Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia was born on August 8, 1947, and better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is a Chicano poet and activist.
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Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia was born on August 8, 1947, and better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is a Chicano poet and activist.
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Alurista went to the United States when he was thirteen, settling with his family in the border city of San Diego, California.
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Alurista graduated from high school in 1965 and began studying business administration at Chapman University in Orange County, California.
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Alurista disliked the field, however, and transferred to San Diego State University to study religion.
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Alurista changed his major several times before earning a B A in psychology in 1970.
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Alurista went on to earn an M A from SDSU in 1978, and his PhD in literature from the University of California-San Diego in 1983.
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Alurista has taught at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, Escuela Tlatelolco in Denver, Colorado, and at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Alurista has lectured and read his poetry in venues throughout the world.
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Alurista held several jobs, including working for the Volunteers in Service to America program, part of the Lyndon B Johnson administration's War on Poverty.
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Alurista is credited with popularizing the Chicano Movement-era concept of "Aztlan" and imbuing it with a spiritual dimension through his poetry.
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Alurista says that he engages in Native American practices, and is "connected to [his] Father Sun and Mother Earth and [his] brothers and sisters, trees and ants and what not.
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Alurista has received numerous rewards and has made his mark in the Chicano community.
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Alurista has read his poetry all over the world, from Mexico, to the United States, to Europe.
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Alurista was producer and subject of the video, "Torn in Two", which featured four Chicano poets.
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Alurista is a professor and scholar, having obtained his Ph.
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Alurista's papers are held at University of Texas, Austin and at California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives.
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