Dear Mexican: What is it with Cesar Chavez? Recently in Dallas, we’ve gone through three attempts to name streets after Mr. Chavez. In one instance, the plan was to remove the name of two brothers who were city founders from a street named after them and rename the street Cesar…
Dear Mexican: I’m a Spanish teacher, and I’ve been hearing my students say a phrase, Tiki tu madre, and I am unsure what it means (if it truly means anything, which they swear it does). Maestra de Español Dear Teacher: Chula, your students están chingando contigo — or, in the…
Dear Mexican: How do Mexicans get such ridiculous nicknames from seemingly normal names? For instance, José becomes Chepe, Eduardo is Lalo, Gabriel becomes Gabi, and Guillermo devolves into Memo. It’s Marcela, Not Chela I want to know why Mexicans have such incongruous nicknames. In English, people have nicknames that have…
Dear Mexican: I was driving home along a road where a bunch of Mexicans live, and I noticed that almost every house has its Christmas lights still hanging from the rafters and reindeer and Santa Claus decorations weathered by the hot sun on the roofs. It’s the middle of May…
Dear Readers: A couple of columnas ago, I published a short list of my favorite books regarding Mexicans and Mexican-Americans and urged ustedes to submit better choices so that gabachos can have a Christmas shopping list for their favorite Mexicans, or at least understand nosotros better. Muchos responded, and below…
Dear Mexican: I’m Hispanic, not Mexican, and I hate it when people confuse me for one. I don’t like the stupid music you like, I don’t give a fuck about the stupid Virgin of Guadalupe, I don’t speak with the stupid accent, I don’t even look like an Indian. Why…
Dear Mexican: Why is it that those of us who oppose illegal immigration are called racist by many Mexicans? Personally, I think Hispanic people are beautiful and a diverse people who contribute tremendously to our culture (and are spicy hot, as well!). At the same time, I opepose illegals who…
Dear Mexican: I hear all the time that 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States. Is that true? Who counted them? American Patrol Dear Gabacho: Counting the number of undocumented in this country is as exact a science as determining how Mexicans can fit so many people inside…
Dear Mexican: In the biography of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, he describes Jimi Hendrix as part black, Cherokee and Mexican. I’ve always heard about Jimi’s grandmother being Cherokee, but this was the first I’d read about him being Mexican. I Googled Hendrix’s name with the word “Mexican” and received…
Dear Mexican: In a column some time ago, you mentioned the Aztec prophecy claiming that their “descendants would reclaim ancestral lands in the southwest U.S.” I’d appreciate it if you could shed a little light on this statement. This is the mythical state of Aztlán you’re referring to, right? What…
Dear Mexican: In your October 23 column, I read that Mexicans enjoy Clamato the way Canadians do. The True North Strong and Free has a favored drink (the Caesar) made with Clamato. It is similar to a Bloody Mary but way, way better — and spicy, to boot! So don’t…
Dear Mexican: I know you’ve been asked variations of this before. I’m a gay white guy, and I’ve had three relationships with Mexican men in the last seven years. The first two lasted from three to six months; this past relationship actually lasted a year and culminated with us moving…
Dear Mexican: One of our Arizona politicians once said that the “crime” of being undocumented in this country is equivalent legally to that of a parking ticket. Do you know where I can verify this statement? So often in the argument over immigration, the bottom line for those who are…
Dear Mexican: A group of very young soldiers in the Mexican Army were being chased through the castle by U.S. Marines. At the end of the chase, the Mexicans realized they were trapped on a balcony and, instead of dying on bayonets, they wrapped themselves in Mexican flags and leapt…
Dear Readers: I don’t like to rerun columns, ’cause it makes me look like a lazy Mexican, but as my column invades foreign terrain (Steamboat Springs!), I realize that new readers might not understand some of my commandments. Following, then, are the two most frequently asked questions about the Mexican’s…
¡Ask A Mexican! Dear Mexican: Representative Chris Cannon of Utah, also known as Mr. Amnesty, one of La Raza’s heroes, was trounced in the Utah primary by a relative unknown who is from the Tom Tancredo school of immigration reform. Poll data shows that Cannon’s immigration stance was a major…
Dear Mexican: What is an anchor baby? I am a 45-year-old male born in the USA. My mother was born in ex-Yugoslavia (now Serbia), and my father was also born in ex-Yugoslavia (now Croatia). My father arrived in this country via a green card about four years before I was…
Dear Mexican: I am a chica struggling with the choice to come out to my parents about my sexual orientation. My family is Catholic, and my parents are old-school. While we are very close, I am scared of how badly this can go. My parents have been living in the…
Dear Readers: The Mexican’s new book, Orange County: A Personal History, is in your local bookstore on September 16 — by puro coincidence, Mexican Independence Day! In honor of and to shamelessly promote my muy caliente libro (which deals with America’s Gomorrah, the Reconquista and John Wayne), I’m answering a…
Dear Mexican: I’m an illegal alien. Got here on a tourist visa and stayed for a job. My gabacho employer knows about it and doesn’t give a crap. I don’t apologize about it, as ever since I can remember, the USA has meddled around other countries’ business like it owns…
Dear Mexican: Why do Mexicans paint stripes on their donkeys in Tijuana? Avenida Revolución Reveler Dear Gabacho: Same reason we put worms in tequila bottles, celebrate Cinco de Mayo and star in Beverly Hills Chihuahua: to cheat gabachos out of cash. To paraphrase the classic dictum: A gabacho and his…
Dear Mexican: I am the proud uncle of five Mexican-redneck kids who recently moved to Wisconsin with their mamá wisconsiana after living in la Capirucha all their lives. I’ve talked to them on the phone several times a week since they left for la tierra de los sueños materializados, and…
