Amalia Mesa-Bains calls her ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio an “altar,” constructed, she says, to honor the “mythic beauty” of Del Rio, as well as her contribution to Chicano culture. What formal elements and principles of design has Mesa-Bains used in constructing her altar? What sorts of things has she put in it? How, in the larger culture, do we honor the fallen heroes of popular culture, the John Lennons, Jim Morrisons, and Michael Jacksons of the world? Do our “altars” to them share anything with Mesa-Bains’s?