Hugo Mena and his family make and sell piñatas in Mexico City, a family tradition for generations
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culture
Decolonizing 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
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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…]
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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.
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’s Cinco de Mayo video rant, mas o menos.
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 Manuel’s El Tepeyac Hollenbeck Burrito-sized point:
☞ We’ve got to celebrate with the holidays we have,
not the holidays we want ☜
Advertising agency ZUBI (in Florida, of course) steps up for the minority of “Latinos” and “Hispanics” who aren’t Mexican — and people who hate tacos. Because “Latino emotions,” tu sabes, are different and require special emoji. [Mas…]
In San Diego, where the “California Burrito” has fries inside, the taco shops have poetry, thanks to the Taco Shop Poets. [Video by Paul Espinosa.]
In 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…]
