¡Ask a Mexican!
La Prensa-San Diego, News Report, Pablo Jaime Sáinz, Posted: Nov 29, 2007
Editor's Note: The weekly syndicated column ¡Ask a Mexican! uses edgy humor and sarcasm to explain everything you ever wanted to know about Mexicans -- but were afraid to ask.
If you ask Gustavo Arellano why his ¡Ask a Mexican! column is so popular, he’ll tell you it’s because everybody in the United States is interested in Mexicans.
“Even if it’s because they like them or they hate them, Americans love everything Mexican, especially today,” Arellano said from his office at the Orange County Weekly.
In the introduction to his book, a collection of some of the best columns published in the first two years of ¡Ask a Mexican!, Arellano writes: “Who doesn’t love Mexicans? Whether they’re family, friends, or the gold-toothed wetbacks you (heart to) hate, Mexicans have been the focus of America’s obsession from the days of Sam Houston to today’s multinational corporations.
“We give them jobs, ridicule them, and devour Mexican food as quickly as they do our social services. But we never bothered to know Mexicans.”
¡Ask a Mexican! has become a national phenomenon as media such as The New York Times and Reuters have featured profiles on Gustavo Arellano and his column.
He tackles issues such as racism, culture, immigration and sex in a direct, honest way – even if that means using stereotypes, slang, and in-your-face commentary.
Arellano, who’s 28, has syndicated the column and it now runs in 31 alternative weeklies across the country.
La Prensa San Diego, the only San Diego newspaper that carries ¡Ask a Mexican!, has been publishing the column for a year. Since it began publishing it, the newspaper has received many letters and e-mails both praising and rejecting The Mexican.
Either way, it has become one of the most popular sections in La Prensa San Diego.
“I think the column is relevant because Gustavo addresses some important issues in a way that young Hispanics/Chicanos can relate to, understand, and get a chuckle from reading,” says Dan Muñoz Jr., editor of La Prensa San Diego. “Also, I think it has become popular because the column is out of the box.”
Arellano, who has a master’s degree in Latin American Studies, says he has a lot of avid fans in San Diego.
“I’ve been getting great reactions from La Prensa readers,” he says. “A lot of them had been inviting me to visit San Diego to present the book.”
On Nov. 28, Arellano visited Love Library at San Diego State University to present his book and answer questions from the audience.
The ¡Ask a Mexican! book is currently being translated for publication in Spanish, although Arellano admits that “the humor is going to be different.”
¡Ask a Mexican! readership is very diverse, he adds. It includes Mexicans and other Latinos, “gabachos” (gringos), Asian Americans, and African Americans.
“Some of my critics think that only racist white people read my column, but I have a very multicultural audience,” he says.
In addition to ¡Ask a Mexican!, Arellano also works as an investigative reporter and food critic for the OC Weekly.
He is currently working on his second book, a history-memoir of Orange County told through the eyes of his 4th generation family of orange pickers.
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