Chapter 3 Phantoms in Urban Exile Critical Soundings

“Chapter 3: Phantoms in Urban Exile: Critical Soundings from Los Angeles’ Expressway Generation” in Barrio Logos: Space And Place in Urban Chicano Literature and Culture by Raúl Homero Villa Riley Stauffer Learning Presentation AMCS 115 -Race and Representation

Introduction to Chapter 3 • Features writers and artists that were immersed in the urban expansion of Los Angeles, particularly during the construction of the freeway system Harry Gamboa Helena Maria Viramontes Los Illegals (Willie Herrón) Gil Cuadros Luis Alfaro Gloria Alvarez

The Importance of Chicano Authors’ and Artists’ Work • “Compelling barriological expressions” (11) • Allows us to take on a critical perspective of the city we live in • Context and environment is essential to our understanding of a place and group of people

Similarities and Commonalities Within the Featured Works • Repetition of certain terms (such as phantoms, death, ghosts, shadows, etc. ) to symbolize the social death of Chicano culture and spaces • Use of unique and different personal experiences to highlight different understandings of the barrio: • Patriarchal structure within barrios • Heteronormative Chicano ideals • Effect of the youth gang culture on the barrio

Harry Gamboa • Born in 1951 in East Los Angeles • Chicano essayist, photographer, director, and performance artist • Has taught at various institutions, including Cal State Northridge and UCLA • “Phantoms in Urban Exile” Gamboa on the freeway: “asphalt coating of billions of square feet is the icing on the multiple social layers of a dysfunctional environment” (115)

Biography of Helena Maria Viramontes • Native of East Los Angeles • Born in 1954 • Short-story writer • 1978 -Los Angeles Latino Writer’s Association • 1989 -Founded the California Latina Writer’s and Filmmaker’s Organization • Professor of English at Cornell University

Themes of Viramontes’ Work • Informed by her childhood experience in East Los Angeles • Strong females as the main character • Her stories “narrate socially gendered experiences of women within the masculinist context of their own Latino communities” (115)

“Neighbors” by Helena Maria Viramontes Aura Rodriguez represents: • Degeneration of the barrio and it’s inhabitants • Police brutality against Chicanos • Generational disconnect and lack of intergenerational communication • Patriarchy within Chicano culture • Segregation and containment of Chicanos within barrios Don Fierro represents: • Chicano resistance to the erasure of personal and collective Chicano community history by urban development • Warning against the complete destruction and death of Chicano history and culture

Los Illegals • Come from the Eastside of Los Angeles • Formed in 1980 as a part of the LA punk rock scene • Bandmates: • • Willie Herrón, main lyiacist and keyboard player Jesús Velo, bass player Bill Reyes, drummer Manuel and Antonio Valdez, guitarists • Chose the band’s name as a way to negate the negative connotations associated with “illegal aliens” • 1983 album, Internal Exiles • Mocked and called “wetbacks” and “Pochos” at concerts

Los Illegals’ Message http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=TKlf. Feaw 0 b 4&feature=player_embedded#! • Counter-expression to mainstream media • They wanted to provide “a palatable and relevant statement against this regressive public discourse” (134) concerning Chicanos and barrios • Condemn urban development because of the displacement of Chicanos that it is causing, particularly the construction of the freeway. • “Rip out our houses / Just to build a freeway” –We Don’t Need a Tan, 1981 • “El Lay” became a Raza Anthem song and helped catapult them to success in Europe and Japan

Willie Herrón of Los Illegals • Principal lyricist, vocalist, and keyboard player of Los Illegals • Used his personal experience to shed light on the effect gang violence was having on barrio youth • His brother was nearly killed when he was stabbed by gang members in 1972 • Painted “The Wall That Cracked Open”, a famous mural, in the alley his brother’s assault word occurred • where Contributed an integrated and text image to the Eastside cultural journal Regeneration • Speaks out on the limited life opportunities and inability to leave the barrio that cause Chicano youth to join gangs

Biography of Gil Cuadros • 1962 -Born in Los Angeles • Studied at East LA College and then Pasadena Community College • Writer • Writes about his experiences as a queer Chicano infected with Aids • 1994 -Published City of God, a collection of short stories and poems that examine ethnicity, sexuality, and AIDS in Los Angeles during his lifetime • 1996 -Died at age 34

“My Aztlan: White Palace” by Gil Cuadros • Cuadros’ experience growing up in Aztlan, the “mythical Chicano homeland encompassing the greater US southwest” (140) • Experiences deterritorialization in two ways: • Family lost their home due to freeway construction • His family and Chicano community didn’t accept him because of his homosexuality • “his family home, his Raza microcommunity and personal Aztlan, is a severely compromised utopia. ” (140)

Biography of Luis Alfaro • Born in Los Angeles in 1963 • Raised in the Pico-Union district of downtown LA • Poet, playwright, performance artist, and social activist • Won many prizes, including the Mac. Arthur Genius Foundation Fellowship award in 1997 and the 1998 National Hispanic Playwriting Competition • Now teaches throughout LA, including at USC’s School of Theatre and at the California Institute of the Arts

Luis Alfaro’s Work • Centers around his experience as a homosexual Chicano male • Reflects on his double displacement: • Both the white gay community and the straight Chicano community wouldn’t embrace him • In Orphan of Aztlan, he explains that he feels like “a native of no land” (142) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=EWs. D 3 ZBd. YV 0

Luis Alfaro’s Commentary on Representation • Urbanistic power has a representational, or aesthetic, dimension because the architecture of the city is a constant visual reminder of the “powers that surpass them and that are external to local social life and its character…a power transcending the life of the citizens…” (147)

Biography of Gloria Alvarez • Born in 1955 in Guadalajara, Mexico and moved to South Central Los Angeles in 1958 • Poet • Published several collections of her poetry • Poetry has been featured in various anthologies and periodicals • Has taught as UC Berkeley, Cal State LA, Cal State Northridge, and the California Institute of the Arts

“Contrastes/Contrasts”: Bunker Hill • Bunker Hill is a high-end residential suburb • By the end of WWI, the houses are sub-divided and rented out as a result of increased urban growth and the streetcar system • Due to freeway construction after WWII, Bunker Hill was home solely to poor Chicanos • In 1995, a massive slum-clearance project displaced the Chicanos that had been living at Bunker Hill • Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project filled the land with plazas and skyscrapers until the 1990’s

“Contrastes/Contrasts” by Gloria Alvarez • “The downward spiral of life changes for many South Central and East Los Angeles residents was inversely reflected in the skyward spires of trophy-building construction. This spectacular corporate growth helped fuel the equally dramatic expansion of the homeless population in the skid-row badlands…For thousands of Blacks and Chicanos who lost their factory jobs, the struggle to keep a home became a desperate scramble that many would lose. ” (149) • Uses figurative language like “living hallucinations” and “pained souls” in her poem, which represents the social death of Chicano culture when they are removed from their geographical space

Questions for Class Discussion • Did the work of any particular featured artist or author stick out to you in particular? • How did this chapter change how you view Los Angeles? • What similarities did you see between this chapter and other texts we’ve covered, such as Blues People and Borderlands/La Frontera?