Dorito Danger: Mexican-style chips threaten our borders

perilPraise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

Like a Biblical prophet of doom, a God-fearing Christian Conservative who tracks “Degenerate Culture” is trumpeting the news of a clear and present danger:

Hot and spicy tortilla chips are destroying the AMERICA WE LOVE WHICH USED TO EAT LOTS OF PATRIOTIC POTATO CHIPS NOT THESE ADDICTIVE ALIEN ABOMINATIONS.

derbymackDerby Mac (An American Patriot who has dedicated his life to loving his country and preparing his family for the National Apocalypse. He would like to thank the Founding Fathers, President Reagan and Jesus Christ for the opportunity to share Wisdom) writes:

They’re dark. They’re spicy. They’re one of the most alluring treats in our food aisles today. For a child, they’re something fancy, like attending a birthday party in a collared shirt.

For a man home alone, a single bag is as good as an entire meal. But what are we really getting ourselves into with these flashy foreign snacks?

Should we be at all concerned that Doritos are now more popular than good old-fashioned American potato chips?

Mas…Dorito Danger: Mexican-style chips threaten our borders

Classic Elise @Buttronica Roedenbeck: ‘Mija Weekly Valentine’ (video)


It’s Valentine’s Day with Elise Roedenbeck (AKA @Buttronica on the Twitter) in this 2013 episode of Mija Weekly! Fall in love all over again with drones, skimpy outfits, GOP immigrant-haters and learn the true meaning of Valentine’s Day. And, says Elise, try not to go into a diabetic coma.

Where is Elise now, you ask?

Mas…Classic Elise @Buttronica Roedenbeck: ‘Mija Weekly Valentine’ (video)

Me? In London, I’m a ‘culturally-American Mexican’

Regent Street with NFL bannersWhere are you from?

That is a simple question, isn’t? Well, for some of us, the answer is not so straight forward.

My experience in London in the past four months has included fascinating dialogue with people I have come across. It is one thing I have come to expect from such a global city where you are bound to meet people from so many places around the world.

Such interactions have sparked in me the need to explore my conception of identity as part of my own self-discovery process. Primarily because most of us conflate place of origin and ethnicity with identity.

If I claim to be from a certain part of the world, what does that mean about the way others expect me to look, speak, act and be? In engaging in this inquiry, the first realization I have made is that the answer to the question of “Where are you from?” is very telling not only about one’s own perception of identity but also of the one imposed by others.

Mas…Me? In London, I’m a ‘culturally-American Mexican’

Lalo Alcaraz, Al Madrigal and Maria Conchita Alonso (audio)

mariaandtequila
POCHO’s Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and Migrant Editor Al Madrigal were on the LatinoUSA airwaves to give a partial “thumbs up” to Maria Conchita Alonso‘s foray in politics with an ad backing a Tea Party candidate for Cali governator. It’s funny, they say, and looking at her entry on IMDB, she probably needed the work. Also, Alonso’s decision to feature her Chihuahua named Tequila (photo, above), wasn’t a stereotypical thing to do at all.

Shocking live video: ICE busts motorist for ‘Driving While Canadian’


They’re on guard all across Los Angeles — the dedicated officers of L.A. Illegal Canadian Enforcement (LA-ICE) — keeping us safe from the border-crashing Canuckians hordes of the Great White North. In this episode, the LA-ICE team investigates a motorist suspected of Driving While Canadian.

POCHO wishes you a Merry Christmas (toon)

lalomerryMerry Christmas from the Pochodores: Lalo Alcaraz, Jefe-in-Chief; Dennis Wilen AKA Comic Saenz, Jefe de Editorial; Sara Inés Calderón, Subcommandanta del Ñews; Victor Payan, Subcommandante de la Cultura; Beto Mesta AKA Eres Nerd, Texas Burro Jefe; Santino J. Rivera, Florida Burro Jefe; Elise Roedenbeck, New Jack City Burro Jefe (Emeritus); Melanie Ruiz, Director of Marketing; Al Madrigal, Migrant Editor.

WTF Whopper: Mexicans have it your guey – at Burger King (photo,video)

burgerkingmexicanNeed a job? Live near Ephrata, Washington? Burger King has openings for people like you!

Huh? Whopper the fries is going on here? MSN Money reports:

Burger King has apologized after a photo of a billboard at one of its locations went viral.

The photo shows a Burger King billboard in Ephrata, Wash., that reads: “Now hiring. Must be Mexican.” Burger King said the billboard was edited by an angry employee who worked at the location last summer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution​ reports.

Mas…WTF Whopper: Mexicans have it your guey – at Burger King (photo,video)

Otra DREAMer in London – I’m a stranger in a strange land

tubelondonSix weeks have passed since my move to London; the start of new journey, a new dream. It is the first time in my life that I made the conscious decision to migrate. I did not have that choice at the age of nine when I was brought into the U.S. as an irregular migrant child, nor did I choose to return to Mexico when I was deported four years ago.

nancylandaThe excitement still lingers alongside a sense of exploration as I am afforded certain level of freedom to be able to reside in a foreign country legally to pursue a graduate degree. It took overcoming very difficulty challenges, but I did not do it alone. An entire community supported me along the way to be here. It is a privilege that I do not take lightly as well as a responsibility to represent the collective challenges of migrants who have gone through similar experiences wherever I am.

Mas…Otra DREAMer in London – I’m a stranger in a strange land

Feminists: The struggles of immigrants are our struggles, too

immigrationmarch600I’m often asked, “Where were you born?”

My answer? Houston, Texas.

“Where were your parents born?”

El Paso, Texas.

“Where were your grandparents born?”

El Paso, Texas, Balmorhea, Texas and Ft. Davis, Texas.

That is when people usually start to get frustrated and ask, “Well, where is your family from originally?”

The actual meaning behind this statement is “You are a brown-skinned woman and brown-skinned women are not native to the U.S.”

My answers explain that I am not the stranger. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah were all once part of Mexico, after all.

Mas…Feminists: The struggles of immigrants are our struggles, too

California immigrants hail Jerry Brown’s veto of jury duty bill

jurydutylatino(PNS reporting from SACRAMENTO) Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation Monday that would have made California the first state in the nation to allow legal immigrants who are not citizens to serve on juries.

The governor has recently approved bills expanding the rights of immigrants, including legislation allowing those in the country without documents to apply for driver’s licenses and practice law. Democrat Brown said serving on a jury, however, was a civic duty that should be exclusive to citizens.

Ronaldo Santa Flojeraz (photo), 36, a client of the of  Los Angeles Immigrant Rights Labor Center, welcomed Brown’s decision. “Thank you, Governor Brown, for vetoing that bill,” he told PNS. “I was not looking forward to having to avoid the jury duty summons mailers sent by the local courts. I got better things to do.”

Mas…California immigrants hail Jerry Brown’s veto of jury duty bill

Califas will issue driver’s licenses to the undocumented

cdlFox Latino, which puts “undocumented” in their headline but “illegal” in their story, reports:

California, home to the nation’s largest immigrant population, would become the 11th state to grant immigrants who are in the country illegally [sic] the right to a driver’s license under a bill that passed the Legislature late Thursday and that Gov. Jerry Brown supports.

The success of the legislation comes after years of setbacks for Democratic lawmakers and Latino activists.

The state Assembly approved the bill on a 55-19 vote late in the evening, hours after the Senate passed it on a 28-8 vote. The Democratic governor issued a statement indicating he would sign it into law.

Quetzal wants to make sure you watch out for the ‘MIGRA’ (video)


Latinopia writes:

Quetzal is an East Los Angeles Chican@ band whose music reflects the social, political and cultural struggles of Latinos in the United States and Latin America. Founded in 1994 by Quetzal Flores, the group won a Grammy for their album Imaginaries in 2013. They performed their original song, “Migra,” about the plight of Mexican immigrants crossing into the United States to seek a better life, at the Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena’s Memorial Park on August 14, 2013. The lead singer of the group is Martha Gonzalez. This video was produced, is owned an copyrighted by Barrio Dog Productions, Inc. and is posted on vimeo and Latinopia.com by permission.

Swimmer Diana Nyad tows 400 balseros from Cuba to USA

balserosweb(PNS reporting from FLORIDA) Diana Nyad walked onshore here Monday, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba towing 400 escaping balseros. The 64-year-old Nyad swam up to the beach just before 2PM EDT, about 53 hours after she began her journey in Havana.

As she approached, spectators waded into waist-high water and surrounded the Cuban refugees, and offering them water. “I have three messages. One is, we should never, ever give up. Two is, you’re never too old to chase your dream. Three is, all you Cubans better pay me the smuggling money you owe me.”

“I have to say, I’m a little bit out of it right now,” Nyad said. She gestured toward her swollen lips, and simply said “Cubans.”

Mas…Swimmer Diana Nyad tows 400 balseros from Cuba to USA

MAS Whitewashing: Tucson OKs textbook list with NO Chicano authors

tusdlogo640Let me tell you a joke. Ready? The Tucson Unified School District. Get it?

No? Allow me to me explain.

On Tuesday night the TUSD approved a textbook list for their now defunct Mexican-American Studies program, which they have dubbed “Culturally Relevant US History and US Government.” The list, which consists of 25 books, has absolutely ZERO Chicana/o authors on it.

Go ahead and read that again.

If you have been following the divine comedy in Tucson at all then you already know that they not only destroyed their wildly successful Mexican-American Studies program but that they also banned a laundry list of books by Chicana/o authors, closed barrio schools and fired MAS teachers.

Mas…MAS Whitewashing: Tucson OKs textbook list with NO Chicano authors

Dreams Without Borders: I am going to grad school in London

nancylandaOn August 5 I launched a fundraising effort which I named Dreams Without Borders.

It is about a dream that had been buried along with many other aspirations for some time. After graduating from college when residing in the U.S., I knew I wanted to earn a graduate degree.

I had not figured out exactly what I would pursue but I was sure it had to be aligned with my life purpose; a work in progress that was halted the day I returned to Mexico.

Nancy Landa was brought to the U.S. without papers when she was a child and grew up in Southern California. She graduated with honors from Cal State Northridge where she also served as student body president. And then she was deported. She introduced herself in this POCHO story.

Some of us experience life-altering moments, those in which we see our dreams fall into pieces right in front of us. In my case, a border became the physical and emotional barrier to a future I had once envisioned.

Some of my friends encouraged me to look for options to continue my education in Mexico. Given that it was my country of nationally, it was assumed I would be able to pursue opportunities I was not easily afforded as an undocumented immigrant in the United States. Right?

Mas…Dreams Without Borders: I am going to grad school in London