See you at the L.A. Times Festival of Books to be held at USC this Saturday & Sunday

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See you this Saturday and Sunday. I will be at the HOY newspaper booth # 453 at the L.A. Times Festival of Books to be held at USC. A book can change a life. 
I will have my books there. Hope in Times of Darkness: A Salvadoran American Experience, Esperanza en Tiempos de Oscuridad: La Experiencia de un Salvadoreno Americano, The Life of an Activist: In the Frontlines 24/7.
Book Reviews: The Life of an Activist: In the Frontlines 24/7
Ertll provides a concrete roadmap of events, organizations, and people, a map that he has developed over the past twenty years of active involvement in Los Angeles community life. . . . This will be a book to give to your grandchildren when they ask, ‘What was it like back then?’
- David E. Hayes-Bautista, PhD, professor of medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and director, Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture
Randy Jurado Ertll has spent a lifetime in the activist trenches, and his book shows it. In it, he offers nitty-gritty details and advice for anyone interested in the non-profit world. The reader will be much more knowledgeable and wiser after having read The Life of an Activist.
- Amitabh Pal, managing editor, The Progressive magazine

Randy Jurado Ertll has written about his life as an activist in ways that inspire readers to recalibrate their own lives. . . . Perhaps more than anything else, what Randy gives us is the opportunity to face ourselves in the mirror and ask the hard questions that lurk always at the edge of consciousness.
- Terrence J. Roberts, Ph.D., one of the “Little Rock Nine” who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957

Randy Jurado Ertll’s book on activism, The Life of an Activist: In the Frontlines 24/7, is a gripping story that captivates any reader. It is an insight into what it means to be an activist and how to become one. Ertll intrigues his readers with his wit. It is hard to put his book down; as reader, you want to know what is next. His book reveals his life in the frontlines of activism and serves as a voice for those needing to be heard. His work is a powerful storytelling. I highly recommend it.
- Alma Alfaro, Ph.D., professor of language, literature, and culture at Walla Walla University

Randy Jurado Ertll once again paints a powerful picture of his life as a committed community activist, leader, writer, organizer, and builder of a successful non-profit organization. Ertll provides a thoughtful pragmatic, energizing blueprint for community activism from the national policy-making level as exemplified by President Obama to the street level as exemplified by activists from Malcolm X to Cesar Chavez. They all figure prominently in Ertll’s narrative. Ertll’s book is a must read for anyone who seeks to understand, and better yet, become a positive change maker in their community.
- Earl Ofari Hutchinson, political analyst and author of The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African Americans and Hispanics

Randy Jurado Ertll, whom I met when we worked together trying to improve Pasadena public schools, has written a highly readable and inspiring story about his role as an advocate for social justice. At once idealistic and pragmatic, The Life of An Activist provides an excellent primer for readers interested in getting involved in a cause bigger than themselves.
- Richard D. Kahlenberg, author, All Together Now: Creating Middle-Class Schools through Public School Choice
The book offers a glimpse into his experience as an activist and community organizer, especially as a Latino. . . . Ertll writes about well-known activists like Malcolm X, but also about his own experience. He has spent the last 20 years participating in different movements and campaigns spanning environmental, human rights and education issues. He gives advice for budding activists, like how to raise money, write newspaper columns, organize fundraisers and deal with boards of directors and bureaucracies.

- Pasadena Star-News

In an audacious effort to foment a more conscious approach to fighting for a cause, author and activist Randy Jurado Ertll has written a book, perhaps a manual, to demystify the image of the anger-driven protestors identified with social causes. His voice is one of great experience; growing up with a divided reality between his Salvadorian and American identities he understands the lack of education and need for action within disadvantaged communities.
- Indiewire
Book Reviews: Hope in Times of Darkness: A Salvadoran American Experience:
An inspiration…[and] testament to the power of an individual to overcome obstacles and make a difference.
- Rampa R. Hormel, environmentalist and president of Enlyst Fund

The book speaks to a hope for a different world and finds even in the most dispiriting of experiences the seeds of change and social justice. This should be required reading…
- Warren Montag, chair of the English and Comparative Literary Studies Department at Occidental College

This is a story that young people everywhere should read as it demonstrates how much every one of them could contribute to a better future for themselves and their communities.
- Margaret E. Crahan, director, Kozmetsky Center, distinguished professor at St. Edward’s University

A heart-felt and heart-warming story…while it is one man’s story, it is also the story of so many who build new lives with perseverance, determination, and compassion.
- Henrik Rehbinder, editorial page editor of La Opinion

Hope in Times of Darkness: A Salvadoran American Experience by Randy Jurado Ertll is a slim and pithy memoir by a Pasadena resident who overcame the kinds of obstacles that are common to recent immigrants from Central America….In his gritty littlememoir, Ertll chronicles the trajectory of his life in Los Angeles and Pasadena. Living first in South Los Angeles, he struggled to survive elementary school because he didn’t speak English. Eventually, a love of learning and a few caring teachers helpedhim turn away from the lure of drugs and gang violence that permeated his neighborhood. Many of his friends weren’t so fortunate, ending up dead or in prison. Ertll writes: Poor minorities went on being innocent victims of drive-bys, armed robberies, beatings and murder. Those who suffered the most were beaten by both the police and gang members. They were scared to report crimes because they feared they would be deported or accused of the crimes. Unable to speak English, they had no way to defend themselves. Ertll found ways to defend himself – first, on the streets and eventually, through education. He graduated from Occidental College and worked for Congresswoman (now U.S. Secretary of Labor) Hilda Solis. Then he worked for Pasadena (now LAUSD) Supe
- Pasadena Star News, June 2010

Vivid, urgent, original, Randy Jurado Ertll’s story compels us to grapple with some of the most urgent issues of our times.
- Matt Rothschild, editor of The Progressive Magazine

Hope in Times of Darkness: A Salvadoran American Experience by Randy Jurado Ertll is a slim and pithy memoir by a Pasadena resident who overcame the kinds of obstacles that are common to recent immigrants from Central America….In his gritty little memoir, Ertll chronicles the trajectory of his life in Los Angeles and Pasadena. Living first in South Los Angeles, he struggled to survive elementary school because he didn’t speak English. Eventually, a love of learning and a few caring teachers helped him turn away from the lure of drugs and gang violence that permeated his neighborhood. Many of his friends weren’t so fortunate, ending up dead or in prison. Ertll writes: “Poor minorities went on being innocent victims of drive-bys, armed robberies, beatings and murder. Those who suffered the most were beaten by both the police and gang members. They were scared to report crimes because they feared they would be deported or accused of the crimes. Unable to speak English, they had no way to defend themselves.” Ertll found ways to defend himself – first, on the streets and eventually, through education. He graduated from Occidental College and worked for Congresswoman (now U.S. Secretary of Labor) Hilda Solis. Then he worked for Pasadena (now LAUSD) Superintendent Ray Cortines and eventually became executive director of Pasadena’s nonprofit El Centro de Accion Social. He is now devoted to helping other immigrants overcome the obstacles in their way to becoming productive, contributing Americans.
- Pasadena Star News, June 2010
In his gritty little memoir, Ertll chronicles the trajectory of his life in Los Angeles and Pasadena.
- Dailynews.Com, Sgvtribune,Whittierdailynews.Com, Pasadenasta, 6/19/2010
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