CSRC Newsletter June - July 2007
CSRC Newsletter Volume 5, Number 9
Director's Message
This month’s message comes from our Press Manager, Wendy Belcher.
Usually I am the one copyediting the director's message, not writing it. But as my eleven years of working for the CSRC Press draw to a close, I find that all of us here are taking on new tasks. When I first started at the center, in November 1995, neither the director nor I intended for me to stay longer than a week. But one week turned into a month, and then a year, and then a decade. I stayed because I wanted to preserve the legacy of the extraordinary scholars who started the press in the 1960s. And because I wanted to ensure that Chicana and Chicano scholars could publish their important research and gain the academic jobs they deserved—and change higher education for the better. I also stayed because I was able to work for Chon A. Noriega—a gifted editor, a tireless colleague, and an egalitarian leader. In the past five years no one has done more for the field of Chicano studies than he has. I am also lucky to have been supported in the press for much of the last decade by Lisa Liang and Erica Bochanty, who have made difficult jobs look effortless. We all owe them a huge debt of thanks. After July, I will be moving on to other endeavors—teaching literature and finishing up two book projects—but I look forward to staying in touch!
Wendy Belcher, Press Manager
News
2007 Latina/o Education Summit
On May 25 the CSRC sponsored its second Latina/o Education Summit, “California Community College Students: Understanding the Latina/o Transfer Experience Through All Segments of Postsecondary Education.” During the summit, which was attended by close to 350 people, academics, policy makers, and students discussed the role of the transfer function, community colleges, and four-year and graduate institutions in addressing the educational needs of the growing Latina/o student population as they navigate through the post-secondary education pipeline. The CSRC, the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and the Center for Community College Partnerships wish to express their thanks once again to Union Bank of California, The College Board, and UCLA Vice Chancellors Claudia Mitchell-Kernan and Janina Montero for their support of the summit. For more information or to view the three summit publications please visit our website.
2007 SILPP Students Chosen
Established in 1986, the Summer Institute for Latino Public Policy (SILPP) is an educational program that combines technical and practical experience in public policy and leadership training for junior and senior undergraduate students enrolled in the Inter-University Program for Latino Research’s (IUPLR) member institutions. This year, CSRC is pleased to announce that the following students have been selected to attend the SILPP: Sandra Trevino, Michelle Lucarelli, and Abraham Sanchez.
Former CSRC Fellow’s Book Published
José M. Alamillo’s Making Lemonade Out of Lemons: Mexican American Labor and Leisure in a California Town 1880–1960, has been published by University of Illinois Press. Dr. Alamillo was a postdoctoral fellow at CSRC in 2002–03. The book is a portrayal of Mexican American workers in Corona, California, and how they transformed the “lemons” of low wages, racial discrimination, segregated schools, and inadequate housing into what the author argues was the groundwork for civil rights struggles and electoral campaigns in the post–World War II era. Much of his work on the book was done during his appointment at CSRC.
CSRC Librarian Wins 2007 Rainbow Key Award
The Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board of West Hollywood has voted to honor CSRC librarian Yolanda Retter Vargas with a 2007 Rainbow Key Award. This award is presented by the West Hollywood City Council to individuals and organizations whose efforts have significantly benefited the lesbian and gay community. Other recipients this year include councilmembers John Duran and John Heilman, comedienne and activist Robin Tyler, actor Chad Allen, Christopher Street West president Rodney Scott, UCLA colleague Linda Garnets, and artist Tom of Finland (posthumously). The awards will be presented at a luncheon on Wednesday, June 13, 12:30 p.m., at the Hyatt Rooftop in West Hollywood.
Established in 1986, the Summer Institute for Latino Public Policy (SILPP) is an educational program that combines technical and practical experience in public policy and leadership training for junior and senior undergraduate students enrolled in the Inter-University Program for Latino Research’s (IUPLR) member institutions. This year, CSRC is pleased to announce that the following students have been selected to attend the SILPP: Sandra Trevino, Michelle Lucarelli, and Abraham Sanchez.
Former CSRC Fellow’s Book Published
José M. Alamillo’s Making Lemonade Out of Lemons: Mexican American Labor and Leisure in a California Town 1880–1960, has been published by University of Illinois Press. Dr. Alamillo was a postdoctoral fellow at CSRC in 2002–03. The book is a portrayal of Mexican American workers in Corona, California, and how they transformed the “lemons” of low wages, racial discrimination, segregated schools, and inadequate housing into what the author argues was the groundwork for civil rights struggles and electoral campaigns in the post–World War II era. Much of his work on the book was done during his appointment at CSRC.
CSRC Librarian Wins 2007 Rainbow Key Award
The Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board of West Hollywood has voted to honor CSRC librarian Yolanda Retter Vargas with a 2007 Rainbow Key Award. This award is presented by the West Hollywood City Council to individuals and organizations whose efforts have significantly benefited the lesbian and gay community. Other recipients this year include councilmembers John Duran and John Heilman, comedienne and activist Robin Tyler, actor Chad Allen, Christopher Street West president Rodney Scott, UCLA colleague Linda Garnets, and artist Tom of Finland (posthumously). The awards will be presented at a luncheon on Wednesday, June 13, 12:30 p.m., at the Hyatt Rooftop in West Hollywood.
Events
Art Exhibit and Auction
UCLA’s La Gente de Aztlan will host the opening of the art auction “Voices from the Other Side” on Monday, June 4, 6 p.m., at UCLA’s Kerckhoff Art Gallery, on the second floor of Kerckhoff Hall, 308 Westwood Plaza. The weeklong art exhibit and auction will feature work by a variety of Southwest artists including Gronk, Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, Nuke, William Acedo, Douglas Miles, and Ernesto Vasquez. Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit La Gente de Aztlan, UCLA’s Chican@ Latin@ newspaper. Entertainment and refreshments will be provided. The art can be viewed online at www.lagente.org. For further information contact Brenda at La Gente, (323) 514-1401.
Hernández Memorial Scholarship Fund Fundraiser
Please join us on Thursday, June 7, at UCLA’s Northwest Campus Auditorium, and Saturday June 9, at UCLA’s De Neve Auditorium, 7 p.m., as ACTOS by El Teatro Campesino and El Teatro de la Esperanza are performed by members of the UCLA Undergraduate Spanish and Portuguese Association (USPA). Admission is free, but donations for the Guillermo E. Hernández Memorial Scholarship Fund are welcome. Your contribution will support graduate and undergraduate students who are doing research in Chicano and Latino culture, literature, and music. Please make checks payable to “UCLA Foundation”; for online donations visit our website. This event is sponsored by the Spanish and Portuguese Department, the CSRC, the Undergraduate Spanish and Portuguese Association (USPA), and the Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Student Association (GSA).
Film Screening and Conversation with Gronk
The artist Gronk will discuss his collective work with Chon A. Noriega, Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator and director of the CSRC, on Saturday, June 23, 2:00 p.m., at LACMA’s Leo S. Bing Theater. The event marks the publication of Gronk, by Max Benavidez. This book is the first publication in the A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, which features individual Latina/o artists and their contributions to contemporary art. Gronk will sign copies of the publication following the conversation. A screening of the documentary film No Movie: A Journey through the Archives of a Man Named Gronk will begin at 3:30 p.m., also in the Leo S. Bing Theater. No Movie, directed by Steve La Ponsie and narrated by Gronk, was released earlier this year.
Gronk Radio Interview
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez interviewed Gronk, the first artist featured in the CSRC’s A Ver: Revisioning Art History book series for KPCC's show Zocalo. The segment should air Sunday, June 24, between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., on 89.3 FM.
UCLA’s La Gente de Aztlan will host the opening of the art auction “Voices from the Other Side” on Monday, June 4, 6 p.m., at UCLA’s Kerckhoff Art Gallery, on the second floor of Kerckhoff Hall, 308 Westwood Plaza. The weeklong art exhibit and auction will feature work by a variety of Southwest artists including Gronk, Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, Nuke, William Acedo, Douglas Miles, and Ernesto Vasquez. Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit La Gente de Aztlan, UCLA’s Chican@ Latin@ newspaper. Entertainment and refreshments will be provided. The art can be viewed online at www.lagente.org. For further information contact Brenda at La Gente, (323) 514-1401.
Hernández Memorial Scholarship Fund Fundraiser
Please join us on Thursday, June 7, at UCLA’s Northwest Campus Auditorium, and Saturday June 9, at UCLA’s De Neve Auditorium, 7 p.m., as ACTOS by El Teatro Campesino and El Teatro de la Esperanza are performed by members of the UCLA Undergraduate Spanish and Portuguese Association (USPA). Admission is free, but donations for the Guillermo E. Hernández Memorial Scholarship Fund are welcome. Your contribution will support graduate and undergraduate students who are doing research in Chicano and Latino culture, literature, and music. Please make checks payable to “UCLA Foundation”; for online donations visit our website. This event is sponsored by the Spanish and Portuguese Department, the CSRC, the Undergraduate Spanish and Portuguese Association (USPA), and the Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Student Association (GSA).
Film Screening and Conversation with Gronk
The artist Gronk will discuss his collective work with Chon A. Noriega, Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator and director of the CSRC, on Saturday, June 23, 2:00 p.m., at LACMA’s Leo S. Bing Theater. The event marks the publication of Gronk, by Max Benavidez. This book is the first publication in the A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, which features individual Latina/o artists and their contributions to contemporary art. Gronk will sign copies of the publication following the conversation. A screening of the documentary film No Movie: A Journey through the Archives of a Man Named Gronk will begin at 3:30 p.m., also in the Leo S. Bing Theater. No Movie, directed by Steve La Ponsie and narrated by Gronk, was released earlier this year.
Gronk Radio Interview
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez interviewed Gronk, the first artist featured in the CSRC’s A Ver: Revisioning Art History book series for KPCC's show Zocalo. The segment should air Sunday, June 24, between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., on 89.3 FM.
CSRC Library and Archive
Collections Currently in Process
Two collections are currently being processed. The collection of journalist and public relations specialist Joe Ortiz consists of over one thousand photographs that span his forty-year career, as well as hundreds of audiotapes from his days as a broadcaster for KABC. The Tomás Benitez collection of invitation cards to exhibitions and periodicals represents almost twenty years of art openings, gallery shows, museum exhibits, and magazines relevant to the Chicana/o and Latina/o art scene in Los Angeles. In addition, processing has been completed on the Richard Griswold del Castillo Papers. Dr. Griswold's career as an educator spans more than thirty-five years. He joined the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at San Diego State University in 1974 and has been its chair since 1981. He is the author of numerous books and journal articles, including The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: A Legacy of Conflict and The Los Angeles Barrio.
New Collections Online
Three collections are now online: The Dennis E. Leoni Resurrection Boulevard Papers, The MALCS Papers Volume II, and The CSRC Library 'Zines Collection, March 2005.
Staff News
Many thanks and best wishes to Crystal Barajas, who graduates this June. She has been a work-study student in the library since her freshman year. Crystal could be counted on to complete complicated projects in a timely and efficient manner. She plans to work as a sports journalist. Yolanda Retter Vargas, CSRC librarian and archivist, completed her post-MLS program in archives at the UCLA Department of Information Studies in December 2006.
Two collections are currently being processed. The collection of journalist and public relations specialist Joe Ortiz consists of over one thousand photographs that span his forty-year career, as well as hundreds of audiotapes from his days as a broadcaster for KABC. The Tomás Benitez collection of invitation cards to exhibitions and periodicals represents almost twenty years of art openings, gallery shows, museum exhibits, and magazines relevant to the Chicana/o and Latina/o art scene in Los Angeles. In addition, processing has been completed on the Richard Griswold del Castillo Papers. Dr. Griswold's career as an educator spans more than thirty-five years. He joined the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at San Diego State University in 1974 and has been its chair since 1981. He is the author of numerous books and journal articles, including The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: A Legacy of Conflict and The Los Angeles Barrio.
New Collections Online
Three collections are now online: The Dennis E. Leoni Resurrection Boulevard Papers, The MALCS Papers Volume II, and The CSRC Library 'Zines Collection, March 2005.
Staff News
Many thanks and best wishes to Crystal Barajas, who graduates this June. She has been a work-study student in the library since her freshman year. Crystal could be counted on to complete complicated projects in a timely and efficient manner. She plans to work as a sports journalist. Yolanda Retter Vargas, CSRC librarian and archivist, completed her post-MLS program in archives at the UCLA Department of Information Studies in December 2006.
CSRC Press
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
Thanks to everyone who came to the festival and made it such a success. We were delighted to have Gronk with us, signing books, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to give away almost a thousand of our older books. The classics deserve to be read by all!
Two New DVDs
Don't forget that Please, Don’t Bury Me Alive!/Por favor, no me entierren vivo! (1976), produced and directed by Efraín Gutiérrez, is now available at our online store, as is No Movie: A Journey Through the Archives of a Man Named Gronk, directed, produced, and with original music by Steven La Ponsie.
CSRC Books to Go Online
We have seen an increase of subscriptions and readers ever since Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies went online with full text at MetaPress. Now MetaPress can host full-text book content as well. We are trying to contact all authors of CSRC books published from 1970 to the present in order to receive their permission to post their book content online, where it will be downloadable for a fee. This is a terrific way to keep this important research available to scholars everywhere. If you are a former CSRC author, please contact us directly about this process at press@chicano.ucla.edu, particularly if you would prefer that the content not be posted.
Thanks to everyone who came to the festival and made it such a success. We were delighted to have Gronk with us, signing books, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to give away almost a thousand of our older books. The classics deserve to be read by all!
Two New DVDs
Don't forget that Please, Don’t Bury Me Alive!/Por favor, no me entierren vivo! (1976), produced and directed by Efraín Gutiérrez, is now available at our online store, as is No Movie: A Journey Through the Archives of a Man Named Gronk, directed, produced, and with original music by Steven La Ponsie.
CSRC Books to Go Online
We have seen an increase of subscriptions and readers ever since Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies went online with full text at MetaPress. Now MetaPress can host full-text book content as well. We are trying to contact all authors of CSRC books published from 1970 to the present in order to receive their permission to post their book content online, where it will be downloadable for a fee. This is a terrific way to keep this important research available to scholars everywhere. If you are a former CSRC author, please contact us directly about this process at press@chicano.ucla.edu, particularly if you would prefer that the content not be posted.
Contacts
To learn more about us, visit our website or email us. Trouble reading this? Please visit the web version.
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center • 193 Haines Hall • Box 951544 • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1544 Campus Mail Code: 154403 • Tel: (310) 825-2363 • Fax: (310) 206-1784