LA Beez: Why was HispanicLA created?
Gabriel Lerner: HispanicLA is an online magazine created in January 2009. It focuses on news and information related to the Hispanic community in LA from the "Hispanic angle," hence the name HispanicLA. At first, it was intended just to be an extension of my own writings and designs, like a larger personal blog. The expansion came naturally when more people wanted to participate in a publication they can trust and technically it's possible. And it still is evolving.
Right now the site features commentary, opinions, observations, reviews, and blogging about politics, education, arts, immigration, literatures, and Latin America. Essentially we document the lives, the experiences as well as project the thinking and issues pertaining to the largest ethnic group in Los Angeles: the Hispanics.
What is your background?
GL: Writing is my life. I have been a journalist and correspondent since 1978. Currently I am an editor at La Opinión, the largest Spanish language daily in the U.S. I also write stories and poems. I've published three books: two are collections of short stories and poems and one novel. I love writing about politics as much as computing. Creating HispanicLA came naturally to me as it helps when I have technical skills as a professional editor and a serious software user. The Hispanic focus is also consistent with my career since I have been writing about the life, experiences, issues and hopes of the Hispanic community in the U.S.
What are HispanicLA's goals?
GL: Our main goal is to be a relevant Hispanic voice in all the important issues in the society we live in. Another goal is from an operational standpoint, we have a need to grow, to be known. We need more authors, writers, editors as well as active readers who would take time to give comments and feedbacks about our content. We'd also like to recruit more thinkers, artists, politicians, and activists who could contribute their viewpoints and insights. We treat all contributions with utmost respect through professional editing, designs, and distribution.
Who is your audience?
GL: At first I thought readers of HispanicLA would be people like me, a local voice for the local Spanish speaking audience in LA. But as soon as I launched the site, this thinking clashed with the nature of the Internet, which is global, immediate, and instantaneous. So our readers are pretty diverse. Consequently, our contributors now came from not just Los Angeles but also Mexico, Spain, Germany, and throughout Latin America. Our topics now cover local and national as well as Central America and the Caribbean. In general, most of our readers are domestic and a growing number comes from about 80 countries overseas. More specifically, our biggest audience is Angelenos and the second major audience is from Mexico City. We've estimated that for every ten visitors in the U.S. there are two from Mexico, one from Spain, and "a half" from Argentina.
Most HispanicLA readers identify the site as a Spanish language media site. Right now about 25% of HispanicLA's published content is in English. But this rate is growing. In time we might see a different balance depending on public demand.
How is HispanicLA different from other Hispanic media?
GL: The Internet is so vast. Maybe there are many sites like "HispanicLA" in cyberspace already, who knows. But I think what we are doing is a serious effort to publish quality and interesting content in both Spanish and English from Southern California. For that I think HispanicLA deserves some attention and readership.
What is HispanicLA's online platform?
GL: Before making the site public, I spent almost three months exploring many different platforms and designs that were out there before settling on the open-source WordPress. I also tried to learn as much as I could about ways to make the site popular.
Who are your collaborators and contributors?
GL: HispanicLA had transformed from a blog into an online magazine the moment I started soliciting and accepting contributions from other writers. I tend to recruit writers who offer something I cannot produce. And these people participate in this venture because they sense the site has a future. So far we have about more than 100 contributors from throughout California, the US, and Latin America.
Though grouped under the general "Hispanic view," each writer actually has a different perspective. Among the contributors from LA areas, we have Rafael Carvajal, a Colombian-born philosopher who pontificates aphorisms in his "Máximas y Mínimas" column. Nestor Fantini, a survivor of the Dirty War in Argentina, is both a spokesman for Amnesty International and a high school teacher who organizes a literary circle in the San Fernando Valley. Manuel Gayol, a Cuban philosopher, who has developed the idea of a Cuban identity from Los Angeles.
Outside of LA we have Eduardo Stanley, who is based in the Central Valley. He often writes about the Union of Field Workers, the economic crisis threatening the Hispanic media in Northern California, or the problems that Indian immigrants from Southern Mexico endure because they don't speak either English or Spanish.
Another is Marga Britto. She runs a very successful column in Spanish called "Tijuana Blues," which depicts life in that border city beyond the dramas and tragedies of the drug wars.
In Sacramento, we have Araceli Martinez who writes a blog in English called "A Path With Heart." It's about the travails of a Mexican immigrant who tries to swim in the non-Hispanic world.
We even have non-Hispanic contributors like Aggie Hoffman, an immigration lawyer. The content is eclectic but I believe it's interesting and well presented.
Gabriel Lerner is founder and editor of HispanicLA.
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