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UPCOMING EVENTS
February 13, 2026
10:30 AM
at the
University of Arizona Library, Special Collections
Arizona Insights II
A program to celebrate Arizona Statehood. More to come but make sure to mark your calendar.
March 15, 2026 at 4 PM
"We Love Tucson!"
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 •
December 6, 2025
Program cover for the December 6, 2025 Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa celebration at La Casa Cordova in the Tucson Museum of Art Historic Block. More photos & video to come.
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 Speakerat the
Arizona Library AssociationConference
October 23, 2025
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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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