culture

Dear Trump Voter Ashley: We are real people, not your ‘Taco Tuesday’

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familyguytacosDear Ashley,

I don’t really know you very well. I met you for the first time when my family and I travelled to Rogers, Arkansas to see you marry my nephew. I knew my nephew at some point. I saw him grow up here in Los Angeles until my brother and his wife thought the streets of Woodland Hills too gang-infested and uprooted their entire family to the enclaves of my sister-in-law’s home state.

Shortly after, sometime in the 1990s, my mother and I travelled to Arkansas on an Amtrak train for two days (don’t ask – I still haven’t forgiven my mother for refusing to fly) to visit and see our family’s new dwellings.

You weren’t in the picture yet – your husband was still a teenager. Despite the torturous train ride, we relished the opportunity to spend time with my brother and his family. We were even excited to see a new part of the country.

Mas…Dear Trump Voter Ashley: We are real people, not your ‘Taco Tuesday’

Happy Rosh HaShana from the Jews of Tijuana! Happy 5777! (video)

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tijuanaMexico, like the United Estates, is a “nation of immigrants.”

In the 1900s, Tijuana welcomed Jewish refugees fleeing wars, hate and poverty in Europe, Asia and the Mideast.

Tijuana Jews, the story of the extended Artenstein family, has become a POCHO Rosh HaShana (New Year) tradition ever since we noticed rosh-ha-shana rhymed with Tijuana in 2012.

Mas…Happy Rosh HaShana from the Jews of Tijuana! Happy 5777! (video)

Pocho Ocho Top Ways to Decolonize Your Diet

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corn-maizDecolonizing your diet is more than a trendy Chicanx meme, it’s a book, and a chingon idea.

If you want to just say “No!” to the comida of the Conquistadors and eat what Tlaloc intended — the authentic food of your ancestors — here are the Pocho Ocho Top Ways to Decolonize Your Diet:

8. Take the milk out of chocolate and put the chile back in

7. Honor the Aztecs and eat more of Moctezuma’s gold

6. Chihuahua on a stick

Mas…Pocho Ocho Top Ways to Decolonize Your Diet

White weddings vs Mexican weddings: You be the judge

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mexican-wedding-traditions1AAA

By ERIC M. RUIZ

It was very interesting growing up in a Mexican household yet being educated in predominantly “white” schools.

For example, a sleepover is almost like a rite of passage for young children.

But my Mexican parents could never understand why I’d want to sleep at someone else’s house when I had a perfectly good bed at home. Needless to say, I never had many sleepovers growing up.

But the biggest difference between the two cultures I grew up in wouldn’t arise until my early 20’s.

Weddings:

Mas…White weddings vs Mexican weddings: You be the judge

DON’T MISS! Latino Comics Expo this weekend at MOLAA (toons)

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expologoTomorrow and Sunday the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach hosts the fifth annual Latino Comics Expo.

Featured artists include POCHO contributor Eric J. Garcia, POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz, New York’s Stephanie Rodriguez and more.

Javier Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame, is the ringleader.

KCET’s Matt Stromberg explains the cultural significance of Latino cartoonistas and the political history they pioneered:

As box office figures can attest, comic books are big business, with successful cinematic adaptations proving that superheroes have made the leap from pop cultural niche to mainstream entertainment. Despite their wide appeal, however, comic books, at least the established titles that usually become big screens franchises, are still predominantly filled with white, male characters, especially in leading roles.

A new exhibition at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, “Artists Assemble! Empowerment and Inspiration in Contemporary Comics,” aims to challenge that narrative by focusing on mainly Latino artists who are using the medium to explore cultural and political issues that have meaning for them.

Mas…DON’T MISS! Latino Comics Expo this weekend at MOLAA (toons)

Here’s what I thinko about Cinco in one ranty, illustrated post

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chipssalsa
White folks in sombreros and serapes. Spanglish beer commercials every few minutes. Yup, pretty ridiculous, señor.

I agree with most of my friend Gustavo Arellano:

He says it’s ridiculous, only serves some limited purposes as far as educating about the evils of Imperialism, or the promotion of self-determination, y todo eso. Battle of Puebla my ear. Sure. OK, guey.

However, I think Gustavo misses one big fat burrito-sized point:

☞ We’ve got to celebrate with the holidays we have,
not the holidays we want ☜

Mas…Here’s what I thinko about Cinco in one ranty, illustrated post

True Story: I was a teenaged guera, white like Jesus too

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bigblondejesusIn 1969, my mother registered to vote as a member of La Raza Unida, an independent “third party.”

When she came home and shared the news with her father — declaring that she was a “Chicana” — he grew angry.

He told her never to use that word, since “Chicano” was a derogatory term when he was growing up.

Despite my mother’s defiance of the patriarchal family regime that day, she never talked much about the importance of our Mexican heritage or exploring the values of Xicanisma.

Mom did send me to an all-girls Catholic high school, however, and maybe that was an attempt at showing me empowerment for women. The school was in 75% white Glendora, though, so our Jesus statues were white (photo, above), just like our feminism. 

Mas…True Story: I was a teenaged guera, white like Jesus too

Pocho Ocho amazing little-known first Thanksgiving factoids

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See this painting that is supposed to depict the first Thanksgiving? It’s wrong wrong wrong. What really went on at that epic feast so long ago? We’ve got eight little-known factoids right here:

8. The frozen string beans in the casserole were past their sell-by date

7. Pilgrim Zephaniah Winslow = silent but deadly

6. Squanto’s succotash was really takeout from Chipotle Mexican Grill

Mas…Pocho Ocho amazing little-known first Thanksgiving factoids

Naco Ñewsday: ‘Naco art’ according to Instagram (photos)

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nacoartLet’s define our terms: According to the Daily Texican, “naco,” not a nice word, is Mexican slang for a lower class, ignorant country bumpkin, and/or a derogatory term for an “Indio” or native.

“Naco art,” therefore, is the Mexican version of lowbrow “art” like Elvis paintings on velvet or sad clowns and/or big-eyed “Keene” people.

Remezcla’s Daniela Cabera reports:

Mas…Naco Ñewsday: ‘Naco art’ according to Instagram (photos)

Latino Heritage Month Pochismo Profile: Xochitl Cahuenga-Alvarado

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weliseCalifornia artist Xochitl Cahuenga-Alvarado (born in 1988 in Fresno) creates mixed media artworks and performances.

By investigating language on a meta-level, Cahuenga-Alvarado tries to grasp language.

Transformed into art, language becomes an ornament. At that moment, lots of ambiguities and indistinctnesses, which are inherent to the phenomenon, come to the surface. Ooooh, shiny!

Her mixed media artworks are an investigation into representations of (seemingly) concrete ages and situations as well as depictions and ideas of the Latin@ that can only be realized in mixed media art.

Mas…Latino Heritage Month Pochismo Profile: Xochitl Cahuenga-Alvarado

Happy Rosh HaShanah from the Jews of Tijuana! Happy 5776! (video)

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tijuanaMexico, like the United Estates, is a “nation of immigrants.”

In the 1900s, Tijuana welcomed Jewish refugees fleeing wars, hate and poverty in Europe, Asia and the Mideast.

Tijuana Jews, the story of the extended Artenstein family, has become a POCHO Rosh HaShanah (New Year) tradition ever since we noticed rosh-ha-shanah rhymes with Tijuana.

The Jewish year 5776 begins at sundown Sunday, September 13. We wish all who celebrate a happy, healthy, peaceful, loving, prosperous, and sweet New Year. In Ladino — the hybrid Spanish-Hebrew language Jews spoke in Andaluz before the Inquisition — that’s ANYADA BUENA I DULSE!

Mas…Happy Rosh HaShanah from the Jews of Tijuana! Happy 5776! (video)

Born in the USA: The secret downside of espeaking Spanglish

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primos“Wow, it’s so cool you can speak Spanish,” people tell me after they hear me on the phone with my mom.

I say thanks and try to shrug it off, but I worry that letting them think that gives a mistaken impression.

I mean, yes. I can speak Spanish.

My parents taught me Spanish when I was growing up in California because it was the only language they had to give.

Like a lot of children of immigrants, I grew up in a Mexican immigrant bubble – my tias and tios spoke only Spanish. My baby primos spoke Spanish with me when we watched Plaza Sesamo and ate conchitas.

Mas…Born in the USA: The secret downside of espeaking Spanglish

The Chipotle Diaries: Is this pseudo Mayan ‘art’ a tribute or ripoff?

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chipotlewallWhen we last visited the Chipotle Mexican Grill saga, the issue was the inability of the food chain to find any Latino writers to feature on their writer-decorated packaging.

Have they learned? An observant blogger and Mayan art geek in Philadelphia visited a Center City Chipotle Mexican Grill location and did a quick double-take when he saw the bas-relief artwork on the walls.

Here’s how University of Pennsylvania grad student Taylor Jones tells the story:

Mas…The Chipotle Diaries: Is this pseudo Mayan ‘art’ a tribute or ripoff?

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