Latino arts, history and culture
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...]
THERE'S SOME GOOD NEWS TO TEMPER THE BAD. First the good… Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio supports my contention that in terms of the attitude of the Tea Party-Republicans who control Arizona … [Read more...]
Mexican American baseball “tiros” and their legacy… Historically, baseball has been very much a part of Mexican American life. In Arizona, the mining towns, which played a huge role in the state’s … [Read more...]
It’s our government, after all... “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed.” American author and Nobel Prize laureate William … [Read more...]
The Humble Mexican Tortilla is a Staple in Outer Space In the fall of 1979 I found it nearly impossible to find tortillas in New York City. But today tortillas are ubiquitous. Heck, tortillas … [Read more...]
DEMOCRATS RUN FROM DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES... The consensus seems to be that Democrats deserved to lose the recent elections because they chose to run from rather than on Democratic principles. To … [Read more...]
GUISES AND DISGUISES OF DISCRIMINATION. Discrimination functions on three levels, (1) the cognitive, (2) the emotional, and (3) the behavioral, manifest in forms oftentimes hard to detect. In … [Read more...]
CHICANOS AND THE SOMEWHAT MYSTERIOUS GAME OF FÚTBOL. Fútbol. Football. Soccer. Whatever you call it, it captivates most of the industrialized world when World Cup competition comes around every … [Read more...]
AMERICAN HISPANICS AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE: THE MEXICAN DIXON LINE AND NATIONAL AMNESIA -THE CHICANO EXPERIENCE According to an Epigraph by Brenda Payton to “Who’s the Leader of the Civil … [Read more...]
IN A MELLOW MOOD: ME, MRS. LUCY AND LATINO JAZZ. __________________________________________________________ Recently, I attended a jazz concert that stirred many memories of my days as a jazz … [Read more...]
RIC SALINAS OF CULTURE CLASH IN NEW PLAY TITLED "PLACAS" The culture and customs of the Salvadoran community are at the heart of a new play featuring the mercurial actor Ric Salinas who is best … [Read more...]
MIGRANT TRAIL: MARCH FOR LIFE. "Let us pray for our brothers and sisters [who perished] from thirst, hunger and exhaustion trying to reach a better life.” Pope Francis—lamenting that "we have seen … [Read more...]
LATINA SCI-FI NERD ASKS: DO LATINOS MAKE IT TO THE FUTURE? I don’t recall, exactly, how it was that I found “Star Trek,” but I remember that it was something I always looked forward to. By the time … [Read more...]
THE UNBANNING OF MEXICAN AMERICAN HISTORY. A serendipitous encounter in a public library during Banned Books Week precipitated a chain of events that resulted in the un-banning of Mexican American … [Read more...]
MINERS STAND UP TO GOV. "SCABBITT." The 1983 copper miners’ strike in Clifton-Morenci, AZ, happened 30 years ago last month. But reminiscing about the strike conjures up powerful memories and … [Read more...]
THE POWER OF WORDS. It has been said, with considerable emphasis and conviction, that what distinguishes humans from other species is “language.” This is a highly lexocentric point of view. We’ve … [Read more...]
PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE BARRIO PROUD. Every barrio produces people who make the barrio proud. One of the notable people Barrio Hollywood in Tucson, Arizona, where I grew up, produced is former PGA … [Read more...]
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS ON RECENT NEWS I once offered the notion that pretty soon nobody will be reading blogs, because everybody will be busy writing blogs. Maybe. But let’s plow ahead, guided by the … [Read more...]
HOW TO HONOR A GIANT. This month I was going to focus on some cultural matters, but then César Chávez got in the way. Many communities recently honored César Chávez, a labor- and civil-rights icon … [Read more...]
CHICANOS? LA RAZA UNIDA? LATINOS IN TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA ARE FIGHTING THE SAME FIGHT. Recently I found myself in a room with Chicanos from East LA, Tejanos from the South Texas border, and even a … [Read more...]
