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Joaquín Ramón Herrera

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Joaquín Ramón Herrera
Born (1969-03-06) March 6, 1969 (age 55)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Pen nameNezua
OccupationVideo Producer, Documentarian, Writer, Illustrator
Alma materNew York University
GenreJuvenile Non-Fiction, Fiction, Political Commentary, Latino
Website
joaquinramonherrera.com

Joaquin Ramon Herrera (born March 6, 1969, in Los Angeles, California) is an American author,[1][2] illustrator,[3][4] blogger,[5][6] photographer,[7][8] and an award-winning filmmaker and documentarian.[9][10] Herrera is the son of writer and two-term U.S. Poet Laureate[11] Juan Felipe Herrera.

Life and career

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From 2006 to 2016, Herrera maintained and published The Unapologetic Mexican blog,[12] under the pseudonym Nezua.[13] The blog focused on Latino, ethnicity/race, and immigration issues through a Mexican American lens. During its run, The Unapologetic Mexican gained widespread notoriety and many accolades, such as José Merino of Mexico's El Centro newspaper calling Herrera "a brilliant and incisive writer,"[14] and journalist Glenn Greenwald declaring that Herrera's site "provides some of the most passionate, insightful, and provocative commentary on race, ethnicity, immigration and politics that can be found online."[15]

Due to the exposure gained by writing at The Unapologetic Mexican, Herrera was chosen to participate in events like Politicshome.com's "first-ever survey of the top 100 online voices and bloggers tracking trends and attitudes heading toward the 2008 Election Day"[16] in guessing the outcome of the presidential election polls in all 20 battleground states. (Herrera successfully called 19 of 20 states, beating out Rob Schlesinger of U.S. News & World Report, James Forsyth of The Spectator, and Chuck Todd of First Read, NBC.)[16] Many other opportunities arose from Herrera's public writing, including being chosen as a panelist for The French-American Foundation’s international symposium on immigration in media: Ethnic Media in North America and Europe: A Comparative Approach, in Miami (November, 2009)[17], and a speaker at Kirwan Institute‘s March 2010 event Transforming Race: Crisis and Opportunity in the age of Obama.[18] Herrera was often sponsored to fly to such events to either speak on his style of blogging or to cover Latino or immigration-related topics.[19] One high profile event was in 2008, when Herrera was sponsored by Kenneth Cole Productions and CultureKitchen.net to attend the Democratic and Republican National Conventions as an officially credentialed blogger.[20][21][22][23][24]

Joaquín Ramón Herrera was also the writer, anchor, producer, and sole creative force behind News With Nezua (2008 - 2016),[25] a webisode eventually sponsored by different organizations throughout its tenure, including La Frontera Times, Reform Immigration for America, and Center for a New Community.[26] News With Nezua was a valued voice in the online immigration, race, and Chicano dialogues, and many immigration-centric and Latino sites and blogs republished the episodes regularly.[27][28][29]

Honors

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  • As one of the founding editors of the immigration group blog The Sanctuary,[30] Herrera accepted the 2009 New America Media[31] award for Best Blogger on Ethnic Perspectives[32] on behalf of the group, in Atlanta.[33] In 2006, Hillary Rodham Clinton described the award as “the equivalent of the 'Pulitzer Prize” for journalism in ethnic media."[34]
  • Herrera's heavily illustrated book SCARY: A Book of Horrible Things for Kids[35] was a finalist for Foreword Magazine's 2005 Book of the Year Award in the Juvenile Non-Fiction category.[36]
  • Won statewide competition to represent Oregon as a Citizen Journalist (2008 election season) as one of 50 MTV News Street Team '08 reporters.[37]
  • Herrera was cinematographer on the 2005 Hollie Harper film Kiss and Run,[38] which won Best Comedy in the American Theater of Harlem's Film Festival Cultures Collide.[39]
  • In 2010, Herrera was awarded a Narco News scholarship to the School of Authentic Journalism on the Yucatán peninsula[40] (though he did not attend).
  • Herrera was one of eight immigration bloggers selected by America's Voice to receive a 2009 full scholarship award to attend Netroots Nation.[41]
  • In 2019, Herrera directed Pipetown, USA, his first feature length documentary.[42] The documentary won six awards in 2020, including the Jury Award from the CannaBus Culture Film Fest,[43] the Spotlight Silver Award from the Spotlight Documentary Film Awards,[44] the Impact Docs Award of Merit,[45] and the Colorado International Cannabis & Hemp Film Festival's CHESTNUT Award/Be the Change Award.[46]

Published works

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Scary: A Book of Horrible Things for Kids (September 2005, Hylas Publishing)

Espeluznante: Un Libro De Cosas Horribles Para Ninos (Scary, Spanish version) (Selector, January 2006)

Gods, Gachupines and Gringos: A People's History of Mexico (January 2009, Editorial Mazatlán)

Forthcoming works

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Secret Visions in the Valley of Night (The DreamFever Chronicles, Book 1) (Self-published, December, 2016)

Lucy, Lightbringer, a short film currently in pre-production (Blazing Heart Productions)

References

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  1. ^ "Joaquín Ramon Herrera". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  2. ^ "SCARY by Joaquin Ramon Herrera , Joaquin Ramon Herrera | Kirkus Reviews". Retrieved Feb 23, 2019 – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
  3. ^ Grabman, Richard (12 January 2009). Amazon.com. ISBN 978-0981663708.
  4. ^ "Zinacantan Woman". Aug 11, 2010. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  5. ^ "Nezua | rabble.ca". rabble.ca. 28 January 2009. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  6. ^ "The Media Consortium, autho: Nezua". Archived from the original on 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  7. ^ Herrera, Juan Felipe (30 April 2012). "Perched on Nothingness". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  8. ^ "DC Immigration Rally 2010 | Flickr". 21 March 2010. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  9. ^ "BEANS OF TELEPORTATION (formerly 'Just Desserts')". Aug 3, 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ "Blazing Heart Productions". www.facebook.com. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  11. ^ "Juan Felipe Herrera Named Poet Laureate for Second Term". Library of Congress. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  12. ^ "The 2008 JLV Blogger of the Year". Dec 28, 2008. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  13. ^ FAIR.org, Latinos in New Media/
  14. ^ "UMX | EL MACHETE". Feb 1, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-02-01. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  15. ^ "untitled". Feb 2, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-02-02. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  16. ^ a b "Online100 Releases Results of Predictor Poll – Bloggers Beat MSM « UMX | EL MACHETE". Sep 12, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-12. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  17. ^ "FrenchAmerican.org, Media Immigration Report 2011 (pdf)" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  18. ^ "Kirwan Institute Update July, August 2010 (pdf)". Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  19. ^ "News With Nezua | 200,000 Strong". Mar 31, 2010. Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ "DNC08: Veneer and Loathing (The Pollatix of Grain and Periphery)". Vimeo. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  21. ^ "Nezua's DNC 08 Documentary « UMX | EL MACHETE". Sep 19, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-19. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  22. ^ "Nezua iBlogs the DNCC/RNCC! | UMX | El Machete". Jun 19, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-06-19. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  23. ^ "RNC08: Theodore Roosevelt VS Ron Paul Supporters!". Sep 4, 2008. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019 – via YouTube.
  24. ^ "Citizen Orange blog". Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  25. ^ "nezua". YouTube. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  26. ^ "News With Nezua | The Invisible Flower". Feb 19, 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019 – via YouTube.
  27. ^ ""Official Hate": Nezua Explains Immigration's 287(g) Provision [VIDEO]". ColorLines. Sep 15, 2009. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  28. ^ "THINK MEXICAN". THINK MEXICAN. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  29. ^ "Imagine2050, News With Nezua, The Invisible Flower". Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  30. ^ "FAIR Immigration Blog". Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  31. ^ "New America Media". newamericamedia.org. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  32. ^ "Fairimmigration.org". Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  33. ^ "New America Media Awards Expo 2009 Winners Foto | nezua | Flickr". 7 June 2009. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  34. ^ "FIRM Site". Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  35. ^ Joaquin Ramon Herrera (Author) (2005). Amazon.com. ISBN 159258148X. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  36. ^ "Scary is a 2005 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award finalist". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  37. ^ "Eugene Blogger in National Spotlight as a Citizen Journalist for MTV". 2008-03-16. Archived from the original on 2016-10-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  38. ^ "Joaquín Ramón Herrera". IMDb. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  39. ^ "Joaquín Ramon Herrera | Artist and Illustrator". www.joaquinramonherrera.com. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  40. ^ "Narco News". Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  41. ^ Mahendra, Jacquelyn (Jul 28, 2009). "Check out the America's Voice - Netroots Nation Immigration Blogger Scholar Winners!". America's Voice. Retrieved Feb 23, 2019.
  42. ^ "Pipetown, USA". Pipetown, USA. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  43. ^ "CannaBus Culture Film Fest". CannaBus Culture Film Fest 2020 Seattle. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  44. ^ "Spotlight Documentary Film Awards". Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  45. ^ "Impact Docs Awards of Merit, July 2020". Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  46. ^ "Colorado Cannabis Hemp Film Festival Announces Awards". Infinite Perimeter Films. May 23, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
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