The Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog: 23 August 2009

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Edward Kennedy: A Champion for Immigrant Rights

Margarita Carmen Cansino, Rita Hayworth, and Adrienne McLean

I am not totally positive, but I think Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardomfell totally off my radar when I was backfilling research on my Rita Hayworth project for Tex[t]-Mex; I have only just started perusing it, and online, which doesn't really count, but it strikes me at first glance as a 1st-rate piece of Ritarcheology. More on this to come. Here's another page from this beautifully designed volume:

Friday, August 28, 2009

The Latino Comedy Project's ACCORDION HERO

Thanks to Raul Ramos, amazing profe de Houston for the link:

Thursday, August 27, 2009

African American Art and Xicanosmosis

Something similar to what I ascribed to the work of Izel Vargas in these "pages" is going on with the work of Abdi Farah--they are both post-movimiento style painters whose work honors the past (the history of ethnic American figuration) but that also break through and point to new futures: in a sense they reboot African- and Mexican-American figuration with a deft touch.

My thanks to Mark Dery for tipping my eyes to this post!

Mark Dery Is In the House: New Review of Tex[t]-Mex

A big shout-out and abrazo to Mark Dery, the dapper/prolix inventor of 'culture-jamming,' for his rousing review of Tex[t]-Mex on his Shovelware site!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Come Out to Tijuana and Indulge in the Magificent Art of Rosario Castellanos, THURSDAY, August 27, 2009 @ 6:30pm

more info, en español, here! Mangled translation via Google's inept robots.

Yet Another Chapter in the History Ethnic American Representation or Editing Blackness, Microsoft Style

Hit the image above for the AP story. The photo is here:

Here's the Huffington Post piece on it!

Edward Kennedy, August 25, 2009, RIP

Intersections blogger Daniel Hernandez just sent me this email; I don't think he'll mind the repost as it eloquently sums up things better than I can:

From: Daniel Hernandez
Date: Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 12:05 PM
Subject: RIP Ted Kennedy

Here are photos of him on the United Farm Workers Facebook page, showing Kennedy with Cesar Chavez. Here is a direct link to one of them.

What moved me so much about this man's history is, looking past the failures and errors, how he and his brothers were always so down with the civil rights struggles of minorities and marginalized groups so far and distant from their heritage, wealthy New England Catholics or whatnot, until the end, and so sincerely. It's like they saw it as an *American* imperative to participate and support. Ted Kennedy spoke to immigrant rights marchers in Washington at the height of the movement in 2006, he was always a champion for humane immigration reform, which is more than we can say for our current president and his cabinet at the moment..

Latinos and Mexican Americans have a way of saying that the Kennedys are "one of us." I am reaffirming that again.. Day of the Dead 2009 is thus dedicated.

RIP, NY TIMES STORY more here.

Robert was down with brown, as well.

Coffee, Identity-theft, "Mexicans," Taster's Choice, and the Law: The Tale of the Ersatz Mexican

Thanks to semiotic genius, friend, and SoCal correspondent Michael Buchmiller for the tip! Hit the coffee-fetishizing dude in the picture to read the whole story.

Walt Disney, El Grupo, and Latin America or Dorfman and Mattelart Redeemed!

One of the most influential texts to have scarred my synapses is How to Read Donald Duck by Ariel Dormfan (he of Death and the Maiden and much, much more) and Armand Mattelart--it's a paradigm-changing volume that augured the beginnings of Cultural Studies and did a very good job outing how Disney comics were used to scapegoat and undermine the Left in Latin America. Walt y el grupo, a new documentary (hit the graphic below for the link), promises to reveal much about the intrigues between Washington, Hollywood, and Latin America during World War II. Some of this is documented in the Orson Welles' chapter of Tex[t]-Mex. Gracias, gracias to our West Coast correspondent, Marc Garcia-Martinez for sending in the tip!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Tex[t]-Mex on with El Araña, Radio 1470 @ 5:15pm TODAY!!!!

Hit the image to hear the live-feed @ 5:15pm today; here's more, in Spanish, on the show today with its cool host Pieter Speyer! It should be a great conversation--even more interesting because everyone will learn just how bad this Tejano's Spanish really is! Pochos of the world unite!

Ruth Livier: Of Beautiful XicanOsmosis and Savvy Reconquista

Here's the second webisode of Livier's Ylse:

Monday, August 24, 2009

It's Like Godzilla vs. Megalon When Capitalists Take on Hate Fascists!

Thanks to Consuelo Flores for bringing this to my eye this morning!

More Caucasian Stereotypes

In their own way, illustrations like this one (from Japan, 1965; source) are as fascinating as Aunt Jemima. More here.

And, one last one, here, of a Farrah Fawcett Majors--also appropriate for my Ethnic Mannequins website.

Calling All Semioticians of Race, Ethnic Studies, and African American Studies

Though decidedly unsafe for work, the archives at wrongsideoftheart are decidedly useful for cultural studies mavens working on issues of race and representation; I am presently revising my Mandingo (1975) chapter for Eyegiene: Permutations of Subjectivity in the Televisual Age of Sex and Race and must have spent hours perusing the site's s/cinematic delights. Here's a brief bit of the chapter.