After a summer hiatus, the lecture series (unfortunately titled “Gustavo's Awesome Lecture Series!”–not my choice) I host at the Fullerton Public Library in conjunction with Cal State Fullerton's Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies (where I lecture) returns next week on Sept. 29 with a visit by legendary cartoonista Lalo Alcaraz.
But wait: there's more!
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October 27 brings something seemingly downright bizarre: I'm inviting Orange County Register editors Ron Gonzales and Theresa Cisneros, the folks behind the paper's OC Latino Link blog, to come and shamelessly shill for their blog. Yeah, I shouldn't promote the competition, but I'm doing it because their blog provides something that's nearly unbelievable–positive words about Latinos in the Reg's universe. I will ask them about the paper's nasty readers, whom both Gonzales and Cisneros politely dispatch, but Mexis who do good in OC should view this as an opportunity to meet-and-great with the OC Latino Link team.
November 17 brings someone I've wanted to host for a while: acclaimed author Victoria Patterson. Patterson is a professor of English at UC Riverside but is an OC native whose two books–the novel This Vacant Paradise and the short-story collection Drift–have won her numerous accolades from the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and other egghead publications. Patterson takes a brutal, no-nonsense approach to our diseased land but writes it beautifully and still loves the county–between her and I this night, you'll never hear more love and hate toward OC in one sitting!
Finally, December 7 brings my Cal State Fullerton students to give presentations as their finals. I'm teaching Barrio Studies this year, which means I have students studying the many subaltern (how's THAT for academic-speak?) communities within OC's Latino population. Of course, we can't have a final without loncheras, so stay tuned for that list.
All events will start at 6:30 at the Fullerton Public Library. And I'll update this list as I confirm more guests. See you there!
