Zoot Suit Heritage Week in L.A.

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This was a special and yet very difficult day at the center of Los Angeles for yours truly. Having committed to this production with the Sueño Team in advance, little did I know that I would have to show up to the event less than a week after the devastating loss of two brothers in my community, which by extension was a loss for the heart of Los Angeles.

But I showed up for the inaugural Zoot Suit Heritage Week nonetheless because I knew that’s what our brothers would have wanted. Sure enough, I found myself uplifted by the beauty of our people, our culture and our enduring strength even while facing great challenges. Please check out the full video for this day from Whittier Blvd to Broadway via the link in my bio, and be sure to subscribe to J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast and to follow the Sueño Team for more from our collaborative Palabra series soon.

J.T.

Dedicatoria Chicana/Chicano Dedication, by Francisco X. Alarcón

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Francisco Xavier Alarcón was born in 1954 in Wilmington, Los Angeles, but spent most of his childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico. Returning to L.A. as a young adult, he attended Adult School and East Los Angeles City College before transferring to California State University, Long Beach, where he graduated with a B.A. in Spanish and History in 1977. Alarcón went on to earn a Master’s Degree from Stanford University in the 1980s, during which his life also became ensnarled in racial profiling at the hands of the San Francisco Police Department based on false charges that he was eventually cleared of. In 1992, Alarcón joined the team at UC Davis (which is also yours truly’s alma mater!) to direct the Spanish for Native Speakers program. A prolific poet and advocate for the arts, Alarcón published more than 20 books before passing away in 2016 at the age of 61. He is survived by his husband, Javier Pinzón, whom he married in California in 2008. I first encountered Alarcón’s poetry at the Los Angeles Public Library’s Central branch.

J.T.