The bilingual manager of the Athenaeum Arts center Danillea Kelly moderates a discussion with Claudia Dominguez (graphic novelist of More Than Money, her harrowing account of escaping to San Diego from Mexico City),William A. Nericcio (publisher of Amatl, an SDSU Publishing imprint), Mario Torero (Chicano artist, muralist, and this year's inductee into the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian), Joaquin Junco (young San Diego–based cartoonist for La Prensa, San Diego Free Press, and now assisting Chicano Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz on his award-winning syndicated newspaper strip La Cucaracha), Lalo Alcaraz himself (consultant on Pixar's animated feature Coco), and Paul Guinan (creator of the award-winning Aztec Empire, the comic of the conquest debuting in print at this year's San Diego Comic-Con). Chicano culture is American culture with a rich tradition of storytelling murals, art, cartoons, and comics. Chicano popular art isn't just in Spanish, it draws on the legends of the Aztecs, Mayan, and Inca mythologies and histories, creating what are actually indigenous artforms. Recently there's been a great deal of controversy in the news regarding the crossing of borders, Latino migrants, Central American refugees, and who does and does not qualify to live in America. Chicano art and comics remind people that this popular culture owes its power to the melding of influences and traditions that in combination preserve this uniquely American popular culture.
