(Courtesy Luis Rodriguez' web site, luisjrodriguez.com)
Luis J. Rodriguez was born on the U.S./Mexico border in 1954 and is of Mexika/Raramuri indigenous descent. His family migrated to Los Angeles, then to the San Gabriel Valley. He joined a gang at age 11 and began using drugs at age 12. He dropped out of high school at age 15 and was also kicked out of his home, eventually becoming homeless until he returned to live in the family’s garage. From ages 13 to 18, he was arrested for numerous crimes, and at age 18,faced a six-year prison sentence and was using heavy drugs, including heroin. After support from members of the community, who wrote letters on his behalf, Luis was given a lesser conviction and a county jail term.
Feeling responsible to the people who rallied to his defense, Luis turned away from the “Crazy Life” and dedicated himself to conscious revolutionary thinking and activity, expanding his organizing efforts to other parts of East LA as well as Watts/South Central LA, LA’s Harbor area and Pasadena. From 1972-73, Luis briefly attended Cal State College, Los Angeles, but wasn't able to complete his education there and worked for years in a variety of jobs, including truck driver, school bus driver, carpenter, and janitor.
After taking night classes in East Los Angeles Community College, in early 1980 Luis began work as a reporter/photographer for seven East Los Angeles weekly newspapers. That summer, he was accepted at the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at UC Berkeley. In the fall, he was hired as a daily newspaper reporter for the San Bernardino Sun.
In the early 1980s, Luis attended workshops in prisons and juvenile facilities under the tutelage of Manual “Manazar” Gamboa. He also worked in radio, including a stint at California Public Radio. In 1983, Luis left the San Bernardino Sun and worked on the largest union representation campaign in U.S. history for the American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, helping them win the right to represent 60,000 employees of the University of California system. In 1985 Luis moved to Chicago to become editor of the People’s Tribune, a national revolutionary newspaper. He covered labor, the homeless and the arts. He also freelanced for the Nation Magazine and other publications. From 1988 to 1993, Luis worked for the Archdiocese of Chicago in their publications department, Liturgy Training Publications. He also worked weekends as a news writer and reporter for WMAQ-AM, then an all-news radio station.
From the mid-1980s, Luis became active in the burgeoning Chicago poetry scene, birthplace of the Poetry Slams. In 1989, Luis started Tia Chucha Press, a poetry publisher, with the publication of his first book “Poems Across the Pavement” and helped found the Guild Complex, a multi-arts presentation organization.
In 1991, Curbstone Press published his second poetry collection, “The Concrete River.” He also freelanced for publications like US News & World Report, the Nation, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Utne Reader, and others. During this time, Luis continued to do workshops in prisons, juvenile facilities, homeless shelters, community centers, and schools.
In 1993 Luis dedicated himself to promoting the book and furthering his writing career. The ensuing years would yield more books - including “Trochemoche,” a poetry book for Curbstone Press; “America Is Her Name,” a children’s book for Curbstone Press, “It Doesn’t Have to be This Way: A Barrio Story,” a children’s book for Children’s Book Press, “Hearts and Hands: Creating Community in Violent Times, a nonfiction book for Seven Stories Press; and “The Republic of East LA: Stories,” a short story collection for Rayo/HarperCollins.
Luis' travels have included readings, talks and workshops in Paris, London, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, and various cities in Germany, Holland, and Austria. He has also gone throughout Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Central American countries such as El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala both as a reporter and has a poet/lecturer. He has received major awards, including a Lannan Foundation fellowship, a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers Award, a Carl Sandburg Book Award, a Poetry Service Award, and several Illinois Arts Council fellowships. In June 2000, he was one of 50 leaders worldwide selected as “Unsung Heroes of Compassion, presented by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
In 2000, Luis and his family moved to the Northeast San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles. The following year, Luis and several family members helped create Tia Chucha's Café Cultural — a bookstore, café, art gallery, and performance space in Sylmar, CA.
In 2002, Luis started Dos Manos Records with Ernie Perez to produce his first CD of poetry and music called My Name's Not Rodriguez, with plans to produce other musicians and poets. And Luis continues to travel throughout the US and other countries to speak, facilitate workshops, and read from his writings.
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