![[LA Weekly] Pablo Alvarado: The Man Who Organized Day Laborers](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pablo-thumb-550x366-kevinscanlon.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[LA Weekly] Pablo Alvarado: The Man Who Organized Day Laborers")
Pablo Alvarado, 46, normally affable and soft-spoken, bristles when he’s called the Cesar Chavez of day laborers. Despite his accomplishments as director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, he doesn’t see himself as a hero. Continue reading
![[Blog] Jose Antonio Vargas at USC: Journalism, Immigration + 11 Million More Stories](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/joseantoniovargas-timemag.jpg?w=290&h=261&crop=1 "[Blog] Jose Antonio Vargas at USC: Journalism, Immigration + 11 Million More Stories")
When writer Jose Antonio Vargas spoke recently at USC, we learned that his struggles as an undocumented immigrant fueled his career in journalism. “If I can’t be here because I don’t have the right papers, what if I’m on the paper?” he had thought as a high schooler. “How can they say I don’t exist?” For Vargas, writing became a way to prove his existence in America, documents be damned. And more important, it motivated him to “succeed my way into citizenship.” Citizenship continues to elude him, though. To push for change, he shares his story around the United States with groups from college students to Tea Party members. Continue reading
![[USC] Miss Chiquita Banana: Here to Stay, for Better or Worse](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/chiquita_banana_sheetmusic_big-crop1.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[USC] Miss Chiquita Banana: Here to Stay, for Better or Worse")
Imagine a packed movie theater in 1950. An audience awaits Hollywood’s latest picture — but first, the commercials. An animated steamboat appears on the screen, chugging along to cheerful music. Then a beautiful woman alights. Or rather, a banana. She is “Miss Chiquita” representing prominent fruit company Chiquita Banana. By 1950, the filmgoers know her … Continue reading
![[Blog] Hello and Goodbye at the U.S.-Mexico Border](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/msi-summer-08-008.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[Blog] Hello and Goodbye at the U.S.-Mexico Border")
After a half-dozen trips, I thought I knew Tijuana. I thought I understood the vicissitudes of border life. But I had never been to the crazy spot between the United States and Mexico, San Ysidro and Tijuana, where the border wall descends into the sea. I finally saw it in 2008, during a trip with the Occidental College Multicultural Summer Institute… Continue reading
![[Blog] We All Love Spaghetti and Meatballs | Todos Amamos a Espagueti con Albóndigas](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/spaghetticonmeatballs.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[Blog] We All Love Spaghetti and Meatballs | Todos Amamos a Espagueti con Albóndigas")
This post was originally written in Spanish for the “Los Angeles Culinary Culture” blog at USC, part of professor Sarah Portnoy’s upper-level Spanish course on Latino food in L.A. Scroll down for English, or turn to Page 2 for the Spanish…..Every big gathering with my Italian family in Connecticut has been marked by one thing: food. In particular, spaghetti with meatballs…. Continue reading
![[Blog] Watch This Now: Ana Tijoux + Manu Chao in Arizona](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/anatijoux.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[Blog] Watch This Now: Ana Tijoux + Manu Chao in Arizona")
The scene in the just-released music video by Alex Rivera looks calm and quaint, at first. Like a few friends camping in the desert who decide to sing a song at sunset, accompanied only by acoustic guitar and the taps of their toes in the dirt. But it’s not so simple. The place is Arizona, … Continue reading
On the cover of the latest Los Jornaleros del Norte album, Que No Pare la Lucha (May The Struggle Go On), a drawing portrays a mustachioed man wearing a cap stitched with the word “dignidad.” His right hand is clenched in a fist above his head. The stance depicts pride and defiance, the same attitude the group has taken in response to Arizona’s controversial immigration law, Senate Bill 1070, which shines through the band’s entire repertoire… Continue reading
Outernational is back from performing in Tijuana. “That’s a big deal for us, crossing the border that way!” shouts lead singer Miles Solay in the band’s performance at The Echo on May 1. Everything that emerges from Solay’s mouth is loud — yells, screeches, proclamations — as if he can’t contain his energy. He also has a habit of stretching his words into a drawl to sound like Bob Dylan, or maybe Woody Guthrie. Although his band’s music is more punk rock than folk, these two legends have influenced Outernational’s attitude and music, which demands improved rights for all, especially immigrants. Hence, the delight at travelling from the U.S. to Mexico. Outernational believes in a world devoid of borders, where humans belong to the globe rather than a single country. The group’s newest album, “Todos Somos Ilegales/We Are All Illegal,” examines the plight of recent immigrants living in the U.S…. Continue reading
What’s wrong with a catchy song celebrating American diversity? Nothing, except that the Great American Melting Pot is a lie, or at best, a myth. Continue reading
A band of dedicated immigration rights activists are camping out in downtown Los Angeles, in an attempt to collect one million signed pledges from people committing to vote for immigrant rights, to call on others to sign the pledge, and, if possible, to fast for at least one day. Organizers and participants of the event, Fast For Our Future, will be putting out a magnitude of energy and commitment in order to attain these signed pledges in the three short weeks, between Oct. 15 and Nov. 4, Election Day. Continue reading
Lotus land 