Dear Mexican: My home town of El Paso is getting a new AAA baseball team. The owning group just announced the name: The El Paso Chihuahuas. Reasons given? The origins of the dog and the city’s location in the Chihuahua desert, and that it was family-friendly. Many in this city…
Dear Mexican: I was surprised, on a trip to Mexico earlier this month, to find the holiday referred to as just “Día de Muertos,” whereas in the States, I’ve only heard it referred to as “Día de los Muertos.” I’m curious as to why there’s a difference north/south of the…
Dear Mexican: My wife and I are looking to buy our first house. Being young (-ish) and hip (-ish), we’re looking into buying in Santa Ana. It’s amazing how much house and land you can get for $350K compared to the two-bedroom stacked crackerboxes in south OC. My question is…
Dear Readers: The Mexican is taking the week off because his home paper is preparing its fantabulous Best Of issue. (Download the Best Of app, por favor, which also gets you access to my sister papers!) Behold, then, an oldie-but-goodie column that Art Laboe would approve of. Enjoy! Dear Mexican:…
Dear Mexican: I’m a Mexican-American Catholic who is really upset about something I saw after Mass last night. As I waited for my son to come out of Confirmation class (I had already attended Mass myself), I noticed a grocery cart parked by a curb. It was odd, because it…
Dear Mexican: With the current state and federal prison systems spitting out even harder criminals due to overcrowding and gang activity allowed to a certain degree by the ‘system,’ and considering the small percentage of inmates who actually make it out and live a positive life, why have some legislators,…
Dear Mexican: Can I “Ask a Mexican” why El Tri sucks so much? And why a little stadium in Columbus, Ohio, was louder and more passionate than Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, which seats over 100,000? Can I also ask why a country that lives and breathes soccer/fútbol always freaks…
Dear Mexican: I have a Mexican friend at work, and we happened to get in a discussion that started off fine, but I believe that I offended her as the discussion progressed. We were talking about an upcoming Cinco de Mayo celebration, and I asked if she knew the true…
Dear Mexican: I have read (the usual suspects and a few Know Nothings) that illegals can say a few magic words to get temporary, pending-review asylum status. The reports say the illegals can claim asylum from drug gangs. My understanding is that fear of crime in one’s home country has…
Dear Readers: The Mexican wants to beat you to the carne asada case this Labor Day fin de semana, so behold two oldies but goodies I amazingly haven’t yet passed off as new in this columna. The first one is extant and one of my favorite questions ever; for the…
Dear Mexican: You inspired me to rediscover my culture, my pride as a Mexican and love for my people (though it’s hard to love my people at times). I’m writing a college paper on Latin American issues — more specifically, on Mexican apathy, which is deeply rooted here in my…
Dear Mexican: This pregunta has been simmering in my brain for a while, like slow-cooking birria, and the recent question about whether saying “Viva la Raza” is racist reminded me to ask you. According to José Vasconcelos, the Mexican people are La Raza Cósmica (Cosmic Race), which to me seems…
Dear Mexican: My co-worker was driving to work this morning when she realized she was being followed by a Mexican in his vehicle. He followed her for at least three miles on the road, and during this time he waved at her, smiled when she frowned, and even puckered his…
Dear Mexican: I’m curious as to the meaning of the term “Viva la raza,” which I have often heard expressed by my friends and family. I know what it translates to, but I don’t know why we say it. I happen to be what some call a “half-breed,” and therein…
Dear Mexican: I had a conversation today with an eighteen-year-old female Mexican co-worker that completely blew me away. She has a three-month-old baby with her nineteen-year-old (also Mexican) unemployed boyfriend. They have just found out that she is pregnant again. After listening to her sob about it, I asked her…
Dear Mexican: I walked into Carl’s Jr. the other day and gazed at the dozen middle-aged women of Mexican descent hustling and bustling around the kitchen. A flawless performance, yet I couldn’t help but think of my days as a youth and the responsibility I learned from my first job…
Dear Mexican: I live in La Habra, and I’ve noticed that the local Mexicans have a real affinity for palm trees — the more, the better. Some houses have more than fifty planted in a 10’x20′ front yard, so many you can’t see the house. What’s up with this? Is…
Dear Readers: My columna a couple of weeks ago about whether Aztec savagery influences violence in Mexico today drew muchos responses, both bueno and malo. Here are two: Dear Mexican: I enjoy reading all of your replies and was thinking about the last reply you wrote about the violence/Aztec blood…
Dear Mexican: I’m a U.S.-born Mexican who spent part of my life growing up in Tijuana. Why do Mexican-Americans from Santa Ana and South Gate always think they’re harder than the rest of us Mexicans, yet their neighborhoods are like a hundred times better than the colonia I grew up…
Dear Mexican: Recently, a co-worker turned me on to a website that features many videos of unspeakable atrocities the drug cartels are committing in Mexico, many graphically displaying murders and beheadings. I recently saw one of a woman getting her head cut off with a knife! Now I wish I…
Dear Mexican: In Philadelphia, where I live, there are three Spanish-language stations on regular broadcast television. None of them offer English subtitles. I’ll bet plenty of people of all heritages would like to check out Spanish-language television, or the news from Central America or whatever, if we could get subtitles…
Dear Readers: The U.K.’s spectacular Guardian newspaper has asked if I could field some questions for their readers as part of the paper’s summer travel package. Turns out Brits want to know more about Mexican food! Let’s be benevolent toward those buggerers: Their idea of what our comida constitutes comes…
