Chicanonautica: Making Ancient Chicano Sci-Fi Wisdom New and Improved

by Ernest Hogan

Look out, aspiring writers and seekers of knowledge, I will be committing a series of deliberate acts of unregistered education again at the Fall 2026 session of the Palabras del Pueblo Writing Workshop, on the Saturdays and Sundays of October 3-4 and 10-11, on Zoom, so you can do it in your pajamas or underwear, though I plan on wearing a nice shirt. 

This time I’m calling it New, Improved, Ancient Chicano Sci-Fi Wisdom.

So, why make the Ancient Chicano Sci-Fi Wisdom new and improved? 

Well, it’s because it’s got ancient roots, it’s working on the future and constantly mutating.

I was going to say “evolving,” but that’s a slow process, and what’s happening with all things Chicano lately is sudden and unexpected. ¡SAS! Like a loose gamma ray zapping a DNA sequence causing something . . . weird.

You’ve probably noticed that these aren’t great times for Chicanos. Not only are Hollywood and New York avoiding putting out creative works on the diverse global market and making us rich and improving the overall quality of life and culture for the human race, but we are under attack.

 

There. I said it. I shouldn’t have to go into details-just plug into a random news source . . . 

Meanwhile, we still have these incredible imaginations because of the complex, constantly changing cultural mix that we . . . are. I’ve been doing it most of my life. Chicano is a sci-fi state of being. Xicanxfuturism refuses to die. Ciberbandidos arise . . .

My bizarre experiences have taught me, and I need to help those who dare to write while part of the Latinoid continuum. I’m one of the more successful Chicano writers of my generation. I don’t have any secret formula for writing success, but I have a career beyond the expectations of most of the people I know. I learned a few things along the way.

I also try to keep it entertaining.

My warped brain will also be available for picking while I create a new story over the two weekends and share my unconventional creative processes.

Yeah, I meant it to be plural.

And I’m not giving up on creating new worlds.

From the markets of Teotihuacán to the farthest edges of the Intergalactic Barrio.

Some find it inspiring.

So sign up now!

Ernest Hogan is trudging through this infernal summer, besides the abovementioned class, Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow / Codex II finally has an official publication date–December 15, 2026!--so get ready for another Paco Cohen, Mariachi of Mars adventure, as well as some interesting things brewing in the University of New Mexico. Stay tuned ciberbandidxes! (Pronounce that ciberbandidEQUISES.)

Chicanonautia: Palabras del Pueblo Writing Workshop

I'm busy finishing a novel, and getting ready for a road trip to see what the new, improved, Wild, Wild America is like, so meanwhile here's something for all of you aspiring Chicano literary artistas out there.

 --Ernest Hogan, Father of Chicano Science Fiction 

 

Many writing workshops are overpriced and do not serve our Mexican American/Chicano community. Our storytellers, poets, and thinkers are not nurtured or given as many opportunities and so our voice as a people becomes drowned out or dictated by others. 

Palabras del Pueblo Writing Workshop is intended be financially accessible for raza to learn to better express themselves so our existence and values can be heard with clarity with no doubts to what they are and what we are. We intend the workshop to be a place to acquire tools, inspiration, and contacts for Chicana/o/x writers.

Classes will be held online on two long weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday): July 22-24 and 29-31 during the summer of 2022.

​Applying is free, the cost is $100 once accepted. 18 years old and up. 
​
Deadline to apply is July 1, 2022.

Classes Offered

​We are offering three classes with a maximum of ten students per class
​
Fiction: Learn the art of crafting fiction with author Rosa Martha Villarreal.
​
Creative Nonfiction: Write and learn about the art of the personal essay, expository essay with a team of three instructors, Berte Reyes, Dr. Ernesto Mireles and Dave Weinstock. Students should come with three ideas they can write about. 
​
Poetry: Learn about the art and expression of poetry with Berkeley poet laureate Rafael Jesús González. ​​​

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Facing the Truth about Facebook 2018

Melinda Palacio





Before ringing in the New Year, I am taking advantage of the quiet everywhere to get some writing done. I realized only too late that I had not prepared a piece for this week's La Bloga. My New Year's Resolution will involve being better prepared and better organized. It's safe to say that a few of my husband's good habits have rubbed off on me. After ten years, I see the benefits of having less clutter and an organized closet. One change Steve has made in his life that I continue to resist is his decision to close his Facebook account for good. He has pointed out how FB has gotten rich over the concept of using people like me, people who regularly put up free content on a website that they get rich off of by selling my information and those of my 'friends' and reading my posts and messages and learning what I like and dislike and sharing that information with their advertisers. See the NYT article for 5 Ways Facebook Shared Your Data or yesterday's article which breaks down Facebook's rule book and how the company makes about $5 billion in profit per quarter thanks to our sweet posts and rants. The bottom line is Steve does not appreciate being used or manipulated and he values his privacy more than I do.

Earlier this month, La Bloga learned that Facebook had unblocked and restored all of our posts. Now, that have a platform again, I'm not eager to give it up. I suppose I can point to vanity of wanting to share that photo of me in Ireland or of me eating a fabulous meal or wearing a new dress that keeps me buying into the deal with the FB devil, all under the guise of being connected to over a thousand friends and of being a writer who will reach a bigger audience with this great deceit that we've all signed up for. In reality, every private message, every red heart or smiley face means data that the FB sells to other companies like Netflix and Yahoo. And if you think you're too savvy to fall into the traps of how FB is using you, think two words: President Trump. Sure, neither you nor I voted for the thing in white house, but a whole bunch of other people did and a whole election was stolen thanks to FB giving access to real and fake accounts in exchange for the product: you.

Before I was addicted to photographing my food and looking at random videos of people that I vaguely know, I viewed the internet as a source for useful essays and information that might help my writing. It was here on La Bloga, before I joined my fellow esteemed Blogueros, that began my day in anticipation of what I might find on La Bloga. After all, being a fan of Daniel Olivas's column led to my first published story, and eventually, my first published novel. I trust that there are still La Bloga readers who turn to our site before turning to the a highly curated website where users manipulate their reality and post what they want you to see. Better yet, I trust readers of La Bloga will choose to lose themselves in a book and wonder where the time went.

As 2018 comes to a close, I've published a a new poetry book, Bird Forgiveness (3: A Taos Press) two of the Bird Forgiveness poems were nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Readers of La Bloga know I've written several journalism and personal memoir pieces on La Bloga, as well as poems in literary journals, the most recent in Fifth Wednesday Journal, a special issue, Fall 2018 Issue 23, coedited by Ana Castillo and Vern Miller with cover art by Claudia D. Hernandez. La Bloga's own, Amelia Montes, contributed an excerpt from her upcoming memoir that was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. The call for Fifth Wednesday Journal's special issue on immigration was earlier this summer before the deaths of two children: Felipe Gomez Alonzo and Jakelin Caal. I also found out about the call for entries through a message on Facebook.