Rick Najera at the jamaica in Pasadena

Rick Najera is an actor, director, and producer with credits in film, television, theater and Broadway.  

He made his Broadway debut in 2005 in "LATINOLOGUES", a sketch comedy show that he wrote.  A list of those who have acted in this long running show would include: Eugenio Derbez, Edward James Olmos, Jaime Camil, Cythia Klitbo, Eric Estrada, Geraldo Rivera, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jacob Vargas, Tony Plana, Cristian De La Fuente, Fernadn Carrillo, Rene Lavan, and Yarelli Arizmendi.

In addition to his works that relate directly to the theater, Rick has written four books.  Latins Anonymous, Pain of the Macho, Latinologues; From Broadway and Beyond, his recently released - Almost White: Forced Confession of a Latino in Hollywood.  

In 2012 he developed pneumonia and as result passed out in his bathroom.  He was severely injured in his fall and spent days in a coma.  In his words he shares: "When I cam out of the coma, I was in an incubator  I looked like a broken man, with no future.  It was like a brake on my life.  so I thought about the past a lot.  For the first time I really reassessed my life.  When yo come so close to death you tend to start examining things on a metaphysical level.  And when I did that, I realized what a wonderful people and culture I belong to.  And with Travis Smiley urging me, that's when I knew I had to write this book".

 Rick will be having a booksigning at La Pintoresca Library from 12:30-1:15 as part of our jamaica, next Saturday, October 19th.  

They can't stay to play, but...

Lookie who our Grand Marshal is.

La Santa Cecilia.

http://lasantacecilia.com/

Thanks youth at La Pintoresca Teen Education Center!

Proud to present the special logo for this year's Latino Heritage Parade and jamaica.

One-of-a-kind for volunteers on the day of the event.

How cool is this? 

Copyright LPTEC and Latino Heritage

A tasteful fundraiser

This year there will be 1,000 people in our Latino Heritage Parade.  Being this large there is a need to raise funds for our volunteer run event.  The City of Pasadena is helping us more and more, but there are still lots of permits and rentals to be paid.  

We ask friends and acquaintances to help us by sending us money.  Feels good for all when the money comes in - we know bills will be paid.

This year we will also be having a couple of fundraisers.  The first will be this coming Wednesday October 9th and another on Sunday, October 16th.  

I assure you it will be a tasteful meal.  Tasteful as in asauce that you really must lick and lick and lick and meat that falls off the bone.  If you want something other than ribs there are lots of choices.  My favorite is "Ann-Marie's Chicken Addiction" - crunchy cashews, fresh sprouts, hand made chicken salad on whole grain bread.  Then there are the desserts.  Or the onion rings - you get the idea.

Back to the commercial.

Please come to Robin's, enjoy a great meal, and know that 25% of the cost of your meal will be donated to Latino Heritage.  You can breakfast, lunch, or dinner at the restaurant.

25%!

Vannia de la Cuba

You get to eat, we get your support and we will all sleep better at night.  

Remember to inform your server that you are supporting Latino Heritage Parade & jamaica.

This just in - Robin just added another day, Wednesday, October 16th.

http://www.robinsbbq.com/

Hours Of Operation

Tuesday- Sunday 11:00 am-10:pm
Closed On Monday

Robin's Address

395 North Rosemead Blvd.
Pasadena CA, 91107

We need more nopales

A couple of days ago I wrote about the Family Nopal that was instituted by the Mejia family.  I didn't want to inundate the blog with nopal pictures, but I felt I needed to share a couple more images.

Thanks to the work of District 5 Field Rep, Vannia de la Cuba and the great staff at Villa Parke, a Census Fiesta (is you will) took place encouraging all folks in the area to register in the 2010 Census.  

Latino Heritage was there with our Family Nopal activity.  For little ones it was a chance to talk about their family members and maybe even get a little practice writing names.

There were two young women, cousins I think, who started to color in the nopal.  Before too long they were challenging each other to come up with as many family members' names as they possibly could.   Each name mentioned was accompanied by a short story or mentioning a familial point of connection.  

I don't know about you, but I was impressed.  And I think it was great for them to have written record, albeit pretty informal, to take home.  Bet you there was a conversation with someone else about all these names - which is sort of the point.

Dan Guerrero, Honorary Grand Marshal

Typically I share a picture or two about a given subject.  There is usually the formal picture that was taken on a special occasion.  Can't do that in this case.  

Our 2013 Honorary Grand Marshal is Dan Guerrero, who is also the son of our first Grand Marshal, Lalo Guerrero.   Some might have found themselves lost in their father's shadow, but not Dan - well, not for very long.

Over the span of his 73 years Dan has been a student at the Pasadena Playhouse

a young dancer

who became an actor and a mover in New York

and eventually moved on to become a producer, director, writer, and booster of Chicano and Latino talent on his return to California.  He has produced: PBS Kennedy Center Concert of the Americas, Vikki Carr: Memories/Memorias,  Navidad en las Americas, as well as Al Dia con Maria Conchita and El Show de Paul Rodriguez, the latter being perhaps the very first talk/variety program hosted by a Chicano.   

He was the producer of the first, large Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival in 1997.  He co-poroduced and co-worte Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano.   

He has been recognized as "one of the 25 most powerful Latinos in Hollywood".   The Dan Guerrero Collection on Latino Entertainment and the Arts has been established in the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In his 60s he wrote about his life journey.  

¡Gaytino! is his one man play that is "touching, hilarious, and absolutely one-of-a-kind";  as is Dan.

We are thrilled that he is our Honorary Grand Marshal.

images via Dan Guerrero  and ¡Gaytino! websites.

http://www.danguerrero.com/

http://www.gaytino.com/index.html

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/cema/danguerrero

Instead of the family tree

Nowadays there is a lot of talk of ancestry and genealogy on the net and on TV.  Having a website like Ancestry.com, USGenWeb Project, Jewishgen, and Find A Grave to use as a reference helps to spur on this interest.  "Who Do You Think You Are?"  Is both a television show and a phrase that most of us have thought - where do I come from, who were the people who were my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandprents; the curiosity seems to get stronger as the years add on.  The answers often become more and more vague.  

The Mejia family came to Pasadena at the turn of the 20th Century.  They have flourished in business and are active in community service.  They have a very large family.   They use a family nopal - a family cactus - instead of a family tree.  This is one way they keep track of who was here before and who was related to whom.  

Pasadena, CA

The explanation I was given for this choice was that "the nopal symbolizes the strength that our families have to flourish where 'planted'".   If it is strong and well tended, it will flourish even in harsh conditions.  A tree that's transplanted may have weakened roots and may not survive in its new spot. 

Sutter County, CA

There is another aspect to the transplanted nopal that's worth noting.  Despite it being transplanted, it has something of the original cactus that informs future generations.  At some level there is an essence of the original nopal about it.

Bill Hathom, Llano County, TX

Years ago Liz Espinoza, an artist who lives in Altadena, designed an image that was transferred to papel picado work that she did.  We have used this image so that students, big and small, might add the names of those in their family circle.  We hope that his activity helps them learn a bit more about their family and will help them flourish wherever they are planted.

We will have this available for children and their family circle at the jamaica on October 19th.  

http://www.genealogyintime.com/articles/top%20100%20genealogy%20websites%202013%20page1.html