need our attention and advocacy. We can ignite a growth spurt for someone else if we choose to take an interest in them or in the obstacle at hand. To side step it or to ignore it may rob of us another opportunity to grow.

Personal Reflection

Sometimes we don’t recognize or acknowledge our life growth spurts perhaps due to not wanting to dwell on a negative situation or to make a big fuss about a beautiful life growth spurt. Reflecting on where we are at the moment and what life growth spurts brought us here can be illuminating and liberating. I do seek moments of solitude to think of events in my past, both positive and negative, that forged a change in my life either in a small way or in a monumental manner. I embrace those life growth spurts.

Later.

___________________________

Manuel Ramos writes crime fiction.

Thursday, February 06, 2025

Chicanonautica: Xicanx Futurism is Coming!

by Ernest Hogan



Just in time for the mass deportations, from the official Instagram announcement:

 

Riot of Roses Publishing House is proud to announce the acquisition of XICANX FUTURISM: GRITOS FOR A FUTURE, edited by Scott Russell Duncan. Coming 2025!

 

XICANAX FUTURISM features the writing of over 30 Xicanx writers and artists. Thank you to each of the contributors for trusting us with your work. Our art is our resistance.

 

What is Xicana Futurism? It’s the Chicano sci-fi stuff that I’ve been doing for decades–Xicanx is also a science fiction state of being–extended beyond the traditional borders of the genre, reaching into the genre and pop culture. We are new life and new civilization, boldly going where nobody ain’t ever been before. La Cultura of tomorrow–should that be manaña?

 

Only this manaña is here and now!

 

Along with a drawing by me, there will be a new adventure of Paco Cohen, Martian Mariachi: “A Wild and Woolly Road Trip on Mars” that takes place on a Red Planet that Elon Musk wouldn’t dare dream of.

 

It gets me thinking that I should look over the rest of the Paco stories, and write what I need to fill the gaps to make them into a novel. I should really do it. I ain’t getting any younger, you know . . .

 

Meanwhile, Xicanx Futurism: Gritos for a Future will inspire you to run amok and create a Xicanx future no matter what anybody who’s taking over the government thinks.

 

Hope it gets here before we all get deported or something . . .

 


Ernest Hogan is guilty of writing Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories, which includes “Uno! Dos! One-Two! Tres! Cuatro!” that was inspired by the current occupant of the White House.

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Lola


Written by Karla Arenas Valenti 

 


Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Language: English

Hardcover: 256 pages

ISBN-10: 0593177002

ISBN-13: 978-0593177006

Reading age: 8 - 12 years

 


A simmering tale of magic, adventure, and the extraordinary bond between a brother and sister who'd journey to the ends of the Earth to save each other. From the acclaimed author of Lotería comes a heartfelt story rooted in Mexican magical realism.

 

Ten-year-old Lola has always been touched by magic. In her Mexico City home, built around a towering tree, she is accustomed to enchanted blooms that change with the seasons, a sandbox that spits out mysterious treasures, and mischievous chaneques that scuttle about unseen by all but her. Magic has always been a part of her life, but now she must embrace the extraordinary as never before.

 

Ever since The Thing That Happened, Lola's brother Alex has been sick. As his condition worsens, something begins eating away at the tree, causing its leaves and blossoms to crumble like ash. The two are related, Lola is sure of it, but how? Seeking a cure, she visits a grocery store oracle who bids her to follow the chaneques down one of their secret passages... into a hidden world.

 

Here in Floresta, a land of myths and monsters and marvels untold, lies the key to healing her brother. But the kingdom's young queen stands in the way. Lola must use her wits and face her deepest fears if there's any hope of saving Alex in time.

 


Review

  

"A quest undertaken for love and healing, replete alike with astonishing marvels and provocative themes." Kirkus Reviews, starred review

 

"The fantasy here is vividly imagined, but the story itself is ultimately real, painful, and achingly beautiful." The Bulletin, starred review

 

Readers will be lining up to get this book. A must-read for all upper elementary and middle school fantasy fans. School Library Journal, starred review

 

 "A truly enchanting adventure that both enthralls and entertains. Booklist, starred review

 

"Valenti skillfully incorporates magical realism into this captivating tale, taking the reader on a memorable journey through a different world." —The Horn Book

 

 


Karla Arenas Valenti is an award-winning author who writes stories for and about kids, taking readers on journeys steeped in magical realism and philosophical questions. Her storytelling is heavily influenced by her Mexican heritage and layered with ideas and concepts she's picked up in her many travels around the world. She currently resides in the Chicagoland area with her husband and three kids, two cats, and hundreds of books. Karla received the Pura Belpré author award for her middle grade novel, Lola, and three starred reviews for her debut, Loteria. She has also written several picture books including Esperanza Caramelo: The Star of Nochebuena.




 


Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Invitation to the Portrait Studio

An Offer I Can't Refuse 

Michael Sedano


It's an early morning call. Would I like to sit for a portrait in a few hours at a workshop in Margaret Garcia’s Northeast Los Angeles studio? Knowing I'd regret turning her down, I jump on the offer and call my friend Thelma Reyna to join me for an hour of fascinating immersion into the world of Chicanarte. Garcia's one of the foremost creators in Chicano painting with a tradition of outstanding portraiture. I cannot miss the experience and want to share it with my friend.


I’m the second sitter in Margaret Garcia’s (link) envisioned portrait series. I sit facing her, we chat and the artist probes and creates with questions and brush and color.


Four other painters, Bonnie Lambert, Lynn Dwyer, David Balfour and Lupe Arellano, paint me from their perspective seated in a semicircle surrounding my easy chair. While the other artists paint on stretched canvas, Garcia works on a wooden box.


David Balfour, Lynn Dwyer, Bonnie Lambert finding inspiration 

Garcia visualizes this series of portraits on gallery walls, their stories so compelling the images thrust out from the flat substrate to demand attention while creating a narrative mosaic of people seen at critical junctures of their lives.

 

Garcia and I chat desultorily about her process. She’s well aware my critical moment is being a refugee from the fearful Eaton Fire that ravaged my community and destroyed my home. 


Garcia’s portrait of me tells of the lingering horror of fire while distilling an hour’s sitting into the singular image laid bare on the back of that box.

It's going to be a memorable exhibition. Third in the series will be a woman, wife of an accomplished painter, who faces the chaos looming over Chicanos and Mexicans from the current U.S. campaign of racist terror.


Arte makes a difference. Los Angeles and Garcia’s community are filled with stories and Margaret Garcia’s brush will find the most compelling ones as she rounds out this series of portraits.