Kip Austin Hinton

spent the weekend in coachella with my sister. but first we went hiking 4 hours through griffith park, climbed up near the hollywood sign. then to get sushi in little tokyo with Anthony, he was in town from san anto, 'cuz his jaina had an interview. picked up Felipe from LAX, and drove straight there, met up and stayed with friends, up until 6am talking about school reform and beer. after swimming the next day, dropped Era at the festival, it was 106 degrees so screw that, i didn't stay. hung out in air conditioning, ate an organic feast my sister bought. - Roy and Felipe got back from the Claremont conference, where they presented their critical media literacy program and their Purepecha students showed a video made in class (should've gone to that conference, but i slept instead). finally drove Roy and my sister to the festival. bought tickets from some guys walking. they make you walk a mile, we were still tired of walking from the 4 hour hike the previous day. but made...

just back from san anto, 4 day vacation. poetry in Market Square. talent displayed, faces hidden: Anel and Maria. i found a ten dollar bill in an HEB shopping basket after the first set, then after everything was finished, i gave that ten dollar bill to a homeless family. though i am a generous guy, this was not my idea. i guess i'd hoped God wanted me to have $10. but now i think God wants me to break even. stayed with Mara & Leonard one night. they rock, and the Mutts rock. and they're coming to visit us in august (the people, not the Mutts). the Museo Alameda opening parade. marched holding a banner, did anyone catch what the banner said? these photos, they're self-explanatory. hotel contessa , where they treated us like they thought we were rich. kinda afraid to touch anything, at least until the hotel pachanga got going. thought we caused the 3am evacuation, hundreds of tourists outside in their pajamas - except us, all fully dressed with cocktails in hand. turned...

roadtrip to La Paz and Bakersfield. Dwight Yoakam and Mika on the iPod. fun and spiritual fulfillment ensue. too grandiose? we visited Cesar Chavez's grave (que descanza en paz) and saw what remains of UFW dream from decades ago: La Paz, the erstwhile (i've never used that word before, i'm a dork) self-sufficient commune - endless fields of vegetables, and interactive, critical education. idealistic and doomed. - it was real, once, we talked to someone who lived it. saw the photos. as a commune, it has fallen into ruin, i guess, though the Chavez memorial and visitor center are beautiful. and one of the old tuberculosis wards (the whole site was once a TB hospital) is to become a hall for retreat events. we climbed hills, pondered drying pools, listened to freight trains and fraught beats . the whole experience gave us a weird sense of loss and peace. - the night before, party at Dolores Huerta's house. That's her in the middle, this was taken at 1:30am, during a ...

mp4 ( iPod video , 52mb) By Richard Van Heertum, Kip Austin Hinton, and Brian Trinh. 2007. 9 minutes. - An interview with scholar John Shelton Lawrence . Using clips from popular films, we look at the political, religious, and cultural function of the " American Monomyth ." - Everyone likes superhero movies, right? Like it or not, we show how superhero myths are anti-democratic, and support the unquestioned consolidation of power. Within these myths, people are ignorant and impotent, and must depend on a benevolent white man to make decisions. - Recently, the myths show possibilities of collaboration and transgressive themes - such as a heroic black vampire in Blade, or "coming out" narratives in X-Men. Even revolution now seems possible: a popular movement in V for Vendetta actually changes the corrupt government, which traditional superheroes work so hard to preserve. - This was the final project for our Critical Media Literacy course at UCLA. Our movie has man...

went to san diego and tijuana. for spring break, i guess, but i'm in grad school these days. that means we didn't do anything that would freak out my grandma. - stayed at Calaca Press headquarters. went to get tacos at Cuatro Milpas , ran into a walkout on the way. student-citizens from 2 high schools marched across the city to chicano park. protesting the recent ICE raids in san diego , in which some of their parents (who are not citizens) were deported. you'd be pissed too. - there was a minuteman woman (that irony is lost on her, i bet) videotaping these minors, intending to sell the tape to Lou Dobbs or Brit Hume. i told her it wasn't her park, and we are there as guests of the chicano community that maintains it, and should be respectful. especially of the rights of minors - who did not sign release forms. do they have first amendment rights of expression, without expecting their under-17 faces and words to be edited and twisted and used against them (and for profi...