Woooosh
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Ask A Mexican- Interesting Letter and Response...
If you read this column, you see interesting and unexpected responses at times...
Q: My wife is from Michoacan state. We've bought a home in the small town of her birth. I love everything about the quiet little place, Even her
mother is kind to me, as if I were her son... my wife's village is old Mexco at its best. The problem is, I can retire today. TODAY, and go live the
good life in Mexico. But my wife wants to stay here in California, where it just gets worse by the hour. Why do Mexicans not want to go back to their
homeland while Americans can't wait to go live there? Please help me convince my wife it's time to retire to Santa Ines.
A: Dear Gabacho. Ever stop to wonder why your wife and millions of her compadres left Mexico? Si, about a million yanquis now live in Mexico and
the living is easier, cheaper- but it's still Mexico. It's a place where any gabacho can live like a king provided they mave mucho dinero and remember
the William Walker* part of their American DNA, but regular Mexicans must deal with centuries of class discrimination to eke out a living. Yeah,
Mexicans up here weep nostalgic tears a bit much over leaving their homeland, but again: ever wonder why they left in the first place? Sorry to break
it to you, but "Old Mexico" only exists in Westerns, murals, in Tex-Mex restaurants, and in the Simpsons episode where Krusty the Clown takes a bunch
of kids from Kamp Krusty to Tijuana as atonement for his endorsement of shoddy products.
* Woosh note: William Walker historical info:
The American "filibuster", William Walker was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 8th of May 1824. After graduating from the university of Nashville
in 1838, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and subsequently spent a year in the study of medicine at Edinburgh and Heidelberg. He practised
medicine for a few months in Philadelphia and then removed to New Orleans, where he engaged in journalism. In 1850 he migrated to California and
engaged in newspaper work at San Francisco and later at Marysville, where he also practiced law. On the 15th of October 1853 he sailed from San
Francisco with a filibustering force for the conquest of Mexican territory. He landed in Lower California, and on the 18th of January 1854 he
proclaimed this and the neighboring State of Sonora an independent republic. Starvation and Mexican attacks led to the abandonment of this enterprise,
and Walker resumed his journalistic work in California. On the 4th of May 1855, with fifty-six followers, Walker again sailed from San Francisco, this
time for Nicaragua, where he had been invited by one of the belligerent factions to come to its aid. In October Walker seized a steamer on Lake
Nicaragua belonging to the Accessory Transit Company, a corporation of Americans engaged in transporting freight and passengers across the isthmus,
and was thus enabled to surprise and capture Granada, the capital and the stronghold of his opponents, and to make himself master of Nicaragua. Peace
was then made; Patricio Rivas, who had been neutral, was made provisional president, and Walker secured the real power as commander of the troops. At
this time two officials of the Transit Company determined to use Walker as their tool to get control of that corporation, then dominated by Cornelius
Vanderbilt, and they advanced him funds and transported his recruits from the United States free of charge. In return for these favors, Walker seized
the property of the company, on the pretext of a violation of its charter, and turned over its equipment to the men who had befriended him. On the
20th of May 1856 the new government was formally recognized at Washington by President Franklin Pierce, and on the 3rd of June the Democratic national
convention expressed its sympathy with the efforts being made to "regenerate" Nicaragua. In June Walker was chosen president of Nicaragua, and on the
22nd of September, from alleged economic necessity, and also to gain the sympathy and support of the slave states in America, he repealed the laws
prohibiting slavery.
Walker managed to maintain himself against a coalition of Central American states, led by Costa Rica, which was aided and abetted by agents of
Cornelius Vanderbilt, until the 1st of May 1857, when, to avoid capture by the natives, he surrendered to Commander Charles Henry Davis, of the United
States Navy, and returned to the United States. In November 1857 he sailed from Mobile with another expedition, but soon after landing at Punta Arenas
he was arrested by Commodore Hiram Paulding of the American Navy, and was compelled to return to the United States as a paroled prisoner. On his
arrival he was released by order of President James Buchanan. After several unsuccessful attempts to return to Central America, Walker finally sailed
from Mobile in August 1860 and landed in Honduras. Here he was taken prisoner by Captain Salmon, of the British navy, and was surrendered to the
Honduran authorities, by whom he was tried and condemned to be shot. He was executed on the 12th of September 1860.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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Gypsy Jan
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Gustavo Arellano
He writes a food column also, for the OC Weekly, as well as the "Ask a Mexican" feature. I've been reading him for years and enjoy his style, and
appreciate the insight into the Mexican/Latino mentality although a lot of "PC" people attack him.
He calls a shovel a shovel, in an entertaining and informative bi-cultural way.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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Hook
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I find you can never tell if he is really calling a shovel a shovel or just trying to inject humor into his column for the sake of increasing
readership. Taken at face value, the motivations he attributes to gabachos and mexicans often contradict previous columns.
He is an enjoyable read...............I classify him as a humorist rather than any kind of an advice columnist.
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Gypsy Jan
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Hook
I agree, but I think that humor is probably the greatest way to reveal the truth and escape unscathed.
[Edited on 5-21-2009 by Gypsy Jan]
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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elgatoloco
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Gustavo does have a way with words. He is smart and entertaining and makes me laugh.
http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/view/32466
He also has turned me on to a few "hole in the wall" OC food joints.
http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/view/32510
MAGA
marooons Are Governing America
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Woooosh
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Thanks for the link gato- I was always waiting for someone to bring a copy of "La Prensa San Diego" down.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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larry
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I saw him speak, promoting one of his books, in Berkeley awhile back along with Sam Quinones. Gustavo's humor is sometimes a little heavy handed, in
my opinion.
Sam Quinones, on the other hand, is a very fine author who writes on contemporary Mexican and Mexican American culture for the LA Times. He has two
books of essays about Mexico and immigration: True Tales from Another Mexico and Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream--True Tales of Mexican
Immigration. I highly recommend these books and think that many Nomads will find them of interest. Insightful writing that gives a fuller
understanding of subjects that are treated with one-sided shorthand by the mainstream media.
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woody with a view
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shovel?
shovel del ocho, no?
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Woooosh
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I read through a lot of the "Ask a Mexican" from the link. The mariachi band request list for gringos was great. He sure isn't bashful- and what is
the deal beween Mexicans and Guatemelans? I sent him a question once and he wrote back four months later... "And sorry for the delay in my response,
but I'm a lazy Mexican!" Too funny. I pointed out that he's going about the same speed as the Mexican postal service- so he shouldn't apologize-
he's right on mexi-time.
It's just his schtick. He's making money and making people laugh at themselves. Good for him.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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Gypsy Jan
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"A shovel is a shovel"
Was my attempt at humor.
I never post mean things, I am just an old, blind, dog, cat and parrot loving hippipie that has access to the internet.
For Goodness sake, this took me for than twenty minutes to post because I am having trouble seeing the screen.
[Edited on 5-22-2009 by Gypsy Jan]
[Edited on 5-22-2009 by Gypsy Jan]
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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Bajahowodd
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He's amusing, but should be taken with a grain of salt. IMHO
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Gypsy Jan
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Everything in Life
Including cooking rice and beans and whole grain oatmeal...
Should be taken with a grain of salt. 
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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