Dr. Yanis Varoufakis in Pasadena. Photo by William Alexander Yankes By William Alexander Yankes While serving as Greece’s Finance Minister, Dr. Yanis Varoufakis made every attempt to negotiate an acceptable bailout for Greece while both the world and his countrymen waited with taut nerves. At press conferences, he spoke with the confidence of a winner, even though his country was battling for its financial and political survival. His efforts preceded the massive migration of war-ravaged Syrian migrants to Greek shores. The country already teetered on both bankruptcy and the loss of its standing as a member of the European Union. The fate of a nation hinged on the destiny Varoufakis could carve with his crucial intervention. After cliff-hanging negotiations, the European Union lenders handed Varoufakis bailout terms that were tantamount to an ultimatum: either accept loans demanding deeper sacrifices or exit the European Union. Rather than using his ministerial powers, he subm...

By Pancho Lipschitz, El Art Pocho Before I was hanging out in John Valadez’ new Boyle Heights studio a few miles from where he grew up, before he poured two shots of good mezcal into styrofoam cups and we toasted to nada y todo, I always thought he was one of the best painters working in America over the past 40 years. After we hung out, I realized he’s just a cool vato who happens to be one of the best painters working in America over the past 40 years. (Left: Emerald Float, 2016, pastel. Courtesy of John Valadez) Pancho Lipschitz: I know you said you grew up in Boyle Heights but I didn’t know you worked at the Fine’s Market. John Valadez: I always had a job. I lied and said I was 16 when I was 15. I was there about four and a half years. Every week I would buy an album. PL: What was the first art that influenced you? JV: I liked drawing, and I remember in grammar school when the Flintstones were the big rage. I spent one night looking at Fred Flintstone and trying to draw ...

by Abel M. Salas A year ago, the successful soft launch of Mi Pasión Catering & Taqueria, a unique gourmet catering concern, surprised a vast circle of friends, long-time partners in several downtown L.A. law firms and an exacting cross-section of municipal, county and state employees. Founded by partners Lydia Rodíguez Arago and Chef Camron J. Torres, “Mi Pasión” is the inevitable and natural offshoot of a family gastronomic tradition Rodríguez Arago traces back for at least three generations. (Composite photo courtesy of Lydia Rodríguez Arago) Raised on the East Side in both Boyle Heights and El Sereno, two adjacent East Side communities, Rodríguez Arago recalls her first job as a teenager. “I went to work at my uncle’s restaurant in Boyle Heights... La Serenata de Garibaldi,” she says. The restaurant, a mainstay on the high-end lists of recommended destinations for aficionados of upscale Mexican cuisine, was established in 1985 by her great-grandmother Isabel, her grand...