Category: Features


Alt-Cinco (Café Magazine)

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“What If…The French Had Won Cinco de Mayo”
By Benjamin Ortiz, for
Café Latino Lifestyle Magazine
May/June 2009

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Latino Arts Ecology (Café Magazine)

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“Redefine, Re-imagine, Recycle”
By Benjamin Ortiz, for
Café Latino Lifestyle Magazine
April 2009

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Spanish Karaoke (Café Magazine)

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“Karaoke Castellano”
By Benjamin Ortiz, for
Café Latino Lifestyle Magazine
April 2009

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“The Marvelous Reality of Achy Obejas”
By Benjamin Ortiz, for
Café Latino Lifestyle Magazine
March 2009

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“In-store sounds
What’s in store at record shops: Band performances, readings, more going on”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Chicago Tribune

Section: On the Town
Date: July 4, 2008

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Chicago Performance Poetry (Chicago Tribune)

“Fighting words: Checking in on the sass and spirit of the city’s open-mic battlegrounds
Hiss, grunt, snap—become well-versed”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune

Section: On the Town
Date: April 4, 2008

Eternal poet laureate of Illinois Carl Sandburg said it from the jump of the 20th Century: My city can kick your city’s butt. Just listen to the rusting, hulking lilt of Sandburg’s “Chicago Poems” and you can hear a city set to brawl, a pugilist ready to hit the mark and make his name.

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Alt-Latin Entertainment (Chicago Tribune)

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“Latin entertainment offers plenty of options nowadays: Spanish karaoke, indie-rock dance parties, drag shows”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune

Section: On the Town front cover
Date: February 29, 2008

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“BOMB THE WALLS”

Raza Aztlán turns taggers into muralists
“From one art form to another: bombing with spraycans to painting with brushes”

San Antonio Current, 28 May – 3 June 1998
Smoke from crops burning in Mexico brings the faint taste of pesticides on this steamy and overcast day. Mixing with the stench of a nearby fried chicken stand and the cigarettes five teens are smoking spray-paint laces the chemical fuzz in the air like icing.

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“The new blood-soaked theatrics of that old-time religion splatter Benjamin Ortiz.”
A young Latin loco, sagging x-large, steps with attitude up to the local rock dealer. Recognizing his customer, the dopeman pulls a sack from his pocket and shakes it like a dinner bell. “My man, Joker,” he croons, “look what I saved for you special.” Joker strikes a defiant pose as his homeboy creeps up behind with a drawn shotgun. “Your crew blasted my boy the other night,” Joker snarls. “It’s payback time, punk!” BOO-YA!

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The Bicycle Thieves

“Cutting crew: Benjamin Ortiz tracks down a ring of professional bike heisters.”
An apt and true reply was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride. “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art style emperor.”
–St. Augustine, “The City of God”

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