We sure like to make it look like we are. This weekend as we were driving out of the flea market we couldn’t help but notice how Mexican everything looked. Yeah, we were in the Lone Star State, dentro de los Estados Unidos of course, but for a second, if […]
hispanic
De Paisano a Paisano: Una Calavera – Day of The Dead
So today my good friend Sue Valencia dedicated a special calavera just for me – in return, she asked for nothing more than a calavera in her honor. Now if you’re thinking the more traditional painted-white-artistic-rendering-of-a-skull, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m just not artistically talented in that way. The […]
The Immigrant Advantage: An Inspirational Slice of American Culture -Book Review
A couple months ago I got the email. It was author Claudia Kolker and she wanted to get together to catch up and talk. We did, and what she had to tell me in that very fast and furious lunch was just as exciting as the book that would eventually […]
Burla: The Act of Laughing at Oneself… and Others
There’s a time to play. And there’s a time to stop. That line you cross when you’re no longer laughing with someone, but laughing at them. When it stops being funny, and turns into something kind of offensive. Now, tampoco soy nigún santo, so my philosophy has always been that […]
Growing Up, Growing Old, and Holding On to the ‘Niño Terco’
Get up. Get ready. And go. That’s the way we always lived life. Never having any time to really stand still, at attention, free, just to enjoy the moment. Other than when we lived in the Rio Grande Valley, and that was just for a couple of years in between […]
Rata De Dos Patas, And Other Scorned Love Worthy Songs
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Para una corazón roto there’s definitely nothing like a Spanish song about despecho. That feeling that you get after a love affair gone wrong, kind of a mix between hatred, anger and disappointment, where all you want is to spite the […]
“Mojado” – The Word We Were Supposed To Be Ashamed Of
Ustedes no son mojados, my parents would say – as in “wetbacks,” “illegal immigrants,” “undocumented aliens,” which ironically a lot of people just assumed we were. Especially when we were with either one of them, knocking at doors asking for housekeeping jobs, hopelessly trying to translate in horrible mochismos in […]
The Harvest / La Cosecha: U.S. Child Migrant Farm Workers
There are some things you just can’t deny, and one’s own personal history is definitely at the top of that list. A few days ago I received an invitation to review marketing materials for a new documentary that will soon be coming to a theater near you, and like a […]