In this article--a combination of personal narrative mixed with conceptual ponderings--the author explores the development of a continuum of identities, which range from Chicano/a to Xicana/o. The former is rooted in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, while the latter has its roots in the transnational, globalized, and neoliberal policies of the early years of the 21st Century. The author highlights how these two identity movements came out of (and, in a reciprocal way, influenced) the particular social and political moments of their times but also how each has implications for identity, ideology and issues, and imagination toward the development of a critical consciousness. He also extends the argument to how these identities, ideologies and issues, and imaginations serve as a frame for the kinds of praxis one can engage in when one is committed to social justice. In sum, this article intends to move from the politics of identity to the politics of critical thinking, from a distinctly Mexican American version of ("old school") Chicanismo to a more contemporary ("la nueva onda") Xicanismo. (Contains 3 figures and 3 notes.)