It’s Not Just a Sound Bite. Steinbeck’s Echo Gets Louder in "Homer from Salinas: John Steinbeck’s Enduring Voice for California" (and everyone else who’s listening)

I saw the news today. Oh boy. Apparently, depending on which of our presidential candidates you ask, the economic numbers tell different tales. (By the way, the numbers show unemployment rising from 8.2% in June to 8.3% in July). According to Mitt, ever the voice of the shrinking middle class (that voice, by the way, is coming from far above), the numbers are a “hammer blow” to the nation’s workers. And no, that’s not a cool sexual reference. If you ask our current man in the white house on the hill (also a voice coming from above…he is on a hill mind you), he states that things are getting better but “we’ve still got too many folks out there looking for work.” What is causing this, you may ask each candidate? Each one says it’s the other guy.

Thanks gents. You’ve made it perfectly clear that people are still getting screwed; it’s just a matter of lubricant. I’m impressed with both of your abilities to dilute into sound bites a problem more and more people are facing.

With election rhetoric heightening and finger pointing coming to that wonderful height of US politics known as “The other guys did it,” I can’t help but consider John Steinbeck and his oeuvre. Yes, I said it: the writer’s name that in my years of teaching high school English and university survey courses generally brought sighs of forced reverence and hidden questions of relevance. However, if you look closely at what this Californian covers, in an earnest desire to discover honesty in his words (and even some painful recognition of ethnic stereotyping and dubious characterization), what you’ll find are deep and fundamental questions of identity, ethnicity, poverty, and the exploitation of the dispossessed. You could easily flip a switch and have Steinbeck writing about our nation today.

And this kind of thoughtful consideration, this honest assessment, is exactly what you will find in Homer from Salinas: John Steinbeck’s Enduring Voice for California, deftly edited by Dr. William A. Nericcio and published by San Diego State University Press. From noted scholars, performers, artists, and photographers, this mélange of lectures, screenings, debates, discussions, and visual artifacts brings Steinbeck to the forefront of contemporary discussion. This “chaemera-like publication,” as Nericcio calls it in his introduction, compiles some of the most interesting moments from a Steinbeck celebration at San Diego State University in 2007. A celebration that took place right around the time the election season was ramping up before Obama’s first run at the office.

Questions about immigration, the economy, and the growing lower class (read impoverished, abused, taken advantage of) were all over the lips of politicians’ as much then as they are today. And in this volume of thoughtful analysis, creative response, and honest assessment, Steinbeck is given a modern day treatment that begs the question: has anything changed?

Nericcio’s collection is comprised of a beautiful mix of scholars, children’s writers, poets, and artists. The end result is an examination of the issues that plagued this nation in one of its worst economic and social times, that plagued it in 2007, and that sadly still plague it today. It proves that Steinbeck’s writings are an honest, if sometimes flawed, assessment of the “hammer blow” of “folks out there looking for work.” Echoes of this can still be heard today in the workers’ cries and the protestors’ chants, railing against the machine that’s running them over.

Homer from Salinas is not simply a look at Steinbeck and California’s past; it is a look at the ever-changing, and troubled, United States. This is a thoughtful work that digs Steinbeck out of the dust bowl and work camps of The Great Depression and foresees him center stage in the debates of the Occupy movement and Minuteman radicalism of today’s Great Recession. It would be a welcome novelty if our political leaders could be as relevant and honest as Steinbeck and this collection.

Buy it today from SDSU Press. High school and university classrooms cannot afford to be deprived of the thoughtful debates that this collection ignites.

Get Inspired by Catherine Yi-yu Cho Woo's book, "Luster of Jade: Poetry, Painting, and Music"

Born in the capital of China, Catherine Yi-yu Cho Woo is an artist that has reached  

international success. Dr. Woo has excelled as a poet, painter, composer, teacher, and scholar. With numerous awards, nine books and a teaching position at San Diego State University, one of her poems was turned into a song that became a number one hit in Taiwan. Due to her breathtaking representations of nature, and soul she was asked by President Bush to serve on the National Council for the Arts in 1991.

San Diego State University Press has captured some of Dr. Woo’s talent in this 1992 publication, “Luster of Jade: Poetry, Painting, and Music.” Dr. Woo’s poetry has a signature feature, as her strategic use of space is as unique as her word choice. Although Dr. Woo has reached international fame, her poetry still explores elements of human behavior that is easy to relate to, as her poem Memories goes:

Memories

                  Old

                        Faded

                                    Yellow

                                                Memories

A smile

            A touch

                        A whisper

                                          Of

                                              Yesteryear

                                                            Faraway

In the Background

                                Yet never gone

They were thrown away

                                    Yet they stayed

They are ours

This compilation of Dr. Woo's talent is not confined to poetry, but also includes her artwork. Paintings which have been described as, "visual poems, because of the simplicity, intensity, and purity of her expressions" and which have graced the walls of Harvard's Sackler Museum and Taiwan's National Gallery in Taipei. Dr. Woo's perception of the world is clearly seen in her artwork and poetry and if allowed to, can also inspire.  

A copy of, "Luster of Jade: Poetry, Painting, and Music" is available on Amazon for only $2.95! 

Time to Get Back on the Saddle! "Tod Sloan, By Himself"

          It is that time of the year again! The Del Mar Horse Races are happening right now and such thrills must be experienced by all. Do not worry about being out of the loop with the technicalities and lingo of horse racing. The SDSU Press has just the thing to get you up to speed! What better way to fully experience what horse racing has to offer than by going into the heart and soul of a groundbreaking jockey.

         If Tod Sloan had not dedicated his life to the world of horse racing his second profession should have been writing. Sloan’s autobiography, “Tod Sloan, By Himself,” edited by A. Dick Luckman, exceeds the generic tale of athletic success. This notable figure of the late nineteenth century shot to fame through his new and controversial ideas, ones still upheld by jockeys world-wide. His struggle through life is raw and honest and his joyful memories are palpable through his writing.

        

         Sloan’s innovation began with a new style of riding, expressed by the editor in the preface as:

“Tod Sloan became famous in his day because he introduced a new style of riding, which his initially sceptical contemporaries derisively described as the “monkey seat,” “the American seat,” the “monkey on a stick,” the “crouch seat,” and no doubt other unmentionable things. He moved up, in a semi-crouch, high on the horse’s neck, driving forward, looking down over the horse’s head, with very short stirrups on a short rein. For two hundred years before this jockeys had always ridden in a very different way.”

Del Mar Diaries: The Jockeys, 'Uncovered'

Purchase your copy of, "Tod Sloan, By Himself" today! 

Take A Peek Behind the Advertising Curtain in Humor and Eroticism in Advertising by Maria Cristina da Silva Martins (SDSU Press)

Humor & Eroticism in Advertising succeeds in many different, exciting ways. Within its pages, Maria Cristina da Silva Martins explores the aesthetic and political dimensions of print advertisements and how these function to activate desire and maintain the cycles of consumption in late-capitalist society. Using as her point of departure advertisements published in Brazilian magazines in the eighties, Maria Cristina da Silva Martins shows how the humor/eroticism relation, inserted in the connections between the verbal and the visual, unleashes, in a non-simplistic and unusual manner, political and aesthetic implications between the advertisement and its cultural context. For fans and scholars whose focus is on that of international advertising and marketing, Latin American cultural studies, visual culture and more, Humor & Eroticism in Advertising is a must-have!

Click here to pucrhase Humor & Eroticism in Advertising

Below are some examples of Brazilian advertisements as well as some images from the book:

Be a Part of the Discussion in, "Thomas Paine: Common Sense for the Modern Era" edited by Ronald F. King and Elsie Begler

            We all know what it is, and we all think we use it flawlessly, but, do we really? Defined as, “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation,” ‘common sense’ is not only a term used universally, but it is also the title of Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet. This founding father was respected internationally and his philosophies are still highly respected. Paine’s political advances pushed for America’s independence from Britain. Through his powerful prose he was able to sway the minds of a growing nation. San Diego State University held a conference in 2005 that explored the contributions of Paine’s, ‘Common Sense.’ The lively discussion was far from the traditional history lecture as the educated speakers made new connections between Paine’s eighteenth-century ideas and modern day issues. These discussions found in, “Thomas Paine: Common Sense for the Modern Era” edited by, Ronald F. King and Elsie Begler, give life to Paine’s theories in a whole new way. With these thought-provoking discussions we can get one step closer to having some of that much-needed ‘common sense.’

SDSU’s conference is not the only time in which Paine’s philosophies have been used to analyze modern day politics. Check out this video of Bob Basso as he takes on Paine’s image and ideas in order to bring some of Paine's teachings back to the nation.

 

Purchase "Thomas Paine: Common Sense for the Modern Era" from the SDSU PRESS today!

SDSU Press: The Ancient Secrets of the Tipai, Tipai Ethnographic Notes by WIlliam D. Hohenthal Jr.

Tipai Hunters

Delve into the mysterious and nearly-forgotten world of the Tipai Native Americans with William D. Hohenthal Jr's Tipai Enthographic Notes. The Native peoples of Baja California are a crucial part of American history often overlooked by scholars; this breathtaking paperback sheds new light on a topic previously considered insignificant.

Complete with brilliant illustrations of camps and settlements, this edition is no doubt the perfect addition to any Native Americanist, Anthropologist, Historian, or Summer Reader's collection. While more recent publications on the Tipai may have been released in the past 14 years, none command the same authority, nor compile the same breadth of knowledge, as Hohenthal's original piece.

Told in a comprehensive, authoritative diction, Hohenthal's recounting of the Tipai Natives' story in the mid 19th century opens the eyes to the lives, tragedies, and triumphs of this people.

Typeset in commanding Times New Roman, and in a stunning crimson cover, it does not fail to catch the eye. Truly for anyone with even a passive interest in Native Americans, Tipai Ethnographic Notes is a must-have. Don't hesitate, purchase your copy today!
http://www.amazon.com/Tipai-Ethnographic-Notes-Mid-Century-Anthropological/dp/0879191457/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341264297&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Tipai+Enthographic+Notes