I just got back from my mail box. What I found in there today prompted me to come straight here and voice my genuine disgust. FEAR MONGERING RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA!!! IT IS THE GROSSEST THING EVER. I love the fact that I live in a country whose constitution protects it citizen’s right to religious freedom. What I abhor is brain washing through fear mongering by any religious group. There is no way to harvest love if what is really being sown are seeds of hate and willful ignorance by bringing people together through fear. Real love fosters aspiration and courage to overcome adversity no matter what the challenge may be. Spreading fear and hate is cowardly not brotherly. Namaste
I telling you man I am a lucky one. On Wednesday August 26, 2015. I had the good fortune to attend a very emotive and inspirational installment of Rick Najera’s Latino Thought Makers series hosted at Oxnard College. The Latino Thought Makers Series is an important initiative designed to engage, educate and entertain students of Oxnard College, the city of Oxnard and greater Ventura County communities. The successful series has showcased the careers of the most prominent Latinos in Hollywood including actors Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, the family of Cesar Chavez, the creator and cast of Hulu’s East Los High and more. Award-winning writer-director Rick Najera is Artistic Development Director for the third consecutive season of the Oxnard College Institute for Latino Performing Arts. Rick Najera is a writer-director-producer-speaker and author working in all forms of entertainment. Currently, Najera is a staff writer on Hulu’s hugely popular show, East Los High and director of the CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase for the 11th consecutive year which has developed more breakout television and film stars in the industry than any other network today under his tutelage. Najera also speaks nationwide on a variety of topical issues including themes from his […]
Happy (rainy) Tuesday y’all!!! I’m not supposed to blog these days cos I have other writing to do BUT I just can’t help myself. It’s also new releases Tuesday. I haven’t followed new music, let alone new releases, with the same fervor as I used too. I have to “blame it on the rain” today, my curiosity, that is. While browsing through my music player I wondered, “what sounds good?” To my dismay my go to playlist simply would not do, today. So there I went into the “new releases” zone. Boy oh boy is there too much to choose from. Thankfully before I became nauseated, and there by turned off, and subsequently tuned out, due to too much content overload, I spotted someone familiar. Low and behold Snoop Dogg has a new album out today aptly titled BUSH. Everything about it said PLAY. So I did. This is what I have to say it’s the BEST soundtrack for this slippery, slidy, wet, rainy, So. CALI kinda day.
Stinky Pinky and Sweaty Betty are both allergic to confetti and ink and paper clips too… Oh, and that gum underneath your shoe Yes, and that Martian Named Gazoo So they hide out on New Year’s Eve and avoid stationary indeed as well as go to great extremes to not cross the path of gumball machines and they NEVER watch cartoons they don’t even eat with spoons (I don’t know why) Though there’s something they enjoy A LOT They LOVE to smell each other when its HOT! -Veronica Pantoja
Frijoles Asesinos A’la Me inspired by Julio… Okay so here’s the skinny the main ingredient in Frijoles Asesinos is… 1. LOTS of LOVE 2. A pinch of this and that this and that 3. Other indigents are CLASSIFIED 4. Okay fine you twisted my arm 5. The SECRET ingredient is… 6. CHEMICAL X
Today is just one of those GLORIOUS days when my theme song is my Prince Galore playlist. Ahhhh PRINCE gotta love’em. Even my breakfast sandwich paid homage to him, this morning, as I said just one of those days. Anyway I thought that over the course of time, I’d get over this, cos after all who’s got time to waste on celebrity garbage? Though try as I might I just can’t shake what is troubling me. I’ll be honest with you I was a HARDCORE Prince fan from like the 70’s to 1987. I don’t know, my musical palate was developing in different ways, and Prince’s new sound at the time, with the NPG just didn’t do it for me. Still I won’t hold that against him regardless of creative differences a long history of sharing music exist. Bottom line I’m down with Prince cos we go way back and because he is like NO OTHER he is truly one of a kind. So back to what’s bothering me. It’s this misleading rumor I read on social media (CURSES that social media). It implied that the night of the Grammy’s as Prince announced Beck’s win he threw shade on Beck […]
The echoes of Augustine’s Confession: “And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tide of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by…” Inspire Petrarch’s crucial conclusion: “Nothing is admirable but the soul.” Much like the air that we breath and the water that we drink, have passed through the ins and outs, of every living organism that has ever lived, on this beautiful and gracious planet, so to will all the words that have ever uttered, resound in the echoes of humanities collective voice throughout the vastness of time to be heard at the right place and in the right time by those who need to hear them.
Celebrating Latino Art and Culture via the theme of Lucha Libre. On Saturday April 11, 2015 @ 7:00p Plaza de la Raza Los Angeles, CA Antonio Pelayo brings us La Bulla. La Bulla is Antonio’s latest installment of art and cultural events. For more then five years Antonio has been responsible for bringing to fruition El Velorio A Day of the Dead art event at L.A.’s renowned cultural arts center Plaza De La Raza. Continually evolving his perspective and community involvement as well as his commitment to sharing his love of culture and art with the public at large. Antonio manages to marry art, music, lucha libre (Mexican wrestling), food, and the whimsy of camp in this event properly titled La Bulla (loosely translated: BIG FUN FUSS). Participants include event curator Dan Madigan. Madigan’s credits include best selling book “Mondo Lucha A Go-Go”, published by HarperCollins, hailed as THE definitive book covering all aspects of lucha libre. In the world of pro wrestling Madigan has gained international notoriety for writing and directing the shows “RAW” and “Smackdown” for Vince McMahon and the WWE. As writer/director he’s been responsible for creating some of the most memorable and “envelope pushing” […]
Past the filth of guilt Through the grime the grit The soot the shit Where it seemed perseverance failed It was kindness that prevailed Dissolved the mirage Lifted the fog Burned up the bog Cleared a path Paved a way In the NOW The jagged cliff The teetering tip The precipices That I’ve always known Is now simply the threshold Of an open door To so much more
The “El Velorio” (funeral wake/vigil) event is being brought to us by award winning artist and Los Angeles native Antonio Pelayo who is also the head of special effects at Disney studios, as founder and director of “El Velorio” Antonio’s vision is to create a space were artist can come together to celebrate and share their art around the central theme of the Day of the Dead whose origins trace back not just to Mexico but to very heart of this continent and its pre-Columbian ancestry. Since its beginnings in 2010, “El Velorio” has gained momentum steadily growing each year. Dedicated to showcasing up and coming artist and talent, “El Velorio” is a multicultural event that celebrates the cultural traditions of Day of the Dead featuring an art exhibition, live music, an altar installation and much more. “El Velorio” @ Plaza De La Raza 3540 N Mission Rd, Los Angeles, Ca. Saturday Nov 8th @ 7p. DON’T MISS IT!!!
Latino Thought Makers: with Rick Najera & special guest Lisa Vidal & Ernesto Castillo