Thursday, October 23, 2008

Learn From Antonio Banderas’ Example

   Recently I read an article in the Spanish language newspaper about the actor Antonio Banderas. It was quite interesting. It stated that he had come to the US in the early 1990s from Spain in order to work in Hollywood and now was getting ready to return to Spain (home) and work on some movie projects that he really wanted to do. I thought, “How interesting!” He wanted to make a movie about 1492 Spain when Spain was reunited after conquering the Moors after 700 years of fighting.
   I guess he got tired of making all of those Zorro, Spy Kids etc movies and now wanted to make something of more substance. And with his power, money and clout I’m sure he can.
   I just thought, “Imagine if more Latinos and non-Latinos thought like this. Imagine if they would make more Chicanos on TV movies and films.”

Frank R. Castillo  ©
  2008

Posted by Frank at 23:14:37 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, October 3, 2008

The Painted Caves of Baja California

The painted caves of Baja California.

    A few years ago I accidently ran into a magazine and while awaiting something else I began reading a fascinating article about cave paintings in Baja. Like everything else, I just blocked it out of my mind.
A couple of months ago, I was browsing through another book at another library and I did a book search on this topic and to my amazement, I found a book that covered this theme. When I browsed though the book, I was amazed at how many cave paintings there were in Baja and how little I knew about the subject.
     In my enthusiam, I checked out the book, bought my own and began reading it during the summer. I was amazed at my ignorance of the subject matter. Especially since as a Chicano I considered myself well read about Chicanos and Latino matters. To my utter shock, when I discussed this subject with other likeminded Chicanas and Chicanos, I discovered that they too were as ignorant and amazed as I was. It was like discovering a new planet or race.

    These images of us have existed for a millennium. And like No Chicanos On TV, there truth and identity has been kept from us. I never learned about these in any class in college yet the “discoveries,” research and expeditions in the books were made in the early 1970s. This is why we need Chicano programming on TV. Other non Latinos are not going to give us this information about ourselves. After all it is amazing to us and all Mexicans about our ancestors.

Frank R. Castillo ©
  2008

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0932653235/totalescape-20

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/baja/

Posted by Frank at 17:52:38 | Permalink | No Comments »