‘Undocumented’ family behind La Morada in the South Bronx (video)

kitchenmom-n-dad

Towards the end of the 20th Century, Natalia Mendez and Antonio Saavedra left their home, family and country behind to cross without papers into the U.S. Now they run a popular Oaxacan restaurant in the South Bronx, La Morada.

This is exactly the hard-working law-abiding, job-creating kind of family President Obama’s executive actions were designed to protect, but recent court decisions make their future uncertain. What can a poor pocho do?

La Morada has 4.5 stars on Yelp. See you there for dinner? We’ll be the ones scarfin’ down the mole!

Mas…‘Undocumented’ family behind La Morada in the South Bronx (video)

Pocha Yari Rodriguez wants to live (and die?) on Mars (video)

marspochaCalifornia-born Yari Rodriguez wants to be a crew member on that one-way trip to Mars – but she’s scared.

For Smith College engineering grad Rodriguez, the most terrifying thing about a one-way trip to Mars isn’t a rocket malfunction, lack of oxygen, or the probability of death on Mars, she told Fox News Latino. It’s the cameras.

“It’s the scariest part about the whole mission,” Rodriguez, 27, said. “I’m really shy and nervous…I’ve been coming to terms with being on TV.”

Mas…Pocha Yari Rodriguez wants to live (and die?) on Mars (video)

Miami Melanie seeks taco-eating bearded Joseph she met @ Bodega

craigslist-logoCL south florida >miami / dade >personals >missed connections
W4M

Joseph with a Beard- met on dancefloor of Bodega - w4m (south beach)

Joseph---

We met this past Saturday night on the dance floor of Bodega. You had just gone in for tacos with your friend who was visiting (HE WAS SO TIRED).

Though you and I just started being silly and theatrical with our dancing-- and we really connected.

Mas...Miami Melanie seeks taco-eating bearded Joseph she met @ Bodega

In Pittsburgh, PA writers from Venezuela, El Salvador are free (audio)


Leftist loonies like Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela don’t much like criticism or mockery (i.e., reality) so they throttle creative freedom.

Israel Centeno, who fled the Venezuelan Bolivarian socialist paradise, is among the exiled writers who have found a safe place to live and write in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Latino USA’s Erika Beras brings us the writers’ stories:

Mas…In Pittsburgh, PA writers from Venezuela, El Salvador are free (audio)

Diamondbacks’ Pocho Ocho top dessert concepts before the Churro Dog

churrodogYes, they actually went there. Look for a new dessert this season at Chase Field in Phoenix as the National League Arizona Diamondbacks present the “Churro Dog.” Thankfully, no dogs were harmed in the making of this gut-busting, grand-standing heart-stopping dessert.

WTF is a Churro Dog, exactly? ESPN has the story:

The Churro Dog is a warm cinnamon churro sitting inside a Long John chocolate-glazed donut, which is then topped with frozen yogurt, caramel and chocolate sauces. Its estimated calorie count is 1,117.

But the Churro Dog concept wasn’t a random bark in the dark of night, no sir. Many ideas were thrown around the marketing infield, barking up the wrong tree, before the Churro Dog got the front office excited enough to get to third base. And you know what? Here they are — the Diamondback’s Pocho Ocho Top Rejected Dessert Concepts before the Churro Dog:

8. Willie Relleno

7. Negrito Refrito

6. Pink Cotton Candy Taco

Mas…Diamondbacks’ Pocho Ocho top dessert concepts before the Churro Dog

Dear Mom: Don’t worry, everything is great here in New York (video)


In The Letter, based on a 1947 short story La Carta by Dominican-Boricua-Mexican Marxist author José Luis González, a migrant writes home to Mom.

“Everything is super here in New York,” he tells her.

Seventy-two years later and an ocean apart, the story is as true now for the African protagonist of this video as it was for the original Puerto Rican migrant.

Did you read this short story in school? Here is the complete text:

San Juan, Puerto Rico 8 de marso de 1947

Qerida bieja:

Mas…Dear Mom: Don’t worry, everything is great here in New York (video)

Diversity sells, but Hollywood is overwhelmingly white, male (audio)

hollywoodpromo300b“If you want an accurate picture of ethnic and gender diversity in the United States, don’t look to Hollywood,” says NPR.

That’s the conclusion of the “2015 Hollywood Diversity Report” conducted by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

The report quantifies the striking — if not surprising — racial and gender imbalances in film and television, both behind and in front of the camera, by comparing the representation of minorities to their actual proportions of the population.

“At every level, in every arena, women and minorities are under-represented in the industry,” says Darnell Hunt, the study’s co-author and director of the Bunche Center. “And the only question really is how serious, how egregious that level of under-representation is.”

Mas…Diversity sells, but Hollywood is overwhelmingly white, male (audio)

POCHO Poetry Corner: Chicano Love and Barrio Streets

thecholafiedviergin
A rose grows among the cracked sidewalks, of
the tear stained barrio streets, where happiness
is a luxury and can easily be lost forever. While
deep in their thoughts a young Chicano couple
are falling in love.

A painting of the Virgin looks down upon streets
which are so far from heaven, yet not so far away,
from hell. Young men strut like roosters, each
wanting to rule for the day, while their women
willingly look to sell their soul for the poison
which temporarily takes the pain away.

Mas…POCHO Poetry Corner: Chicano Love and Barrio Streets