Hey! I Didn't Mean no Disrespect, "Wetback"! Don Young in the News...

 “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” he said. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”

Perhaps this was a misplaced attempt to bond with the Hispanic community in search for votes. Either that or it was offensive. Let's go with offensive. When called on his racist comment,  Rep. Don Young gave a response equivalent to "Some of my best friends are Hispanic," explaining that the term "wetback" is just tried and true lexicon usage.

Alaskan Rep. Don Young, one of the most senior Republicans in the House, has apologized for using the racial slur "wetbacks" in referring to Hispanic migrant workers. The Republican congressman dropped the racial slur during an interview with the Alaska radio station KRBD when talking about the changing market for U.S. labor jobs.

Read full story here:

Rep Don Young"wetback has always been used in the Same way"

Mr. Young could have used Wikipedia to teach himself a thing or two:  

 

Wetback(slur)"is a derogatory term used in the United States, for a non-American foreigner, commonly a Mexican citizen, especially one who is an illegal immigrant in the U.S"

 

Touch of Evil Newspaper Ad, release year 1958

source

Border Fence DEAD | via WIRED.COM

The Growing Militarization and Cyber-surveillance of the U.S./Mexico Border

Isaac Artenstein's New Documentary on Tijuana on KPBS

IMAGINING TIJUANA

KPBS-TV premieres “Imagining Tijuana,” Tuesday June 29th at 11PM. It's one-hour documentary focusing on the city’s unique history, contemporary realities, and its place in the popular imagination. Artists, writers, sports figures, business executives and renowned professionals from Tijuana’s Paseo de la Fama (Walk of Fame) take part in a lively exchange about Tijuana's current situation as well as the possibilities and challenges confronting their community.

Award winning director Isaac Artenstein (“Break of Dawn,” “Border Brujo,” “Tijuana Jews”) juxtaposes news footage, contemporary artwork, vintage post cards, landmarks and other images to create a dynamic and compelling narrative. The original soundtrack by Tijuana’s own Jaime Valle helps capture the themes and sensibilities of this near-mythic border city --- and our own imagination. See a taste of it here.

Pondering the VERGE: Canada Style

Renaissance, Tijuana-style!

La Frontera on Fire! Narco Wars Roiling South Texas Borderlands

The Border Crossed Us! Victor Landa, Laredense Savant

Salvador Barajas Writes in With a Xicanosmotic Project

La Guerra en la Frontera: Ciudad Juarez and El Paso in Newseek

Gracias to regular contributor David O. García for the link! Hit the image to your right for the story.

A Brilliant Meditation on the Border: Adam Simpson

My first publication was on Autobiography at la frontera, the border, and I am presently editing a book to be entitled Bordered Sexualities: Bodies on the Verge of a Nation, way overdue--my apologies to the contributors--and so you might guess I am a sucker for, and totally obsessed by, anything that deals with frontiers, borders, etc. You might say I am always already on the verge of falling for or through the verge--forgive the Derridean syntax. In any event, I stumbled across the work of Adam Simpson and his Boundaries project. Go here and here for details. The "play" of his figures across and thru boundaries is mesmerizing.

Berlin Redux @ Imperial Beach, California

Streaming Josh Kun on the Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog

Josh Kun Versus Tijuana Fashion Edicts

I just stumbled upon this cool old post from the shills at UCR regarding their former (he's at USC now) prof's sartorial edicts with regard to Tijuana sales folks.... cool read! What's especially moving is the symphony of semiotic play afoot in the phenomena Josh Kun exposes--in a kind of Jean Baudrillardian wet dream, the eclectic and colorful mayor of Tijuana colludes with his street vendors in a kind of cacophony of "Mexican" costuming. Simulacras of "Mexicans" dressing as "Mexicans" to shill pirated facsimiles of Bart Simpson, Calvin and Hobbes et al.

You can hear Kun's take on things from NPR; click the image below!

I happened across these new BBC ads on adbox...

...one of which focuses on the US/EUM border:


Leave it to the BBC to 'see' something other media engines work to obscure.

On another note, the Che ad here freaks me out!

Thanks to KPBS for the Rerun: Orson Welles's Touch of Evil

KPBS, our local San Diego NPR affiliate, recently replayed an interview with me on Touch of Evil and Tex[t]-Mex; click the image below to tune in!

Checkpoint Charlie in Brownsville, Laredo, etc...

...a quick link to a Newsweek story on the border walls threatening to go up in South Texas. The New York Times has a picture that augurs the future of Tejanolandia, mi tierra, my home.

Laredo, Texas Bound! December 27, 2007 Christmas Fiesta Tex[t]-Mex Reading!!!

Just after Xmas at 7pm on Thursday, December 27, 2007, the Tex[t]-Mex roadshow hits Laredo, Texas for a reading/signing at Alegria Bistro! Here's Texas Monthly on this swank joint:

ALEGRIA BISTRO AND WINE BAR Lushly dark and romantic, Alegria offers some of the city’s finest meals. Beer-battered fried asparagus is ready for its close-up, crisp pita-crusted shrimp are bright with citrus flavor, while grilled lamb is earthy and appealingly simple. Leave room for the chile-infused cheesecake. Impressive wine list. Bar. 107 Calle del Norte (956-712-0000). Open Mon—Fri 11:30—2:30 & 5:30—11, Sat 5:30—11. Closed Sun. This review from December 2007. $$—$$$ map

I can't wait to go home to my post-modern hood to wax nostalgic and catch up with all my border-rat amiguitos y amiguitas! I am in debt to my incredible hosts and friends Gabriel Castillo, David & Linda Garza, and Adan & Martha Gonzalez.

Old schoolers from Laredo that can identify this local TVcelebrity/beast pictured here below get $3 off the cover price of Tex[t]-Mex at the reading!


...just whisper his name in my ear to score your rasquache discount!!!!

Touch of Genius: Orson Welles, Proto-Chicano Motion Picture Director?

Originally posted April 9, 2007 | updated


The first main chapter of Tex[t]-Mex concerns itself with Orson Welles's masterpiece, the 1958 production of Touch of Evil. I don't want to give too much away about the chapter but its main claim to fame is the assertion that Welles was a proto-Chicano director--one of the first to parse the verge of the border with semio/cultural sensitivity and cleverness. The chapter, a revision of a piece that first appeared in Chicanos and Film, is entitled "Hallucinations of Miscegenation and Murder: Dancing along the Mestiza/o Borders of Proto-Chicana/o Cinema with Orson Welles's Touch of Evil."

Here, courtesy the ever-present, churning servers at google.com are the coming attractions trailer for this sordid, bordertown potboiler...



...as well as the famed opening few minutes of the film--this second sequence is from the "director's cut" version of the film that unfolds without the opening credits. For Touch of Evil fanatics, here as well appears the orginal 1958 opening scene with the credits--the quality is a little dicey with video remnants/scratches in places: