Ask a Mexican
Ask a Mexican

Author: Gustavo Arellano

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2008-04-22

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1416540032

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DEAR MEXICAN: WHAT IS ASK A MEXICAN ? Questions and answers about our spiciest Americans. I explore the clich s of lowriders, busboys, and housekeepers; drunks and scoundrels; heroes and celebrities; and most important, millions upon millions of law-abiding, patriotic American citizens and their illegal-immigrant cousins who represent some $600 billion in economic power. WHY SHOULD I READ ASK A MEXICAN ? At 37 million strong (or 13 percent of the U.S. population), Latinos have become America's largest minority -- and beaners make up some two-thirds of that number. I confront the bogeymen of racism, xenophobia, and ignorance prompted by such demographic changes through answering questions put to me by readers of my Ask a Mexican column in California's OC Weekly. I challenge you to find a more entertaining way to immerse yourself in Mexican culture that doesn't involve a taco-and-enchilada combo. OKAY, WHY DO MEXICANS PARK THEIR CARS ON THE FRONT LAWN? Where do you want us to park them? The garage we rent out to a family of five? The backyard where we put up our recently immigrated cousins in tool-shack-cum-homes? The street with the red curbs recently approved by city planners? The driveway covered with construction materials for the latest expansion of la casa? The nearby school parking lot frequented by cholos on the prowl for a new radio? The lawn is the only spot Mexicans can park their cars without fear of break-ins, drunken crashes, or an unfortunate keying. Besides, what do you think protects us from drive-bys? The cops?

Carlos Gardel- Volver ( to Return )
Carlos Gardel- Volver ( to Return )

Author: Frederica Pratter

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2015-06-06

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 9781496064530

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CARLOS GARDEL "VOLVER" ("To Return") The Carlos Gardel story is told in 29 colorful chapters that are like scenes in a period movie set in the era of tango 1900-1935 in Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and New York. It is dedicated to Carlos Gardel, "El Zorzal" (The Songbird of Buenos Aires) who for many of his admirers has become an almost quixotic obsession and who, to this day, is a charismatic hero as popular in Argentina as Evita Peron or Jesus. Out of poverty stricken, immigrant existence Carlos Gardel, the poor "Morocho Del Abasto" (Dark-Eyed Kid from Abasto) became South America's most charismatic interpreter of the tango-cancion, a wildly popular film star, and was crowned the Tango King in Paris in 1930. He was chosen to replace Rudolf Valentino for Paramount when he tragically died in a plane crash in Medellin, Colombia, 1935. This page turning, historic novel gives us new and sensational insight answering the many puzzling questions about the life of Gardel, his motivations, and his music. For example, why and how did the plane crash happen? His liaisons with women? His life long friendship with men? His role in creating the tango-cancion? His involvement with a rich older woman who financed his films? His acting career? And the tragic end as the words of the tangos "Volver" and "Mi Buenos Aires Querido" are fatefully fulfilled as the beloved Carlitos, after the plane crash, returns home to Buenos Aires in a coffin, and more than thirty thousand are in the streets during his funeral. "Mi Buenos Aires querido, cuando yo te vuelva a ver, no habra mas penas ni olvido." (My beloved Buenos Aires when I see you again I will feel no more pain or oblivion.) The riveting account of the life and death of the elusive Gardel is based on countless hours of research. The book also contains more than 30 translations of the most important tango-canciones, from lunfardo (slang of Buenos Aires), which are key to understanding the times and the milieu that created Tango Argentina and the tango-cancion. "It will snow in Buenos Aires before another Gardel is found!" "Cada dia canta mejor!"

Ordinary Injustice
Ordinary Injustice

Author: Alfredo Mirandé

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0816551782

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Ordinary Injustice shows how the legal and judicial system is stacked against Latinos, documenting the racial inequities in the system from the time of arrest and incarceration to final deposition and post-conviction experiences. The book chronicles the obstacles and injustices faced by a young Latino student with no previous criminal record and how a simple misdemeanor domestic violence case morphed into a very serious case with multiple felonies, and potential life sentence without the possibility of parole.

This Ghostly Poetry
This Ghostly Poetry

Author: Daniel Aguirre-Otezia

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2020-04-02

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1487518854

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The Spanish Civil War was idealized as a poet’s war. The thousands of poems written about the conflict are memorable evidence of poetry’s high cultural and political value in those historical conditions. After Franco’s victory and the repression that followed, numerous Republican exiles relied on the symbolic agency of poetry to uphold a sense of national identity. Exilic poems are often read as claim-making narratives that fit national literary history. This Ghostly Poetry critiques this conventional understanding of literary history by arguing that exilic poems invite readers to seek continuity with a traumatic past just as they prevent their narrative articulation. The book uses the figure of the ghost to address temporal challenges to historical continuity brought about by memory, tracing the discordant, disruptive ways in which memory is interwoven with history in poems written in exile. Taking a novel approach to cultural memory, This Ghostly Poetry engages with literature, history, and politics while exploring issues of voice, time, representation, and disciplinarity.