Join the Charla on Thursday, November 19 at 11am for a conversation with David Avalos. A key figure in San Diego’s Chicano Art Movement, David Avalos works in sculpture, installation, and public projects. His sculptures unabashedly assert the vernacular of rasquache as a form of resilience in the face of social, racial, and economic adversity.

Join local historian Maria Garcia for a presentation on her forthcoming book We Made San Diego. In this wide-ranging talk, participants will hear about some of the Latino lives lived throughout San Diego County, stories of Latino veterans who served in the Vietnam War, and of notable people in neighborhoods we often don’t hear too much about, such as Eden Gardens (La Colonia) in Solana Beach, San Ysidro, El Cajon, South Bay, as well as Barrio Logan. Ms. Garcia will also discuss the role of community advocacy organizations like the Chicano Federation, MAAC, and Casa Familiar, and how California propositions 187 and 227 spurred a new era of activism within the Latino community. 

Join the Charla on Thursday, October 15 at 11am for a conversation with Perry Vásquez. Culling from aspects of Chicanx car and popular culture, Perry Vásquez's installations and prints embrace a working-class sensibility that is defiant, yet humorous. Installations by the San Diego-based Vásquez underscore ongoing tensions related to citizenship and migration.

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has debuted Modeler Citizens, a series of informative and entertaining presentations from an array of acclaimed railroad modelers and historians! 

The talks take place every other Thursday at 6 p.m. through the end of 2020 (excluding holidays) via Zoom Webinar. Margaret Harris, the museum’s Collections Curator, moderates as the featured speaker showcases their own model layout, shares a bit of San Diego railroading history, or discusses a topic of their expertise. Viewers can learn about the history of cross-border travel from railroad pro Mike Thornhill (Oct. 1), get “behind the scenes” of the mechanics and creation of the museum’s O Gauge layout from modeler Bob Wall (Dec. 10), see a fascinating home layout courtesy of award-winning radio host “Shotgun” Tom Kelly (Oct. 29), and more!