Friday, May 31, 2013

Communicating Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Technical Communication

Forthcoming from Baywood Publishing
I have a chapter in this edited collection on intersection of technical communication and race that is forthcoming from Baywood Publishing.


From the website: http://www.baywood.com/books/previewbook.asp?id=CRE

ABOUT THE BOOK
The purpose of this book is to move our field’s discussion beyond issues of diversity in the practice of technical communication, which is certainly important, to include discussions of how race and ethnicity inform the production and distribution of technical communication in the United States. Equally important, this book is an attempt to uncover those communicative practices used to adversely affect historically marginalized groups and identify new practices that can be used to encourage cultural competence within institutions and communities. This book, like our field, is an interdisciplinary effort. While all authors have taught or practiced technical communication, their backgrounds include studies in technical communication, rhetoric and composition, creative writing, and higher education.

For the sake of clarity, the book is organized into five sections: historical representations of race and ethnicity in health and science communication; social justice and activism in technical communication; considerations of race and ethnicity in social media; users’ right to their own language; and communicating identity across borders, cultures, and disciplines.

Intended Audience: Graduate students, professors, and practitioners in technical communication, rhetoric and composition, and other areas of English studies.


Friday, May 24, 2013

A Short Story of Mine

Check out "Estado de los Muertos" on Amazon

On this blog, I have a great deal of posts related to the strange, and twisted Arizona politics that control the minds and bodies of Latin@s. With that said, it's only natural that I would write a short story that addresses this socio-political landscape that continues to operate under the mythos of the Southwest, despite the pre-existing historical trajectory of Latin@ occupation and migration through the borderlands of the US.



Taking place on Dia de los Muertos, "Estado de los Muertos" incorporates elements and knowledge from Mesoamerican culture that is often dismissed by those fetishizing representations of the Southwest visible in such popular culture manifestations as those in the cowboy-western genre, and, specifically noted in "Estado de los Muertos," Tony Hillerman novels.




I would be remiss if I didn't mention a recent news story regarding Disney and Dia de los Muertos covered on Pocho.com: http://pocho.com/walt-disney-inc-wants-to-trademark-dia-de-los-muertos-toon/

Some nice Dia de los Muertos images:





Monday, May 6, 2013

Academia de Cruz Medina Updates

So, I am realizing that I have not posted anything since March, and so much has happened that I should post/update because this blog tends to be more up to date than my website.


First things first, I can "stop acting like a grad student" as the saying goes because I defended and passed my dissertation on April 10th. All of the accumulating paperwork has been submitted, minor revisions have been made, and I even got the forms for graduation turned in. Formal hooding is Thursday and I walk Saturday, May 11th.

Post-graduation, I will a Postdoctoral Fellow at Santa Clara University, where I will be teaching as a part of their LEAD program, in addition to getting to focus on some research projects. Soon it will be goodbye Southern Arizona (and your crazy politics), and hello Bay Area! I will miss professors, colleagues, and former students at the University of Arizona, and I am extremely excited about what lies ahead at Santa Clara University where I will be working with some great scholar-educators and amazing students.