Juan Felipe profile picture

Juan Felipe

I am here for Networking

About Me

Born on the San Joaquín Valley road, Fowler and headed on down thru ranchitos, villages, mountain tops, small towns 'till I hit the big town of San Diego in the mid-fifties - with my familia, mamá Lucha and papi Felipe, farm workers, story-tellers, dreamers, keepers of the whole soul & the good things & the deep compassionate vision, big-city life was not their thing and yet there we were, back & forth South North on trains to SF to live with my cousins, Los Quintana who invented the first tortilla-making machine in The City and discovered some of the great Mexican film and music stars of the Golden Age of Mexican film, such as Tin-Tan & El Charro Avitia, by 7th grade in San Diego I decided to work on my voice, to be a speaker (since I had been silenced in many painful ways), by the 60's and 70's I became a 100% Chicano poet, teatrista, artist, involved with marginalized communities, youth, alternative schools, have spent time taking journeys to Mexican Indigenous communtiies (Chiapas, Veracruz and Nayarit, since 197--with film, photography, poetry & journaling) small mags, arts groups at a local, state, national and international level - to this day I write, read, perform and work with as many communities as possible when time permits, write poetry, plays, musicals, novels for young adults, bilingual work, performance and I mentor new writers & performers & teachers, visit schools, do residencies, with five gorwn children, my partner Margarita, a poet in her own right, six beautiful grandchildren and various extended familias (Quintana, Herrera, Robles - from Califas to Texas, New Mexico, Chihuahua) and my writing & arts familias across the nation - my life is vibrant, I thank all, love, amor.

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Poets, writers, childrens books authors, novelists, editors, publishers, big and small, all interested in Chicano Latin@ literature, poetry, writing, performance, playwrighting, songwriting, musicians that love to work with poets and writers, as well as visual artists and in film and video -- positive, harmony, para el bien de todos, for the good of all, I can also field some questions you may have on your manuscript from time to time, I advise various publishers and have been doing this all my life, not as a career but as a soulful and natural way to live, write and speak for the good all - I'd like to meet others who have networks so that we can let people know what we are doing, to let teachers, migrant education programs, the people at large, youth, all know, what art & literary & performance people & work is available for their personal and collective growth, all colors, all positive, reflective perspectives, all places - in particular too, I'd like to connect with all those with interests in multicultural, & new forms of literary and artistic expression, with writers at an international level, at an immediate level, I'd like to get together with people to help me promote my new book: 187 REASONS MEXICANOS CAN'T CROSS THE BORDER / City Lights, coming out in November - check out 187express.com, I am also interested in meeting peoples who are exploring Buddhist perspectives & life-styles, at a personal & community level - gracias.

My Blog

187 Reasons You Got to Be in SF

Hey Peoples,Just to say that my good bro', Luis Valadez suggested I get on with posting a bloga. So here ya' go -- this Thursday, 11/15, I'll be at City Lights Bookstore in SF, coming out with my new ...
Posted by on Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:36:00 GMT