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UPCOMING EVENTS
March 15, 2026 at 4 PM
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"Viva Tucson: Tucsonense History In Focus"
I and Melani Martinez will engage in a conversation focused on two iconic Tucson locations that have shaped the city’s cultural landscape. I will discuss La Casa Cordova, a home built in the 1840s and the focus of Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa. Martinez will speak about El Molino, one of Tucson’s earliest tamal and tortilla factories featured in her work. The conversation will be guided by moderator Alisha Vasquez.
April 2, 2026
Love of Lectura
A conversation about history and Storied Property with Pima County’s District 5 Supervisor, Andrés Cano.
• Past Events •
January 22, 2026
I participated in a UA Confluencenter Show & Tell panel that explored the history, memory, and long-standing vision behind a Mexican American and Chicano Cultural Center in Tucson. The panel brought together Mayor Regina Romero, Raul Aguirre, Javier Durán, and myself to reflect on earlier efforts, current city discussions, and what such a center could mean for Tucson today.
My presentation looked back to the 1960s and 1970s, when activists were laying the groundwork for a cultural center and even secured a site, although the project ultimately never came to fruition. I am posting my presentation slides here to make that historical context publicly available, along with an article about the event.
December 6, 2025
Program cover for the Dec. 6, 2025 Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa celebration at La Casa Cordova,
Tucson Museum of Art.
View a few photos from the event.
November 14, 2025
In conjunction with the exhibition Living With Injury at MOCA Tucson, I engaged in a conversation with journalist Jane Kay about how her reporting illuminated contamination and contested landscapes in Tucson during the 1980s. The discussion examined environmental justice through the lens of journalism and community history. More about “Living With Injury,” and the south side residents who have spent decades battling water contamination
&
a short video of Jane Kay
speaking that evening.
Keynote Speaker at the
Arizona Library AssociationConference
October 23, 2025
Keynote speaker at the
Western Association of
Women Historians (WAWH)
Conference
on April 25, 2025.
My talk explored why I began
writing memories and how
they offer a valuable lens for understanding history.
February 14, 2025
at UA Library Special Collections
Keynote on November 7, 2024
for APA Latinos
"Tea with Taz"
Discussion with Taz Khatri
about Tucson history,
space & design politics
March 2024
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My talk celebrating the culmination of my latest book, L.A. Interchanges on Sunday, July 30th, 2023 at the L.A. Central Library's Mark Taper Auditorium.
Together On the Air
I was a panelist at the closing event for the ONE Archives Foundation exhibit on March 31, 2023. It also featured a special screening of the LGBTQ+ and Latinx documentary "Unidad: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos." The program highlighted the coalition work built between César Chávez, United Farm Workers, and members of GLLU toward LGBTQIA+ Latinx rights and liberation in 1980s and 1990s Los Angeles. Access the online "Together on The Air" exhibit HERE.
Re-Activating Tucson's Downtown History
The University of Arizona's Confluencenter hosted a "Show & Tell" discussion that focused on efforts to re-activate Mexican/Mexican American history on January 27, 2023 at the Sosa-Carrillo House (which is now the Mexican American Heritage & History Museum). I, Betty Villegas, and Mayor Regina Romero were the featured speakers. Watch it HERE. You can find my presentation at the 1:00 mark.
NPR featured the
Notitas:
Select Columns From
The Tucson Citizen
Book Release
held on
September 25, 2021
on Arizona Spotlight.
It is the first story but the entire
program is pretty interesting.
2021 Tucson Festival of Books
"Arizona authors Alberto Álvaro Ríos and Lydia R. Otero discuss their newest books, both of which explore the power of place and community along the border. How much is lost when families are dislocated altogether? Living where we do, these are things for all of us to think about."
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