Chicanonautica: Pandemic Nostalgia With Gómez-Peña’s Mex Files

by Ernest Hogan

 

Is it too early for pandemic nostalgia? Please excuse me if it is. I’m a sci-fi vato, a mutant for whom the future never comes soon enough. I get high on future shock. 

Also, I’m a futurista because I’m not allowed to exist in the present. Just ask whatever bureaucracy is watching over us right now.

The chaos of the last few years has had me running myself ragged keeping up with it transformations. Nothing like a global monkey-wrench smashing into everybody’s business to do that. Suddenly, the word surreal is in news reports. The pandemic did that.

Now we are under the delusion that it’s over, but Covid ain’t gone. It’s just going through some mellower mutations. Even though a lot of people want to forget it ever happened, there’s wisdom in the meme, “That which does not kill us, mutates and tries again.”

Note that you also see the word mutation in news reports these days.

Back in the thick of the lockdown, Guillermo Gómez-Peña started reporting on it on his radio show/podcast (the terms are becoming interchangeable–the internet is absorbing radio), Gómez-Peña’s Mex Files.

I tried to be a loyal listener at first but turned out I was an essential worker and ended up in a bandido bandana and an orange, glowing vest running stuff out to cars in the library parking lot instead of finishing my novel in the summer of 2020. I also learned about Zoom, thanks to Guillermo and his wife, Balitronica.

Recently, Facebook reminded me about Mex Files, so I binged what was on the website.

¡Guao!

Not only does it deliver the Mad Mex’s harrowing, transborder Covid experiences that outweird the latest science fiction, it provides an excellent introduction to his work and the incredible world of performance art.

How can I describe it?

There are similarities with my work–Gomez-Peña and I both arrived on this planet in 1955, him in Mexico City, me in L.A.  we overlap over Chicano territory. He writes, and also performs, which takes him to interesting places. Art and politics cohabitate. It’s often funny but is more than satire. Alternate realities aren’t just described—they come to life, threaten to alter our world.

Sometimes it gets sci-fi (Chicano is a science fiction state of being) but is never restrained by the limits of the genre. 

And it adapts well to different media, live performance, gallery and museum installations, film and video, and radio. 

Sometimes it’s like bizarre comedy skits, other times it’s music that has been altered. Still other times, it’s honest accounts of fantastic experiences. 

And it’s not all nonstop dystopian bring downs. Often there are flashes of the kind of utopias we could create if we could just let La Cultura ride free on new technologies.

Where does the sci-fi end and the real life begin? Or should I say magic realism? Or is magic realism from a high tech society indistinguishable from science fiction? Is it all performance art?

Our bizarre times are masterfully captured here. I know that a lot of folks just want to forget it. Some would erase all the memory, the history. But we need this knowledge. 

You think the last few years were something? Just wait for the future. How long before 2020 is considered the good old days?

We need the wisdom of the Mad Mex to help us navigate the weirdness.

Ernest Hogan, the Father of Chicano Science Fiction has been in touch with Guillermo and Balitronica. Expect some wild stuff soon. He also highly recommends the documentary 100 Ways to Cross the Border.

Tiny Tales from Pampers

  

From Tiny Tales from Pampers

 

 

Experience story time brought to life for your tiny ones with Tiny Tales - a new audiobook series from Pampers. Tiny Tales shares classic stories remade for 2022 like Jackie & The Beanstalk and Goldilocs. 

 

The show features never heard adventures like Tiny Owl and stories from Latin America, told in Spanish, like ABC Mariachi. We celebrate characters from all walks of life inclusive of gender, background, and ability. And each episode is voiced by some of your tiny one’s favourite characters. 

 

Told using interactive moments throughout, Tiny Tales will support your tiny ones’ development in those crucial early years. Each story is 10 minutes, meaning you have a fun activity to do with your tiny one, or even just a spare 10 minutes to yourself! Don’t forget to follow us to ensure you get all the latest updates. A Pampers & Sony Music Entertainment production. 

 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

 

 

El Abecedario de la Música de Mariachi

By René Colato Laínez

 

Can you hear the swell of the guitarrones and the cheer of the choir? Join us with your little one as we learn to recite our ABC’s in Spanish!

 

We’ll go on a journey to explore everything from Amigos to Zapatos, set during a family fiesta in Mexico to the sound of the traditional music of the Mariachi.

 

Tiny Tales is a Spanish adventure story, celebrating diversity, sound and dance (or bailar!).

 

El Abecedario De La Música De Mariachi or The ABCs Of Mariachi Music was written by René Colato Laínez and narrated by Sophia Cruz.

Original music composed by Andres Parodi

A Pampers & Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts. And go to Pampers.com for all your parenting products and tools.

 

Play/ Escucha: El Abecedario de la Música de Mariachi

https://open.spotify.com/episode/41tHwpoIczwxiwRxMWB1Pv

 

Qoritika And The Three Alpacas 

By Mariana Llanos

 

 

Little Peruvian Qoritika, whose name means Golden Flower, goes to the market to find her mamita the fanciest gift money can buy.

 

Yet, it turns out that Qoritika simply doesn’t have enough coins in her pocket. However, in come three snazzy showbiz alpacas with a little strum and cha cha in their step to help save the day!

 

Cozy up and listen to this most heart-warming tale of friendship, giving and beautiful serenatas. We’ll come to find that as long as we work together, anything is possible.

 

Qoritika And The Three Alpacas was written by Mariana Llanos and narrated by Ynairaly Simo.

Original music composed by Andres Parodi

Tiny Tales is brought to you from Pampers, with love.

A Pampers & Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts. And go to Pampers.com for all your parenting products and tools.

 

 

Escucha/ Play:  Qoritika And The Three Alpacas 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5OBfOiocDOHbHBY5ccMpRa

 

 

 

Play all the episodes 

https://open.spotify.com/show/4jWPoKZOuCc6CNndIHpRAf

Chicanonautica: Chicano Science Fiction Meets The Reality Dysfunction

by Ernest Hogan

If only I had known, when the pandemic started, I would have kept a list of the things I would do that I had never done before. Seems like it’s happening all the time now. Maybe it’s better that I’m not keeping track, just jump in, do it.

Like when I found an email from Somos en escrito, asking if I would like to participate in a podcast about El Porviner, ¡Ya! Citlalzazanilli Mexicatl: A Chicano Science Fiction Anthology next Sunday. This was great, except that the message was a few days old. Leave town for a couple of days in the middle of the week, and you miss something—I’ve got to get in the habit of checking email on my phone while traveling, as well as  working on novels. I sent a yes, and they got back to me, sending me the Zoom link.

Zoom link? Was it going to be video? I thought podcasts were audio only. Just in case, I cleaned up the background area behind my computer, and put on a nice shirt when the time came.

Turns out, you can record the sound of a Zoom meeting without the visual. Which is great, because the participants can see who they’re talking to. For me, it helps, and you can feel more like you’ve “met” these folks.

In this case, I would be meeting Ernesto Mireles, PhD, an aspiring filmmaker, organizer, and part of the faculty at Prescott College, and Co-Director of their Social Justice Community Organizing Program. He started the podcast, called The Reality Dysfunction, early in the pandemic, as a way of figuring out how we’re all going to get through this thing.

Chicano science fiction and futurism turned out to be a natural for them.

We were also joined by Somos en escrito editors: Scott Duncan Fernandez and Jenny Irizary–also Armando Rendón came in late to announce that El Porvenir, ¡Ya! would be coming out around the end of the month–be on the lookout, I’ll be making a lot of noise on my blog and in the social media . . .

 

There was also Rosa Martha Villareal, another Porvenir writer, a recently retired Adjunct Professor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California, and the author of several novels including Doctor Magdalena, The Stillness of Love and Exile, and Chronicles of Air and Dreams,and Somos en escrito columnist. She also has some very interesting ideas about time travel from a Latinoid/pre-Columbian perspective that have me rethinking a novel I’ve been thinking about writing.

In all it was a lively discussion of the current predicament, how we’re dealing with it, and teaser for El Porvenir, ¡Ya!  It’s well worth a listen.  

I think we impressed Professor Ernesto, planting a mutagenic seed in the tortured field of academia. Maybe we’ll do it again sometime.

Ernest Hogan, Father of Chicano Science Fiction, and author of High Aztech, Cortez on Jupiter, and Smoking Mirror Blues is struggling to finish his novel Zyx; Or, Bring Me the Brain of Victor Theremin.

Cafecito Con, the New Podcast Celebrates Womanhood at All Stages

Melinda Palacio 

Cafecito. The drink that says ‘let me share some words of wisdom with a comadre.’ At least, that’s what it says for Delila Vasquez and Rosa Martin Munoz, two women who have started the podcast, Cafecito Con. The format is simple, yet brilliant, a conversation about womanhood for women by women. Delila, 57, and Rosa, 31 developed the podcast idea in July. The show is live on a Thursday and a replay can be heard the following week on YouTube. Delila was excited to bring in a younger woman who could be her daughter, to cohost the show. The two teamed up to create a space for women to navigate the world of womanhood and to give each other tips for achieving their goals, dreams, and a strong sense of self. The topics of casual conversation cover the issues of Who Are You, Why Do You Do What You Do, Who Are Your Influences, and What Are the Symbols of Your Faith? The questions allow for the sharing of a cup of love and the stories of Latina women and how they navigate life. 

Delila has held many jobs in education and within the Catholic Church. One of her prior jobs was the Executive Director of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders. I first met Delila through Reyna Grande, when she helped one year with the International Latino Book and Author Festival in Los Angeles. In fact, Reyna Grande is this week’s guest. Listeners around the globe can hear the podcast on YouTube next week. After sampling some of the previous shows, I was impressed by the passion that Delila and Rosa bring to the table. They speak to all of their guests as if they were old friends or familia. 

Both Delila and Rosa put so much thought into the show, it’s refreshing to hear. The format allows women to share the essence of what makes them unique, allowing a wonderful exchange that I’m sure helps listeners grow. Women need to hear from different women at different stages of their lives to help them “build joy” as one of the guests mentioned. 

While their logo may be a high heel inside a coffee cup, the program is really about the different shoes women inhabit. Rather than think about hats or occupation, the shoe stands for how women express their comfort, needs, and wishes in the different spaces they inhabit. I was very impressed with the interaction between Delila, Rosa, and Reyna. I’m excited to hear more shows. The current formula is an audio conversation on the Clubhouse App. Reruns can be found on their Facebook page by pressing watch video and on YouTube. The co-hosts call themselves an intergenerational duo and there’s something magical about dynamics of their age differences. While the two are at different points in their lives, they are equally passionate about learning how to be the best form of themselves. They both want to reclaim a space to celebrate womanhood. Take a listen to this informative and inspirational podcast.