Lalo Alcaraz Explained
Birth Name: | Eduar Lopez Alcaraz[1] |
Birth Date: | 19 April 1964 |
Birth Place: | San Diego, California, U.S. |
Nationality: | American |
Area: | Cartoonist, writer, producer |
Notable Works: | La Cucaracha |
Lalo Alcaraz (born April 19, 1964) is an American cartoonist most known for being the author of the comic La Cucaracha, the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip.[2] Launched in 2002, La Cucaracha has become one of the most controversial in the history of American comic strips.[3]
Alcaraz was born in 1964 in San Diego, California, and grew up on the U.S.–Mexico border, giving him a dual outlook on life (not "Mexican" enough for his relatives, not "American" enough for some in the U.S.).[4] He attended San Diego State University, where he received his bachelor's degree "With Distinction" in Art and Environmental Design in 1987. In 1991, Alcaraz earned his master's degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.[5]
A leading figure in the Chicano movement,[6] [7] [8] Alcaraz formerly contributed political cartoons for LA Weekly from 1992 to 2010. He co-hosts a radio show on KPFK called the "Pocho Hour of Power".[9] [10] Alcaraz is also the "Jefe-in-Chief" of POCHO.COM, a website specializing in "Ñews y Satire."[11]
Career
In addition to the daily strip, Alcaraz has published four books. Alcaraz is also an active speaker on the college circuit.[12] [13] [14] He is represented by The Agency Group in Los Angeles.[15]
Alcaraz taught as a faculty member at Otis College of Art & Design.[16] He serves on the editorial advisory board of the Latin American and Latinx literature, philosophy, and arts journal Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures.[17]
Alcaraz was consulting producer and writer on the animated show Bordertown (created by Family Guy show runner Mark Hentemann and executive produced by Seth MacFarlane), which ran one 13-episode season on Fox. It featured the first animated Mexican-American or even Latino family on primetime American television. He also served along with Gustavo Arellano as producer on comedian Al Madrigal's TV special for Fusion, Half Like Me. In 2015, Pixar hired Alcaraz to consult on Coco.[18] (See "" below.) He is also a TV animation producer and consultant on The Casagrandes on Nickelodeon. Alcaraz is also a performer, voicing an angry mariachi in Coco, and has portrayed a Mexican bounty hunter named "Royce Vargas" in the 2017 Bill Plympton/Jim Lujan animated feature film Revengeance.
Activism
In response to the Walt Disney corporation's attempt to trademark Dia de Los Muertos for the Pixar film set in Mexico, Coco, Alcaraz helped lead a social activist campaign which eventually led to Disney's abandoning the idea.[19] In particular, Alcaraz's "Muerto Mouse" (itself an offshoot of his early "Migra Mouse") criticized the Disney campaign with the byline "It's coming to trademark your cultura."[20] [21]
He is the creator of "Daniel D. Portado", a satirical Hispanic character who in 1994 formed the faux group "Hispanics For Wilson" which called on Mexican immigrants to return south—"reverse immigration"—as a response to the controversial Proposition 187.[22] In 2012, Daniel D. Portado returned to the headlines as a result of Mitt Romney's call, during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, on undocumented immigrants to exercise "self-deportation."[23]
He contributed a work of art to the 2008 Obama campaign called "Viva Obama".[24] He worked with The Lincoln Project during the campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election.[25]
Awards
Alcaraz has received five Southern California Journalism Awards for Best Cartoon in Weekly Papers, and numerous other awards and honors, including "The Latino Spirit Award" from the California Legislature and the Office of the Lt. Governor, honors from the Los Angeles City Council, The California Chicano News Media Association, the UC Berkeley Chicano Latino Alumni Association, the United Farm Workers of America, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, and The Rockefeller Foundation.[26]
Pulitzer Prize Finalist
In 2019 and 2020, Alcaraz was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.[27]
Herblock Prize
On April 26, 2022, he was awarded the annual Herblock Prize presented by the Herb Block Foundation to honor excellence in editorial cartooning.[28] [29]
Works
- Book: Alcaraz, Lalo . La Cucaracha . 2004 . Andrews McMeel Publishing . 978-0740746598.
- Book: Alcaraz, Lalo . Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration . 2004 . Akashic Books . 978-0971920620.
- Book: Stavans, Ilan . Latino USA: A Cartoon History . 2000 . Illustrated by Lalo Alcaraz . Basic Books . 9780465082216.
- Book: Stavans, Ilan . A Most Imperfect Union: A Contrarian History of the United States . 2014 . Illustrated by Lalo Alcaraz . Basic Books . 978-0465036691.
- Web site: Fuertes with the 2010 Census . Maldef.
Further reading
- Book: Fernández L’Hoeste, Héctor D. . Lalo Alcaraz: Political Cartooning in the Latino Community . 2014-09-08 . . 978-1496811370 . 10.14325/mississippi/9781496811370.001.0001 . Great Comics Artists Series.
External links
- Web site: Lalo Alcaraz . Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database.
- Web site: Lalo Alcaraz, Editorial Cartoonist . Spotlight . Otis College of Art and Design . May 8, 2020 . May 8, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200508172814/https://www.otis.edu/communication-arts/spotlight/lalo-alcaraz-editorial-cartoonist . dead .
Notes and References
- Web site: Eduar Lopez Alcaraz.
- Web site: Bio. Lalo Alcaraz. 2015-09-13. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224052/http://laloalcaraz.com/bio. 2016-03-03. dmy-all.
- Web site: Seth Wolf. San Francisco Bay Guardian Arts and Entertainment. San Francisco Bay Guardian. 2004-10-12.
- Web site: La Cucaracha Comic Strip . Gocomics.com. 2002-11-25.
- Web site: Lalo Alcaraz . Universal Uclick . Andrews McMeel Publishing . 2013-10-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20111015200443/http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/features/lalo/bio.htm. 2011-10-15. dead.
- Web site: Lou Delgado. Splinters: Lalo Alcaraz: Chicano Political Cartoonist. Splinters . 2005-11-05.
- PhD . Wegner . Kyle David . 2 . 71 . https://www.proquest.com/openview/510193e5a21c9294eb6b9c09d7d2a19e/ . Children of Aztlán: Mexican American popular culture and the post-Chicano aesthetic . . . June 2006 .
- Web site: Creative Responders: Latino Art in Action Re-Affirming and Transforming the Future . 2008-11-14 . Los Angeles Regional Workshop . National Association of latino Arts and Cultures. https://web.archive.org/web/20111007075029/http://www.nalac.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=169&Itemid=214 . October 7, 2011 .
- News: Lalo Alcaraz On Arizona's New Anti-immigration Legislation . KPFK-TV . World News . 2010-05-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151110173634/http://wn.com/Lalo_Alcaraz_on_Arizona's_New_Anti-Immigration_Legislation . November 10, 2015 .
- News: Pocho Hour of Power. KPFK.
- Web site: Our management and editorial honchos. Pocho. 2013-10-31.
- Web site: Lalo Alcaraz Named Keynote Speaker at Luminaria Award Dinner . News . The University of New Mexico . 2011-03-09.
- Web site: Leadership conference shows many paths to successful careers. El Hispanic News. 2011-04-07.
- Web site: Xicano Latino Heritage Month . César E. Chávez Center for Higher Education. CSU Pomona . 2011-05-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20110723221630/http://dsa.csupomona.edu/cesarchavez/?nfid=2747. 2011-07-23. dead.
- Web site: Lalo Alcaraz. The Agency Group. 2013-10-31 . SPEAKING CLIENT. https://web.archive.org/web/20080604050928/https://www.theagencygroup.com/artist.aspx?ArtistID=4847. June 4, 2008.
- Web site: Faculty Bios > Lalo Alcaraz . Otis College of Art and Design . https://web.archive.org/web/20131127155148/http://www.otis.edu/faculty/lalo-alcaraz. 2015-07-14. November 27, 2013.
- Web site: Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures on JSTOR. 2020-08-06. www.jstor.org. en.
- News: Nevarez. Griselda. Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz to Work On Pixar's Day of the Dead Film 'Coco'. 2016-11-22. NBC News. 2015-08-21.
- Web site: Lalo Alcaraz. Walt Disney, Inc. wants to trademark 'Dia de los Muertos' . Pocho.com. 2013-05-07 . 2013-10-31.
- Web site: Arellano. Gustavo. Lalo Alcaraz Creates Amazing "Muerto Mouse" Cartoon in Response to Disney "Dia de los Muertos" Fiasco . Blogs. OC Weekly . 2013-05-08. 2013-10-31.
- Web site: Renteria. Ramon. Ramon Renteria: 'Muerto Mouse' seeks cash, not cheese . El Paso Times. 2013-05-12. 2013-10-31.
- News: Chicano cartoonist entertains students. Kumar. Ankali. 1996-03-28. The Daily Pennsylvanian. 2012-02-02.
- Web site: Daniel D. Portado: The Original Self-Deportationist. 2012-02-02 . News Taco. 2012-02-02.
- Web site: Severns . Jeff . Viva Obama Artist Gets the Academic Treatment. September 18, 2009 . Utne Reader . 2009-09-18.
- Web site: Guadalupe. Patricia. October 5, 2020. Latino cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz on mission to defeat Trump in November. 2020-10-05. NBC News. en.
- News: Local Hero: Lalo Alcaraz . Hispanic Heritage Month - Local Heroes. KCET. 2010-09-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20110126061639/http://www.kcet.org/socal/local_heroes/hhm/local-heroes-lalo-alcaraz.html. 2011-01-26. dead.
- Web site: Finalist: Lalo Alcaraz, freelancer . The Pulitzer Prizes.
- News: Cavna. Michael. Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz wants to expose our nation's inhumanity. The Washington Post. 2021-04-26. 2021-05-07.
- News: Herblock Prize & Lecture. The Herb Block Foundation. 2021-05-07.