Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Latino Like Me


This seems like the right time to mention a blog produced by Tomas Summers Sandoval, whom I've come to know through the California Studies Association. The blog is called Latino Like Me, and I've put a live link on the honor roll to your right.

Tomas's blog is devoted to Chicano critical humanism, but you're liable to see just about anything there. I especially appreciated the point he made after Kellogg's Corn Flakes removed Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps from its cereal boxes; the problem, it seemed, was that Phelps was photographed smoking pot and therefore made a poor role model. Tomas posed a simple question: If it weren't for pot, who would eat Corn Flakes? I also like Tomas's theory that Lent is a vast conspiracy to get Catholics ready for swimsuit season.

Tomas's blog title plays on John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me, the 1961 bestseller. Shortly after its publication, Griffin became involved in a new Catholic literary quarterly published in Menlo Park. It was called Ramparts, and within five years, it moved to San Francisco and became the nation's premier muckraker. (You may be hearing more about this soon.)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Heyday Books


I'm a big fan of Heyday Books, which Malcolm Margolin started 35 years ago, so I'm pleased that they launched a blog this week. I'll put a link on the blogroll to your starboard, too.

Heyday publishes on a wide range of California topics, and many of their books are gorgeous. I first started tracking them when I came across Fool's Paradise: A Carey McWilliams Reader. Since then, I've gotten to know their staff and some of their authors well. Check them out, I say.