Thursday, December 23, 2010

Latina is bestselling author of six novels


Author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, A Woman for all seasons
By Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez, Deputy Managing Editor, Herald de Paris
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, with more  than one million books currently in print.  Time Magazine named Ms. Valdes-Rodriguez one of the twenty-five, "Most Influential Hispanics," in the United States. Hispanic Business magazine has twice named Ms. Valdes-Rodriguez one of the nation's top one hundred most powerful Hispanics.  Latina Magazine named her, "Woman of the Year," and Entertainment Weekly hailed Alisa as a, "Breakout Literary Star."

Alisa's novel THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB is currently in development as a TV series with Ann and George Lopez.  Alisa's novel HATERS is currently in development with Teen Nick as a TV series with Nick Cannon as executive producer.  Alisa is an actor and has recorded her own critically acclaimed audio books; she is also a regularly featured guest on two national talk-radio shows.

Before becoming a novelist, Ms. Valdes-Rodriguez was a staff writer for the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times.  She was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, and holds several first place awards for her feature writing.  Alisa is also a former on-air reporter for WHDH-TV in Boston, where she narrated an Emmy-winning documentary.  With a bachelor of science degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she majored in tenor saxophone performance.  Alisa also holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York.

Always eager to try something new, Alisa recently scored her first standup comedy gig at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood (March 2010), and hopes to do more comedy and acting.

Alisa's father was born and raised in Havana, Cuba; her mother is a 6th generation native New Mexican.  Alisa lives in New Mexico with her son and has two new novels due in 2010, including THE KINDRED, a young adult crossover supernatural romantic thriller.

Alisa Lynn Valdes was born in New Mexico.  Her father, Nelson Valdés, is a retired sociology professor at the University of New Mexico, who emigrated from Cuba in the early 1960's.  Her mother, Maxine Conant, is a seventh-generation New Mexican and a poet.

While a student at Berklee, Valdes began writing freelance music reviews for the Boston Globe. After graduating from Berklee in 1992, she took an unpaid internship at the Village Voice before going back to school to earn a master's degree from Colombia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 1994.  In 1994, she was hired as a staff writer for the Living/Arts section of the Boston Globe newspaper.  In 1999 she was hired as a staff writer for the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times, where she was the first American reporter to cover the Latin music industry as a full-time beat.  Valdes-Rodriguez was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing and won the SUNMAG contest for best newspaper essayist in 1998.  Her articles have appeared in dozens of newspapers and she has written cover stories for Glamour Magazine and Redbook.

Alisa's first novel, The Dirty Girls Social Club, was purchased by St. Martin's Press a little more than a year after she left the Los Angeles Times - after five publishing houses bid for the manuscript.  In a profile of the writer entitled, "The Latina Terry McMillan?" Chicago Times reporter Patrick T. Reardon wrote, "What made [the book] especially hot was the belief among publishers that Valdes-Rodriguez could be the long-sought 'Latina Terry McMillan' - a writer whose work would jump-start Hispanic book buying in the U.S. and create a new profitable publishing niche..." The Dirty Girls Social Club garnered media attention and went on to become a New York Times bestseller and a Booksense 76 top pick.

Valdes-Rodriguez has since written five novels: Playing With Boys (2004); Make Him Look Good (2006), a young adult novel; Haters (2006); Dirty Girls on Top, a sequel to The Dirty Girls Social Club(2008); and The Husband Habit (2009).

In 2005, Time dubbed Valdes-Rodriguez, "The Godmother of Chica Lit," and named her one of the twenty-five most influential Hispanics in the United States.

Herald De Paris Deputy Managing Editor Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez, was quite taken with the opportunity to speak to one of the most important writers of this generation.  For Alicia, writing novels will no doubt be the platform from which she may very well become the next transcendent, bi-cultural Oprah.

AC: Your Father was a professor, your mother a poet; can you recall a specific point in time when you decided to become a writer? How did/do they inspire you?

AVR:  I honestly think writers, like composers, are born rather than made. Shakira once told me (in an interview I did with her for the LA Times) that she was born "condemned" to music. I loved that! It is exactly how I feel about writing. I do not write; I am a writer. There's a difference. Writing is not my hobby or my job. It is who I am as a person. It is how I think, what I live for, and the thing in life - other than being a mother - that brings me the most joy. My parents are both writers. I think there must be a gene for it. My parents have inspired me in so many ways. We were pretty poor when I was growing up and, to entertain me, my mother would invent word games. Say, maybe we were heading out into a blazing hot day. She'd say, "Get ready to fry like a chicken," and I - about five or six - would have to respond with an analogy of my own: "Get ready to boil like an egg." That was what we did for fun in our household. My dad had every disadvantage an immigrant might have when he came to the United States from Cuba at the age of 15; he was an orphan, he spoke no English, he had no money. What he had, however, was brains and conviction, and an incredible work ethic and ability to focus on a goal. By his late 20's my father had not only learned English, he'd mastered it and was a PhD professor in sociology and history, the very departments he'd cleaned at night as a janitor to put himself through college.

AC: What was the first thing you wrote that made you realized you were really good at what you do?

AVR:  People began to tell me I was a good writer in about the fifth grade. I figured that because it came naturally for me it must be so for everyone. It wasn't until after college that I really began to believe I had talent. Until then I felt being a writer would be cheating somehow because it would be much too easy and fun a way to make a living. Work had to be hard, or so I thought. That's why I majored in music and set out to be a saxophonist. I was talented at music, but only moderately so. It was work.

AC: Why did you study the sax? What types of music inspired you to play a wind instrument? Who is your favorite sax player and do you still play? Does knowing how to play a musical instrument help you to write more lyrically and melodically?

AVR:  I began to play the saxophone in the 4th grade. I ended up going to Berklee College of Music in Boston where I got a bachelor's in music. My favorite saxophonist is a Norwegian by the name of Jan Garbarek who, like Bela Bartok, draws on folk melodies to create these haunting pieces.  I still play a lot. I'm ten times the writer than I am a musician but I love music anyway. for people who are curious I've got three songs up on MySpace. I play a bit and do some spoken word. For me, writing and music are one in the same. Language is aural for me. My writing is intensely musical. I always have music blasting when I write to help with the psychology of what I'm doing. For instance, I recently wrote a scene where some very scary male demons abduct two high school girls from a dance. To get in the mood of the malevolent male characters, I played "Burn it to the Ground" (by Nickel back) over and over. I cannot imagine books without music or music without words. This is why the eerie silence of libraries has always offended me. Books are celebrations of sound.

AC: As you came up through the professional ranks, did being an attractive woman help you or hurt your career trajectory? Has being a Latina helped or hurt your career?

AVR:  Well, well, well! Thank you. I am pleased you describe me in such flattering terms. My mother is an actual beauty queen and former model so the beauty question is a loaded one for me. I think beauty can help women but I also think that extreme beauty, as in the case of my mother (I am nowhere near as beautiful as she) can isolate women and make life difficult for them. Beauty is the Holy Grail in America, and yet it can also be a terrible handicap. In my case, I suppose, because I watched my mother so closely as a female child, I learned early not to put much stock in my looks. Nonetheless, I still exercise and get Botox. I suppose I am a bundle of contradictions - but what smart woman in the entertainment industry isn't?  I don't honestly think being a Latina has ever hurt my career - but that is because I have never let it. There have been instances of discrimination and in each and every case I handled them the way my father taught me: Cuban style. Through confrontation. Through intelligence. Through fighting the good fight. That said, I am pretty sure I would have sold more books by now if certain types of people in this country did not automatically assume exotic foreignness upon seeing a Spanish surname. Example: I once gave a reading at a bookstore in Arizona and the manager asked me, in a bit of a panic, whether I spoke English well enough to address the crowd in that language. English is my native tongue. It's what I write in. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

AC: Would you have been more successful at an earlier age if you were not ethnic?

AVR:  Not really, I was the youngest staff writer ever hired at the Boston Globe and was nominated for a Pulitzer by the age of 24. I've been kicking ass for a long time. (Kidding!) You know, I don't like to sit around thinking about myself as some kind of victim. I never took an affirmative action job because I have always believed I was as good - if not better - than the people around me. At writing, anyway. I pretty much suck at just about everything else.

AC: Why are there so few known Latina novelists?

AVR:  I have no idea how to answer this question. I honestly try not to concern myself with the ethnicity of other authors all that much. Ernest Hemingway once said in an interview, when asked about the Russian writers of his time, that there was no such thing as an national (or "Russian" or "American") writer, because writers, by their very nature, belonged only to the nation of writers. I agree with that. Writers who focus only on their own ethnicity bore me to death and are not, in my opinion, writing at the highest level of their humanity, or in the service of humanity; they are writing in the service of their own personal needs for ethnic validation by the dominant class. Writers who focus on timeless stories of universal appeal and importance - and this can be done within an ethnic context, of course - hold my attention and earn my respect. I don't care what background a writer comes from. My friend, the editor Marcela Landres, once told me she saw a crisis in middle-class American Latina writing majors coming out of schools like Brown University thinking they had to write novels about experiences that were utterly foreign to them, like being immigrant maids from Mexico, because they didn't think publishing would believe them otherwise. That kind of work is disingenuous and caters to stereotypes. It is insincere and morally irresponsible. To be meaningful, you have to write with your genuine voice. A lot of Latina authors try to write like Sandra Cisneros because some literature professor assumed that's what all our lives are like. Lame! Dispense with narrow expectations of your abilities and insights. Sing the song that only you can sing, whatever that is. The rest will follow.

AC: Why did you come to LA to write for the Times? Did you have any theatrical plans? You did some on-air work in Boston so why didn't you pursue it?

AVR:  I was born in Albuquerque, went to college in Boston and New York, and worked in Boston before relocating to LA to take a job as a pop music writer for the LA Times. I moved because the opportunity to be the nation's first mainstream newspaper reporter covering the Spanish-language music industry as a beat was incredibly exciting for me - on various levels. I never had my sights set on being on screen or stage until I began to do book signings and public speaking and realized I had a gift for comedy and acting. I did on-air work in Boston after a manager at one of the stations there noticed me in an interview I was doing for a feature on the networking group 100 Black Women, and suggested I would be good on TV. I loved doing TV but it was impossible to work at the newspaper and the TV stations both, at that time, simply because of time constraints. Being a writer, I chose to stick with writing.

AC: When you left the Times you wrote a 3,440 word resignation - what did you say to cause such uproar, all the while knowing that burning a bridge like the Times would keep you out of the print game forever?

AVR:  I don't discuss this anymore, both because it happened a decade ago and feels like ancient history, and also because that letter was never meant to be seen by anyone other than the supervisors I emailed it to. Having it made public was a violation every bit as painful and real as rape. Continued questions about it feel likewise. It is irrelevant to my life now, and besides, I won anyway. I always do.

AC: In 2005, Time magazine called you, Valdes-Rodriguez, "The Godmother of Chica lit." How do you feel about that and how do you define that genre?

AVR:  I think the people at Time magazine - who gave me this little nickname in the context of naming me one of the twenty-five "Most Influential Hispanics" in America - must smoke crack in the break room. (Kidding!) I don't know. I don't like being called a "godmother" because it makes me sound like I'm old and paunchy, with slicked-back hair and a pinky ring. As for genres - I don't define them. That's the job of marketing departments. I write books and clever people with MBAs and journalism degrees give them clever little categories.

AC: You have over one million books in print, are they written for Latinas? Who is your audience and how has the media climate changes since the advent of new media, especially social networking?

AVR:   I write in the hopes that human beings will read what I've written. I would never be so arrogant as to think I know what any single human being would want from a work of fiction, much less an entire ethnic group of tens of millions of people. My audience is probably seventy-five percent Latina, however, because even though I write for everyone, not everyone likes the looks of a Spanish name on the cover of a book, apparently.  As for social media, I think it has yet to be seen what sort of impact this will have on book sales. It's an exciting, terrifying time to be in print media of any sort. The good news, though, is that humanity has always shown itself to be in need of good storytellers, regardless of the available media or technology. That will never change. Happily, I'm quite flexible about media.

AC: You've recently started doing standup comedy. What inspired you to do that? What kinds of material do you do and what has the response been? Where would you like that artistic platform to take you?

AVR:  I was inspired to do standup comedy by the many people who have heard me speak at universities or other events and said, "You know what? You should do standup." Public speaking, or comedy, are forms of communication and sound - my two favorite things. I like Jerry Seinfeld's definition of comedy as socialized rage. I think that's partly right. There's a lot for Latinos to be enraged about in America right now. We need someone standing up to the xenophobes and bullies with the best possible weapon other than the pen - humor. I also just like to make people laugh. It's a power trip, frankly. Most comedians won't admit it, but we are class-A narcissists. Larry David admits this. By the way, Larry David is my ideal man. I heard he was dating Sherry Stringer. I have often been told I look like her - and I don't have "string" in my name. Bonus! Larry? Call me. Oh, another person I madly admire is Hal Sparks. He's a comedian, musician, compassionate human being and all-around smart and good-looking egomaniac. I sort of see myself as Hal Sparks, if he were played by Jennifer Lopez.

AC: Your book The Dirty Girls is currently in TV development with Ann and George Lopez' Production Company. How is it working with Ann and Lynette? What would be the perfect outcome of this union?

AVR:  Ann, George, and Lynnette are all truly amazing human beings. They completely "get" my material and me and my worldview. I pinch myself at least once a day when I remember that my first novel is in their very capable hands. All I can think is that, once again, there was divine intervention in making this happen. It is a blessing. The perfect outcome is going to be that THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB becomes the fun, sexy, kick-ass TV series it was meant to be because we have the best possible team assembled for the job working hard to make it happen. I can't wait!

AC: You are also working with Teen Nick with Nick Cannon as executive producer. Would you consider transitioning from novelist to screenwriter? Do you have any acting aspirations?

AVR:  Nick Cannon is on board to executive produce a TV series for Teen Nick based on my first young adult novel, HATERS, and, again, I have to pinch myself. Nick is incredible! I've never come across any single person with as much energy and intelligence as this man. On his Twitter bio Nick says only "Mr. CEO," and that's pretty much all that needs to be said. I would love to write shows and movies. I'm at work on a feature film right now. It's a whole new world for me, but one I enjoy immensely. Maybe I suck at it. I really don't know yet. I want to act. Yes. It's on the radar. I am one of the few authors who can make more than one dismal facial expression so I figure I'd better take advantage of that.

AC: Your newest effort, Kindred, has been considered better than Twilight by industry heavy weights. Want is your ultimate aspiration for this property?

AVR:  It is hard for me to talk about THE KINDRED BOOK ONE: THE TEMPTATION OF DEMETRIO VIGIL yet because I've only just finished the first of four books in the series. I will say that I believe - and those who've read it agree - that it is my strongest, most plot-driven and commercial work to date. It is in the young adult crossover romance genre. I loved writing this book, and feel that it embodies all that I've learned as a writer and human being in the past ten years since leaving journalism to become an author. I am incredibly proud of this book and desperately in love with my characters, particularly Demetrio Vigil, the male lead. THE KINDRED was born to be a feature film. As I wrote the book, I envisioned it as a film starring Jake T. Austin as Demetrio. Jake is only fifteen now, but is already one of my favorite actors and thinkers. That kid is a force of nature. By the time the book comes out, and a film deal is done, he'll be just right to play the eighteen-year-old Demetrio. I'd love for THE KINDRED to be a mega bestseller as a book, and as a film I would like to see it be the first role to put Jake on the map as a grownup actor and romantic lad - er, lead.

AC: How do you decide which story to write and the genre to work in? When you write, do you have an audience in mind, a demographic or psychographic profile in your head, thinking they may like this but not that?

AVR:  I approach writing books as a business. I know the genre, the audience, I seek to capture. I am methodical. If one hopes to make a living from writing this is the only way to do it. There are themes and formulae that work and they work for a reason. Within those confines, I believe a true artist can be boundlessly creative. As being a mother has taught me, it is often within the strictest of boundaries that children (and works of art) thrive best. Too much freedom or a selfish need to commit therapy upon the public via your own writing ruins a story. I cannot read ponderous, self-absorbed writers. I'm a self-absorbed person, but not a self-absorbed writer. There's a difference.

AC: Your characters are often exotic, off beat, and sometimes quirky. Where do they come from?

AVR:  I have no idea. Not Wal-Mart.

AC: If you have five things on a bucket list, what would you like to conquer in the years to come?

AVR:  Wow. Great question! I very much want THE KINDRED to become a franchise. This is important to me, as you might have guessed by now.  I want to write and perform a one-woman comedy show or play in LA and NYC. I want to fall in love again, eventually. I want to see my son grow up happy and healthy. I want to become the Latina Oprah - in English! - Because we need a Latina Oprah in English, the language spoken by the majority of US Latinos.

AC: What do you consider to be your biggest success so far? What is your biggest regret?

AVR:  My biggest success in life is that I am raising an amazing little boy, all by myself. Professionally, my biggest success is that I have never given up, and never will. My biggest regret? Living reactively. I have often reacted to people and situations that, in retrospect, should have simply been ignored or deleted. Live and learn, eh?

AC: How would you like history to remember you?

AVR:  I'd like history to remember me as a Great American Author, period. I'm quite certain, however, that my obituary in the NY Times - presuming that paper outlives me, which is doubtful at this point - will read Hot and Spicy Exotic Latina Chica-Chica-Boom-Lit Author Died Explosively and Quite Hispanic from Deep Throating the Whole Passionate Enchilada, and What Can You Expect from Those People Anyway - aka Where's My Border Wall Dagnabit?  In the end, it is probably best not to worry too much about how history will remember me. I can't control it. I'll be dead. Hopefully I'll be cavorting among the billions and billions of stars with Carl Sagan and enjoying a big cigar with Mark Twain.

To learn more about Alisa, find out where to purchase her books, or to communicate with her directly please visit:

Monday, November 22, 2010

Latina businesswoman receives national recognition


Vanir President and CEO Receives Coveted New America Alliance Business Achievement Award in Washington, D.C.

Dorene Dominguez
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA Sacramento businesswoman Dorene Dominguez was presented with the New America Alliance (NAA) Business Achievement Award in Washington, D.C. last week.  Dominguez is the CEO of the Vanir Group of Companies and President of the Vanir Foundation, which was established in Memory of H. Frank Dominguez, her father.  Vanir is headquartered in Sacramento, CA. and has 22 offices throughout the United States  and in the United Arab Emirates. 
The award was presented at the 10th Annual Latino Economic Summit at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, DC. 
Dominguez is no stranger to leadership on the national scene and most recently was named the Chairman of the Institute for Latino Studies Advisory Council at the University of Notre Dame.
“The New America Alliance is proud to honor Dorene Dominguez and the Vanir family with the NAA Business Achievement Award as they continue to fulfill the legacy of the family’s and company’s patriarch and NAA founding board member, the late H. Frank Dominguez,” said Maria del Pilar Avila, CEO of the New America Alliance. “Dorene and Vanir exemplify what the Alliance is about and this award is recognition of their long history of leadership and advocacy for our community.”
The Annual Latino Economic Summit is NAA’s flagship event convening CEOs, entrepreneurs, top business leaders, high-ranking government officials and innovators to discuss American Latino participation in building the economic vitality of our nation. NAA membership is comprised of the most influential Latino business leaders in America.
“In Fortune 100 companies and beyond, it is no secret that cultivation of the Hispanic market can often mean the difference between profit and loss,” said Dominguez following the awards ceremony. “Companies are quickly working to add a Hispanic perspective at the board table as we see major demographic shifts in the United States and around the world,” Dominguez stressed.
Dominguez joined this year’s conference luminaries such as Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), The Honorable Rosie Rios, United States Treasurer and U.S. Cabinet Secretaries Hilda Solis, Labor, and Ken Salazar, Interior.

“It is critical for Hispanic owned businesses to fully engage in educating the workforce of tomorrow,” continued Dominguez. The Vanir Foundation works with schools in underserved communities to bolster their students’ academic performance. “We believe the work of our Foundation, and others, will result in a better educated and competitive workforce, which is the key to the vitality of our economy,” concluded Dominguez.
The Vanir Group of Companies is a diversified business headquartered in Sacramento, CA that is engaged in program, project and construction management, real estate development, property management and solar power project development.  Vanir offer a full array of services and solutions for its public and private sector clients.  

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Latinas being left out of treatment programs

Discrepancies found in CalWorks services to Latinas in Los Angeles
 


Analysis shows more Latinos incarcerated for drug use offenses than those enrolled in detoxification programs and suggests overt discriminatory practices in the distribution of funds initially aimed at helping Latinos.

 By Adrian Perez, Publisher

LOS ANGELES, CA - In its November issue, The Latino Journal, a publication focused on public policy and government from a Latino perspective, is reporting disparities in CalWorks services to Latinas in Los Angeles County.  The disparities are listed in a in a paper submitted Friday to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors by James Hernandez, the Chief Executive officer of the California Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, (CHCADA).  Specifically, the paper alleges discrimination in funding that excludes Latinos in East Los Angeles from attaining needed alcohol and drug treatment.
            The study charges that Latino Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) treatment providers are discriminatorily underfunded in Los Angeles County to the detriment of the County’s Latino population.
            The principal program to provide AOD services in Los Angeles County is CalWorks, whose recipients are disproportionately Latinas and African-American women.  Fifty seven percent of CalWorks recipients have no income.  Yet in 2009-2010, $4,504,653 of CalWorks funding went to more affluent Tarzana, located in the San Fernando Valley.  This is nearly 50 percent of the $9,885,062 total CalWorks’ funding.  Another $767,780 went to the Asian-American Drug Abuse Program, Inc, and only $55,193 went to CHCADA located in the vast East Los Angeles barrio. 
            The County Board of Supervisors has previously recognized the disparities in funding between Service Planning Areas (SPAs).  In June 2009, The Los Angeles Times reported gross disparities in funding between the various SPAs in Los Angeles County.  The Times reported $45 million in funding to Tarzana that was made at the expense of Latinos and Latinas in East Los Angeles and was accomplished almost entirely without competitive bidding.
            The analysis show these disparities have not occurred by chance, but were the result of SAPC policies and plans that have had a discriminatory disparate impact on East Los Angeles. 
            Since 2006, overall Los Angeles CalWorks funding has remained fairly constant, however the same cannot be said of CalWorks funds for East Los Angeles.  In 2006, East Los Angeles was dramatically underfunded, receiving only $118,341 of funds to CHCADA.  By 2010 the funding for CHCADA was radically cut by 53.7% to only $55, 220.  This is out of  the $9,885,062 CalWorks received in funding. 
            It can be inferred that this largely occurs because the County discriminates in referrals to Latino providers located in East Los Angeles and instead refers these residents to non-Latino agencies located up to two hours away.  The County has permitted these majority providers to locate their offices in DSS locations thus insuring that the majority providers will receive the referrals so that East Los Angeles residents will be compelled to travel to their locations. 
            Contemporaneously, the County has funded the development of AOD services in majority areas to the point that there are no detoxification facilities located in East Los Angeles.  Moreover, the city of Tarzana, which will receive $4,506,868 in 2010-2011, is the only beneficiary of this discrimination against East Los Angeles.  Southern California Alcohol and Drug Programs Inc located in the city of Downey will receive $775,944 in 2010 and Behavioral Health Services will only receive $591,810 for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
            Los Angeles County is divided into eight Service Planning Areas, commonly known as SPAs.  In 2010-2011, after the Board of Supervisors ordered Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (SAPC) to reduce disparities in funding between the SPAS, the SAPC actually increased Tarzana's funding to $4,506,865.  Deplorably, SAPC has now undertaken CalWorks RFP # SAPC- 2010 -01 that is designed to fund medical detoxification services for providers located in SPA 2 in the San Fernando Valley.  The travel time by bus for Latinos seeking CalWorks services from East LA to the San Fernando Valley site is 2 hours and six minutes.  The use of public transportation is essential since 94.4 percent of all Cal Works recipients in Los Angeles County have no vehicle.  Instead of traveling, many don’t use the service, which may serve to explain the under representation of Latinos in the CalWorks program.
            According to the Counties database, an individual randomly chosen is 27.6 percent more likely to unintentionally die from alcohol and/or drugs in SPA 7 than in SPA 2 since SPA 6 and SPA 7 contain the largest concentrations of minorities at 97.5 percent and 83.1 percent respectively.  By comparison SPAS 1 and 2 are among the three lowest SPAs in minority population.
            Latinos in Los Angeles County are less likely to complete AOD treatment and are more likely to leave treatment after less than one month than their counterparts.  Latinos are also underrepresented in AOD treatment programs.   As a result, the number of Latinos in treatment programs are overshadowed by those arrested for drug-related felonies in Los Angeles County.  In fact, although Latinos makeup only 47 percent of Los Angeles County’s population, they comprise 56.9 percent of all felony DUI arrests.   The need for Latino AOD treatment could not be more dramatic.

COUNTY EFFORTS FOR RESOLUTION IGNORED
             AOD treatment funding for CalWorks recipients and welfare to work participants totals $9,885,062.  On June 16, 2009 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors instructed the SAPC to not allow contracts for more than one year until DPH, working with the county Executive Officer, would provide a status report to the Board of Supervisors on its efforts to create a fair and competitive request for proposals (RFPs) process for all alcohol and drug treatment programs.  The SAPC assured the Board of Supervisors that no material changes to the bid solicitation process would occur before SAPC implemented efforts to create a fair and competitive process for RFPs.   But apparently, the request was ignored.
            In his paper James Hernandez states, “SAPC focused on reducing the number of providers, rather that the needs of Los Angeles County residents most in need-underserved Latinas. SAPC failed to address problems with discrimination in referrals among providers before issuing another Request for Proposals that will surely make matters worse.”
            The Board of Supervisors did not respond to calls asking for an explanation of the disparities in funding to serve Latinas.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Latina heads media organization

Kathryn F. Galan Heads Preeminent Latino Media Organization,
An Interview with Kathryn F. Galan, Executive Director, NALIP
By Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez, www.LatinoLA.com
Edited by Susan Aceves

Publisher's Note:  This article first appeared in LatinoLA.
Kathryn F. Galan
LOS ANGELES, CA - Kathryn Galan grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College in 1980 as an English major. She moved to Los Angeles to do her masters studies in film and television history, aesthetics and critical theory at UCLA. She is a past board member of the AFI Third Decade Council, the International Documentary Association and she now serves on the Board of Directors of Women Make Movies.
 
Kathryn is the executive director of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, a national not-for-profit arts service organization dedicated to the support and development of Latino/a film, television, documentary, and new media makers.  The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) is a national membership organization that addresses the professional needs of Latino/Latina independent producers. NALIP is the first such effort aimed at Latino production in thirty years and it is the first to last more than one year providing ongoing support for the Latino independent film and video makers.  NALIP stands as the premiere Latino media organization, and, for twelve years, has been addressing the most under-represented and the largest ethnic minority in the country.  NALIP's mission is to promote the advancement, development and funding of Latino/Latina film and media arts in all genres. It is the only national organization committed to supporting both grassroots and community-based producers/media makers along with publicly funded and industry-based producers.
Ms. Galan has been NALIP’s Executive Director for nine years and has overseen nine national conferences and created NALIP’s signature programs: the Latino Producers Academy; Latino Writers Lab; Latino Media Market; Latino Media Resource Guide; and, “Doing your Doc: Diverse Visions, Regional Voices."  She is responsible for the staffing, day-to-day management, millions in corporate and foundation fundraising, publicity strategies and branding, plus regional programs and chapter development. In her nine years with NALIP, she has established this organization as the preeminent national Latino media organization by taking it from an NCLR "special project" with a steering committee to an autonomous and substantial advocacy and professional development organization. She has overseen the growth of its membership 5-fold, plus created and programmed six respected Signature programs
Ms. Galan continues to develop motion picture and television projects. For two years Kathryn was partnered with Meg Ryan (Prufrock Pictures at Twentieth Century Fox) to develop and produce feature films that examined contemporary themes and issues. Their project THE WOMEN was adapted by Diane English ("Murphy Brown"), who directed it for New Line.
 
Between 1989 and 1993, Ms. Galan was Vice President of Production for Walt Disney Studio's motion picture division Hollywood Pictures, a unit that produced such high-concept, moderately budgeted fare as Frank Marshall’s ARACHNOPHOBIA! (Gross $53 million) and THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE (88 million).
 
Contributing LatinoLA Editor, Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez, a former (read "failed") screenwriter, had this interesting conversation Ms. Galan:
 
AC: Growing up in Ann Arbor, what caused you to leave the Mid West and pursue a life in the film Industry in LA? What was your original dream and how far are you from achieving it - or have you achieved it already?
KG:I went to college in Massachusetts (Amherst; junior year at University College London).  My love was storytelling, narratives – I was an English major.  I had a deep connection to Spain and my family there; I visited often and loved the ‘story’ of my father’s escape from the Spanish Civil War.  When I discovered film, I pursued it, first, academically – I moved to Los Angeles to do my Master’s studies in film theory, history, and aesthetics.  I had a love of independent and international cinema.  This led me to the career that I have had, and one that often supports or discovers the under-voiced.
 
AC: How has your ethnicity been a help and/or a hindrance in bringing projects to film?
KG: My personal cultural or ethnic background has had no impact on my bringing projects to production.
 
AC: What was your first success in LA? When did you know that you could make it in the entertainment industry?
KG: I had some great mentors and supporters in graduate school at UCLA, but really entered the entertainment industry with a summer job at Atlantic entertainment Group in 1981.  I began as an assistant to the president at a very exciting and dynamic time for the art and independent film distribution business.  It was a small office that provided everything a first job should:  hard work, access to processes and procedures, smart serious businessmen and women, and challenges to figure out the industry landscape.  As that job grew in responsibility and scope, so did I, allowing me to acquire and support the production of some fantastic films and artists. It was a huge thrill to acquire my first film, Roger Donaldson’s Smash Palace; to work on Atlantic’s first in-house production, Valley Girl which was a landmark in independent film; and to follow that up with some of our hits like Teen Wolf with Michael J. Fox.
 
AC: Who have been your mentors? How have they helped you? What are the biggest obstacles for women producers to overcome in LA? Is there a gender gap?
KG: Women had a more difficult time in the 1980’s than they do now, which is an excellent development.  The senior women producers and executives like Sherry Lansing, Dawn Steele, and Anthea Sylbert were all leaders and inspiration for the women who now serve as producers, studio heads and top agents.  The challenge for women producers is that the major studios and funders support select producers with development and production support; these are usually past presidents and people with long relationships with the administration.  Women under-index in terms of their overall deals, and their funding from major investors.  Producing is a great job for a woman also running a family, but women producers may be perceived as ‘out of the game’ when they have children.
 
AC: How did you end up on the business side of things. How does one become a producer? What has been your biggest financial success and what should have been a success but failed?
KG:  I have worked for 30 years in support of great stories, films, media makers and ideas.  If that’s the ‘business side’ of things, then it just followed on my working as an acquisitions executive, then a head of production for Atlantic, a VP at Hollywood Pictures, Meg Ryan’s producing partner and producing, on my own.  I have a solid understanding of the business – the finance, marketing, distribution, contracting, the needs and concerns of funders – as well as the creative side – what makes a great story, who are strong creative talents, how directors need to be supported.  So, being a producer or production executive has always been the ideal marriage of those two sets of strengths.  I also have a broad knowledge of film history, and I think that the more you screen and see and read, the better you are at identifying great stories and films.
 
AC: Why did you leave the commercial side of the business to work with a non-profit?
KG: It happened both gradually and over night, and I don’t see myself still as having left the ‘commercial side’ of the business.  I was working independently as a producer and new media consultant when a good friend of me asked that I consider helping NALIP for 3 months to produce a national conference, their third.  As a good producer and executive, as well as a Latina myself, I was excited by the prospect of helping create this event with her, and agreed to add other duties in the interim including take NALIP from a special project of NCRL to an incorporated 501-c-3 with its own board, bylaws, and programs.  After the conference, which was a wonderful success in December 2001, I was asked to continue with the organization as it created a strategic plan with funds, benefits and programs for filmmakers.  I found the entire process challenging and fascinating, and ultimately very creative and rewarding.
 
AC: Tell us about NALIP. What was the original mission statement when you got there? How have things changed during your nine year tenure? Your biggest success/disappointment?
KG: NALIP began as a special project of NCRL.  It was always a professional development and advocacy organization to represent and support the needs of the independent Latino/a content creator, whether they were just starting out or very advanced, whether they worked in grass-roots media or in the mainstream entertainment industry, whether they made narrative, documentaries, or new media projects.  That is the same.  We have grown in strength, stature and sophistication.  We have created and institutionalized nationally-recognized signature programs.  And we have expanded to include support to the spectrum of artists creating media content:  writers, producer, directors, performers and creative crew;  we include new media and multi-platform content creators; and although we are a predominantly Latino organization, we have certain multi-cultural initiatives, particularly for Native American and indigenous artists.  
 
Our members and our programs are some of our biggest successes, as is our ability to grow and endure for 12 years as a non-profit arts service organization with a budget over $1 million in a very challenging environment.  We are disappointed that, despite our training and advocacy efforts and despite the significant expansion of our percentage in the U.S. population, Latinos still remain wildly under-represented in all sectors of professional media, in front of and behind the camera as well as in executive and decision-making roles with little if any per capita increases in the past two decades.
 
AC: How has the downturn in the economy affected independent film makers? Are all Latino independent producers non profit?
KG: Independent narrative filmmakers are affected by the economic downturn because films $100,000 - $5,000,000 are funded by equity investments.  There is less discretionary income, and fewer funds and investors available to take a shot on a film or a producer’s slate of film projects despite certain state and federal tax benefits to try.  For the documentary filmmaker, many of their projects are funded by grants alongside donors (rather than investors).  
 
Foundations have less principal and interest to commit to media projects.  Government has less money to support public television and arts councils.  So, all the way around, there is less money for media makers.  Are Latino indie producers non-profit?  No more so than any indie producers:  all narrative producers are in the game to make money, as well as to give a return to their investors so that they can make another film; indie documentary makers also need to make a living, as professionals, while they want to license their projects to broadcast, educational and international markets in order to earn back personal investments and develop new projects.
 
AC: What is the ratio between for -rofit projects and non-profit productions for Latinos?
KG: As I said, there are certain documentary makers who either establish non-profit corporations for the production of an individual film, or partner with a Fiscal Sponsor in order to accept tax-deductible donations for the creation of their project, since most personal and social change documentaries in the United States are projects that do not expect to earn much more than their costs of production, if that.  
  
AC: Are the traditional funding sources drying up? Where is the "new" money coming from?
KG:  Media funding sources are cyclical.  Individual donors and funds were available in the 80’s, for a time in the 90’s, during the tech boom and again during the real estate bubble.  They will come back.  So will international pre-sales, to a degree, as international buyers need additional product for their established and emerging distribution platforms.  There are also new sources arising like crowd funding, where individuals donate small amounts to projects in development in exchange for a tiny share, and a sense of participating in an emerging media project.  
 
AC: What kinds of films are people making today? Has the subject matter changed over the years? Where do you see independent films going in the future?
KG: I do not think there is any particular pattern to indie narratives, which is exciting.  There are adult relationship dramas but also low-budget teen films and comedies; there are genre pictures and some very specialized projects for ‘long tale’ specific audiences or interest groups.  The technology has permitted a great deal of freedom to jump in and tell your story.  The key remains:  it is best served by being a good story, unique and universal, with strong technique and performances, plus some sort of marketing angle so that you can attract the world to your project and they can find it above the media din.
 
AC: How has new media changed the way independent films are made, promoted, and distributed?
KG: It has transformed every aspect:  new media includes the digital technologies that make it possible to shoot a film on a “prosumer” camera and edit on your laptop, then press your own DVD’s and sell them out of your trunk; it has begun to open up the stranglehold that traditional distribution has had on a filmmaker’s revenue stream, although distribution is still dominated by major companies, DVD and online (Netflix, etc.) distributors; and it has permitted audience building and promotion even as you are making your film, so you can tap your eventual audience to be anything from a funder to a cheerleader organizing requests to bring it to their town.  
 
AC: Where are the new generation filmmakers coming from? What kind of support systems do you have in place to help them along the way?
KG: There are many degree programs now for filmmakers; we see a lot of new documentary and narrative makers – writers and directors – coming from these institutions.  The trouble is, these are not very diverse programs, so this path to production and access tends to reinforce the lack of ethnic minority representation seen in mainstream media.  We see filmmakers showing up in many more festivals around the country, building awareness of themselves and their films outside of Sundance and the LA Film Festival, which is also a great development.
 
AC: Do you prepare visionaries to go commercial like Robert Rodriguez? Is there a bias to keep projects non-profit?
KG: Robert Rodriguez, like George Lucas or Jim Cameron or Peter Bogdanovich or Spike Lee, are forces of nature who all begin on independent projects, and then seek to expand their canvass.  Artists are like our kids, in the very best sense:  they are who are they going to be; our job as their producers or their partners or their mentors is to realize their unique voice and vision, provide them support to the tools and opportunities available, and then, let them fly!
 
AC: What are some of the NALIP projects going on right now?
KG: NALIP has 7 national signature programs to support and develop filmmakers.  We have a major focus on supporting and ensuring the production of these programs for the next couple of years.  We have just begun a new Strategic Planning process with our board and stakeholders to see, what do, we do well, and where is there need for us to do and be more.  The next six months will be very important for NALIP, as we look back at 12 years and plan for our next as a vital, viable, and visionary organization for our artists and the field.
 
AC: In a perfect world, what would be the best case scenario for the NALIP for 2011?
KG: Best case:  we find the sponsors and donors to double our budget, so that we can ensure our programs, begin to re-grant to artists to fund their projects, stabilize our finances and slightly expand our staff so that NALIP is even better than we have already been.  
 
AC: What do you see is in store for the Latino filmmakers of the future?
KG: Latinos have great stories, lots of talent, and nowhere to go but up!  I see more Latinos in every sector of the art and craft of content creation, including as executives, managers, creative crew and leaders in the art and commerce of film, television and documentaries.
 
AC: What are some of the things on your bucket list which you haven't yet attained?
KG: I would love to produce some more films, and write more short stories and novels.
 
AC: When it's all said and done, how would you like history to remember you?
KG: As someone who was part of a fantastic family, first and foremost, from my grandfathers and grandmothers in Spain and Ireland through to my wonderful son.  As someone who told and nurtured great stories, bringing forth the voices and visions of our culture’s very best.

For more information about NALIP, visit their website at:  http://www.nalip.org/nalip/NALIP-About.html

Friday, October 22, 2010

Latina legislator fought for better environment

LONG BEACH, CA - Known as a fighter and survivor, Senator Jenny Oropeza, D-28th District, has passed away on October 20, 2010.  The Montebello, California born Latina leader had been instrumental in representing Latina interests as an Assembly Member to the more recent State Senator.

Launching her political career as student body president at California State University Long Beach, Oropeza sought and was elected to the Long Beach School District Board 1988.  In 1994, she successfully ran for the Long Beach City Council while also serving on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board.  She was elected to the California State Assembly in 2000 where she chaired the powerful Budget Committee and almost became the first female Democratic Speaker.

In 2006, Oropeza ran for State Senate facing very tough opposition, including the mayor of Los Angeles, who had endorsed her opponent.  After winning by a narrow margin, she was named “Comeback Player of the Year” by Sacramento’s Capitol Weekly.  But nothing had prepared her for the toughest fight she would face, liver cancer.

After months of treatment, rehabilitation and painful recovery, Oropeza defeated the disease. The illness made her more sensitive to environmental issues that cause cancer, thus introducing legislation that curbed such exposures including an anti-smoking law signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a known smoker of cigars.

On Wednesday afternoon Oropeza, who had been suffering from a blood clot in her abdomen, had complained of shortness of breath and was taken to a Long Beach hospital where she died at 9:50 p.m.

Funeral services for Sen. Jenny Oropeza, have been scheduled for Monday, Oct. 25, 2010, beginning at 1 p.m. at Church of Our Fathers, Forest Lawn, 4471 Lincoln Ave., Cypress, 90630. This service will be open to the public.

Monday, October 18, 2010

A Latino's interview of Social Diva, Peg Samuel

INTERVIEW: The Social Diva, Peg Samuel
By Al Carlos Hernandez, Herald de Paris, October 17, 2010

HOLLYWOOD  – A native New Yorker, Peg Samuel likes to say that she was pretty much born with the ‘fabulous’ gene embedded in her DNA. However, no one ever said that ‘fabulous’ was mutually exclusive with ‘diva’ Peg spent many years fine tuning her diva skills for which she is so well known. So well known in fact, she wrote the book on it.

Peg’s journey began in 1995 as an internet pioneer working in digital advertising at well known sites such as Weather.com, Disney’s Info seek/Go.com, Value Click Media and Travel Ad Network. Peg was becoming affectionately known around town as ‘The Diva’ and the go-to girl for connecting, promoting and socializing. Friends say that her social butterfly personality made her situationally aware of the hip happenings on the social scene.

Peg wanted to combine her internet savvy with her love of lifestyle and her people skills. Armed with her personal mantra of “More Everything,” Peg launched Social Diva.com in 2000, a lifestyle and entertainment website and blog which answers the age-old dilemma: Where can a girl go to have some fun?  MORE.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Latina trailblazing Tejano music

Promesa Mortal keeps it in the family
Joey Guerra, 29-95.com, October 5, 2010

Publisher's Note:  This article first appeared on www.29-95.com.

HOUSTON - Tina Vega first picked up a bajo sexto (12-string guitar) at 9 years old. She probably didn’t realize it at the time, but it made her a bit of a trailblazer.

“It just caught my attention,” she says. “I love challenges. Even my dads friends were like, ‘Your hands are too little.’”

Now in her early 20s, Vega fronts Promesa Mortal, a norteño outfit featuring her two brothers and a female cousin on drums. Vega handles lead vocals and strums her bajo sexto.

And she’s still a rarity in a male-dominated field.

“It’s hard to be taken seriously as a female,” Vega says. “I’ve had a few promoters not give us jobs because I was playing the bajo. They wanted me to sing only and hire a male musician.

“I use it as motivation to keep moving forward. At my shows I always say, ‘Tambien las mujeres pueden.’ Women can do anything a man can do, especially in the music industry.”

Vega says she’s had unwavering support from her parents and sees the late Selena, who seamlessly combined Tejano and pop, as an inspiration. Linda Esobar, a well-respected conjunto singer, is also a mentor.

Promesa Mortal’s own sound is a hybrid of norteño and rock, influenced by everyone from Paramore, AC/DC and Spanish rock band Mana to more traditional acts Los Tigres del Norte and accordion legend Tony de la Rosa. The group released its debut CD, featuring tracks in Spanish and in English, earlier this year.

“Most conjunto bands, Tejano bands stay in their zone. They don’t want to venture out,” Vega says. “They’re scared to because they don’t know how the public will react.

“We want to show rock and pop fans that you can play anything with bajo sexto y acordeon.”

The Vega clan might look familiar to local fans of conjunto music. Promesa Mortal was formerly known as Tina y Los Gallitos, who appeared four times at the Festival Chicano and performed throughout Houston. Vega fronted that incarnation from 10-20 years old.

“We were young, and it was something new, an adventure,” she says. “We traveled a lot. We recorded three albums. We won about four awards.

“Playing with family has its pros and cons. I’m the bandleader, and my older brother doesn’t really like that I’m in charge. We butt heads over a few things. But we all kind of have things were in charge of and our specialties. It balances out.”