#carribean fragoza
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I want this!
East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte is an edited collection of thirty-one essays that trace the experience of a California community over three centuries, from eighteenth-century Spanish colonization to twenty-first century globalization. Employing traditional historical scholarship, oral history, creative nonfiction and original art, the book provides a radical new history of El Monte and South El Monte, showing how interdisciplinary and community-engaged scholarship can break new ground in public history.
#east of east#el monte#california#foo#south el monte#ca#southern california#book#good read#Romeo Guzman#carribean fragoza
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I was tagged by the lovely @astarkey - thank you so much for the tag, Ash! 🥰
🎵 Last Song: "In a Big Country" by Big Country
📺 Last Movie: I don't watch movies that often, so I could not say for sure. Maybe The Birdcage? :')
🎞🎬 Currently Watching: M*A*S*H (thanks Tumblr, LOL)
💻 📖📱Currently Reading: Eat the Mouth That Feeds You by Carribean Fragoza
🍽 Currently Craving: German chocolate cake, which luckily I did get for my birthday even if it's just a quarter cake-sized slice. :')
Tagging (but no pressure to do so!): @mikemccreadyscutelittleass, @buddyhollyscurls, @grunge-flavored-flowers, @freakoutgirl, @your-cryin-fool, @coincidence-ithinknots-blog, @fruitcage, @wet4joanjett, @corin-tuckers-left-one, @verdant-planet-child
#tagged#will not divulge who influenced me to watch MASH but I will say...if you have a fucking stellar taste in music I probably trust you#to also have good taste in film and TV shows and such. which I appreciate. :')
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I will say, I understand you now my daughter because with the taste of my mother in my mouth, with her flesh in my body and her blood in my veins I will understand her, too
Carribean Fragoza, Eat the Mouth That Feeds You
#book#books#book quotes#short story#collection#quote#frases#libros#frase libro#horror#horror books#terror#motherhood#carribean fragoza#chicana
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Eat the Mouth That Feeds You by Carribean Fragoza
https://amzn.to/3rpeCtl
https://bookshop.org/a/17891/9780872868335
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In honor of Mother’s Day, Nat. Brut invites you to savor this incredible story by Carribean Fragoza!
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5 Questions with Kate Durbin, author of Hoarders
Kate Durbin is a Los Angeles-based writer and artist. Her books of poetry include E! Entertainment, The Ravenous Audience, and ABRA, which won the 2017 international Turn On Literature Prize. Durbin was the Arts Queensland Poet-in-Residence in Brisbane, Australia in 2015. Her art and writing have been featured in the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, The Believer, BOMB, poets.org, the American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. She has shown her artwork nationally and internationally at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, The PULSE Art Fair in Miami, MOCA Los Angeles, the SPRING/BREAK Art Show in Los Angeles, peer to space in Berlin, and more.
Kate Durbin will be reading from her newest poetry book, Hoarders (published by Wave Books) with special guest Alex Dimitrov, also reading from new work, in our City Lights LIVE! virtual events series on Thursday, May 6th!
*****
Where are you writing to us from?
Los Angeles, California. I’m sitting at my writing desk with a bowl of Lucky Charms.
What’s kept you sane during the pandemic?
I recently bought a View-Master from eBay, and I’ve been looking at all these beautiful old reels, of places like Yellowstone in the 60s, and miniatures of old Disney movies like Pinocchio. There’s something comforting about a little 3-D world inside a View-Master. It gives this feeling of a world continuing on, outside the frame, beyond your vision.
What books are you reading right now? Which books do you return to?
Right now I’m reading Carribean Fragoza’s Eat the Mouth That Feeds You, Kate Zambreno’s To Write As If Already Dead, Sam Cohen’s Sarahland, Henry Hoke’s The Groundhog Forever, Women in Concrete Poetry: 1959-1979, Divya Victor’s Curb, and Ted Dodson’s An Orange.
I return to more books than I can list here! I’m a big re-reader. The most recent is Nathalie Sarraute’s Tropisms, which are beautiful, short, strange meditations on everyday objects and spaces. I have been thinking a lot about objects, how mysterious they really are. And their complicated relationships to people. This object-person question is a thread through my books E! Entertainment, Hoarders, and a novel I’m working on now about my childhood.
Which writers, artists, and others influence your work in general, and this book, specifically?
Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons was a big influence for my most recent book, Hoarders. Stein’s book is filled with slippery little objects with a language all their own. In Hoarders, the objects also have a kind of animism, or life to them, and a sense of humor too. For example, there’s a poem filled with surreal Barbies, that are real Barbies that have actually been made and marketed! Walk and Potty Pup Barbie, who comes with a tiny dog with nuggets of fake poop, Claude Monet Water Color Barbie, Tippi Hedren in The Birds Barbie, and many more.
If you opened a bookstore, where would it be located, what would it be called, and what would your bestseller be?
My bookstore would be located inside the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, somewhere near the shark slide. It would be called McDonald's Chicken Nuggets, and our bestseller would be Jean Baudrillard’s America.
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...Ybarra has been thinking extensively about the meaning of work, particularly in arts professions and for people of color. For this year’s /five residency, Ybarra and Carolina Caycedo have been taking a careful look at the labor, mainly by people of color, that built Los Angeles and the American West. The economies of culture in the arts world and the film and TV industries have played essential roles in the shaping of Greater Los Angeles, as have narratives about places and people. Hollywood, for example, has tirelessly reinforced racial stereotypes, casting Latinos primarily as maids, gardeners, and criminals. But Ybarra is looking to push beyond these limited perspectives that insist on seeing brown and black bodies almost exclusively as sources of labor rather than as intellectual or cultural producers. “We’re not the guy planting the trees—the brown person you’re most likely to see in places like this. But we’re cultural workers, and right now, it’s our job to sit under the trees and think deeply. That’s work, too.”
Read more about Artist Mario Ybarra Jr. over on Verso
In March 2018, The Huntington announced that it was partnering with East Los Angeles College’s Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM) for the third year of The Huntington’s /five initiative, inviting noted Los Angeles artists Carolina Caycedo and Mario Ybarra Jr. to create new work in response to The Huntington’s collections around the theme of Identity. The project will culminate in an exhibition that will be on view at The Huntington from Nov. 10, 2018 to Feb. 25, 2019. Carribean Fragoza, a freelance journalist who writes about art in Southern California, focuses in this post on Mario Ybarra Jr.
images:
Artist Mario Ybarra Jr. at work. Photo by Kate Lain.
Ybarra holds a printing plate etched with his self-portrait. It was inspired by small, intimate works by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) and a portrait of Dürer himself by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677) that Ybarra viewed at The Huntington. Photo by Kate Lain.
Details of Mario Ybarra Jr.’s drawings. Photo by Kate Lain.
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Eat the Mouth That Feeds You
Three votes for Carribean Fragoza’s Eat the Mouth that Feeds You to be something every high school senior is exposed to. This debut collection of short stories is genius, this is late 20th early 21st century Southern California. This is Chicanx, this is Latinx, this is SoCal, this is women, this is body horror, magic realism all in 120 pages.
Ten stories about place and placemaking, about community and how we lift each other up, or tear each other apart. A must read!
“This collection of visceral, often bone-chilling stories centers the liminal world of Latinos in Southern California while fraying reality at its edges. Full of horror and wonder.”—Kirkus Reviews
New audio bookclub episode ... let me know what you think!
#publicgood#leaveabetterplace#amreading#books#bookclub#book#literature#fiction#nonfiction#usc#citizenship#democracy#readingisfundamental#policy#politics#governance
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September Round-robin:
Hi there! We’d like to invite anyone interested in writing fiction to our September get-together! We’ll be talking about the publishing biz and other fun stuff!
Saturday, September 8th at 11 AM – 1 PM
Collect Coffee Bar 3142 E. Campus Pointe Dr., Fresno, California 93710
In the meantime, you should read some of our favorite fiction writers with connections to our valley!
“The Game” by Teresa Chacón in Asymmetric Magazine
“Eat the Mouth That Feeds You” by Carribean Fragoza in Nat Brut
“Roses” by Jessica Santillan in Hypertext
Love,
Monique Quintana and Kamilah Okafor
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Next three #books up. #bookstagrammer ELADATL By Sesshu Foster & Arturo Romo The Matrix: Poems: 1960-1970 By N.H. Pritchard Eat the Mouth That Feeds You By Carribean Fragoza #CityLights (at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers) https://www.instagram.com/p/COaqYe7gOPf/?igshid=1j63uuuiqav3z
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By BY KALI FAJARDO-ANSTINE from Books in the New York Times-https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/books/review/eat-the-mouth-that-feeds-you-carribean-fragoza.html?partner=IFTTT
Carribean Fragoza’s new collection, “Eat the Mouth That Feeds You,” moves between horror and the real.
A Visceral and Fabulist Short Story Collection Filled With Roots, Inheritance and Blood New York Times
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What is a mother if not a frame to show you what you may become, or what you must avoid?
Carribean Fragoza, Eat the Mouth that Feeds You
#motherhood#femicide#domestic violence#book#books & libraries#latinxbooks#latinoauthors#magical realism#hispanics#frase libro#book quotes#libros#books#frases#literature#quote#feminism#patriarchy
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The Entire Universe- Just Don't
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (4/26-4/29/18)-
Thursday
Celebrate Giorgio Moroder's birthday with a DJ set from the man himself as well as performances by Roy Ayers, YACHT and more at the Globe Theatre
Tonight both MOCA locations offer free admission and it’s a good opportunity to see the excellent exhibition Real Worlds: Brassaï, Arbus Goldin
Yamashiro’s Night Market is back- take a shuttle from Mosaic Church (Hollywood and La Brea) and enjoy a drink and a beautiful view of Hollywood
Goon are playing at The Hi Hat with The Lentils, Girl Friday, and Folies opening
Friday
The Entire Universe are playing a free show at Zebulon with Moon Honey and FACIAL opening
ELOHIM are playing at The Fonda Theatre
James Supercave is playing at the Bootleg Theater with Pompeya, and Lukas Frank opening
Penguin Prison is playing at the Teragram Ballroom with Little Monarch and Dylan Gardner opening
Friday through Sunday
Grand Park is hosting Our L.A. Voices: Spring Arts Festival, a free 3-day performing and visual arts showcase, including dance, music and theatre performances, a public marketplace for local artists, youth concerts and more
Saturday
Blum & Poe is hosting a free public conversation on artist Robert Colescott with panelists Erin Christovale, Bridget R. Cooks, and Joe Lewis
LACMA is hosting Readings by Rocío Carlos, Sesshu Foster, Carribean Fragoza, and Stephanie Guerrero, with the writers reading their works in response to the exhibition A Universal History of Infamy: Those of This America (this free program will take place off-site at Charles White Elementary School)
ARRAY @The Broad is screening The Watermelon Woman and Jewel's Catch One with a conversation moderated by Dear White People creator Justin Simien with the filmmakers, Cheryl Dunye and C.Fitz, immediately following The Watermelon Woman screening ($30 tickets include admission to The Broad)
The Smokers Club Fest takes place over two days at the Queen Mary in Long Beach and today's lineup includes- Wiz Khalifa, Schoolboy Q, 2 Chainz, Snow Tha Product, Blocboy JB, and more
Das Mörtal is performing at Union Nightclub
Sunday
Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair returns with its free event to Pasadena (also Saturday)
The Secret Society of The Sisterhood join together at The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever to tell stories- performers tonight include Aparna Nancherla, Kirsten Vangsness, and Suzi Gardner (of L7)- proceeds from this event will go to Women Against Gun Violence
The Smokers Club Fest takes place over two days at the Queen Mary in Long Beach and today's lineup includes- Kid Cudi, Mac Miller, Isaiah Rashad, Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers, Juicy J, Earl Sweatshirt, Dave East and more
Wild Pink and Night Shop are opening for Dana Buoy at Resident
#the entire universe#james supercave#giorgio moroder#YACHT#roy ayers#the smokers club fest#aparna nancerla#wild pink#das mortal#cheryl dunye#c.fitz#sesshu foster#blum and poe#robert colescott#suzi gardner#the secret society of the sisterhood#MOCA#LACMA#los angeles events#grand park#los angeles#music#playlist
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PLAN ForYourArt: April 26 – May 2
Thursday, April 26
Recommended Westside Openings and Events
TOURS & TALKS: Stories of Almost Everyone Walk-through: Wayne Koestenbaum, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 6pm.
Adam McEwan: Nighthorses, Gagosian (Beverly Hills), 6–8pm.
Iris Nights: The Beauty, Humor, and Humanity of America, Annenberg Space for Photography (Century City), 7pm.
Recommended Miracle Mile Openings and Events
Film: Head, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7:30pm.
Recommended West Hollywood Openings and Events
Grand opening, LUZ Art (West Hollywood), 6–9pm.
FURTH YASHAR open house, Schindler House, MAK Center for Art and Architecture (West Hollywood), 6–8pm.
Recommended Downtown Openings and Events
A Tender Spot: Sky Hopinka and the Karrabing Film Collective, The Mistake Room (Downtown).
BUILT-IN, NAVEL (Downtown), 7:30–9:30pm.
Diana Szeinblum: Adentro!, REDCAT (Downtown), 8:30pm. $10-20. Through April 28.
Recommended Openings and Events Beyond Los Angeles
György Képes in the Cold War, Part I: Camouflage and Pattern, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 10–11:30am.
School of Music Visiting Artist Series: Weston Olencki, CalArts (Valencia), 2–4pm. Also April 27.
Botany Bay Series: Plant Science for Gardeners and Citizen Scientists - April, The Huntington (San Marino), 4:30–5:30pm.
China Adams: Massage-Generated Energy Drawings, Porch Gallery (Ojai), 5–7pm.
Shakespeare in Art and Music, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 6pm.
Friday, April 27
Recommended Westside Openings and Events
Villa Theater Lab: The Madness of Love Mixtape, Getty Villa (Pacific Palisades), 7:30pm. Through April 29.
Recommended Miracle Mile Openings and Events
From Earth, to Farm, to Grain, to Table: A Multi-Sensory Evening and Clay Workshop, Craft and Folk Art Museum (Miracle Mile), 6–9pm. $45–55.
Recommended Downtown and Frogtown Openings and Events
ARTS DATATHON: COLLECTIONS, Bob Hope Patriotic Hall (Downtown, 9am–5pm.
Our L.A. Voices Spring Arts Festival, Grand Park (Downtown), 6–9pm. Through April 28.
Closing Reception & Artist Talk for Survival Guide: inheritance, Women's Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 7–10pm.
Recommended Openings and Events Beyond Los Angeles
2018 World Music and Dance Festival, CalArts (Valencia). Continues April 28.
Art of the Table, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 5–8pm. $150–200.
The Only White Party Event Celebrating LGBT Artists, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 6–8pm. $75–150.
MEET THE MUSEUM, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 5pm. $75–150.
Saturday, April 28
Recommended Westside Openings and Events
Artist panel, TAG Gallery (Santa Monica), 3pm.
Clay Vorhes - Cheese Delights, Skidmore Contemporary Art (Santa Monica), 4–6pm.
Paul Pescador: Lovers and Remakes, Five Car Garage (Santa Monica), 4–6pm.
Opening, The Gallery at Michael’s (Santa Monica), 6–8pm.
Opening Party, BG Gallery Ocean Park (Santa Monica), 6–10pm.
Naked City, JAUS (Sawtelle), 6:30–9:30pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in Culver City
A Public Conversation on Robert Colescott, Blum & Poe (Culver City), 4–6pm.
YUNHEE MIN: Wilde Paintings and Amy Adler: Hotel, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects (Culver City), 5–7pm.
Sebastien Leon - The Kingdom of Waves | Alexandra Hedison - The In Between, Von Lintel Gallery (Culver City), 6–8pm.
Do Something To It. Do Something Else To It, Philip Martin Gallery (Culver City), 6–8pm.
Recommended Mid-City and Miracle Mile Openings and Events
Talk: Readings by Rocío Carlos, Sesshu Foster, Carribean Fragoza, and Stephanie Guerrero, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 1:30pm.
Heather Cook: 1D 5L 2D 6L 3D 7L 4D 8L 5D 1L 6D 2L 7D 3L 8D 4L, Praz-Delavallade Los Angeles (Miracle Mile), 6–8pm.
LILIAN MARTINEZ: WOMAN AND WOMEN, OCHI PROJECTS (Mid-City), 6–9pm.
Lilian Martinez | Woman and Women, Ochi Projects (Mid-City), 6–9pm.
Recommended West Hollywood Openings and Events
Décor: Barbara Bloom, Andrea Fraser, Louise Lawler, MOCA Pacific Design Center (West Hollywood), 11am–6pm.
Mokha Laget: Recent Works and Knopp Ferro: Metal in Motion, Louis Stern Fine Arts (West Hollywood), 4–7pm.
John Miller: The End of History, Meliksetian | Briggs (West Hollywood), 6–8pm.
Cecilia Salama: in the name of love, AA|LA (West Hollywood), 6–9pm.
Recommended Hollywood Openings and Events
Roger Ballen: Ballenesque, Fahey/Klein Gallery (Hollywood), 2–4pm.
Adam Linder: Footnote Service: Some Trade, Hannah Hoffman (Hollywood),4-7pm. Continues April 29.
Roland Reiss: Unrepentant Flowers and New Miniature Tableaux, Diane Rosenstein (Hollywood), 5–7pm.
What If ?, The Lodge (East Hollywood), 6–9pm.
Mel Frank: When We Were Criminals, M+B Photo (Hollywood), 6–8pm.
Visions for Himeros, Artists Corner Gallery (Hollywood), 8pm–12am.
Recommended Chinatown Openings and Events
2018 International Co_Works Celebration, Tieken Gallery (Chinatown), 1–10pm.
Show Me Your Hand and Nery Gabriel Lemus - A Place Called Home, Coagula Curatorial (Chinatown), 5–10pm.
Mis (missing) Information, Charlie James Gallery (Chinatown), 6–9pm.
Show Me Your Hand, Coagula Curatorial (Chinatown), 6-9pm.
Ted Diamond, The Good Luck Gallery (Chinatown), 7–10pm.
Recommended Downtown Openings and Events
CCI's 2018 Arts Convening, Japanese American Cultural & Community Center - JACCC (Downtown), 9:30am–1:30pm.
ARRAY @ The Broad: The Watermelon Woman + Jewel's Catch One, The Broad (Downtown), 2pm. $30.
Public Safety and Common Sense, LA Poverty Department (Downtown), 2pm.
Hardscrabble, Walk-through with Dave Hullfish Bailey, REDCAT (Downtown), 4pm.
[5 - nine] variations, REEF (Downtown), 4–11:30pm.
Michael Cran: Fishers and Flotsam in the River of Light, Wilding Cran (Downtown), 6–8pm.
Yoshua Okón, Ghebaly Gallery (Downtown), 6–9pm.
SCI-Arc Honors KCRW's Frances Anderton at Annual Gala Benefit, SCI-Arc (Downtown), 7pm.
Teen Night, MOCA Grand Avenue (Downtown), 7–10pm.
Karlos Marquez: The Other Side of Me, Fathom Gallery (Downtown), 7–10pm.
FLESH AND FLOOD • LAURA SOTO, Museum as Retail Space (MaRS) (Downtown), 7–10pm.
MAPS: Movement Arts Performance Space, NAVEL (Downtown), 7:30pm. $10.
Bajofondo, LA Phil (Downtown), 8pm.
Michael Webster and Breath Control Orchestra - Nice Day for the Races, The Box (Downtown), 8pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in Lincoln Heights
DISPARATE SOURCES: Los Angeles Collage, Keystone Art Space (Lincoln Heights), 6–10pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in Highland Park
Artist Talk: Chanel Von Habsburg-Lothringen in conversation with Liz Cohen, AWHRHWAR (Highland Park), 2pm.
Recommended Openings and Events Beyond Los Angeles
Radiant Beauty: E. L. Trouvelot’s Astronomical Drawings, The Huntington (San Marino), 10am–5pm.
Jackalope Fair, Central Park (Pasadena), 10am–5pm. Also April 29.
2018 Annual Spring Plant Sale, The Huntington (San Marino), 1–5pm. Also April 29.
Native Ecologies & Closing Community Event, Side Street Projects (Pasadena), 1–4pm.
UCI MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Part I, CTSA Gallery (Irvine), 2–5pm.
The Chess Club: 2018 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara), 6–9pm.
3rd Annual MAYDAY!: Tales of Love and Other Emergencies, Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), 8pm.
Sunday, April 29
Recommended Westside Openings and Events
KIDS: Pop-Up Studio: California Nature Mapping, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 11am–1pm.
David McDonald: COMMON KNOWLEDGE artist talk, Five Car Garage (Santa Monica), 11:30am.
The Fantasy of Ancient Egypt from Classical Greece to the Present Day, Getty Center (Brentwood), 3pm.
Parker Ito, Team (bungalow) (Venice), 4–7pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in Culver City
Closing reception for Cold War Spaces and The Russians, Wende Museum (Culver City), 3pm.
Recommended Mid-City Openings and Events
A Series of Movements and Activations by Ali Prosch and Jacqueline Falcone, Bed & Breakfast (Mid-City), 2pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in West Hollywood
Leslie Dick & Kim Schoen in Conversation, Young Projects Gallery (West Hollywood), 2:30pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in Hollywood
COLA 2018 Individual Artist Fellowship Exhibition, LAMAG (East Hollywood), 2–5pm.
LA Transcendental Listenings, Hollywood Forever Cemetery (Hollywood), 7pm.
Recommended Downtown Openings and Events
To Catch a Millennial Part II: Self-Care Concepts from The Survivalist Generation, Main Museum (Downtown), 1–3pm.
X-TRA presents Artist Writes #3: MARTINE SYMS Screening & Conversation, 356 Mission (Downtown), 7pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in Lincoln Heights
TL Spring Shop TL Collective, Pieter (Lincoln Heights), 10am–2pm. $45.
Recommended MacArthur Park Openings and Events
Verretete Eisenmann: The Dialpainters, Bad Reputation (MacArthur Park), 4–7pm.
Recommended Openings and Events in Glendale
Laurie Nye: Venusian Weather and Mindy Shapero: Second Sleep, The Pit (Glendale), 4–7pm.
Anabel Juárez & Alejandra Venegas: Hacer una isla, Ruberta (Glendale), 4–7pm.
Recommended Openings and Events Beyond Los Angeles
Curator’s Choice Lecture: Ellis Tinios, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 2:30pm.
Tuesday, May 1
Recommended Westwood Openings and Events
CONVERSATIONS: SCREENINGS: Part of the series The Black Book: The Black Book Vol. V: Hustle & Flow: A Visual Anthology of Black Labor, Work, and Life, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.
Recommended Miracle Mile Openings and Events
L.A. Print: Edition 8, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 6:30pm.
Wednesday, May 2
Recommended Openings and Events in Culver City
Desegregating Education: Past and Present, Annenberg Space for Photography (Century City), 7pm
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5 Questions with Sesshu Foster, Co-Author of ELADATL
Sesshu Foster taught composition and literature in East L.A. for over 20 years, and at the University of Iowa, the California Institute for the Arts, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work is published in The Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry, Language for a New Century: Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond, and State of the Union: 50 Political Poems. His most book recent is ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines, co-authored with Arturo Ernesto Romo and published by City Lights. His other books include City of the Future, World Ball Notebook, and Atomik Aztex.
Sesshu and Arturo are in conversation with Carribean Fragoza celebrating the book launch of ELADATL in our City Lights LIVE! discussion series on Tuesday, April 27
****
Where are you writing to us from?
I’m writing you from Tongva land, facing east over the San Gabriel Valley, east of the L.A. River.
What’s kept you sane during the pandemic?
Same things as always—my family, friends, and people. Poetry and books. I’m grateful for all you folks doing what you do best. I only do good if other people are doing well. And we’re always walking and hiking. Yesterday we hiked to Owen Brown’s gravesite on a hilltop in the San Gabriel Mountains. Owen Brown, son of John Brown, was one of the only survivors of John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry. He and his brother Jason kept a low profile after the Civil War as sheepherders, living in a mountain cabin. When he died in Pasadena in 1889, two thousand people attended his funeral. His tombstone was stolen once, recovered and is temporarily replaced by peeling plywood signs. But his bones are there.
What are 3 books you always recommend to people?
One size doesn’t fit all. For four year olds and their parents, I might recommend Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales. For hungry intellectuals and young writers, I could recommend Compression & Purity by Will Alexander. For people who don’t know them, what about America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan, or the Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman?
Which writers, artists, and others influence your work in general, and this book, specifically?
I like the University of California edition of Moby Dick by Herman Melville. The nautical illustrations by Barry Moser (page 74 includes a diagram of sections of a whaling ship, page 106 presents a “windlass turned by handspikes” for the reader who lacks a mental image of a windlass, page 147 depicts porpoises referred to in the text, etc.) which are helpful to the 21st century landlocked reader. Some features of ELADATL are analogous to these. Of course, airships are analogous to sailing ships, which are themselves also metaphorical.
Of course, the main influence on ELADATL is the work of my collaborator, artist Arturo Ernesto Romo, whose ideas of folding (prismatic or origami-like), resistance or interruption, and the active participation of the viewer (or, in this case the reader) format the structure of this narrative. Also present, folded into and prismatically reflecting the narrative are images and art work by Arturo Romo. Arturo told me that his illustrations that grace each chapter were influenced by Hugo Gellert, and I know the collaborative practice of public performances Arturo and I did—-and our community-based aesthetics, which is refracted in ELADATL—-have been influenced by the Chicano collective Asco (Harry Gamboa, Gronk Nicandro, Patssi Valdez, Willie Herrón and others). As well as by the muralists of East L.A. and other artists of the Chicano movement.
If you opened a bookstore, where would it be located, what would it be called, and what would your bestseller be?
You know, I don’t want to touch this question. I’m already found mostly inside books I’ve written. I’d be frightened of having my own bookstore, I might wander into the stacks of my own bookstore and never be seen again. Even though Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Larry McMurtry did it! Recently I was in Bellingham, Washington state, and found the Alternative Library, co-founded 14 years ago as a free anarchist lending library, by “Future” (he told me his name was, as he welcomed a new volunteer starting her first day). Santa Ana writer Sarah Rafael Garcia stocks several “Libromobile” book carts around Orange County in Southern California, which gives me the desire to take that idea on the road, with a step van full of books I’d drive to places like the Coachella Valley, or anywhere where people—especially kids—need books. There’s a lot of book deserts. I don’t know what I’d call it. I’d call it all kinds of names if it broke down and didn’t make it to the next place. The best seller? Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi? Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales? Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown? Make them readers and let the kids decide.
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