in fine arts from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1968 and started work as an illustrator and graphic artist, first in Mineral Wells, Texas (an experience he later recorded in an "Hispanic Link" column called "Mineral Wells—A Near and Distant Memory"), and then in Washington, D.C., where he began his participation in the Chicano movement and where he met Cecilia Preciado, whom he married in 1972.
After moving to California in 1974 so Cecilia could work at Stanford University, Burciaga started writing reviews and columns for local journals and newspapers.
On May 5, 1984, he helped found the Latino comedy troupe, Culture Clash at the Galería de la Raza in San Francisco's Mission District along with Marga Gómez, Monica Palacios, Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza.
Included in this image were people such as Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Ignacio Zaragoza, César Chávez, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King Jr. and others.
Weedee Peepo (1988), Drink Cultura (1993), and Spilling the Beans (1995) are all collections of essay exploring social issues with a bilingual blend of wit and wisdom.
Burciaga was intensely involved in supporting actions for social justice including opposing anti-immigration movements such as California Proposition 187 and other English-only policies.
Burciaga's appeal as a writer lay in his sense of humor, which he used to satirize the rigidity of a system still clinging to traditions of racism and discrimination.