Latino arts, history and culture
LOST IN THE STARS: CHICANOS AND THE LATINO GALAXY A dozen years ago I wrote: Ideologically, Mexican American Chicanos say the term Hispanic [now Latino] diminishes their demo-graphic priority … [Read more...]
A MODEST PROPOSAL There was a time when most Americans and most American educators believed that the purpose of American education was to prepare students for life. Alas, life has become more … [Read more...]
SANS RACKSPACE, JULIAN CASTRO, WHAT'S THE BACK-UP PLAN FOR SA? San Antonio has been booming the past few years. You see the city on all of these lists — fastest growing, booming, etc. — and for … [Read more...]
What Might Have Been; Treaties and Nation-Building "Great nations, like great men, should keep their word." - Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Nation to Nation; Treaties Between the … [Read more...]
THE PRICE OF AUSTIN'S 'GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT'? CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT. Recently I was telling a friend about Austin’s “Gentleman’s Agreement” to only allow one Latino and one black … [Read more...]
JE SUIS CHARLIE. The rampant massacre of 12 persons (11 wounded) at the offices of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo by Islamic fundamentalists ostensibly motivated by the … [Read more...]
CURRENT DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY RECALL THE INFAMOUS "BLOOD CHRISTMAS" CASE IN LOS ANGELES. As this new year gets rolling, scattered protests and lots of grumbling continue over the … [Read more...]
I like your Christ, but… How things change. When I was growing up, religious folks railed against the commercialization of Christmas. They believed and taught that publicly, Christmas was to be … [Read more...]
IS HISTORY MORE THAN JUST A MYTH AGREED UPON? Recent political chingazos about the teaching of history in our public schools got me to recalling a crazy comment a woman in Texas made a few years … [Read more...]
CHANGE THE NAME...CHANGE THE MASCOT. The movement to get the Washington NFL team to change its racist logo and name has come to Arizona. On October 12, about 150 people—members of tribes from … [Read more...]
The bloodied, shrapnel-punctured body of a little boy dangling from a makeshift stretcher on a rubble-strewn dusty road in Gaza. The sad, terrified look of a little boy in ragged clothes peering out … [Read more...]
Hello. I’m Luís Torres. As you must know by now, by virtue of the fact that you are reading this, I regularly write the blog “Tales of Torres.” This time around, I’ve decided to step aside and let a … [Read more...]
THE YEAR IN REVIEW. This year is drawing to a close. What kind of a year has it been for Latinos here in what 1960s African American activist Frank Greenwood referred to as “the Land of the Free … [Read more...]
AMERICANS BY MANIFEST DESTINY AND FIAT, NOT IMMIGRATION. The old saw in American mythology is that we’re all immigrants, Not true! Not true by any stretch of the imagination. In particular, Native … [Read more...]
LATINOS IN ATYPICAL DESTINATIONS. Annually, as the eve of Hispanic Heritage Month dawns, I field around 10 requests to speak on a variety of Latino cultural topics, to groups representing … [Read more...]
THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR NAMES AND OUR STORIES. In 1974 a teenager named Jaime Ramirez made his way from a tiny town in Mexico to the city of Pasadena, California. He got a job as a dishwasher. It was … [Read more...]
3 WAYS WENDY DAVIS RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR OF TEXAS WOULD AFFECT LATINOS. Wendy Davis, according to my sources and the hints she’s been dropping, is going to make a run for Texas governor. The state … [Read more...]
THE MANY JOURNEYS OF MAIZ. Innovation is, among other things, the act of introducing something new. In 1932, with this country in the throes of the Great Depression, a restless C.E. Doolin walked … [Read more...]
MYTHS AND TROPES OF HISPANICITY. Perhaps like Albert Camus’ stranger, we’re all strangers to each other despite consanguinity. It may not be the most long-lived estrangement in history, but the 400 … [Read more...]
NOT CINCO DE MAYO BUT CUATRO DE JULIO. Celebrations of the Fourth of July and this country’s Independence Day are booming all around us. In my neighborhood that’s literally the case, with mocosos … [Read more...]
FORGET "DEVIOUS MAIDS" THE GLASS CEILING IS MUCH MORE COMPLICATED FOR LATINAS. “Devious Maids” seems to have captured the attention, or rather ire, of most of the people I know. There’s all kinds … [Read more...]
