Audio By Carbonatix
Dear Mexican: Can you please confirm the fact that there are
doctors, lawyers and other professionals living in Mexico? I’m a
Mexican-American woman living in Chicago who had a heated discussion
about that topic. My friend who is a teacher at a local school was of
the opinion that there really aren’t any. Her point was when we see
immigrants on television, none are doctors or lawyers or any other
professionals, for that matter; she believes the only wealthy Mexicans
are drug lords. There seems to be a lot of ignorance and confusion
about this topic. Please enlighten her and those who think like
her.
Incensed in Chicago
Dear Brazer: Por supuesto there are doctors, lawyers,
accountants, scientists and other professionals in Mexico — who
do you think sews up the narcos after a gun battle, fights off
American extradition efforts, launders their money and devises
nuevas ways to smuggle?
Dear Mexican: Why do all Mexican restaurant workers cram the
napkin dispensers so full that you can’t possibly remove a napkin
without a pair of pliers?
Messy Eater
Dear Gabacho: It’s called “refilling a napkin dispenser.”
Dear Mexican: Something I’ve never understood about other
Mexicans, as I am one…when speaking to other Mexicans about higher
education and its importance, they always interrupt me to place an
emphasis on the associate’s degree. I’ve wanted to slap a
primo/prima/amigo silly. Why the low standard? I’ve asked
educators about this before and been told it was a low achievement
standard that was placed on Mexican-American students in the 1960s and
1970s, mainly by high school counselors. True?
Párate and Deliver
Dear Wab: Instead of giving your primo/prima/amigo a
cachetada, why don’t you help them transfer to a four-year
university? Heaven knows America needs more of its Mexicans at
institutes of higher learning — on top of our abysmal high school
graduation rates, not enough of us go on to get a college diploma. The
2008 U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and
Economic Supplement found that only 28 percent of Latinos who finished
high school went on to earn at least a bachelor’s degree — and
the percentage for Mexis is undoubtedly smaller (the survey didn’t
break down its figures by Latin American nationality). Why the low
standard? Ignorance, silly! Not just limited to Know Nothings! Oh, and
I don’t think there was a widespread gabacho counselor
conspiracy in the 1960s to funnel Mexicans of that generation into
community college — most encouraged their charges to not bother
with education, period.
Dear Mexican: Why are Mexicans so…laid back?
Crazy and Lazy
Dear Gabacho: Mañana, mañana. Que
será, será. Mexicans sleeping under a cactus. All
iconic American commentaries on our inherent relaxed nature. La
verdad is, Mexicans are more neurotic than Woody Allen’s on-screen
persona — and if you don’t believe me, you try living life
avoiding la migra or knowing that if white teens in a
Pennsylvania hick town murder you, they’ll get off with simple
assault.
Dear Mexican: I recently worked security at a Tumbleweeds
concert here in Albuquerque. I guess they are a very popular musical
group with the Mexicans, but anyway: As I was checking IDs and letting
people into the beer area, I noticed that almost all of the Mexican
guys held onto their wives’/girlfriends’/lady friends’ IDs. The women
don’t hold their own IDs, the guys hold them, show them, then put the
ID back into their own wallet. What’s up with that? I asked a co-worker
about this and she told me it’s a power thing. So what’s the deal?
Curious Gringo
Dear Gabacho: Could be a power-trip macho thing, but probably
is that the chica didn’t want to carry a purse and would rather
let her man carry the ID than stick it between her chichis.
Sometimes, Mexicans aren’t rocket science.
