All this talk about the blackouts today in opposition to SOPA/PIPA is making me hungry. It probably wouldn’t be appropriate to make sopa de fideo. Too bad. It’s one of my favorite foods. But I’ll give up my favorite angel haired pasta in a tomato/chicken broth to support the protest against internet censorship.

More on the SOPA/PIPA blackouts at Mashable or Google. But not Wikipedia.

Ten years ago, I started Lotería Chicana and became a blogger — even though I didn’t use either terms back then. I signed up on Diaryland with the same alias I used for AIM and posted four sentences about applying to graduate school and the World Series:

grad school update
11.07.01 // 11:43 a.m.

I’m gonna leave L.A. and escape to the Bay Area. I’m tired of the smog, traffic and the LA-ness of this place. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but I need to get out for a few years... perfect excuse to go to grad school in Berkeley (or San Diego). In other news, the Diamondbacks rock!

At the time, I was a college senior in the middle of fall quarter. It’s clear from subsequent posts that I was avoiding writing papers, reading for class or studying for exams. I didn’t do a good job balancing a full course load with my work-study job, student leadership positions, teacher education program applications and social life. That last part was pretty distracting considering I was going to a few concerts that fall — Los Tigres del Norte (above), the Roots and Res, and Jaguares — and distracted by my crush in San Francisco. Apparently, I had time to watch the World Series and hate on the Yankees. (Sorry about that, Sean). I did okay that quarter. I passed my classes, started dating that guy in SF and abandoned grad school plans temporarily. It was for the best, I didn’t really want to be a K-12 teacher.

I never followed through on that first sentence I wrote 10 years ago. I never left LA nor UCLA even though I almost went to Michigan for grad school. I didn’t even leave the apartment I shared with my then-roommates Pato, Ome and Vane. I’ve been consistently flaky for a while. I still don’t care much for the Yankees even though Sean has tried his best to get me to.

And of course, I’m still blogging. While the platform, name, URL, and look have all changed at least once, my desire to write and interact with other bloggers and readers never waned. Some of my interests have changed. I don’t think I could run a mile without stopping in 2001 and now I write about training for marathons and half marathons. On the other hand, I’ve been writing about access to higher education for undocumented students and telling stories about my family since the beginning.

I’m really glad I’ve kept at it this long. The friendships alone are worth it. If you’ve been reading a few years or just a few months, thanks.

A coincidence
While preparing this post on Saturday, I looked up my Fall ’01 course schedule, just so I could see which classes I was taking and what was keeping me busy then. One of the classes was Ethnomusicology 120A, Development of Jazz with Gerald Wilson, literally a living legend in the jazz world. His lectures were more like story time about the jazz greats he once played with than the origins of jazz itself.

I didn’t think much about Professor Wilson until the next day. I got in my car to run some errands and heard the announcer mention Wilson’s name as he introduced one of his records. The DJ spoke briefly about Wilson’s contributions to jazz and the LA-scene and then mentioned his age. “He’s about 90 years old now.” Wikipedia says he’s 93. Damn. I knew he was old when I took his class, but I wouldn’t have guessed he was 80+.

If I don’t get lazy, I’ll have more for the 10 year anniversary posts including:
- My favorite posts (if you have one, email me citlalli31 AT gmail dot com)
- Things I’ve learned through blogging
- People I’ve met through blogging

Previous anniversary posts:
Four years and counting
Fourth grade blues (9 years)

Last week I stopped by Rite-Aid to grab a drink before heading in to work. At first I was surprised to see that they were already had Halloween candy in stock. Then I wanted to grab a bag of fun size Snickers. I resisted. Plus, I barely had enough money to pay for my drink.

The thought of Halloween (and all that candy!) being a couple of months away excites me. I have fun picking my costume and putting it together as well as helping others come up with affordable, creative and sometimes culturally relevant costume ideas. I started the whole thing as an alternative to the super short, tight and sexy costumes.

I’ve also found that my low budget costume series has been quite popular and brings lots of visitors to my site. Check out my overall 10 most popular posts as defined by the Popularity Contest plugin (in descending order):

1. Halloween on a budget: Old School Chola
2. Halloween on a budget: La Chilindrina
3. Halloween on a budget: Frida Kahlo
4. Halloween on a budget: La Adelita (Funny thing, my cousin Nancy told me she wanted to dress up as an Adelita. I told her I did it once. She said, “I know, I searched on Google and you were the first to come up.”)
5. Halloween on a budget: El Chapulín Colorado
6. A Chicana outlook on Ruben Salazar
7. The definitive guide to wearing your ethnicity (this could really use some updating)
8. Nopalitos
9. Halloween on a budget: La Catrina
10. Concert buddy search revisited

All of these posts are more than a year old. Some as much as 6 years old. I wonder if this means I’ve already peaked as a blogger. Probably.

A few weeks ago, Sean and I went to our first Hollywood Bowl show of the season. Along with thousands of others, we watched Grease and sang along to the classic hits. It was a fun night and my inkling that the beloved musical isn’t really kid-appropriate was confirmed. A few choice words in “Greased Lightening” were censored on the big screen with pictures (e.g., a cat, cow and can of whipped cream).

I usually don’t stay all the way until the very end of a show at the Hollywood Bowl. I’ll listen to the last song as I make my way out. Not this time. We were stuck in the throngs. On the walk back to the parking structure at Hollywood & Highland, we navigated the crowded sidewalk like we would in Times Square. Soon we were ahead of the crowd of drunk, slowly walking Grease fans. We only stopped when we had to at lights or driveways.

I was a little impatient as we waited for an SUV to exit the parking lot at the Methodist church on Franklin and Highland. That was until the woman in the passenger seat leaned over to the driver’s side window and said “I read your blog.” I couldn’t hear her, but was able make out the words. I was amused. I smiled and waved back and then she was off.

This is the third time I’ve been recognized while out and about. The first was at an education conference. A few months ago, I was recognized on the track at UCLA.

I don’t mind being recognized. If I wanted to avoid getting recognized, I’d be anonymous like The Militant Angeleno or El Chavo. I’ve admitted that I’d try to be nice if a random reader stopped me to say hi. Still, it’s always unexpected and throws me off guard even if I’m genuinely flattered. I hope I don’t come off as a dork, or worse, a jerk to my readers.

I arrived a few minutes before we were set to start and me the co-panelists and moderators. Although I’m familiar with Kevin’s work on LA Observed and his commentary on KCRW, I’d never met him in person. Likewise, I’d spoken to Juan Devis before, but it was my first time meeting him too. I’ve met many bloggers (and non-bloggers) before and it’s always a good experience. This was no different.

I was a little nervous for the panel as I didn’t really know what to expect and I didn’t want to sound like an idiot. Thankfully, it went well and I’m pretty sure I sounded competent thanks to Evelyn and Rubén who moderated the discussion. The moderators introduced each invited panelists. We then spoke for about 5 minutes about our blogs/sites and our roles in digital media. As Kevin mentioned in his recap, he was the self-appointed old guy who transitioned from old media to new media. He spoke about LA Observed’s early years and it’s growth. Juan spoke about telling the stories of communities through interactive web content. I focused on using personal blogs to tell stories. I read lots of personal blogs. The ones I enjoy most are written by strong writers who have interesting and funny stories to tell, even about mundane things. This doesn’t even have to be done with words all the time. Oftentimes, photos or music are prominent part of the story. Kyle finished off by discussing the role of music in blogs and how he uses his blog to promote local DJs.

Afterward, we started a Q&A. Rubén asked me about finding my voice and how I developed it. I’ve never thought of this before, but it wasn’t a difficult question to answer. I grew up with my nose in a book. English and literature classes have always been amongst my favorites. I studied literature in college and took a couple creative writing courses. My “cuentos” posts are heavily influenced by Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. It’s not my favorite of of her books, but it was the first I read like a lot of other people. Before Mango Street, I’d never read anything in vignette format. I see my “cuentos” posts almost like vignettes, maybe a little more sparse as I try to keep blog posts relatively short. Cisneros definitely influenced me.

We also discussed editing and sustaining oneself. I’ve never been an anonymous blogger, but for a long time there was no link between my last name and my blog. That changed about 6 years ago when I started contributing to other blogs. My writing changed too. I’d always self-censored, but now I was more careful to follow the mom/boss rule. Basically, if I would not want my mother (or father, hi dad!) or boss to read what I wrote, I wouldn’t post it. I don’t feel limited by this most of the time. I just accept it as part of the blogging medium. I also edit by researching, even when I’m telling personal stories. I’ll sometimes call my mom and ask if something really happened the way I remembered it. I also take pains to properly credit sources. That’s my academic side coming in. Kevin said he’d love to have a copy editor. That would be nice. I hate posting something and then finding several errors later.

As for sustaining oneself, no one on the panel made a living from blogging, except Juan but he’s not a blogger. However we all get some kind of tangible awards, opportunities we wouldn’t have had otherwise, or even advertising income. I’ve never tried to make money from my blog or post ads mainly because of aesthetic issues. Blogging is primarily a labor of love, but occasionally I’ll get a free movie or book because of it. I usually ignore emails from PR representatives, but if the email is about something I’m personally interested in (e.g., Harry Potter movie or Julia Alvarez reading), I’m fine with using my blog to promote it.

Following the talk, we chatted over wine, cheese and fruit. I met some other LMU faculty like Lynell George (another writer and new hire in English) and Eliza Rodriguez y Gibson from Chicana/o Studies. Rubén asked me if I’d ever considered taking parts of my blog and expanding it in to a book. It’s definitely crossed my mind, but until recently I had no idea where to start. I also don’t want to start a project while I have another big project looming.

Many thanks to Rubén and LMU for the invitation. I’ve spoken at local colleges a few times about blogging and it’s always been a great experience.

Note: The panel was video recorded. I don’t know if the video is ready. If I hear anything, I’ll post something here.

I’ll be speaking at Loyola Marymount University tomorrow evening about the blog and blogging in general along with some other bloggers and writers.

Check out the press release after the jump.

Loyola Marymount University’s Creative Writing Program and The Graduate English Department proudly present:

The Third Annual
LAy Of The LAnd Writer’s Conference:
“The Wired City: Writing The Future of LA”
A Reading & Conversation
March 29, 4:30 PM
Marymount Institute, University Hall (3rd Floor)

The Loyola Marymount LAy Of The LAnd Conference is a celebration of Los Angeles’ unique literary landscape, aiming to bring together writers of diverse backgrounds and experiences to talk about the various challenges of practicing the craft in the Southland.

This year’s theme, “The Wired City: Writing The Future of LA” focuses on writers in Los Angeles who are the leading practitioners in New Media. LMU’s English Department has recently expanded its offerings in journalism, with an emphasis on the digital to meet the great student demand for classes in the emerging discipline.

Our panelists are Kevin Roderick, editor of the seminal news site LA Observed; Miguel Murphy, a poet who publishes digitally; Cindy Mosqueda, a pioneering Chicana blogger; Juan Devis, the leader behind KCET-TV’s powerful online presentation exploring local communities, and LMU undergraduate Kyle DePinna, co-founder of the fast-growing music website Shifty Rhythms.

The panel will be moderated by Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature & Writing Rubén Martínez, and author and journalist Evelyn McDonnell, assistant professor in English and a recent graduate of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication’s Specialized Journalism Master’s program.

Happy TENTH blog birthday to Sean!

I’ve been dealing with blog-writer’s block. I go through this once in a while. It’s inevitable, after all I’ve been doing this 9+ years. Sometimes I feel like I’m out of stories to tell or don’t feel like sharing about new experiences. When I sit down to write a new post, it’s much more difficult than it used to be. I start posts and leave them in a draft folder for months. I talked about this with Sean, a fellow blogging veterano:

Me: did writing blog posts always feel like so much work?
Sean: No. It used to be easy
Me: I know! What happened? I think now I want to be more polished.
Sean: Too many other outlets for expression

I’m on those other outlets. So is he. They have their drawbacks, of course. It’s almost impossible to find an old Tweet and you’re limited to a few characters. Tumblr is frequently down, the search option is trash, archives are unwieldy and the comment function is lacking. I just realized that there’s no way to link to the beginning of a blog. There are all sorts of privacy issues with Facebook, and of course there is no functional archive for the user.

On the other hand, it’s much easier to post a link and say: “Hey read this! Fulanito has a really interesting take on Issue X. What do you think?” If I blogged something similar, I’d probably spend some time taking a chunk of Fulanito’s argument, and sandwiching it between some of my own commentary. I might even look for posts by fellow blogueros who have discussed Issue X and link to their posts. I can’t blog from my phone, but I can send and receive text message updates to Twitter and Facebook, quite useful for when I want to live-Tweet an event.

Still, It all comes back to function and interaction. You don’t need to be my friend or follow me to read my blog. You can just show up, read, poke around in the archives, comment if you like and move on. If you wanted, you could actually go back and see what I was talking about in March 2008 (who remembers la blogonovela?).

I miss my blog and the great things that come with it (feedback and interaction with new and long time readers). I’ve focused on running lately, but that’s mainly for me. I don’t know if anyone cares about my long runs. I don’t intend for this to become a “healthy living” blog where I document every workout, snack and meal. I do want to bring back old features, like “Mil Palabras” photos each Wednesday and the weekly question-centered posts. And of course, I need to get back to what I enjoy most and think I’m okay at, telling stories.

The Persian and Mexica new year is coming up. I can still make some resolutions.

Lotería Chicana turned 9 years old a few days ago. November 7th, to be exact. I don’t keep track of these things like I should.

If my blog was a kid, she’d be in 4th grade.

LC is having a tough time in school. She’s scolded for her poor academic record and many missed assignments. When she does do her work, she lacks the enthusiasm and creativity she showed in earlier grades.

Her concerned teacher asks, “What’s wrong, LC? When you show up to class, you seem distracted.”

LC nods and admits that she is distracted and does miss class often due to her monthly trips to New York. She looks forward to PE much more than language arts, math or social studies. She’s less interested in photography too.

Her teacher doesn’t even noticed that she spends most of class cutting out pictures from magazines, listening to podcasts, passing short notes, and making mixtapes for her crush.

And finally, school isn’t like it used to be a few years ago. Her best friends moved and now go to different schools. Some of them stopped going to school all together.

Maybe middle school will be better for LC.

I updated WordPress for the first time in over two years. Embarrassing, I know.

The one-click upgrade was simple. Everything worked okay, except for my custom made theme. I settled on a simple temporary theme. DB stitched together some photos from the Lotería photo shoot with my buddy Rio.

I’m not sure if I should try and repair the old theme or go for something new. What do you all think?

I rarely find something upsetting.

Four years ago, I noticed a link from a Chicana college student. She linked to an entry I posted about old school Mechistas. I perused her blog and found that she’d heavily borrowed and copied other parts of my blog. In some parts she’d taken the format for my “about me” section and substituted the original text for information about herself. In another section, she copied a list of favorite quotes. There was no attribution or links.

I was mad. I talked about it with a friend and he said something about feeling flattered. I was flattered, a little, but I was more upset about being copied without credit. And even if she had given credit, I still would have thought it weird that she adapted the profile section I wrote. You’d think that a section about herself would be original, right?

The budding academic in me (I had just started graduate school) was ready to send the young Chicana to the dean of students for plagiarism and to the writing center for a lesson on proper citation. Yeah, I know my blog is not an academic paper in a journal, but if you use my words, you should link. In academia, it’s even more stringent. If I even used your idea, I’d have to cite you. I can’t write a paper without stopping to cite someone every two sentences.

In blogging, I think it’s fair to credit someone if you lift a passage or are inspired by a topic covered in another blog. If words are borrowed, they should be quoted or indented like longer quotes in academic papers. Links should always be included.

I ended up drafting a short email to the girl. I explained why I was upset and asked that she remove my words. She apologized and said she’d take down her whole blog (not just the offending posts) because she felt she needed to start anew.

And then I felt kinda bad.