Ever have an awkward moment when you have to pretend to be an Anglo at the taqueria because you don’t speak Spanish? Alfonso “White Boy Mexican” Ochoa reports.
chicano
Musical pochos: The Premiers rock ‘Farmer John’ (audio,videos)
Fifty years ago the biggest summer radio record was Farmer John, a cover of the Don and Dewey R&B hit by The Premiers, a group of pochos from East Los suburb San Gabriel. [Editor’s note: If you cannot access the NPR audio, blame NPR which is still using an outmoded, incompatible Flash-based media player.]
In the summer of 1964, Beatlemania was sweeping the United States, young men were burning their draft cards and race riots were raging in cities across the country — and wrapped up in all of it was the biggest hit of the summer in Los Angeles.
Mas…Musical pochos: The Premiers rock ‘Farmer John’ (audio,videos)
Maybe I grew up in a Latino and African-American neighborhood
Maybe I grew up in a mostly Latino and African American neighborhood because that was where my parents could pay rent.
Maybe they could only pay rent there because my parents immigrated into this country with only a bag of clothes. Maybe they worked 16 hrs a day 7 days a week in ranches cutting cabbage. Maybe they worked 2 or 3 jobs, and yet it was barely enough to get by.
Mas…Maybe I grew up in a Latino and African-American neighborhood
Local Chicano decides to start calling himself ‘Hispanic’
(PNS reporting from IRVINE, CA) Roland Vega, 33, formerly known as “Rolando,” has come to an important moment in his life: He’s transitioned from a “Chicano” to a “Hispanic.”
The decision to change the way he self-identifies came as somewhat of a shock to his family and his homeboys, but not necessarily to Vega’s former Hispanic fraternity brothers.
He made the announcement on Facebook Sunday night.
“You know, Roli — er, I mean, Roland — was always the most radical Chicano in the fraternity, but c’mon man, he was studying accounting. I kinda always knew he was going to end up a Hispanic,” said Ed Taboada, Vega’s college roommate.
Mas…Local Chicano decides to start calling himself ‘Hispanic’
White Boy ChIcano (a poem)
White Boy Chicano
It’s an identity crisis
My parents are Mexican migrants, who stay busy all the time
Spanish is my first language, then almost losing it because of time
My TV only showed Mexicans involved in crime
The stereotypes didn’t represent me
My school peers didn’t believe me
I wasn’t Mexican or White
Being a gringo and Mehican left me asking,
Who am I? Where do I belong to?
Pinche White Boy
Chicano anti-war activist found in Canada after 44 years
(PNS reporting from MONTREAL) A Los Angeles man who had not been heard from since he fled to Canada in 1970 to avoid the Vietnam War draft has been found in Montreal, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
When Albert “Sleepy” Dominguez missed the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in Los Angeles, noone knew he had quietly slipped out of the country the night before to go underground and avoid conscription to Vietnam.
Dominguez, then 19 years old, went so underground that neither family, friends nor the U.S. government could locate him to inform him that he was never, in fact, drafted.
Mas…Chicano anti-war activist found in Canada after 44 years
Guy practices L.A. driving directions like his Mexican mom (video)
OMAIGA! Practice makes perfect, as Francisco Hernandez tries to get his Mexican-mom-style driving directions exactly right.
¡Ask A Mexican! Why do Mexis swim with clothes on? (NSFW video)
Gustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano answers a summertime pregunta: Why do Mexicans go to the beach and swim with their clothes on? [NSFW partial nudity.]
PREVIOUSLY ON ¡ASK A MEXICAN! VIDEO THEATRE:
Mas…¡Ask A Mexican! Why do Mexis swim with clothes on? (NSFW video)
That Chipotle thing? America loves beans but hates beaners (video)
You know that thing about Chipotle Mexican Grill and how they couldn’t find any Mexican or Latino writers to decorate their bags?
POCHO amigo Gustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano explains:
Americans love Mexican foods, he says, but hate Mexicans. In other words, they love the beans but hate the beaners.
PochOpinion: Here’s what I thinko about Cinco
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 ☜
Pocho Ocho weird geographic chingaderas you probably never heard of
POCHO’s Comic Saenz wasn’t 100% sure where the Crimean Peninsula was on a map until last week, when Russia grabbed it, and he had no clue about the Strait of Malacca, where that Malaysian Airlines flight may have disappeared.
He had to look this stuff up on the Internets (photo), and maybe you did too.
That’s when we realized our geographical memory banks — and yours — might need a little shot of phresh knowledge, like this list of the Pocho Ocho Weird Geographical Chingaderas You Probably Never Heard Of:
8. Lake Tiacaca. Nowhere near the Andes, this stinky mess was discovered in your Aunt Anna’s bathroom after that thing with the sewer pipes.
7. The Chicano Triangle. This tortilla-chip-shaped segment of Southern California goes from Oxnard to San Diego to Indio. Many (traditionally) black and (predominantly) white neighborhoods formerly located in this area have disappeared from demographers’ charts.
6. The Straights of Esai. These large ribbed rock formations just north of Malibu bring ALL the boys to the yard.
Mas…Pocho Ocho weird geographic chingaderas you probably never heard of
12-second educational video: How to say ‘Chicano’ in English
It is important that one pronounce “Chicano” properly, is it not, Sir?
PREVIOUSLY ON PRONUNCIATION:
Mas…12-second educational video: How to say ‘Chicano’ in English
Chicanos: How did we become America’s new slave culture?
Who are we?
In my journey as a community activist and Chicano advocate, I’ve experienced many fascinating elements that have inspired me but also scarred me to my very soul.
I have fought the Chicano politician who capitulated in the selling out of his community, broke bread with the “Old Man” whom lent the little he had but gave unselfishly of his wisdom, and have shared space with our sons who have fallen victim to a privatized prison system.
I have fought the white dragon of racism and today… today will begin the telling of those many travels.
There are many obstacles preventing the Chicano people from achieving American uni-culturalism, but none more profound than the many differing points of view available within the Chicano community itself on what it means to be Chicano.
Mas…Chicanos: How did we become America’s new slave culture?
Modern Day Classics: Lighter Shade of Brown, Latin Active
Lighter Shade of Brown is an iconic group for Latino Hip-Hop. The Southern California duo of Robert Gutierrez and Bobby Ramirez entered into the Chicano consciousness in 1990 with their album, Brown and Proud. Featuring the singles, On a Sunday Afternoon and Latin Active, the album is a modern day classic.
Sneak Peak: Art Meza’s photos from ‘Lowriting’
Art Meza sent us three photos from Lowriting, like this shot of a Chicana who knows you can’t go lowrider cruising without the hoop earrings and ink. Click to enlarge. In case you didn’t see it, the Lowriting book review is here.
This lowered Chevy Bel-Air coupe with fender skirts is a sweet ride:
Are they really ‘Beta Males’ — slackers without a cause? (NSFW video)
Two brothers and one amigo wonder what it’s all about, being responsible adults with degrees and stuff. From Hijo De Mi Madre Productions. [One F bomb.]
Survey says? Pocho Ocho top Chipster New Year’s Resolutions
To be a Chipster (Chicano + Hipster) is not a destination, but a journey, and seekers must never rest. These are the Pocho Ocho Chipster New Year’s Resolutions our readers shared with us:
8. Despite the Indio heritage that gives me a sparse Fu Manchu facial hair configuration, I resolve to grow a Chente-strength bigote in 2014.
7. Nopalitos every day keeps the doctor away.
6. Repeat after me: Tenochtitlan, not panocha flan.
Mas…Survey says? Pocho Ocho top Chipster New Year’s Resolutions
POCHO Estaff Reports: Mi casa? Real Thanksgiving turkeys!
POCHO’s Especial Correspondents spread out across America to celebrate Thanksgiving and sent in notes about their day. Some names were changed to avoid unpredictable results. Read their stories and share your own in the comments!
- Homeboy in East Los: My family’s so Mexican we carved the turkey with a switchblade ·IN MEMORY of SMILEY·
- Dateline, Austin: MEChA cousin Xochiloctl is in the living room refusing to eat turkey and playing Grand Theft Auto 5 instead.
- Nancy in Santana, the O.C.: That awkward moment when three-year-old Cousin Ricardo makes a big announcement that everybody better finish their plates because Mommy spent the whole day cooking the dog.
Mas…POCHO Estaff Reports: Mi casa? Real Thanksgiving turkeys!
Mexclusive: Hollywood has called my bluff with ‘Bordertown’ at Fox!
Fox has just announced the pickup of a new animated TV show called Bordertown, debuting in 2014. It was created by the showrunner of Family Guy, Mark Hentemann.
I was offered a gig writing and consulting on the show, and I happily accepted.
This will be the first animated prime time network TV show with a significant number of Latino characters.
Over half the cast will Mexican or Mexican-Americans or Chicanos. It will be historic.
Mas…Mexclusive: Hollywood has called my bluff with ‘Bordertown’ at Fox!
Mom puts cross on son’s front lawn to mark another failed relationship
(PNS reporting from HOUSTON) Sara Maestas placed a two-foot-high cruz on her only son’s lawn early this morning — a cross in remembrance of his latest failed relationship.
The 32-year-old transactional lawyer got dumped Saturday night by his novia, less than 20 minutes after he blew off a dinner date. And now his mother’s white polystyrene cross, adorned with flowers, sits front and center on Benjamin Maestas’ lawn in Montrose.
Just before a scheduled 6 PM Saturday rendezvous at Hugo’s Regional Mexican Cuisine, girlfriend Vicki Gardea got a text from Maestas saying he couldn’t meet due to “a short deadline to close on a shopping center for a multinational client.”
Mas…Mom puts cross on son’s front lawn to mark another failed relationship
Casting director to actor: Can you act more ‘Mexican’? (video)
Frank Lucero could get more Hollywood gigs if he could just act more Mexican!
MAS Whitewashing: Tucson OKs textbook list with NO Chicano authors
Let 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
My Shocking True Confession: Yes, I am a ‘Chipster’
I’m a textbook Chipster.
I ride a pink road bike named Rosita or a commuter folding bike, rock the thrift store combat boots with floral print dresses, listen to independent local artists like Chicano Batman, L@s Cafeter@s, eat vegan burritos, etc.
As a matter of fact, one or more of my closest companer@s can check the boxes off POCHO’s Chiptser Check-off list. It’s with this Curriculum Vitae that I am qualified to write on the Chipster question, right?
Breaking: TX boy, 9, slays Mexican boogeyman El Cucuy, 521
(PNS reporting from SEGUIN, TX) A nine-year-old boy killed El Cucuy Tuesday night.
El Cucuy, AKA the Mexican Boogeyman, was pronounced dead at 10:30 PM at the Balli family residence here. The legendary monster was said to be 521, with a birth date pegged in 1492.
It was a more or less typical evening for the Balli family, according to a Guadalupe County Sheriff’s detective familiar with the case. There was no hint of the trouble to come, he said, “when boy’s parents threatened the perpetrator with El Cucuy if he didn’t brush his teeth before he went to bed.”
The youth, who turned nine July 13, refused, the officer said, so his parents summoned El Cucuy to the modest ranch-style home.
El Cucuy (file photo, above) manifested in the kid’s room around 9:40 PM, according to the investigator, and was killed during a brief firefight by “some type of particle-beam weapon” created by the boy.
The room was “a mess with comic books and plasma everywhere,” he said, and El Cucuy’s remains “looked and smelled like burnt frijoles.”
Mas…Breaking: TX boy, 9, slays Mexican boogeyman El Cucuy, 521
Are you a ‘Chipster’ (Chicano + hipster)? Pocho Ocho ways to tell
Are you a Chipster (Chicano + hipster)? There are Pocho Ocho ways to tell. You might be a Chipster if…
8. You wear skinny jeans instead of Levi’s when swimming at the beach
7. You scored a medical marijuana prescription to protect you from the ojo
6. Your tricked-out chrome lowrider bike is a vintage Schwinn fixie
Mas…Are you a ‘Chipster’ (Chicano + hipster)? Pocho Ocho ways to tell
Chicano concludes ‘Pacific Rim’ is not a movie about his MEChAs
(PNS reporting from EL PASO) Fabian Ramirez expressed deep disappointment Wednesday night as he left the 7PM showing of Pacific Rim at the Premiere Cinema 18 at Bassett Place Mall.
The 42-year-old father of three teenagers told PNS he heard the “movie was about MEChA” and “wanted to expose my kids to a movie about Chicanos.” Ramirez, a former chair of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano(a) de Aztlan (MEChA) at the University of Texas campus here, gathered his children Vladimir, Xochitl and Emiliano for what he hoped would be a big family night out: Seeing “Chicanos fighting against the power structure of AmeriKKKa.”
Instead, Ramirez found the “the movie was about these big robots piloted by military shooting monsters.”
“Pacific Rim,” he sadly concluded, “is not about my MEChAs.”
Mas…Chicano concludes ‘Pacific Rim’ is not a movie about his MEChAs
POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz explains himself (audio)
It’s Ray’s Podcast — from the Ciudad of Brotherly Love.
Mas…POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz explains himself (audio)
Dr. Gonzo Oscar Zeta Acosta sees shadow, will hide for another year
(PNS reporting from MEXICO) Famed Chicano attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta — who “disappeared without a trace” in Mexico 40 years ago — has once again seen his shadow while sitting on the wharf in San Blas, Nayarit. Now he’ll have to live a life of secret exile for another year.
Acosta, now 78, sits on a comfortable chair overlooking the Pacific every June 1. If he sees his shadow before a certain time, Acosta announces, “I have paid all my debts, I have paid all my dues and now nothing remains but the joy of madness. Another Indian gone amok.”
He made that exact announcement in a workingman’s waterfront pulque bar 10 days ago, PNS has learned.
Mas…Dr. Gonzo Oscar Zeta Acosta sees shadow, will hide for another year
Pocho Ocho best ways to market to ‘Hispanics’
They’re confused, the poor marketeers. They try so hard to sell fish esticks and bleach and PETA to “Hispanics,” but they are low and slow on the learning curve.
Nearly Half of Second-Gen Hispanics Feel Like Ads Don’t Target Them, laments the tradezine Adweek.
You mean pochos with limited/zero Spanish aren’t picking up trendy brand tips watching telenovelas on Spanish-language TV? And nobody reading this story really cares all that much about Juanes’ aftershave? What’s an earnest marketeer to do?
Los Pochodores are here to help with the Pocho Ocho best ways to reach out to that elusive “Hispanic” market: