By Armando Durón Boulevard Night , 1970, Gelatin silver print with hand-applied pigment I might as well begin with a full disclaimer: I have been a fan of Ricardo Valverde since I first met him in the late 1980s.  I have collected his works, and I was honored to speak at his funeral in 1998.  So this missive doesn’t come from some alleged objective space where pseudo art critics roam.  A retrospective of Ricardo’s work, which opened at the Vincent Price Gallery at East Los Angeles College on May 17th (and runs through July 26th), under the title Ricardo Valverde: Experimental Sights, 1971-1996 , is the first solo exhibition since 1994.  But this is his first retrospective and it is well-worth seeing.  Featuring a twenty-five year career, with over one hundred works, guest curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill presents an artist on a mission to distinguish himself even as he might have struggled to seem to stay within the bounds of Chicano artspeak of the times. ...

Brooklyn & Boyle is proud to once again offer an original work of art on the cover. Our next issue, due out next week (May 21st), features a painting by Ricardo Garcia entitled Sunset. An acrylic on canvas, the piece was selected because it evokes the hard working moms who have raised us while holding it down both in and outside the home. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here,and  we would definitely have an appreciation for beauty and art. Our next issue will also once again include a question-and-answer piece by El Art Pocho, who spoke to photographer Oscar Castillo, an artist who is considered one of the preeminent Chicano lensmen in the nation. Senior Contributing Editor Thomas Varela, offers an intimate look at funnyman Rudy Moreno, who packs them into the Pasadena Ice House every week. Founding editor Abel Salas reviews Give It To Me , a new novel by Ana Castillo, a writer of extraordinary prowess and world-wide acclaim. In addition, readers will once...

LA Mayor's Chief of Staff Ana Guerrero We are proud to share a link from the LA Weekly . This week they feature an article by Brooklyn & Boyle Editor/Publisher Abel Salas on LA Mayor Eric Garcetti's Chief of Staff Ana Guerrero. http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/05/14/ana-guerrero-mayor-eric-garcettis-chief-of-staff

Writer-director Richard Montoya on the set of Water & Power . Photo by Rafael Cárdenas. By Abel Salas It’s just after 10:30pm on 1st Street in Boyle Heights. Richard Montoya arrives in his trademark sombrero campesino with Francisco Hernández, who is playing taxi tonight because Montoya’s vintage Cadillac hit the skids earlier during the week on his way to a City Hall Water & Power presentation with Council Member Gil Cedillo and Edward James Olmos.  Hernández and Montoya go back, a long way back back far enough for Hernández to have been the natural choice for the assistant director slot on Water & Power , the debut feature written and directed by Montoya. Hernández wears a blazer with a silkscreened image of a ten-point buck across the back shoulders. The image is an early graphic representation of the film when it was still a work in progress. Tonight, Montoya carries a makeshift swag bag with posters and post cards announcing the film’s wide release on May 2nd...

Adelina Anthony as Yoli in Bruising for Besos . Photo by Marissa Becerra.  Interview by Karla Legaspy Adelina, you are the writer, director, co producer and starring actor in our film Bruising for Besos. That is a lot of responsibilities. How do you juggle the different hats you have to carry and still have the energy to focus on the creative process of writing or acting? Bueno, figuring out the hustle of when and how to juggle multiple demands has been part of my queer Xicana artist life for well over 20 years now, especially if you want to preserve a vision or keep the integrity of a project.  The demands never cease, but what I figured out over the years is that the creative part of my life comes first.  Meaning, I give my writing or acting the first hour(s) of my workdays.  I meet the rest of the responsibilities by setting priorities and delegating duties to other team members. Y honestamente if I want the energy to actually do the work, I make sure to ...

Brooklyn & Boyle is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of our very first Annual César E. Chávez Memorial Tribute issue. Our March 2014 issue will commemorate a true American hero who worked tirelessly his entire life to help improve the lives of the working people who harvested and continue to harvest the crops that wind up on our tables. We invite our readers to look for the magazine when it goes to press in mid-March. It will deliver histories, images, poems and stories that reflect a leader we must always remember and emulate. It will, as well, offer an update on the work being done by the UFW Foundation today as well as testimonies by those who knew him. We are proud to dedicate the pages of LA's Latino arts, culture and community monthly to a great man who inspired and moved us all with his humble dignity, a dignity he fought to preserve for the least of us, for the forgotten, for the displaced, the dispossessed and the voiceless. Like Chávez, we must ...

by Abel M. Salas Recently staged at Casa 0101, A Cat Named Mercy is not always an easy production to watch. The play, a newly penned drama by Josefina López, written in her signature cine-teatro form, brings us to the brink, literally, of death and beyond. It is no small feat. Staged with aplomb and a veteran director’s subtle hand by Hector Rodriguez, the two-act show is laden with heavy, contemporary issues. Elder care, immigration, undocumented and uninsured elders, the denial of health insurance to those with pre-existing conditions, assisted suicide, and sexual abuse in the home are all addressed with a keen sense of wit and theatricality, that zig zags through a maze of troubling, sometimes hard-to-stomach and always hard-hitting material. In an ironic twist on the play’s title, López offers no quarter or mercy, but she is never so completely heavy-handed that it becomes unbearable. The drama unfolds with beauty and sadness, with bold truths and implacable hope. At...

Medford St. Studios, home to Brooklyn & Boyle , Factory Tattoo artist/inkslinger Luis "Chango" Huffington , artist/inkslinger Erick "Scud" Brenes, fine artist Richard Valdes, the Visions Crew (LAs underground graf stars) and Sierra Leone-reared Sheku Kowai, welcomes you to our first-ever open house. The open house will feature a special limited edition print release and signing of "Night Fall on Brooklyn" by Brooklyn & Boyle February cover artist Michael Rascón. A special spoken word blessing/offering will be delivered by Francisco Escamilla AKA The Bus Stop Prophet Pre-order/reserve your 20" x 26" fine art Rascón print by emailing brookynandboyle@gmail.com for pricing and information. Only 100 signed and numbered prints will be released. Come celebrate the forgotten corner of Boyle Heights with wall-writers, word-smiths and ink-slingers. And join us as well as we applaud artist Fernando Barragan , who h...

For the first time in history the Boyle Heights Salesian football team takes home a championship. Photo by Tom Varela by Thomas Varela The bar has been raised at Bishop Mora Salesian High School as the Mustangs ploughed through the Northeast section of the CIF Division XIII play-offs to capture their first ever football championship. Salesian had the home field advantage for the game that was played at their Soto Street at Whittier Boulevard campus on Saturday, December 7th. From the opening kick-off the Mustangs played with focus and purpose testing their opponent, Mission Prep High School, from San Luis Obispo. It was a lively and exciting first quarter as both squads were busy scrambling after fumbles punts and QB sacks until nerves were quelled and sophomore sensation, Felipe Mesa, broke off a 61 yard run and a couple of plays later the quarter ended with a 0-0 draw and the Mustangs knocking on the door at the Warriors eight-yard line. A minute and 35 seconds into the ...

DEAR WISE LATINA, I just had a baby and I’m wondering at what age I should start talking to my child about sex? CURIOUS MOTHER DEAR CURIOUS MOTHER, Start speaking to your child about sex as soon as your child starts asking about his or her body and how babies are born... (Never wait to speak to them about it because they may be the ones having to speak to you about sex and the trouble they’re in.) The earlier you talk to them with a positive attitude the sooner they’ll get the message that sex is natural and their bodies are perfectly fine. When my sons were 6 and 4 they wanted to know how babies are born.  In the simplest way I explained without any shame or awkwardness. They were so delighted to know how simple it was and now they know they can ask me anything like, “Mommy, when did you have your period?” When my son asked me I was happy to tell him. He knew he could trust me to tell him the truth and it would be no big deal. Children learn to be ashamed of their bodie...