In this episode I am joined by Dr. Alexandro J. Gradilla, professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies, for a plática about his life, his schooling, his journey through academia, and becoming an activist-scholar. Gradilla reflects on growing up in 1970s San Diego in a Mexican immigrant household, the impact his teachers and professors made on him, and what it was like living near the US-Mexico border. He traces a winding academic path from Hoover High to UC Berkeley, including academic probation, transformational mentors, and the courses that reoriented his intellectual work. Dr. Gradilla also reflects on abolitionist pedagogy, collective care, and futurism. We close with an urgent discussion of HSI funding cuts and why this moment is not only one of crisis, but also of opportunity.

* Origins, schooling, and politicization

* San Diego childhood in a Mexican immigrant family; city dynamics, Chicano aesthetics, and gentrifying City Heights.

* K-12 snapshots: ESL gatekeeping, a Black Power–influenced teacher, and classroom encounters with war-displaced refugee peers.

* Border rhythms with Tijuana, Catholic Sunday-school “help others” ethos, and an early moral vocabulary for justice.

* Academic journey and formation of an intellectual project

* Tracking into advanced classes, crucial AP English mentorship, and the narrow escape that sent him to UC Berkeley.

* Academic probation to recovery through EOP counseling, MEChA, and pivotal courses with Pedro Noguera and Mario Barrera.

* Shift from psychology to Chicana and Chicano Studies and anthropology; graduate training, mentorship, and lessons from cutthroat departmental cultures.

* Activist-scholar praxis, pedagogy, and the HSI moment

* Case for “activist-scholar” in corporatized universities; pushing policy and practice toward humanizing, abolitionist frameworks.

* Classroom practice: experiential learning, collective over individual “self-care,” validation theory, and futurism to imagine and build alternative futures.

* HSI funding cuts as opportunity for community-controlled, grassroots models that center Latina/o/x leadership and refuse performative DEI.

Music

Jazzaddict’s Intro by Cosimo Fogg (201) https://soundcloud.com/cosimo-fogg Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/jazzaddicts-intro Music promoted by Audio Library

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