In the lobby of the school where I work, there is a huge image of Earth taped onto the wall. It is made of kraft paper and crisscrossed with colorful broad strokes of tempera paint.
Circling the perimeter of the planet are cutout drawings of children holding hands. No two children are the same, partly because of the way the preschoolers scribbled and colored them in.
Above the planet are the words “WE ARE ONE.”
A free mariachi summer camp in the city of Santa Rosa spreads the love for Mexico’s music in Northern California.
Mas…Kids learn traditional music at free mariachi summer camp (video)
Tomorrow 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.
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)
What is the deal on these so-called Navajo tacos, anyhow?
NPR’s Anne Hoffman and Maria Hinojosa of LatinoUSA are looking for answers:
Mas…LatinoUSA: The mysterious origins of Navajo fry bread tacos (audio)
“Western” adventure comics, true crime comics, and gringo-written history all came together when publisher Avon gave birth to a Pancho Villa issue as part of their notorious outlaws series:
Mas…WANTED FOR MURDER! The notorious Pancho Villa (1950 comic book)
San Diego artist Ricardo Islas used acrylic on wood to create this miniature 5″ x 7″ gem — Gentrification.
PREVIOUSLY ON GENTRIFICATION:
Gaspar Yanga was stolen from West Africa to work as a slave on a Spanish plantation in colonial “Mexico.” But not for long.
Washington, D.C. native and football fan Lewis Black explains to fans why the name “Washington Redskins” for the hometown football team is offensive to Native Americans. [NSFW F-bombs.]
(If the Facebook video doesn’t play, click here to view it on Facebook.)
[Editor's Note: When we shared our Happy Birthday Ritchie Valens story on Facebook last Friday, FB user Danna Carina commented, "Ritchie was the subject of my senior thesis and I graduated with my Bachelors yesterday ON HIS BIRTHDAY. Good omen I suppose!"
We wanted to see what she wrote, and to share it with you.
She agreed, and noted, "Writing this paper was a very intimate and intellectual experience, so it makes me very happy to share it with Pocho.com and the Chicano community."
Thank you, Danna Carina, and congratulations on your graduation from SUNY Purchase.]
Mas…My SUNY Senior Thesis: Ritchie Valens and the Creation of Chicano Rock
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:
Mas…Here’s what I thinko about Cinco in one ranty, illustrated post
I approach el Cinco de Mayo with excitement and ambivalence.
I learned the history of the Battle of Puebla as the son of proud Mexicans, who happened to be immigrants. The story goes: On the fifth of May 1862, a small Mexican army kicks French butt. Bueno.
My dad and grandmother worked at the Cinco de Mayo restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in a small L.A. harbor town. My association with the day is food, drink, familia, history, cultura.
Mas…Me? Today I’m drinking a cerveza and contemplating Cinco de Mayo
(PNS reporting from PUEBLA, MX) Federales have finished cleaning up the streets of this southeastern city after a three-day battle between area gangsters and a French gang left 83 locals and 462 gabachos dead, PNS has learned.
The Marseilles gang (“La Eme”) — sent to collect a drug debt allegedly owed by the Puebla-based Ignacio Zaragosa clika (the “Zetas”) — was overwhelmed by the fierce Mexican gangbangers.
Faulty HUMINT (human intelligence) was also a factor.
Based on bogus tips from informants who called themselves “los mentirosos,” which La Eme interpreted as “mentors,” the frogs engaged the enemy at noon. La Eme expected the Zeta sentries to be taking siestas with their sombreros pulled so low they couldn’t see the advancing gunmen. And the close-by burros? The French plan relied on the overhwhelming odor of naturally estanky donkeys to mask the telltale scent of French breath-de-fromage.
But the Zetas were not asleep and those weren’t your mother’s burritos.
Mas…In Puebla, MX, narco cartel killers crush French gangsters
As the disputes that led to World War One were building, Germany tried to enlist Mexico’s help against the U.S.A. It didn’t turn out like the Germans hoped, and the repercussions of the Kaiser’s overture are still felt today, especially at the border.
This corrido by Orange County Celtic-rock homies The Fenians tells the tragic story of the San Patricios, the St. Patrick’s Battalion.
The unit of 200 mostly Catholic Irish immigrants deserted the United States Army and fought with the Mexican Army against the U.S.A. in the Mexican–American War.
Scots-British post-punk The Wakes Band offer their version of the story next. The video’s not much to look at but the lyrics are killer, so read along below:
Mas…The San Patricio Batallón: Irish heroes of Aztlan (4 music videos)
The Tiki Oasis, San Diego, Califas 2014: El Vez is going to Aztlan — that’s where he wants to be. “The Mexican Elvis” (real name Robert Lopez) is from Chula Vista, Califas, so he’s already there. POCHO world headquarters — in East Los — tambien!
Here’s the studio version, from his album Gracias Land:
Mas…El Vez live at the Tiki Oasis: He’s going to ‘Aztlan’ (videos, toon)
In San Diego, your basic carne asada burrito comes with French fries inside. They call it a “California Burrito,” because that’s how they roll.
PREVIOUSLY ON BURRITOS WITH FRIES:
Mas…San Diego Represents! ‘We invented the California Burrito’ (video)
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
Happy Mexican Thanksgiving Day!
Is Tia Lencha here. Gwhat is Mexican Thanksgiving Day you ask? Is Thanksgiving but with all Mexican food. What?!?! My gringo frends say. Oh no! How you can do that! Is crazy! And Tia Lencha say, no really.
When I help mijo with his homeworks, I learn that Thanksgiving come from a Puritan holiday in Englands. When it was the Reformation the Protestantes wanted to throw away all the Catholic holidays, even Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny!
Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina: Thanksgiving turkey al pastor tacos
Happy Thanksgiving from La Cucaracha!
As she prepares the household for Thanksgiving, Lizzie May, one of George and Martha Washington’s slaves, takes questions from YouTube viewers. Like, for example: “Was your Great Grandma a Cherokee Princess like mine?” [Azie Mira Dungey stars as Lizzie May.]
The History Channel illuminates the history of Veterans Day. Like did you know, for example, it wasn’t always called Veterans Day?
Soldados: Chicanos in Vietnam is a half-hour documentary based on the book of the same name by Charley Trujillo. POCHO salutes all our veterans for their valor and sacrifice.
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[/one_half_last]Israeli artist Amit Shimoni reimagines historical figures as hipsters.
Mas…Historical Hallucinations? History + Hipsters = Hipstory (toons)
“Lucha Libre – or free fighting – is a Mexican style of wrestling,” writes the BBC World Service. “Katinka Herbert documents the secret lives of these so-called luchadores known for their outlandish outfits and garish masks.”
The urban legend is true.
There ARE massive tunnels underneath the streets of Puebla, one of the first major cities of Spanish-era Mexico.
“…authorities have now confirmed their existence, and say the secret passageways could date back 500 years. The city hopes to turn the tunnels into an attraction.
The underground passages, which measure approximately seven meters high and three meters wide, were discovered during public works in the colonial city.
Mas…Tunnels from 1531 discovered under streets of Puebla, Mexico (video)
With all the press he is getting, you would think that Pendejo-of-the-Century Donald Trump had invented all the twisted tales of Mexicans floating on the interwebs.
But our pasty-faced, combover fatboy is not the first and not the last of the foolios who will get rich (and famous) for spouting hate-laced bon mots on the hygiene, sexual practices, and criminality of Mexicans or any other Latina/o for that matter.
Here, in some graphics from the 30s, we see some early 20th Century meditations on Latina/o/Hispanic subjectivities from the pages of Argosy Weekly.
As you can see, pulp magazine editors and illustrators were not ethnographers and whether the subjects depicted are Spanish, Argentine, or Mexican (or Italian — Sylvester Stallone?) is impossible to determine — though I am pretty sure the Buzzard Bait issue features some prehistoric Califas bandidos, and Señor Flatfoot’s “pampas” rogues look like they stepped out of the Mexico conjured in John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (which had not been made yet! Time travelers?)
Mas…That time when Sylvester Stallone was a Mexican cover boy (toons)
Mexican scientists have discovered a cave/sinkhole/subterranean river underneath the ruins of the Kukulkan Pyramid at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan.
Euronews reports on last week’s announcement:
Mas…Scientists: There’s a water-filled cave under Chichen Itza (video)
By GUILLERMO GÓMEZ-PEÑA
Dear Ex-local artist, writer, activist, bohemian, street eccentric, and/or protector of difference…
Imagine a city, your city and your former “hip” neighborhood, being handed over by greedy politicians and re/developers to the crème de la crème of the tech industry. This includes the 7 most powerful tech companies in the world. I don’t need to list them: their names have become verbs in lingua franca; their sandbox is the city you used to call your own.
Mas…Gentrification Notes from Technotopia, SF: On the Cruelty of Indifference
