La Casa Azul Bookstore’s 40k in 40 days campaign

La Casa Azul Bookstore: 40k in 40 Days

The ‘40K in 40 days’ campaign will secure the funding necessary to open La Casa Azul Bookstore as a real, physical, retail space! Using the concept of placemaking, La Casa Azul Bookstore aims to create a business that is much more than your average retail store by offering book clubs, author signings, story time for children and a community meeting space. La Casa Azul Bookstore will sell new & used books, coffee, pastries, art, clothing and locally-made cards and gifts. A fresh stock of books by local and Latino writers will help solidify our niche as a purveyor of authors of local and regional interest. La Casa Azul Bookstore will cross-promote with local businesses to highlight the importance of sustainability & buying locally. We will continue to work with area schools and nonprofits to promote literacy in the East Harlem community.

Your contribution to the ‘40K in 40 days’ campaign automatically makes you a member of the Founder’s Circle and your name is added to the donor wall. In addition, there are perks for the different contribution levels, plus the satisfaction of knowing you participated in the opening of independent bookstore in El Barrio!
The money raised will be used to purchase inventory, bookshelves, fixtures, café equipment and pay for permits. Most importantly, it will secure the deposit on a retail space and allow for La Casa Azul Bookstore to open its doors in 2012.

Sounds exciting, right? It is! But, again, I need your help to get this project off the ground.
Bookstores are a crucial part of a community’s cultural, educational and social character. Help me establish La Casa Azul Bookstore in East Harlem to continue connecting people, books, and the ideas they bring together. I can’t do this work without you.

With gratitude,
Aurora Anaya-Cerda

Fuck This Movie: “This Means War” (2011)

What the fuck kind of sexist, slut-shaming, male chauvinist bullshit is this?

Representing heroism: Avatar: The Last Airbender

I’m a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. No, not the movie with the blue cat people. And definitely not that live-action monstrosity that prompted the creation of Racebending. I’m talking about the Nickelodeon cartoon that took place in a fantasy world that riffed heavily from Asian aesthetics and philosophy.

Hollowstone Giveaway

Looking for an excellent paranormal story to read for this Halloween season, how about Hollowstone?

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy, I’ve got some excellent news for you. We’re having a giveaway for Hollowstone over on Goodreads.

That’s right gang, I’m giving away two signed paperback copies and here’s your chance to grab a copy.

Representation in media: Asian Media Part II: Fist of Fury: The Connection with the social justice

Warning: By reading this you are fully aware of massive spoilers if you haven’t seen any Martial Art Films

Trailer Trashing at Sociological Images

What movie trailers tell you what White people can do vs. what people of color can do.

Brain Food – Episode 7

Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of Brain Food, where today I discuss Hayat Ali’s exciting vampire novel, The Alpha Promise.

It’s a great story and a great book worth reading that you can purchase on Kindle and Amazon. After FIRE, this was a refreshing breath of air that is fresh and cool!

Representation in media: Asian Media Part I: Martial Art Films

Every week I’ll do a segment of the The Representation of Marginalized people in Media. This week is Asian Media.

Long as I can remember, as a child I wasn’t a big fan of Martial Art films. It was the same Van Damme and Segal films. At the time it was a big thing, because it was years since Bruce Lee’s death. Since then there have been copy cats in Hong Kong and Japan alike. In Hollywood, a sometime after Lee’s death, there were Martial Art films. Some were ninja flicks and others were just a bunch white guys fighting. To me it was more like another action flick. White guy fights a bunch of minorities, fights the evil Asian guy, fights bad guy unless it’s Asian Guy, get’s the girl, usually a pretty white girl or native Asian girl.

Fandom and its hatred of Black women characters

What do Martha Jones, Tara Thornton, Guinevere, and Mercedes Jones have in common?

Round Table

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison

Recently a group of novelists decided to have a sit-down for a round table discussion.  For months they had been discussing some of the challenges that novelists of color face in both the publishing industry as well as the media in general. In addition to race, they also tackled the intersections of gender and orientation. The writers then realized that an honest conversations on these issues was something worth sharing.

Four authors, one powerful discussion.

And here we are.