As you may know, some of our fellow colleagues in Periods 3 and 4 have been creating audio recordings of scenes from Zoot Suit. I was waiting until more groups had completed their recording to start uploading the recordings-- but face it! These are great and I want to share now!
The scene read here is from Act I, and is titled "Pachuco, Yo." Jim Hernandez is Sergeant Smith, Angel Ramirez plays Hank Reyna, and Adrian Castillo is Pachuco. Jimmy Calderon is the producer. What a team effort-- enjoy!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Art of Mexico/Art of East LA
Leave your favorite links to the art of Mexico and the art of East Los Angeles here.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Zoot Suit Related Webistes
As you read, and re-read, Zoot Suit, here are links so some websites that may prove useful or interesting to you. In addition, extra credit to students who find other particularly interesting or useful websites pertaining to Zoot Suit in particular, or to our Mexican-American Literature class in general!
1. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/
A PBS site documenting various aspects of the Zoot Suit riots. Includes maps of the areas.
2. http://www.elteatrocampesino.com/about_luis.html
The Teatro Campesino website, with information about Luis Valdez.
3. http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/el_teatro_campe.php
An interview with Luis Valdez.
4. http://pegasus.msmc.la.edu/english/laliterature/S03/valdez/glossary.asp
A glossary of Spanish and Spanglish terms used by Luiz Valdez in Zoot Suit.
5. http://www.sleepylagoon.com/H/sltrial.htm
A website devoted to the real-life Sleepy Lagoon murder trial.
1. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/
A PBS site documenting various aspects of the Zoot Suit riots. Includes maps of the areas.
2. http://www.elteatrocampesino.com/about_luis.html
The Teatro Campesino website, with information about Luis Valdez.
3. http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/el_teatro_campe.php
An interview with Luis Valdez.
4. http://pegasus.msmc.la.edu/english/laliterature/S03/valdez/glossary.asp
A glossary of Spanish and Spanglish terms used by Luiz Valdez in Zoot Suit.
5. http://www.sleepylagoon.com/H/sltrial.htm
A website devoted to the real-life Sleepy Lagoon murder trial.
May Day
Today is May 1st, which is Labor Day in Mexico. Some students have "walked out" today to bring attention to United State's immigration policies. (Others, I know, are getting ready for prom tonight). Whether your absence is personal or political, we miss you! Don't forget to add a blog entry to your own student blog. (and comment on my blog! I get lonely).
Also, I was reminded, of course, of the very famous walkouts that were started here at Lincoln High School in the 1970s, to protest the quality of education available in the classic East LA neighborhoods. A couple of weeks ago, at the MeCHA Celebration here on campus, I had the opportunity to hear Sal Castro, the locally legendary history teacher here at Lincoln who helped inspire his students to walk out. Those walkouts remain the largest high-school-student led protest in United States history, and were the subject of the movie "Walkout," produced by Edward James Olmos.
Earlier this spring, I also had the opportunity to hear one of the young women students who walked out (now grown). She is now in the administration at Occidental College, where she remains committed to all students receiving a good education. It was so inspiring to hear both of them speak. Have you ever seen Walkout? I have not, but intend to rent it so that I can catch up on a piece of Lincoln High School history.
Also, I was reminded, of course, of the very famous walkouts that were started here at Lincoln High School in the 1970s, to protest the quality of education available in the classic East LA neighborhoods. A couple of weeks ago, at the MeCHA Celebration here on campus, I had the opportunity to hear Sal Castro, the locally legendary history teacher here at Lincoln who helped inspire his students to walk out. Those walkouts remain the largest high-school-student led protest in United States history, and were the subject of the movie "Walkout," produced by Edward James Olmos.
Earlier this spring, I also had the opportunity to hear one of the young women students who walked out (now grown). She is now in the administration at Occidental College, where she remains committed to all students receiving a good education. It was so inspiring to hear both of them speak. Have you ever seen Walkout? I have not, but intend to rent it so that I can catch up on a piece of Lincoln High School history.
Zoot Suit Yokum
Mr. Licon was kind enough to loan me a fabulous book, The Zoot Suit Riots: The Psychology of Symbolic Annhiliation by Mauricio Mazon, a professor of history at USC. This book has a collection of essays exploring various aspects of the Zoot Suit culture and its place in American life at the time of the Zoot Suit riots. It also has a comic strip about "Zoot Suit Yokum." When Valdez had one character say, "Well, I ain't Zoot Suit Yokum," in Act I, Scene 6, where the boys meet their lawyer, George Shearer, the allusion to Zoot Suit Yokum went right over my head. I didn't realize that "Zoot Suit Yokum" was a real cartoon character in a popular newspaper comic strip written by Al Capp. So, when he says, "I ain't Zoot Suit Yokum," it's kind of like he's saying, "Well, I ain't Batman," or something like that. I have made copies of the comic strip available for you to read in class.
To quote some interesting sections of Mazon's essay, "The Zoot Suit Yokum Conspiracy," "One of the first to percive the interchangeability between fantasy and reality in the existence of the zoot suiters was the famed and controversial cartoonist Al Capp. It may be . . . . that Capp (more than any other individual or institution) was responsible for the American public to the perils of zoot-suiterism." The comic strip L'il Abner, in which the character Zoot Suit Yokum appeared was estimated to reach an audience of over 50 million every single day of the year. So, thanks to Capp, the Zoot Suit character was one that was well-known throughout the United States during World War II.
According to Mazon, the cartoon artist Capp was preoccupied with death, and had themes of homicide running throughout his cartoons. Mazon posits that perhaps these themes of death running throughout the L'il Abner strip may have subconsciously influenced public attitudes towaards the zoot-suiters, and provided a psychological back drop in which the Zoot Suit Riots could occur.
One more thing to consider as we think about the complex world of 1940s Los Angeles, and the atmosphere in which the Zoot Suit Riots occurred.
Congratulations to all of the interesting performances of Zoot Suit in class yesterday-- please don't forget to tell me on your blog sites your reflections upon your performance. What did you like the best about your groups performance? What did you feel needed greater attention, or could have been improved? How did memorizing, staging and performing one scene help you come to a greater appreciation of Valdez's play as a whole?
To quote some interesting sections of Mazon's essay, "The Zoot Suit Yokum Conspiracy," "One of the first to percive the interchangeability between fantasy and reality in the existence of the zoot suiters was the famed and controversial cartoonist Al Capp. It may be . . . . that Capp (more than any other individual or institution) was responsible for the American public to the perils of zoot-suiterism." The comic strip L'il Abner, in which the character Zoot Suit Yokum appeared was estimated to reach an audience of over 50 million every single day of the year. So, thanks to Capp, the Zoot Suit character was one that was well-known throughout the United States during World War II.
According to Mazon, the cartoon artist Capp was preoccupied with death, and had themes of homicide running throughout his cartoons. Mazon posits that perhaps these themes of death running throughout the L'il Abner strip may have subconsciously influenced public attitudes towaards the zoot-suiters, and provided a psychological back drop in which the Zoot Suit Riots could occur.
One more thing to consider as we think about the complex world of 1940s Los Angeles, and the atmosphere in which the Zoot Suit Riots occurred.
Congratulations to all of the interesting performances of Zoot Suit in class yesterday-- please don't forget to tell me on your blog sites your reflections upon your performance. What did you like the best about your groups performance? What did you feel needed greater attention, or could have been improved? How did memorizing, staging and performing one scene help you come to a greater appreciation of Valdez's play as a whole?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Put on a Zoot Suit. . .
"Que le watcha a mis trapos, ese?"
As I heard these words read by Oscar during the beginning of third period, I knew I was off on a wonderful adventure-- able to explore a classic American play with my terrific senior students. I don't know about you, but so far reading Zoot Suit has just been so fun for me-- I'm learning, but it's so entertaining that sometimes I don't realize just how much I am absorbing. I hope you are enjoying the play as well.
I hope that you are also starting to think about some of the issues that Valdez writes about-- universal human concerns of fairness and justice. Some of these issues, will, I hope make you at least a little angry as well as entertained-- angry and sad for all of the Henry Reyna's, in East L.A., yes, but also around the world. I think these universal issues of justice are ones that we can all relate to, and appreciate, as well as coming away with the historical facts surrounding the real Zoot Suiters, living people who lived right here in our neighborhood.
As I heard these words read by Oscar during the beginning of third period, I knew I was off on a wonderful adventure-- able to explore a classic American play with my terrific senior students. I don't know about you, but so far reading Zoot Suit has just been so fun for me-- I'm learning, but it's so entertaining that sometimes I don't realize just how much I am absorbing. I hope you are enjoying the play as well.
I hope that you are also starting to think about some of the issues that Valdez writes about-- universal human concerns of fairness and justice. Some of these issues, will, I hope make you at least a little angry as well as entertained-- angry and sad for all of the Henry Reyna's, in East L.A., yes, but also around the world. I think these universal issues of justice are ones that we can all relate to, and appreciate, as well as coming away with the historical facts surrounding the real Zoot Suiters, living people who lived right here in our neighborhood.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Two Questions
I have two questions for you as we think about the intersection of language, culture and identity. One, as you reflected upon, and rewrote, your essays, what did you find most interesting about your essay? What parts made you think the most? Of what parts of your essay are you the most proud, and why? I saw many examples of powerful writing, interesting examples and some thoughtful analysis. --Please share with me those parts of your essay which you feel are the best-- and consider what mde those sections strong-- how can you make more of your essay(s) equally strong?
Second, as we watched "El Norte" I was struck by the role of language in the film. In one scene, we see Rosa and Enrique being interrogated by the INS (la migra). The INS officers speak fractured Spanish to Rosa and Enrique, while reverting to English (a language that Rosa and Enrique are, as yet, completely unfamiliar with each other) when they do not want Rosa and Enrique to understand them. Rosa and Enrique do exactly the same thing-- speaking to each other in their indigenous lanuguage when they don't want to speak in Spanish in front of the border patrol. In addition, we see variations of Guatemalan and Mexican Spanish, spoken-- in one scene, a Guatemalan friend of Enrique advises Enrique that he should swear a lot if he wants people to believe that he is Mexican instead of Guatemalan. What things were you struck by as you watched this film? Which parts, so far, were strongest, most interesting? Did you make any connections to our unit on language, culture and identity?
Second, as we watched "El Norte" I was struck by the role of language in the film. In one scene, we see Rosa and Enrique being interrogated by the INS (la migra). The INS officers speak fractured Spanish to Rosa and Enrique, while reverting to English (a language that Rosa and Enrique are, as yet, completely unfamiliar with each other) when they do not want Rosa and Enrique to understand them. Rosa and Enrique do exactly the same thing-- speaking to each other in their indigenous lanuguage when they don't want to speak in Spanish in front of the border patrol. In addition, we see variations of Guatemalan and Mexican Spanish, spoken-- in one scene, a Guatemalan friend of Enrique advises Enrique that he should swear a lot if he wants people to believe that he is Mexican instead of Guatemalan. What things were you struck by as you watched this film? Which parts, so far, were strongest, most interesting? Did you make any connections to our unit on language, culture and identity?
Monday, March 9, 2009
This weekend, as I read and reflected on your essays, I felt that this set of essays produced some of your best work so far. In particular, I noticed that the quality of student analysis is improving-- many more essays explored the issues thoughtfully and in depth, revealing greater complexity of thought. Many students used quotes from the texts and analyzed those quotes carefully, using real-life observations, examples and reflections to enrich their analysis.
A major problem I noticed for both third and fourth period, however, was that some students failed to complete their essays in the time provided. I know one class period is not an enormous amount of time-- please budget your time wisely. You will have the opportunity to revise your work if you so desire, however. Incomplete essays can be completed during the revision process. You will receive the highest mark.
I'd like you to be able to read some of the other essays students have written. So that you can share in the work of your classmates, we will be posting our revised essays on your individual blogs as a post. That way, you will be able to link to fellow student's blogs, and read and comment on their essays. I will post a few highlights from some of the essays here later, as well, for you to comment upon.
A major problem I noticed for both third and fourth period, however, was that some students failed to complete their essays in the time provided. I know one class period is not an enormous amount of time-- please budget your time wisely. You will have the opportunity to revise your work if you so desire, however. Incomplete essays can be completed during the revision process. You will receive the highest mark.
I'd like you to be able to read some of the other essays students have written. So that you can share in the work of your classmates, we will be posting our revised essays on your individual blogs as a post. That way, you will be able to link to fellow student's blogs, and read and comment on their essays. I will post a few highlights from some of the essays here later, as well, for you to comment upon.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"I cling to my culture because it is my memory, and what is a poet without a memory? I cling to my culture because it is my skin, it is my heart, because it is my voice, because it breathes my mother's mother's mother into me. My culture is the genesis and the center of my writing; the most authentic space I have to write from. I am blind without the lenses of my culture." -- Benjamin Alire Saenz
What does this quote mean to you? What would Gloria Anzaldua have thought of this quote and why? Richard Rodriguez?
Is this quote relevant to you-- do you, in fact, "cling" to your culture, or not? Is literature more relevant to us if it speaks to us on an immediate lecel, or should we be searching for "universal" truths?
What does this quote mean to you? What would Gloria Anzaldua have thought of this quote and why? Richard Rodriguez?
Is this quote relevant to you-- do you, in fact, "cling" to your culture, or not? Is literature more relevant to us if it speaks to us on an immediate lecel, or should we be searching for "universal" truths?
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