Sunday, April 16, 2023

Gustavo Arellano speaks at IVC: What took so long?



On Wednesday April 12, Gustavo Arellano, author and Los Angeles Times columnist, visited IVC, as the inaugural speaker for the Mendoza Family Distinguished Lecture Series. Sponsored by IVC's Puente Program, the series honors the memory of Ray Mendoza, a legendary leader in the Orange County labor community and beyond. Earlier in the day, Arellano spoke to an Intro to Chicanx class before addressing the larger community.

The room was full with students, staff, instructors, adminstrators including the college president and the chancellor. Members of the public were in attendance as well as members of the Mendoza family. The talk was livestreamed on Instagram.  


In some ways, it was an absolutely ordinary occurence that happens at colleges and universities across the country, state and country. Indeed, Arellano is a familiar and popular presence on campuses, able to address a broad range of political, cultural and social issues with bold humor and inspiring moral clarity - from taco trucks to political corruption to the use of the term Latinx. Arellano is also an apt choice as he is an O.C. native, a first-generation college student, a community college student (OCC!) and the son of immigrants - and, yes, a success. A role model. 

Local independent bookstore LibroMobile sold books - and sold out of Gustavo's!

What made the evening extraordinary, as loyal Dissent readers know, were all the efforts through all the years to bring Arellano to campus as commencement speaker. (Indeed, he has spoken in that capacity at nearly every campus in the county and many more beyond.) Those efforts never resulted in anything much more than blog posts documenting the failed campaign and a running joke between Rebel Girl and Gustavo who she would email annunally to announce her nomination of him.

How long has this been going on?




2012: "Too political" (Where Rebel Girl learns that women in hijabs and guys in guayaberas have politics but guys in three piece suits don't.)


2014:  Gustavo Arellano chosen as Commencement Speaker at Fullerton College



There's more but you get the drift.

Why some might ask? Not many, but some. might ask this. Most know.

On the occasion of his resignation from the OC Weekly, we here at Dissent rounded up much of Weekly's coverage through the years of the college and the district. A review of that retrospective might explain things a bit, might revive your memories: Gustavo Arellano: Longtime editor of the OC Weekly resigns.

Whew! So much! Steve Frogue! Mike Carona! Tom Fuentes! and so much more...

Clearly this back and forth through the years was a tug of war, of sorts. Rebel Girl insisting that a college could and should host someone like Arellano, a critic who speaks boldly with moral authority. A person of color as we say now in 2023.  Someone who represents community, is OF the community, not corporate culture. Someone with something more than the easy platitudes. Someone real. What did Glenn and his supporters see? Rebel Girl thinks they saw the same person she did. They, of course, used different words to describe him. She still remembers some of them.

Anyway, nice to still be around to see this happen, to help make it happen. Things are better now.

The Puentistas worked hard to make the evening happen and went home late with lilies.

2 comments:

Rebel Girl said...

Hey! Gustavo Arellano and his colleagues won the Pulitzer Prize yesterday for their coverage of the LA City Council scandal.

Roy Bauer said...

Wow, impressive. Unsurprising.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...