Cultura

It’s Not News to Us

Native American population almost back to pre-Columbian levels

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nativeamericanpopulationSamuel W. Bennett’s GET DATA website features charts/graphs and infographics about current events, sports, news, culture, and history. We thought this log-scale graph of the native (in red, of course) and white population in the U.S. was fascinating, sad, and maybe, just maybe, encouraging.

His description:

After disease and war decimated the Native American population from an estimated pre-Columbian 5 million to a low of a few hundred thousand in the late 1800s, the American Native American population has recently approached the pre-Columbian population. The…figure shows that the population of American Native Americans from 1492 to present.

His chart that ranks Tolerance, Racism and Xenophobia in the United States shows we’re lots more tolerant than some other countries, but still have big-ass problems with gays, immigrants and “foreign languages,” not that this is news to us.

Mas…Native American population almost back to pre-Columbian levels

Weeping Virgin Mary statue in Fresno draws the faithful (video)

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The statue of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Maria Cardena’s living room in the central California city of Fresno appears to weeping, and she thinks it’s a miracle.

Joe Ybarra reports for KFSN:

A statue of the Virgin Mary in Fresno appears to be weeping. The family who owns the statue calls it a miracle and said it’s been happening for a while.

To the faithful, Maria Cardenas said the statue of the Virgin Mary is a blessing. Tears seem to well up in her right eye and stream down her face to her chin.

Cardenas said it’s beautiful the way she looks right now. Every tear, she said, is nothing short of a miracle. So she collects them in a glass and shares them with those who find their way to this home.

Mas…Weeping Virgin Mary statue in Fresno draws the faithful (video)

Can a Day of the Dead skull blowing bubbles sell more burritos? (video)

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Kingston University (UK) Product and Furniture Design students Milo and Hannah conducted a controlled experiment to see if a motorized remote-controlled Dia de los Muertos sugar skull that also blows bubbles could drum up more business for a local burrito stand, Mighty Burrito & Co. You won’t believe what happened next! (Día De Las Burbujas = Day of the Bubbles.)

Mas…Can a Day of the Dead skull blowing bubbles sell more burritos? (video)

The Offenders: A new comic strip that ticks everyone off (toon)

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pbfThe Perry Bible Fellowship ran weekly in many newspapers between 2004 and 2007, including The New York Press, The Baltimore City Paper, and The Guardian in the U.K. During that time, it also won the Ignatz, Harvey, and Eisner awards. In 2007, I stopped doing the comic strip on a weekly basis. It now updates wheneverly — Nicholas Gurewitch

Mas…The Offenders: A new comic strip that ticks everyone off (toon)

Los Cenzontles reimagine the Jimi Hendrix classic ‘Little Wing’ (video)

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Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds) and Jimi Hendrix? Wassup with that?

From the group’s YouTube page:

Los Cenzontles perform the Jimi Hendrix classic Little Wing with traditional Mexican instruments and Medieval vielle. The 5th single of its album “Covers”. featuring Latin covers by artists including Randy Newman,, David Bowie, ELO, Bob Dylan, The Killers, Robert Palmer, The Pogues & Sixto Rodriguez.

Mas…Los Cenzontles reimagine the Jimi Hendrix classic ‘Little Wing’ (video)

Mexican immigrant parents: From my shame to my pride

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dignidadlaloWhen I first applied to UCLA, I wrote in my personal essay that I didn’t have any positive role models in my violent neighborhood.

Having grown up in East Los Angeles’ Ramona Gardens housing project, I wrote that most of the adults represented gang members, drug dealers, thieves, tecatos (heroin addicts), alcoholics, felons and high school dropouts (or push-outs). I also wrote about my disdain for housing authority officials and government workers for behaving like prison wardens and guards toward us: project residents who depended on government aid or welfare.

Moreover, I decried the police abuse that I had witnessed and experienced, like the time when a cop pointed a gun at me. My crime: being a 15-year-old making a rolling stop while learning how to drive.

Mas…Mexican immigrant parents: From my shame to my pride

Swedish sweet potato tacos with chipotle sauce bernaise (video)

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Italian pecorino cheese, sauce bernaise a la chipotle, oyster mushrooms, Berber spices, sweet potatoes and kohlrabi (a cabbage cousin) are the ingredients in this Swedish veggie taco recipe video. Lohmanders, the sauce people, are responsible for this abomination creation.

We generated a Google translation of the recipe for your convenience. Note that the recipe contains a warning:

Tear pecorinoosten of sweet potato and mix gently again. It should not be like a mush, but more like a clumsy move.

The recipe:

Mas…Swedish sweet potato tacos with chipotle sauce bernaise (video)

My SUNY Senior Thesis: Ritchie Valens and the Creation of Chicano Rock

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ritchiestamp640[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

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Chef with beard invents a grilled-cheese ‘taco’ that isn’t a quesadilla

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grilledcheesetacoAs our esteemed Associate Naranjero Gustavo ¡Ask a Mexican! Arellano has pointed out over and over, the taco is American as apple pie.

That’s why we weren’t surprised when we read reports of a marvelous new American “taco” creation, the grilled-cheese taco.

Although we think the so-called Elite Daily’s headline asserting that “You’ll Never Need a Tortilla Again” betrays the bleak gustatory horizons of an editor who has never eaten a proper tortilla (see videos below), we are thankful she included a link to the original recipe.

Originator FoodInMyBeard blog (original recipes and mashups by Dan Whalen) lays out the rationale:

Mas…Chef with beard invents a grilled-cheese ‘taco’ that isn’t a quesadilla

To live and die in CA: Your ZIP Code determines life expectancy (video)

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Deb and Maria are the same age, each has two kids, and they live just a few miles apart. Deb, however, will live, on average, 15 years longer than Maria. This public service video from The California Endowment — narrated by George Takei — explains the discrepancy:

What determines how long we live? The surprising thing to us was that adjacent communities can have a 15 year-difference in life expectancy.

Mas…To live and die in CA: Your ZIP Code determines life expectancy (video)

Quebec kid pinpoints lost Mayan city because constellations

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CSAkidA 15-year-old from Quebec, Canada, has pinpointed the location of a lost Mayan city, and he found it by looking at the stars.

The Independent reports:

A 15-year-old boy believes he has discovered a forgotten Mayan city using satellite photos and Mayan astronomy.

Maya civilization chose the location of its towns and cities according to its star constellations.

Mas…Quebec kid pinpoints lost Mayan city because constellations

Dank beats from L.A.’s Goblins from Mars: ‘King Taco’ (audio)

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goblinsfThe “two dudes from Los Angeles, California that make some dank beats fam” create magic free open source music as the Goblins from Mars. They’re on Facebook, of course, and they have this new cool reggae tune out on SoundCloud called King Taco. Is it an ode to the famous taqueria in East Los? We don’t know. We have inquired via email. We’ll let you know.

Mas…Dank beats from L.A.’s Goblins from Mars: ‘King Taco’ (audio)

Can you spot the Latino in this photograph?

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salvadorlitvakI’m pretty sure I was the only redhead at the NYU Latino Law Students Association Gala in the spring of 1990. The food was delicious, my date looked stunning, and I was glad I had jumped on the opportunity when I received the LALSA invitation.

My journey to that moment began 25 years earlier. I was born in Santiago, Chile in 1965: a third generation Chilean on my father’s side (whose people came from Odessa), and first generation on my mother’s side, who arrived when she was 12 from Hungary.

We left Chile in 1970 after the election of socialist president Salvador Allende. For Mom, socialism was close enough to the Soviet regime she’d fled in Hungary.

I started kindergarten at P.S. 81 in the Bronx. With a curly mop of flaming red hair and speaking only Spanish, I immediately embarked on a lifelong career of not fitting in. I learned English fast, but I still felt like an outsider. I got into X-Men comics because I identified with the mutants.

Mas…Can you spot the Latino in this photograph?

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Around Our Town: Where to go, what to do on Mother’s Day weekend

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momchurchsignBRUNCH: Nothing makes for a mellow mom like the All You Can Drink Micheladas Mother’s Day Brunch at stylish Bar Racho at the Ritchie Valens Hilton on East Olmos Boulevard.

Executive Jefe Gustaco Naranjero once again promises his extensive buffet featuring a soft and hard taco station, the always-popular Holy Habanero salsa challenge and the spectacular Flan Fountain.

New this year is the Fusion Fiesta featuring creations like the Banh Mi Burrito, the Tamales de Lox and the Philly Cheesesteak Chimichangas. Don’t miss the free giveaway of the new mini Tapatio espray bottles for when you absolutely, positively need to spice stuff up.

Mas…Around Our Town: Where to go, what to do on Mother’s Day weekend

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