Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Preview on Google Books

Reclaiming Poch@ Pop on Google Books

The hardback copies are due out in a couple weeks, but the preview is live on Google Books. The embed function doesn't work very well here, so I'm posting a pic I posted to Instagram from the Google Books site.



Direct Google Books link: https://books.google.com/books?id=RpjOBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT27&dq=poch%40%20pop&pg=PT27#v=onepage&q=poch@%20pop&f=false

Or get it at Amazon!

(Back Cover with Reviews, Synopsis & Author Bio)

Thursday, December 4, 2014

My Flier for 4C 2015 in Tampa, FL

'Cruz Medina to Speak at National Conference'

It'll be hard to beat last year's conference where I spoke at a featured session, got a picture with Angela Davis, and had a great conversation about a book idea. But I'm sure going to try. It might very well appear that I'm over-committed to speak at this #4C15, but I'm really looking forward to all of these sessions, especially the panel below where I will be presenting alongside a couple mentors of mine Drs. Cristina Kirklighter and Octavio Pimentel. I will be presenting on my book Reclaiming Poch@ Pop: Examining the Rhetoric of Cultural Deficiency.



And you can't attend a conference without volunteering a bit of service to the national convention, especially because I really enjoy chairing panels. All the pressure is off me as presenter, and I get to ask questions to get the Q&A portion going.
 Lastly, one of my absolute favorite parts of NCTE/CCCC that I am the most excited about is the NCTE/CCCC Latina/o Caucus workshop, where new and seasoned scholars get together to talk about their work and engage with a local community organization.


Highlights from #4C14
 (Angela Davis and I)

 (NCTE/CCCC Latina/o Caucus)

(From my featured panel with Natasha Jones and Octavio Pimentel)

Monday, December 1, 2014

Robert Rodriguez and State of Latino Filmmaking

Ohio State Professor Frederick Aldama Points to Mexico and B-movie Genre

UPDATE:
Below, I took the "Aldama Challenge" after my copy came in the mail. I found Charles Ramirez Berg's Foreword funny when he says that "Robert had smuggled a Latino protagonist into a popular genre" (x). Aldama makes an interesting point about Rodriguez's relationship with technology: "as the technology progressed, so too did Rodriguez...he learned how to use a Steadycam...he taught himself HD film techniques...he honed his CGI, animatic, and green screen skills" (Aldama 4). Similarly, his writing of films scores shows how scoring is "a crucial shaping  ingredient that should not be left as an afterthought" (12).


In the last chapter, Aldama interviews Rodriguez, which is when Rodriguez discusses the issue of Latinos in Hollywood, or the lack thereof: "The problem I had when I went to Hollywood was that there were no Latins working in Hollywood. It's a very reactive business. It's not really innovative...This just shows that we not only need to pressure Hollywood to write more Latin characters, but we need more Latin filmmakers who can go in and make that argument and create in their own image so that it's authentic, and yet universal" (Aldama 141).



Aldama talks Robert Rodriguez in his new book The Cinema of Robert Rodriguezwith VOXXI. Benson points out the strength of the Latino audience: "As for the future of Latino filmmaking, Aldama said he expects the market to expand in all avenues in the near future once Hollywood realizes Hispanics, as the majority minority, has $1.3 trillion in buying power."


I've posted on Aldama's book on Latino Comics prior. This weekend, Aldama will be leading some panels at the Latino Comics Expo.

See Aldama's new book on Rodriguez here: