Blog suggestions

Thanks to Maia for being the brave first blogger.

I'm writing to offer a few suggestions if you are having trouble getting started.

1) We did a blog in my Race in Popular Culture course last semester which worked well. The students did short posts every other week, so we'd like your posts to be slightly longer (~250-500 words) and more analytical. However, this site will give you a sense of the tone...on the blog we're more interested in your ideas than in polished academic prose.

2) Zandy e-mailed about a documentary about Mario Rocha, a falsely convicted latino from Los Angeles gained his freedom after 10 years in prison. The film, Mario's story, will be on Showtime March 5th. I'm not sure how many of you have access to Showtime on campus, but if you have a chance to see it this would be a good topic for your March post.

3) On the subject of film, there is a documentary film called The Garden showing Friday, March 6th at 7:30 p.m. in the Broad Performance Space (Pitzer). Here's a brief description: "The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America , from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers: Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public? And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.” If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?" We'll mention the film again in class, but this would also be a great subject for your March post.

4) If you are still struggling to think of something to write about, you might consider:
a) The impact of the housing crash/recession on communities of color, especially those in LA/SoCal. Here is an article on Colorlines on this topic.
b) If you are from LA, San Diego, or Sacramento, spend some time on the T-Races site we discussed in class on Tuesday. If your not, you could do a quick search on the history of the FHA/redlining in your hometown.
c) Check out YouTube! Do you have more to say about Trader Horn or Tarzan? Have you seen other films on LA that relate to what we've been reading about? There are several clips from the "Disneyland" TV show that aired in the 1950s while the park was being contructed (Avila talks about them in his chapter on Disneyland). You could watch one of these clips and build on Maia's post.

Your post doesn't need to make reference to our readings, so be creative. We are really most interested in hearing what people want to write/talk about.