La Gente Fall 2007-Limited Edition_

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INSIDE:

•Mending a Heart: Self Help Graphic’s battle to fix its financial woes •Painting Against the Mainstream: A focus on local art Volume 38 Issue 1 Fall 2007

para los pueblos de las américas special issue dedicated to the arts

-Volume 38. Issue 1. Fall 2007-

CONTENTS

La Gente de Aztlán ----------------------------

Cover Story

118 Kerckhoff Hall 308 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles, CA 90024

• Back in Action: Self Help Graphics and Arts page 8

-----------------------------

Telephone: 310. 825. 9836 Fax: 310. 206. 3165 lagente@media.ucla.edu -----------------------------

editors Melissa Lambarena Héctor Peña Rosy Torres Brenda Yancor design and layout Maria Esmeralda Renteria Copy Editors Elizabeth Carrera Araceli Gonzalez Crystal Perez staff writers Karina Díaz Misael Díaz Erika Hernández Melissa Lambarena Katherine Laura Jessica Nazar Héctor Peña Crystal Perez Priscilla González Sainz Amy Sánchez Rosy Torres Brenda Yancor

Looking for Creative Minds •How SPARC is sparking interest in youth

page 12

Artist Profiles

• Evill William Acedo

Héctor Silva Victoria Delgadillo

page 5

page 4

Gronk Douglas Miles page 6

Sandra de la Loza

• José Cabrera Javier Hernandez

page 10

page 7

Miguel Angel Reyes page 12

Magu

page 11

• Graffiti Art

page 11

• Nuke Salomon Huerta page 13

media director Arvli Ward media advisor Amy Emmert La Gente de Aztlán is one of the oldest Chicana/o, Latina/o, Native American newsmagazines, holding strong over 30 years of civic journalism and chingadazos de la pluma written for our gente. La Gente seeks out and reports the truth about current or long-standing issues that affect people of color. La Gente is one UCLA Student Media publication that is not afraid to discuss the race, sex, and class inequalities that exist at UCLA and in the world in general. We seek out students of color, both on and off this campus, such as high school youth and community college students. We recognize that most of us come from working class families and must therefore make an effort to reach our familias in the barrios of California. La Gente serves as a space to shed light on the many injustices we face as a community, as well as give information on how to get involved in the pursuit of social equality. La Gente also provides a space for incarcerated Raza, both young and old, because we believe that those in an institution of higher learning are not the only ones with something important to say. La Gente was created out of a need to give power to the often-silenced Latino community and allow our voices to inform, guide, and empower our futures. Que Viva Nuestra Gente!

Unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of the La Gente Editorial Board. All other columns, cartoons, and letters represent the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board. The UCLA Communications Board has a media grievance procedure for resolving grievances against any of its media. For a copy of the complete procedure, contact UCLA Student Media at 310. 825. 2787.

Copyright 2007 ASUCLA Communications Board 2

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ABOUT THE COVER Los Angeles artist Ernesto “Evill” Vázquez contributed the cover artwork. With Self Help Graphics and Art as a major artistic cornerstone of the L.A. art scene, the “arteries” feeding into its heart are works by other local artists featured in this issue.

Turn to pg.

5 to read more about what inspires Evill’s artwork.

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Why is this issue dedicated to the arts?

ong hours of confinement were spent in our tiny, windowless La Gente office putting this issue together, leaving us tired, exhausted and drained. Getting ready to call it a day, we checked our email one last time and realized that our cover artwork had come in.

There on the computer screen, splashes of orange, yellow and pink flashed back at us, and the beauty of the way these colors were constructed together alongside images of various artworks instantly revitalized our senses as we stared back in wonder.

We looked around at each other, each realizing how much our moods had unexpectedly improved. The piece was impressive, but what amazed us the most was the confirmation of a bigger message: the striking power of art.

This theme has been with us for months and helped propel us into action over the course of two phases. The first, which culminated in an art show/silent auction at Kerckhoff Art Gallery during Spring Quarter 2007, was conceived for several reasons.

Faced with insufficient funds to publish the magazine, La Gente sought to raise funds that would ensure the magazine’s survival for its 38th year while spreading awareness of the importance of having alternative media sources on campus and in the community.

Titled “Voices from the Other Side,” the exhibit was a collection of donated artwork by local Chicana/o and Latina/o artists who shared

our views of providing an alternative voice of discourse other than that of the mainstream. The event opened with a speech by fellow alternative media journalist Michael Slate, host of KPFK’s “Beneath the Surface” and closed on a celebratory note with an energetic performance of son jarocho music by Santa Ana’s Son del Centro.

The second phase manifested itself in the form of this special edition of the magazine, devoted entirely to the promotion of Chicana/ o, Latina/o and Native American art. While the art exhibit allowed us to expose Latina/o art to the too-often culturally homogenous UCLA community, the purpose of this issue is to further the reaches of these artists’ points of view and demonstrate the variations of personal experience within the larger scopes of these communities.

We hope that, in a world where exhaustion and confinement threaten to dull the senses and encourage apathy, this issue will bring you a renewed vitality and encourage you to express your own voice.

--La Gente de Aztlán

In Memory of Yolanda Retter-Vargas, whose support helped make this art exhibit possible.

La Gente would like to thank all the people and organizations that helped make “Voices From the Other Side” and this Special Art Issue a reality: Carlos Rogel and SPARC Francesco Siqueiros KPFK and Michael Slate Son del Centro DJ Lalo Live Gladys Angula Elizama Díaz Miguel Angel Reyes Jennifer Lozano La Bloga and Daniel Oliva Manoa Hui Nathan Tyree Cathy Rivera The Chicano Studies Library Yolanda Retter-Vargas Everyone who attended the art show N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r

Where’d Volume 37 go?

In case you were wondering why we went from Volume 36 to Volume 38 (you did notice, right?), during the late 1980s and early 1990’s our predecessors stopped using numbers for a while, and when they started up again there was one volume less. We decided to correct this slight mistake with this issue. Whereas last year’s Spring issue was Volume 36, this year we correct the discrepancy by naming this issue Volume 38. So don’t worry, we can count, and you didn’t mysteriously lose one year of your life.

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Héctor Silva

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n a world of gray, a lifeless skeleton in his desert-camo uniform stands in focus. He is lined up an even distance from other soldiers like himself.

Ironically he stares without eyes, an empty, profound, penetrating gaze. No sign of activity in his surroundings, except for the bombs going off in the background. No sign of nature, no sign of humanity, no sign of life. His name stitched on his clothing reads “G.I. José.”

This piece by Héctor Silva captures the essence of Latino soldiers at war. Silva’s works often capture a reality that would otherwise go neglected.

With pencil as a prominent medium in all of his works, he is able to bring into focus the subject and reality of his piece through the contrast of white, black, and all that lies in between.

Self-taught and based in the city of Los Angeles, Silva has been creating art for more than twenty years. He was born in Ocotlán, Jalisco, in México and moved to the United States when he was 17 years old.

He began drawing in his late twenties when he discovered his talent. In 1982 he produced his first portrait of Lucille Ball. The portrait later found itself to her, and she contacted him to obtain the original two years later, which established the foundation for his commercial career.

Another boost for Silva’s career occurred when he received San Diego’s prestigious Sandie and Nicky Awards, which marked his popularity in Southern California.

In 1997 Silva was awarded the first prize as Emerging Erotic Artist by the Tom of Finland Foundation. Silva has also worked on a few films such as “Back to the Future” and “For the Boys.”

Silva draws homosexual identity and Latino tradition from Los Angeles, a city thriving with Chicano culture. The city however, is not among his only influences. Tom of Finland, Frida Kahlo, M.C. Escher, Chicano prison art, and pornography find

themselves into his work as well. Silva explores the themes of cultural identity, eroticism, and the beauty of both entwined.

He captures the light and shadow that brings these themes to life with pencil. Silva draws from his photographic stills. He often employs the pencil as his medium even though he is experienced with oil and acrylic, “Pencil is my favorite medium,” says Silva. “I find it pure, beautiful, and democratic.”

Silva is not interested in making a statement, but is more interested in the statements his audience may find in his work. “I don’t think it’s the artists job to explain her or his work,” says Silva. “The art should speak for itself.” Silva wants to know where his audience stands and whether or not they welcome the particular type of art.

Silva employs homoerotic themes in more explicit works, which are sometimes welcomed by his audience. Silva has encountered obstacles as a gay Chicano artist. “Some people don’t know how to take homoerotic work,” he says. “And then, there is the constant problem of Chicano nationalists who cannot handle queerness in the movement.”

Racism within the gay community and the art world is also an issue. “The art world is racist, afraid of erotic art, and very elitist,” says Silva.

“Some people have very strange ideas about what a Latino artist’s work is supposed to be.”

Silva’s work is featured in the 2005 edition Triumphs of Our Communities: 4 Decades of Mexican American Art published by the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University. His art is the subject in “Queering the Homeboy Aesthetic,” by Richard T. Rodriguez, Ph.D. Some other publications that have featured his work are Paper/Golden Hill, The Edge, and The Update. His works, “Obregon #2” and “G.I. José” have also been featured on

the cover of past issues of La Gente de Aztlán.

Silva draws for his community and those that appreciate his art enough to display it in their homes or offices. Regardless of the audience he’s trying to target, he makes

his work available to all. “I have to draw for the people who have the money to buy my originals, but also for the people who can only afford prints,” says Silva. “ I sell my work at street fairs and festivals. Many people never go to a museum or gallery, but I have to insist that my work reaches them.”

Silva’s work is collected internationally and has received acclaim in the United States and abroad.

--Melissa Lambarena For more information on this artist and his work visit: www.artbyhector.com

Victoria Delgadillo W

hile the beginning of some artistic careers is marked by the first selling of a piece, or the implementation of a newly discovered process for working in a certain medium, Victoria Delgadillo marks hers with the creation of a cow in fourth grade. Today, the subject matter of her work has less to do with cows and more with people— women in particular. Her work deals greatly with the female form—whether it is a watercolor painting of a woman’s bust, or a paper dress created at one of her workshops.

Contributing a work entitled “Bra” to La Gente’s art exhibit “Voices from the Other Side.” Delgadillo reminds us that art is what we make of it. In “Bra,” the article of clothing created to fit the contours of women’s bodies and make them seem more appealing, lending the body to objectification, ceases to be the venue of exhibition for the female form and becomes exhibited itself for what it is, merely an object. The incompleteness of the female form, 4

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observed in “Bra” and several other of Delgadillo’s works, represents a lack of wholeness with regard to the autonomy women have over their bodies, as if their bodies are not their own, but the property of society to be picked apart in accordance with what society deems appropriate.

Notable for her involvement in the movement against the genocide of Guatemalan women, much of her work is a statement about women, that should be extended to the world in which we live.

Victoria says of art, “art is not how others tell you it should be— art is how you define it for yourself.”

Furthermore, the usage of color in “Bra” illustrates the convergence of people, as blues and pinks—colors generally associated with certain genders— converge to create the purple that dominates “Bra.” While the female body might be more subject to sexual objectification, it is an issue that faces society as a whole and can only be halted with action by the whole, or the purple in this case.

--Amy Sánchez

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na de las piezas de arte más controversiales donada para la exhibición de la revista fue la pintura fue titulada “...El Espíritu Santo, Amén.”

Esta obra, cuenta el artista Ernesto Vázquez, fue inspirada en la vida de un Papa conocido como Papa Pió XII que representó al Vaticano durante la época de la segunda guerra mundial.

Nos cuenta que la historia del Papa fue muy polémica, pues existen diferentes versiones acerca del envolvimiento que el representante religioso tuvo durante la guerra.

Una de esas versiones mantiene que el Papa jugó un papel muy importante— pues contribuyó enormemente a salvar la vida de miles de judíos. Sin embargo, otra versión describe al pontífice como un antisemita que ignoró la desesperación y fatal desenlace de un gran número de judíos a causa del holocausto. Ernesto nos relata que esa pintura fue realizada en memoria del famoso Papa.

Ernesto Vázquez, alias el “Evill,” es un artista angelino criado en los proyectos del Este de Los Ángeles, hijo de padres jaliscienses y el menor de nueve hermanos. Su familia emigró a este país hace poco más de 27 años. Un año

Evill

después nació Ernesto, así que en forma de broma nos confiesa que él no es un simple “pocho” sino es un “pocho, bien pocho.” Su padre, mariachi profesional, al igual que su familia ha contribuido enormemente a mantener una de las tradiciones musicales más representativas de México, el mariachi. Teniendo un músico en la familia y en la casa fue una oportunidad única de estar expuesto al arte pues, su papá se encargó de enseñarle a él y a sus hermanos a tocar diferentes instrumentos musicales como la guitarra y la trompeta. Sin embargo, Evill descubrió por él mismo una forma de exteriorizar sus habilidades artísticas de una forma diferente: a él le llamaba la atención la pintura. Desde los seis años empezó a demostrar un interés inigualable por el arte ya que a esa corta edad empezó a pintar. Las caricaturas y la animación fueron dos pasatiempos que le fascinaban de niño. Después llego a ser muy aficionado de las tiras cómicas.

Por un tiempo soñaba con ser dibujante de ese tipo de revistas y hacer de su pasatiempo una profesión.

Sus objetivos han cambiado con el tiempo pero su interés por el arte sigue intacto. Más aún, su interés por el arte ha crecido enormemente, hasta con-

vertirse en una gran pasión. Al ser testigos del gran talento e interés que Ernesto mostraba, sus padres decidieron apoyarlo al cien por ciento. Así que lo inscribieron en clases de arte, pues estaban convencidos de que esa era la mejor forma de ayudarlo a desarrollar sus capacidades artísticas. Sus padres no fueron los únicos que notaron el talento artístico de Evill, pues la mayoría de sus maestros lo metían en concursos de arte, concursos que la mayor parte del tiempo ganaba. Desde entonces Evill empezó a ganar becas que le dieron la oportunidad de asistir diversos programas, cursos y talleres que le han ayudado enormemente a expandir su conocimiento del arte. Evill actualmente estudia historia del arte y revela que la escuela le ha dado la oportunidad de aprender una variedad de estilos, técnicas y géneros.

Uno de los géneros artísticos que más le llama la atención es el arte precolombino. El género ha sido uno de los que más lo ha inspirado e influido sus pinturas.

-- Erika Hernández

Información para contactarlo: Página de Internet www.evillustrations.com Myspace www.myspace.com/evillustrations

William Acedo O

ne night while looking out the window of his loft in downtown Los Angeles, William Acedo noticed a naked Latino man in his mid-fifties walking across the Sixth Street bridge. Hugging a little bundle in his hands, the man trudged his way along the empty and quiet bridge as the full moon seemed to hover over him, illuminating his path.

“That could be me...or anyone,” Acedo said, recalling that night. “I even imagined he was walking to County Hospital...either he would walk there or the police would pick him up and take him there. In such a great city as Los Angeles, that’s all we could offer him.”

This experience inspired Acedo’s art piece “On Route to County,” a linoleum blockprint that he donated to La Gente’s silent art auction this past spring, along with his other piece, “To Protect and To Serve.”

Although he grew up in Santa Cruz, Calif., William Acedo has lived most of his adult life in Los Angeles. His love and appreciation for this city has kept him here for more than 15 years and has inspired a lot of his artistic work. Acedo furthered his art education at the prestigious Art Institute of San Francisco, Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles, and UCLA. His artistic talent has been solicited for the production of more than fifty motion pictures, among them “Polar Express,” “The Last Samurai,” “What Lies Beneath,” and “Castaway.” Currently, he resides in a studio loft in downtown Los Angeles accompanied by his two dogs, Lucky and Lady.

“To Protect and To Serve” was also inspired by Los Angeles city life. Created in the form of a police badge, the piece exhibits images representative of one of the oldest bars in L.A., Little Pedro’s Cantina, located next to the First Street bridge. This place was frequented by police officers and ironically, also by people involved in illicit activities. Here, these groups of people would interact, consuming drinks and flirting with the women in the bar. On the streets however, their worlds failed to interact on friendly terms. To Acedo, this bar “represented a real slice of Los Angeles, defying expectations and crossing boundaries.” Little Pedro’s Cantina was closed due to the increase in criminal activity within its premises. It has recently re-opened with a completely different appearance and atmosphere through the development project that attempts to upscale downtown Los Angeles.

Whether it is through a detailed piece of the Sixth Street bridge or a symbol of the interaction of L.A.’s law and crime, Acedo’s artwork presents a unique view of Los Angeles that many often fail to see.

--Karina Díaz

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GRONK W

edged between the slums of Sixth Street and the start of West Los Angeles, Gronk lives garretted away at the top of a downtown high-rise flanked by Corinthian columns. Upon entering, the sound of the big city-- screams and yells of the people below, cars and buses rumbling by-- turn muted and do not penetrate the walls of his concrete lair. Paintings by colleagues dabbed with pieces of a layered, multi colored aesthetic hang from the walls.

On his roof lies a makeshift paradise made from an embedded garden and wooden planks. A full-size street sign reading “Brooklyn Ave” leads the way to the kitchen. The apartment breathes through the swirling, vibrant images from his home and neighborhood, exuding the despair, enthusiasm and power that reflects onto his canvas and brings substance to Gronk the man.

While Gronk excels as an artist, enjoying such titles as “national treasure” and other similar laudatory dubbings, his reputation as an ill-natured, “grumpy” maverick precedes him amongst other artists. In addition, Gronk’s eccentric lifestyle devoid of drinking or driving sounds suspiciously like an ascetic-artist’s gimmick. Yet, given Gronk’s iconic stature and notoriety in the mainstream art world, the disgruntled complaints of lesser-known Chicana/o artists can only be expected.

But his mainstream popularity reflects nothing less than uncompromised ingenuity. Indeed, Gronk breaks open the stereotypical Chicano mold that he believes confines many Chicana/o artists who in vain, seek to re-

vitalize a clichéd genre that has long reached token status.

The passion that characteristically animates every one of Gronk’s pieces isn’t too hard to trace. A self-proclaimed “Chicano artist,” Gronk rose from east Los Angeles during the Vietnam War. He carries on the legacy of the struggles from that era in more ways than one. Gronk admits that his work directly reflects the themes and principles of social justice that drove the movements during the 1960’s. Moreover, dedicated to giving back to the community, Gronk teaches local students his finely honed art skills.

Gronk’s body of work defies categorization, spanning multiple genres. His work commonly features shades of pencil breaking out, submerging into and emerging from the penciled paper. One example of this defiance is his penchant for drawing table napkins. These napkins captivate, sometimes capturing abstract reflections on the intimate and the quotidian. But perhaps, across this diverse body of work, one image can speak for Gronk’s art process, his other artwork, and perhaps Gronk himself: his elusive and beloved Tormenta” a lovely pale-skinned woman whose back is always facing the audience. Her character appears in an extended series of over twenty paintings and never comes closer to revealing her face with each return, but every time Gronk paints her, she acquires a more authoritarian poise. Tormenta renews and redefines herself with each rebirth. And with each rendering, she calls to us, not facing us, but from within us, to do the same.

-Héctor Peña

“Sketchbook Drawing,” Gronk 1984

Douglas

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Miles

ive years ago, Douglas Miles began selling his paintings at different art markets in Arizona. When his 14-year old son asked him for a new skateboard, Miles made a decision that inspired the work that would take his art career in a different direction. Not being able to afford the name brand skateboards, Miles decided to make his son a board with his own design instead.

Thus began the now five-year art project that has put Miles’ artwork on many skateboard decks. The decks belonging to the Apache Skateboards project range from images of Apache warriors, to the Godfather and Jimi Hendrix. The skateboards not only portray Miles’ personal interests, but have also evolved as an educational tool to promote awareness about Native American history and culture.

Miles’ skateboards have appeared in many art galleries and have been sold and auctioned for thousands of dollars. The real value of them, however, lies in the skateboards that are used and owned by youth in Miles’ native Arizona. Miles does not intend Apache Skateboards to be solely for commercial purposes, but to be a tool of empowerment for Apache youth. “I like to use my art to focus on Apache figures, Apache history, or Native people; I like to

use that to tell a story — a simple story of the fact that we exist,” says Miles.

Aside from using his art to address misconceptions and stereotypes about Native people, Miles also hopes to start a non-profit organization in the future. This non-profit would promote skateboarding in Indian country and provide a space where kids from native and non-native backgrounds can learn about film-making, photography, and poetry.

Taking into account the way that schools and other institutions ignore the struggles and victories of people of color, Miles believes that art is an important tool to educate youth.

Miles recalls that during his time in school, the history of Native Americans was either conspicuously absent or misrepresented: “The pilgrims sat down and had dinner.

Native people were so stupid they sold the island of Manhattan for $30. Now you look back and it’s just this whole system of information to make Native people look stupid.” This is why Miles paints his decks with images of tribal leaders like Chief Sitting Bull and Geronimo, great Native American statesmen who aren’t really heard about in history.

Miles also notices that it’s difficult for higher institutions to recruit and retain Native students.

He recognizes how

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imposing it must be for kids from rural or inner-city areas to attend a university and leave the close-knit groups they might be used to. For this reason, Miles sees the importance of having a center where people can go and connect with people from their communities, as well as hiring staff who understand the challenges of coming from a rural or inner-city community and can therefore help in the transition to college.

Miles’ emphasis on community also spills into this thoughts of what it takes for an artist to make a real impact. “Staying connected to their community will probably have the most impact than an artist that doesn’t. Not enough artists care about the communities they come from; it’s more of an exercise of narcissism [for them].”

Undoubtedly the skateboarders who use Apache skateboards are grateful that this connection has helped Miles produce original, creative, and educational skateboards.

--Brenda Yancor Check out Apache Skateboards at: www.apacheskateboards.com or douglasmilesstyle.com

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José Cabrera “H

e came up to me, picked up my book and said, “You look like a José.” And I looked at him and said, “If you looked up ‘asshole’ [in the dictionary], your name would come up.”

Recalling this encounter with racial profiling at a past comic book convention, it is obvious that José Cabrera’s cutting wit is missing from his reciprocating response. Not quite near tears, but displaying vulnerability nonetheless, Cabrera becomes an example of art in action: as creator of the popular internet political cartoon strip “Crying Macho Man,” Cabrera is ironically caught in an exemplary situation of the brave man who cries.

And what is it exactly that makes the archetypal Macho Man break into tears?

That is exactly the question Cabrera explores on a weekly basis through his

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comic strip, which satirizes not only tensions between Anglos and Latinos, but as well parodies Latino habits (see above).

Cabrera draws from his personal experiences as inspiration for his comic strips. Which, when considering that his resumé lists designer, photographer, artist, and psychologist as his current careers, makes for one interesting point of view.

Cultivating this unique perspective in his native hometown of Manhattan, N.Y., Cabrera emerged himself early in the arts at age 13, when he attended acclaimed La Guardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts. He went on to study graphic design and received his bachelor of fine arts degree from Maryland Institute College of Art. Later, a deep interest in psychology led him to pursue a master’s degree in

Marriage and Family Therapy.

Today, Cabrera resides in Los Angeles, where among daily life, he is busy promoting his book, The Premiere Crying Macho Man Collection: Prime Cut, published earlier this year.

--Héctor Peña & Rosy Torres

To check out José Cabrera’s weekly comic strip, go to: www.josecabrera.com

Javier Hernandez

nderground comic book creator Javier Hernandez has brought to life an L.A. superhero who embodies the Latino/a and Chicana/o culture.

This new superhero is a good-hearted, noble, cruel, skull-faced superhero dressed in a mariachi suit that is neither dead nor alive. This dual-natured personality belongs to the one and only, El Muerto. Distinctly different from Marvel or DC comic superheroes El Muerto is a distinctly original zombie superhero that breaks the boundaries of life and death while revealing to the world the immense powers of love.

A comic art lover from a very young age, Javier Hernandez created “El Muerto: The Aztec Zombie” comic series with the desire to present the extraordinary world of Aztec mythology along with his Mexican cultural roots. His work was displayed last quarter in the art exhibit “Voices From the Other Side” presented by La Gente de Aztlán.

El Muerto begins his journey as a young man named Juan Diego de la Muerte who is sacrificed by the Aztec god of death, Mictlantecuhtli, and resurrects to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Powerful symbolism and Aztec mythology is brought to life with El Muerto, giving the community of viewers a closer look at this ancient

civilization’s history.

Hernandez’s ideas for El Muerto’s style are mainly based on rituals of Día de los Muertos. This celebration depicts the tradition of recognizing loved ones who have died with altars consisting of pictures, sugar calaveras, and colorful papel picado. Hernandez decided that he would give El Muerto a skull face with a cross on his forehead; a very zombie looking character representing the calaveras seen in Día de los Muertos celebrations.

As an outfit, Hernandez gives El Muerto a mariachi suit which he describes as very Mexican and folkloric.

Just like Superman’s S-logo or Batman’s bat logo, El Muerto has a skull logo placed on the back of his mariachi suit and tattooed on his arm. As told by Hernandez, this skull logo is a simpler version of an idea taken from the image of a Mayan pre-Columbian skull design.

Overall, Hernandez wanted the black and white colors that El Muerto is composed of to symbolize death. El Muerto’s traits come from a variety of people whom Hernandez has encountered, including reflections of himself.

For example, El Muerto is from Whittier, CA— the hometown of Hernandez. Since most of Marvel and DC superheroes are based in New York City,

El Muerto’s California origins bring him close to home for many of his comic readers. As Hernandez says, El Muerto is based on the “ground zero of the Chicano-Mexican culture.”

Thanks to comic book workshops, the legend of El Muerto continues to live on. For Hernandez, teaching comic book workshops is a way to give something back to the community. He has become an inspiration for many kids who look up to him and his comic art. The creation of Hernandez’s very own comic book imprint, Los Comex, is a testimony of his dedication and originality.

-- Katherine Laura

Explore the world of Javier Hernandez and El Muerto at: www.elmuerto.com Check out our next issue for a review on “The Dead One,” a movie based on Hernandez’s comic book superhero.

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& ArtS BACK IN ACTION A

t first glance, the glazed building’s exterior, rough at the touch, gives way to vivid shards of green, red, yellow, and blue reflecting cars zooming by. A once whitewashed replica of the Siquieros masterpiece “América Tropical” emblazons the side of the building, bearing testament to the women and men who have struggled against the same economic crisis that has threatened and continues to threaten the survival of this institution. First established in 1973 by Sister Karen Boccalero, a Franciscan nun, artist and print maker, Self-Help Graphics and Arts (SHG) has emerged unquestionably as one of east LA..’s most important cultural monuments. But for the past two years, it has been on the ropes due to financial woes. Criticized for its lack of transparency by community members, SelfHelp Graphics has found secrecy to be both its success and its bane. After being forced to close in June, 2005, SHG reopened at minimum capacity four months later in October, when a group of over 50 artists and community members called for the dismissal of SHG’s Executive Director and Board. How did Self-Help Graphics, L.A.’s bastion of community art, reach this crisis?

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Weeks following SHG’s closure, artists and grassroots art collectives launched into immediate action. “Self Help is a very special place in the hearts

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of a lot of people—people were responding from [the] fright [that] this very sacred thing was falling apart,” recalls Professor Sybil Venegas, former administrative assistant to Sister Karen Boccalero. Venegas, who has taught Chicana/o Studies at East Los Angeles College for the last 28 years, also witnessed the community’s first attempts at reform during town-hall meetings held by concerned community members and artists. “The community went after the board and the board didn’t know how to answer the questions. It was sort of a witch hunt.” Similarly, another attendee who prefers to remain unnamed observed, “Strange and unstable people with not the best intentions wanted to be the [new] executive director. There was a lot of namecalling and a lot of accusations flung.”

Through the series of open forums between SHG administration and the community, the administration ultimately agreed to adopt an open-door policy, but only after talks unearthed a series of revelations, one more unsettling than the last. But none could rival the moment when SHG’s true owners were finally named: the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. “They [the board] avoided answering the artists’ questions,

until they could no longer avoid it,” Barbara Carrasco, organization’s mistakes. The board also failed in its job nightmare quarter-million debt was reduced by half. In one of the artists present, recounts. Los Angeles based, to provide sufficient regulation. Appointed to approve addition, SHG received an unconditional grant from Barbara Carrasco has used SHG’s facilities to produce all fiduciary matters, board members neglected to the Annenberg Foundation to restart operations for six sets of prints. “Everybody thought the people of provide adequate oversight. $90,000, most of which was used to cover utilities and east Los Angeles owned the building.” This ignorance By the end of May 2005, Self Help was $250,000 the basic maintenance. Annenberg simply wanted SHG fueled the theory that the board intentionally hid in debt, and neither the former executive director nor to get back into action. these facts purposefully to mislead the public, further the board could do anything but close. Clearly, Benitez Thanks to the new leadership and the Annenberg angering those alienated by its closure. never saw the catastrophic consequences his failure to funds, SHG is back on its feet. Durón beams, “we Carrasco further noted that are at full capacity here the misplacing of art housed at at SHG. We have a fully the site subsequent the closure functional etching studio that lead to allegations of theft and is run by a collective called corruption against the board.

Los De Abajo. Upstairs is used “The board closed without regularly on a weekly basis, by paying artists—they held several community groups for onto [the full] commission meetings and events.” But for pieces. Money that was Durón knows the true value of supposed to be paid to the artist SHG doesn’t lie in its facilities wasn’t going to the artists. or well-moderated funs. “It’s That was their livelihood.” beautiful to see everyone Prints that had already been from the community standing purchased and were being held in line to see the art show at for delivery were also missing.

SHG, which is extremely rare Even more disturbing was the in that community, in their blatant mismanagement and community. Where else do you neglect of the SHG archives— see people in East Los Angeles standing in a 150 foot line to an archive spanning nearly four decades and arguably one see an art show?” of the largest, most diverse collections of Chicana/o art --Héctor Peña history in the United States.

Even these concerns stem from a much larger problem for the board and former president Tomás Benitez.

In 1997, Tomás Benitez, formerly a grant writer under Above: Artists find the gates of Self-Help Graphics chained shut after its June 7, 2007 closure. ( Photo Sister Karen Boccalero, courtesy of Harry Gamboa Jr.) assumed his new role as Below: The iconic view of Self-Help, on the corner of Gage and Cesar Chavez. (Photo courtesy of Selfpresident. Gradually, without Help Graphics.) consulting the rest of the board, Benitez increased staffing and the number of projects held on site. maintain control of day-to-day Simultaneously during Benitez’s leadership, SHG’s finances in an increasingly sources of funding were becoming scarce, reflecting competitive grant market a nationwide trend; as funding was cut in the non- would bring. profit world, the number of cultural centers became Despite the fiasco, Selfreduced as well. Indeed, two main Chicana/o cultural Help Graphics fortunately organizations in the nation nearly collapsed: The recovered.

The antidote?

Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas, The same move that began its and El Centro Cultural de La Raza in downtown San previous decline: new staff.

Diego.

Four months after its closure, Mismanagement and disorganization became the SHG acquired a new and more death knell for many non profits. Some were structurally wary, if not wiser, board and inadequate to adopt new rules and regulations to executive director. Current address present economic conditions. Grants became executive director Armando shifted towards self-sustaining business models. No Durón asserts, “Our goal was longer were grants they needed funding overhead or to become self supporting, operational costs. [to stop] relying so much on But instead of cutting back during this time of government and foundation escalating economic crisis, Benitez began spending funding…facilities such as Self-Help Graphics money on infrastructure SHG could not afford. As a serve the needs of the community and of the barrio, result, costs as vital as insurance went past due and the perpetuating art forms within our society. ” A lawyer administration was forced to sign a waiver giving up by trade Armando Durón, 52, was appointed board any legal liability, just to enter the building. president of SHG along with a new board and interim For more information on SHG: In addition, SHG’s two chief benefactors, The executive director Gabriel Tenorio to pick up the www.selfhelpgraphics.com Warhol Foundation and The National Endowment pieces. Truly, Durón’s appointment this position might for the Humanities withdrew funding, citing SHG’s be SHG’s biggest accomplishment so far. Durón’s prior Self Help Graphics & Art failure to produce grant reports on time, alleging that leadership experience as executive director of the Social 3802 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue reports had not been filed for several years prior to the and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) and board Los Angeles, CA 90063 termination. Inevitably, SHG began defaulting on bills member of the Latino Theater Company promised an and was forced to lay off staff. exciting future for SHG. (323) 881-6444 But Benitez was not solely responsible for the Within a few months under the new leadership, the N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r

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Sandra de la Loza

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man is found dead. His face is still covered by the bag that deprived him of his last breath. His body lies lifeless awaiting decomposition and his shoes scorched to the core hide his burned feet. He has become the latest victim of the “The Bag Lady,” a woman serial killer. While this macabre scene seems to belong to a detective fiction novel, it is actually the subject matter of a photographic print (shown above, caption below) by artist Sandra de la Loza.

The Los Angeles artist fictionalizes the context and content of the print by creating her own serial killer a woman. “Violence against women underlies a lot of my work,” said Sandra de la Loza. In the print, she deconstructs the prevalent mass media image of the mutilated woman victimized by a male serial killer and instead offers a print with an alternate scenario. Creating representations that challenge negative or simplistic images in popular culture is one of her objectives as an artist.

In “Taco de Sesos,” a photonovella, Sandra de la Loza dismantles the iconic and stereotypical figure of the suffering Maria. The image of “La Maria” has been popularized in Spanish-speaking telenovelas and films, such as the Mexican films by Maria Elena Velasco, also known as La India Maria. The psyches of the Maria characters are not deeply explored; rather, they rely on slapstick comedy or melodrama. This one-dimensional nature of the representation is reductive of indigenous women. De la Loza questions this kind of misrepresentation and renders her own version.

Her conception of La Maria is one “who becomes a bloody, knife-wielding agent, slaughtering her way out of stereotypical representations,” as she reported to the journal Aztlán. Her creation of La Maria in “Taco de Sesos” is of a man

dressed in a skirt, braids, and converse shoes, with the setting is the streets of contemporary Los Angeles. One still image of the photonovella shows this unconventional Maria lying in a pool of blood, with blood running down her spread legs. This strikingly powerful image works at different levels to deconstruct the archetype of La Maria through its use of a cross-dressing man, the contemporary setting of L.A., and artistic elements, such as the angle of the photos.

tic and political dialogue and action.”

Her artwork, far from being stagnant, inspires and produces social consciousness and activism.

Sandra’s versatility does not end with social activism and art. She is also involved in the world of academia through her position as a professor of Art and Chicana/o Studies at California State University, Northridge. At this institution, her teaching pedagogy parallels that of her art, where she represents an underrepresented community. De la Loza comments on the political victory in achieving Chicana/o Studies as a discipline in higher education and in attaining a space for discourse relevant to the Chicana/o life.

Sandra de la Loza, as an artist, activist, and professor is responsible for exposing stories otherwise untold in mass media. She helps us voice the “Voices From the Other Side.”

“It is important to challenge cultural hegemony and create our own counter-narratives.”

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“It is important to challenge cultural hegemony and create our own counternarratives,” says de la Loza. Born of Mexican-American parents, she looks at her family photos to explore the effects of mainstream culture and media on the Mexican-American family of 1950’s Los Angeles. “The 1950’s was a very conservative era that emphasized conformity, and that reflected in how Mexican families tried to look very American,” the artist explains. De la Loza challenges the imposition of a family archetype that is reductive to the cultural diversity in the United States.

Through artistic expression, she reflects a counter-narrative that is culturally conscious and inclusive of stories that remain untold in mainstream modes of representation.

Sandra de la Loza’s role in the community is beyond artistic. She produces art that in addition to having aesthetic value also points to social activism. As stated on her website, she co-founded an arts collective called Arts in Action, “a space dedicated to generating artis-

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--Crystal Perez

To view more Sandra De La Loza photographs, visit : http://www.hijadela.com/ Artist’s caption underneath the photo reads: “Found body of a male believed to be the 6th victim of a serial killer police have named “The Bag Lady.”

Police believe the killer to be a hispanic woman in her mid-30’s who sexually seduces victims before suffocating and ritually burning their feet.”

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Magu O

ne dozen tortillas marked the beginning of Gilbert “Magu” Luján’s career with Los Four. Having been asked to curate an art show in Irvine, Magu and his partners Frank Romero, Carlos Almaraz, and Roberto de la Rocha decided to put the 12 little disks of corn on display. This show was one of many efforts to validate the importance of the Chicano community during the 1970s.

Los Four was an art collective active during the 1970’s and 80’s that was one of the main avenues through which Chicano art made it to the mainstream; the pivotal moment coming when the Los Angeles County Museum of Art decided to host an exhibit about the art of Los Four.

With the founding of Los Four, Magu and his partners helped bring attention to the importance and value of Chicano art. Serving as a source of inspiration for several other struggling Chicano artists throughout the U.S., Los Four serves as a testimony of what the power of solidarity and passion can have in promoting progress within the Chicano community. According to Magu, “The importance of Los Four was that it validated Chicano culture and Chicano art. It was a big deal at the time.” Los Four and the art it produced also sought to address the stigma surrounding those who called themselves Chicanos, as Magu recalls that being a Chicano at that time was definitely “not a good thing.”

Having received a formal education from East Los Angeles College, California State University Long Beach, and the University of California, Irvine, Magu recognizes that this education has

been one of the most influential factors on his art career. Although Magu’s career has been positively impacted by education, he recognizes that “college also makes people stupid. It makes people self-righteous; makes people think they know something they don’t.” One important thing to remember, Magu says, is that school is simply a place to exchange ideas of who we are as people, and warns about getting lost in principles and theories that are separated from the real world.

More than thirty years after the founding of Los Four, Magu continues to draw attention to the importance of Chicano art from his studio in Pomona, CA. Concerning the Chicano Movement, Magu says he hopes to see “that young people make their own mark and an honest job of representing people’s interest. The Chicano Movement is not for your own benefit; it [is] for everybody’s benefit.” Magu asserts that although the Chicano Movement has changed over the course of many years, “it’s never been over.”

And with the continued struggle of the younger generations, the movement towards a better tomorrow will never be over. Sometimes, all we need is to start with the validation of a dozen tortillas.

--Brenda Yancor

For more of Magu’s style, go to: www.magulandia.com

“Tasting Life,” Magu 2006

Vandalism or Art in the Making?

T

he city streets were cluttered with teenagers riding skateboards and holding spray cans, all seeking an outlet to amplify their voices. A renaissance of culture and optimism flooded the early nineties, adorned by an air of rebellion.

Ramps tested the skaters’ courage, and the clean surface of a water tower challenged the artists. The sidewalks were lined with ’64 Chevy Impalas, a vehicle that would later appear stenciled near the entrance to UCLA. Jesus, an artist with a controversial medium, uses his graffiti artwork to recreate the images from his childhood. Although his method often elicits a negative response, he has been successful in bringing attention to a part of society that is often overlooked by the mainstream. “I’ve come to realize that they are very male-centric images of Latino culture,” says Jesus in regards to his subject choices. Amongst the activities depicted in his most recent work are low-riding and boxing, which were a significant aspect of the culture Jesus

a central theme, and he became detergrew up in.

Raised in a middle-class neighbor- mined to make his voice heard. “Look hood in Monterrey Park, he was greatly up,” stenciled words proclaim from the influenced by three older siblings who steps on Bruinwalk, infiltrating the hecwere highly active in the Chicano com- tic lives of preoccupied students that munity. While his sister participated forget to bask in each fleeting moment.

Across Westwood and on the UCLA ardently in groups like MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) campus, Jesus’ messages seize the attention of all at University types of audiof California “Graffiti art is a statement ences. Often Berkeley, he against tradition and stagreprimanded was exposed to artistic nancy. It is a non-dismissible as unwanted demand for change.” vandalism, ability and graffiti is rarecreativity ly appreciated through his brother’s drawing. Heavily impacted for its value and essence. Its legality by these surroundings, Jesus began to is questionable, and its presentation is tamper with graffiti as a teenager. It atypical; these factors, however, are started with simple letters made with indispensable to its purpose. Graffiti, markers and stickers. He wrote his tag, rather than merely rejecting norms, batDelux, on desks at school while teach- tles conformity with the creativity and ers delivered dreary harangues on top- audacity of the artists behind it. ics that never directly affected him.

“It’s a public art form,” says Jesus.

As time went on, the artist and his “It belongs in places where it can be work grew together. His art developed seen.” Distinguishable by its communiN o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r

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ty outreach objectives, graffiti art functions actively to foster awareness and budge immovable policies. There is a clear distinction between vandals and artists. New graffiti writers are often unaware of the rules of graffiti, including the crucial tenet that there are things one does not write on, such as homes and personal cars. “As graffiti artists, you’re not trying to screw over people.

You’re trying to screw over a system,” he explains. “Graffiti art is a statement against tradition and stagnancy. It is a non-dismissible demand for change.”

Proud of his unconventional approach, Jesus believes that “the city can be your canvas.”

In a society that often suppresses the fuel by which it is driven, Jesus is one example of how individuals must secure their own freedom of speech.

--Jessica Nazar

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Miguel Angel Reyes F

ocusing on the meticulous details of his next piece, the artist looks up briefly and smiles. Dressed casually in a baseball cap and t-shirt, his animated smile exudes the same narrative quality of the very portraits that make up a large portion of his artistic repertoire.

On his partiality for depicting faces and the human form, Miguel Angel Reyes cites his father’s love of people as an early influence to his work. “My father, he encouraged us to be very friendly... he’s very social, so as a little boy I was intrigued by the story, what you read in a face,” he explains, “you can read everything in a face, a face doesn’t lie.”

It is this driving curiosity that allows him to be an artist-storyteller, using bold brushstrokes and an unexpected color palette to transition between the two. A close reading of his portraits will reveal subtle green tones, gold and blue hues used to pigment his rendering of his subjects’ skin. On this unique mannerism, he clarifies, “Your face, your body, is made of mostly water... water is clear and it reflects every color so we all have every color in our face at different degrees.”

Ten years ago, for example, one needed only to pass by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Hollywood and Vine stop to see murals in Reyes’ style: green, blue, and red faces made up a part of an “Amistades (Friendships)” series.

Before he was learning color theories at Otis College of Art and Design, Reyes took time after he graduated high school to study dance and acting in San Diego, where he was raised after emigrating from Mexico as a young boy. Financially unable to make the move to Los Angeles to study visual art, Reyes devoted a few years to dancing with the San Diego Dance Theater.

Not only was it an opportunity to practice his second language in a working environment, but he cites this as a beginning period of self-expression. Although he is no longer involved in dance, Reyes’s artwork is revealing of his background in performing. Whether through the depiction of men dancing, wrestling, or involved in erotic sex scenes, the content of Reyes’s work concerns itself with the expression of movement and its emotional effect on the human form.

As far as political movements are concerned, the illustrator is clear on his role in the community: “I see myself more as a documentarian... I can express myself politically... by giving my name or my work to raise money,” Reyes explains. It is in this spirit that Reyes donated an experimental piece entitled “Glare” to auction off in support of alternative media.

Not quite a portrait, but loyal nonetheless to the genre in its concentrated focus on the individual, “Glare” is a figurative tableau of a man bathing in waves of ecstasy during the climax of a passionate night with his partner at a hotel. Conceived originally as a project to represent Self Help Graphics, the piece is composed of several different layers of color (red, gray, yellow) patterns (rays of sun, sun orbs) and figures working together to create one singular, multi-faceted image.

For more of Miguel Angel Reyes’s artwork, visit: www.miguelangelreyes.com

--Rosy Torres

SPARC I

n a time where it becomes increasingly difficult for youth to develop any kind of consciousness, there is a research laboratory not known by many of the UCLA student body. This laboratory does not necessarily focus on medical or scientific inquiry but rather is a space dedicated to the development of community-based art programs. It is a facility with the passion for innovations in education, technology, and art that takes deep strides in project-motivated, activist-initiated and community-centered learning with the student at the focus of its process.

The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) is a true testament to the ability of multi-faceted artwork having the force to catalyze change, raise awareness and rediscover lost history across lines of race, class and gender. Part artistic anthropologist, part spiritual motivator, part techno-geek, this UCLA satellite may very well be the institution’s most valuable research facility for the coming generations of students both at UCLA, in Los Angeles and the nation. Where lecture halls stress individuality, the César Chávez Digital Mural Lab pushes collaboration. Where the academic institution requests major-specific curricula, the latter

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stresses interdisciplinary inquiry.

Currently, the César Chávez Digital Mural Lab housed at SPARC finds itself at the crossroads of change. While humanity finds itself teetering at the edge of a knife, this laboratory now looks to the horizon of sustainability and greening beyond the definitions of ecology and environment. These actions remain in the mission and spirit of SPARC but with a reinvigoration of youth and new levels of collaboration.

SPARC needs a brigade of young creative minds to take its art forms to the next levels of innovation. While mainstream media torrents through the outlets of modern society, SPARC offers an alternative and subversive message— a full-on expression of the mind standing up against the currents that threaten to dull us and make us complacent and ignorant.

Where are these young creative minds? Many lie dormant within our communities, cities and schools.

And while some struggle to find an avenue of expression, many are discouraged to even ponder the dream.

This expression is within us all, and is the true conduit of change.

--Contributed by Carlos Rogel

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Judy Baca, current director of SPARC. (Photo courtesy of SPARC)

To learn more about SPARC, go to: www.sparcmurals.org

Nuke

Salomon Huerta

S

alomon Huerta does not believe in categorizing himself as a Latino or Chicano artist, but has worked hard to achieve his goal of being a successful artist in the art world.

Raised in East Los Angeles, Huerta was influenced by the murals and the life that existed in the city. At the beginning of his art career, his work focused onportraiture with the subjects usually consist-

J

oseph Montalvo, more commonly known as “Nuke”, explodes onto the walls of Los Angeles with his blend of graffiti and traditional forms of art. The synthesis of urban forms that are unique to street art, like graffiti, and pre-Colombian imagery, also characterize much of Nuke’s individual work.

By introducing elements of graffiti into the creation of what otherwise would be typical canvases, he is creating works of art that both elevate the elements of graffiti, or street art, into the realm of museum art, and also making this type of art relevant to Raza, barrios and urban neighborhoods.

Works such as this print, titled “Mexica New Year,” showcase this mestizaje of forms that result in a vibrant style that has been transferred onto his mural works.

As part of Earth Crew, an indigenous arts collective that encourages the participation of youth in mural projects to function as an alternative to tagging, he has been involved in mural projects like “Undiscovered America.” His work with murals and the ties he has with graffiti – having started

out as a tagger himself - have made him a strong advocate for the preservation of the relationships that have characterized the practice of public art in Los Angeles, namely that between the shopkeepers on whose wall the art will be produced and the artist. Pushes have been made Los Angeles County officials to enter into this relationship, worrying Montalvo and others that a city sponsored program dedicated to the creation and preservation of such murals will place limit on the expression of artist. Nuke was clear about his position when he spoke to the Los Angeles Times about this issue: “For the last 15 years, the relationship between the store owner and the writer [muralist] has been there, and there hasn’t been a need for government participation... What I’m afraid of is they may want to suppress or oppress any content that in their eyes they think is inappropriate.”

This is a valid concern because many people, including those in city government still consider graffiti as an illegitimate form of art, associated not with artists but with delinquents. The artistic work of

ing of gang members. He trained at Pasadena College and received a master’s degree for art at UCLA, setting him on the path to achieving his goals.

Throughout graduate school, this art took a drastic turn. The style of his new work became more contemporary and flowed into the mainstream. His paintings consisted of the back of men’s heads and plain houses. The focus as the back of men’s heads, directs the viewers’ perceptions and experiences which in turn lead them to fill in the subject’s face and background. Such art gives consciousness to biases and expectations that people have been taught or have learned on their own. Real houses built or remodeled in Latino neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles jails inspired the paintings of geometric, pastel-colored, “candy coated” houses.

“I wanted to do work that everyone could relate to, not just Latinos,” Huerta says. “It’s like making a movie, you want to make a movie that is going to be equal at all theaters, not just the independent ones.”

Now Huerta’s artwork has taken another turn. His more recent work includes portraits of luchadores, professional wrestler performers, “I see them as contemporary Aztec warriors. We have no idea what the Aztecs looked like with armor. I think this is as close as we can get to that,” Huerta said.

He describes a recent collection as “[his] first show that [he is] doing that deals with being Mexicano. I didn’t know what to do with it.” He explains that in the past, art dealing with subjects pertaining to the Mexican culture were not accepted at mainstream art galleries. “It’s been done in ways where it’s conceptual and you don’t see it,” Huerta says.

-- Priscilla González Sainz Pictured above: “Maria Felix,” 2001 N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r

Nuke thus becomes relevant and important in rebutting this assumption, not by conceding to more traditional styles of art, but by redefining what art is. His works thus transcend past the realm of being merely aesthetic, and become statements that celebrate our local communities aesthetic subjectivities and the refusal to assimilate amidst increasing pressure to become homogenous.

Much of his mural work, like his collaborative efforts on “Undiscovered America” can be seen in the barrios of Los Angeles, but he has also been commissioned to produce murals in Washington and Mexico City. He has also worked with Chaz Bojorquez on the cover art design of two indie compilation albums: Sociedad = Suciedad released in 1996 and Mex-America, released in 2000.

--Misael Díaz

Son del Centro

Centro Cultural de México’s

Son del Centro is a group of compañeros and camaradas who are students, musicians, activists, dancers, friends and organizers from various parts of Santa Ana, California.

The group was formed to create a space for youth to explore their traditions, creativity and consciousness, through:

Son Jarocho Music Contact Information Our address is: 310 W 5th Street Santa Ana, CA 92701 We are located at the corner of Broadway and Fifth Street (above the El Curtido Salvadorian Restaurant) For further information: Call: 714-543-0095 or Email: info@el-centro.org 2 0 0 7

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We need volunteers for our mentoring component to mentor undocumented students. To be part of the project, contact one of the Project Directors or email

The IDEAS AB540 Project is designed to encourage the enrollment of undocumented students in higher education.

ideas@ucla.edu

Throughout the year we do: • Workshops at diverse high schools • Our annual counselor’s conference • Mentoring • Our end of year empowerment conference

Thank you for your support!

Special thanks to UCLA Labor Center

Barrio Youth Alternatives

Want to make a difference in the lives of South Central youth?

Join Barrio Youth Alternatives, a tutoring, mentoring, and youth empowerment project serving the youth of South Central, L.A.

BaYA N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r

Contact us at: (310) 825-6446 BaYAucla@yahoo.com

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