Thoughts about "Latinx"
Saludos, everybody! I have just been boning up on the new expression "Latinex," and yes, I must admit , I am one of the "older generation" who isn't crazy about it. For one thing, it has the sound to me of some sort of pesticide or cleaning product that Gringos could use in order to rid their homes or neighborhoods of Latino (a)s! This just hearkens back to an old convention of Madison Avenue advertising lingo, I suppose; and like most of my reflections, is no doubt terribly outdated. But just think about it for a minute and see if you can get my drift!
I am a language nerd and though I'm generally not at all conservative as a person, that is one area where I have to admit that I am. It stems from my particular Mexican American upbringing (a long time ago!) and I'll explain how. My father was a very gifted and ambitious Chicano guy, born in Brownsville, Texas in El Valle. He figured out early on in life that one way to get ahead in the Anglo world was to speak the English language perfectly ( though of course he never abandoned his beloved primary tongue of Spanish.) But that was how we were raised in our family; to speak perfect, unaccented English and never to vary the way we talked by means of slang, newspeak, etc. Linguistic conservatism--this was the key to upward mobility, and to a certain extent it worked. Of course, we were also taught to revere Spanish in the same way, though he never taught me enough to become really fluent. (😕)
So, I guess I will come down on the side of people who would not use the term "Latinx" personally. But on the other hand I am all for self-determination, so I completely support anyone who feels that gendered Spanish is oppressive and prefers Latinx. We are all pretty non-binary in our family genderwise, I'm glad to say, so I can relate. We should never allow others to define us!
So to wrap this up, my feeling is that we're all free to use whatever words make us feel best in how we express ourselves---to present ourselves to the world as we truly want to be seen, heard, written, sung, and talked about. All I've been reading and seeing online about you Latinx jovenes is utterly impressive and beautiful, and I'm proud that the torch is being carried forward by all of you in all of our dazzling diversity. I think we all agree that language is powerful, so let's be empowered in our use of it!
Emily Peña Murphey
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
November 21st
Ya Basta With This Incorrect Use of "Politically Correct!"
Today I'll take on one of the minor things that annoys me about the political shift that's recently taken place in our country--the persistent misuse of the term "politically correct." (Accusing my family and ancestors of being rapists and drug dealers, not gonna go there--at least not today!)
"Politically correct" seems to have become a buzz word for the alt right, or more specifically, a buzz phrase, since it consists of two words. I don't know the origins of the original expression and don't care to research it (anybody?) but I think it's a phenomenon that began in the academic world when the lives and experiences of people other than white hetero males came to be considered legitimate fields of study, as they are and should be. New, non-offensive expressions were developed to describe and talk about Blacks, Mexicans, immigrants, homosexuals, etc. True, this new terminology occasionally had a sanitized, neologistic quality that was sometimes annoying to language geeks like this blogger, but the upshot of it all was that there were new ways to talk and write about Other people that would not be insensitive or hurtful; or that might even be based on those people's own cultural preferences or sense of self-determination! And who can argue with that? (Apparently, now, lots of people!)
Well, the folks who didn't like this new PC language were so oppressed by it, so victimized and even discriminated against that they reached the point where they just couldn't take it anymore and were inspired by their profoundly wise Fearless Leader to liberate themselves, to declare their independence from it!
Like most buzz jargon the new "politically correct" is like a rock that conceals beneath it a myriad of creepy and slimy things that would perish if they were ever exposed to the light of day. These include things like ignorance, hatefulness, and the wish to change, control, or even exterminate the groups of people once referred to by the now outdated PC terminology. Now at last people are free to be "honest;" to "tell it like it is" or " say what's on their minds!" (Minds?) The small-minded and entitled can finally reclaim their place of privilege in the renewed "greatness" of American society--to the extent, of course, that we still have one.
Yes, language is powerful, but let's call a spade a spade. "Political Correctness" has become nothing more than a code term for the civility, compassion, and concern for human dignity that once operated as a deterrent to hate speech, and the vile hatred it expresses.
Emily Peña Murphey
Ya Basta With This Incorrect Use of "Politically Correct!"
Today I'll take on one of the minor things that annoys me about the political shift that's recently taken place in our country--the persistent misuse of the term "politically correct." (Accusing my family and ancestors of being rapists and drug dealers, not gonna go there--at least not today!)
"Politically correct" seems to have become a buzz word for the alt right, or more specifically, a buzz phrase, since it consists of two words. I don't know the origins of the original expression and don't care to research it (anybody?) but I think it's a phenomenon that began in the academic world when the lives and experiences of people other than white hetero males came to be considered legitimate fields of study, as they are and should be. New, non-offensive expressions were developed to describe and talk about Blacks, Mexicans, immigrants, homosexuals, etc. True, this new terminology occasionally had a sanitized, neologistic quality that was sometimes annoying to language geeks like this blogger, but the upshot of it all was that there were new ways to talk and write about Other people that would not be insensitive or hurtful; or that might even be based on those people's own cultural preferences or sense of self-determination! And who can argue with that? (Apparently, now, lots of people!)
Well, the folks who didn't like this new PC language were so oppressed by it, so victimized and even discriminated against that they reached the point where they just couldn't take it anymore and were inspired by their profoundly wise Fearless Leader to liberate themselves, to declare their independence from it!
Like most buzz jargon the new "politically correct" is like a rock that conceals beneath it a myriad of creepy and slimy things that would perish if they were ever exposed to the light of day. These include things like ignorance, hatefulness, and the wish to change, control, or even exterminate the groups of people once referred to by the now outdated PC terminology. Now at last people are free to be "honest;" to "tell it like it is" or " say what's on their minds!" (Minds?) The small-minded and entitled can finally reclaim their place of privilege in the renewed "greatness" of American society--to the extent, of course, that we still have one.
Yes, language is powerful, but let's call a spade a spade. "Political Correctness" has become nothing more than a code term for the civility, compassion, and concern for human dignity that once operated as a deterrent to hate speech, and the vile hatred it expresses.
Emily Peña Murphey
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Remembering Jose Guadalupe Posada
November 16th 2016
In case readers have ever wondered about the origins of the "iconic" skull or skeleton figures that are so often used as emblems of Mexico or Mexican culture, I will tell you a bit about the man credited with first creating them. He was an engraver and print maker named Jose Guadalupe Posada. He was born in Aguascalientes ("Hot Waters") in Mexico's North and lived and worked in Mexico City for most of his creative life. His main period of productivity was during the two decades preceding the Mexican Revolution (which, as we all know, started in 1910.)
This was a time when printed broadsheets bearing corrido ballads, poetry about current events, accounts of the exploits of outlaws, etc., were peddled on the streets for centavos to keep people informed and entertained. Posada's imagery was prominently featured on many of these, frequently making use of the symbolism of the calavera, a word for skull which has a secondary meaning of a wild or roguish person.
Perhaps he sensed the approaching demise of the long-standing political and cultural elite, for the major theme of Posada's "calavera" (skull) figures was the futility of all human endeavor and the inevitability of death without regard to privilege or earthly possessions. Thus, political figures, the clergy, the wealthy, or simply common Mexican "types" were portrayed as skeletons pursuing their ordinary activities as if unaware of their fated mortality. The dark humor of this became popular and soon spread to the folk arts such as papel picado (paper cuttings), pastry and candy-making, ceramics, and paper mache. Today these crafts and Posada's imagery are strongly associated with the celebration of the Day of the Dead, El Dia de los Muertos, which takes place on the first and second of November each year.
Perhaps the most famous Posada calavera image is the one known as "La Catrina." A catrin or catrina is a vain and amibtious person of low social class who attempts to convey an appearance of glamour or wealth, as a household servant might by dressing up in her mistress's cast-off clothing. La Catrina is portrayed in her image wearing a showy hat with ostrich plumes, ostentatious earrings, and sometime even a feather boa. To me, her fleshless face bears an expression of exuberance and voraciousness as she cavorts through life. But to what end?
Indeed. the vanity of ambition is an underlying theme to much of the traditional humor and folk wisdom of Mexico. It is this force of nature, among other great challenges, that is defied by valiant families of Mexican immigrants in their cruzando la frontera to aspire to a better life por el otro lado.
There are myriad calaveras-related images viewable online, and they're fun to look at. I encourage you to explore! Perhaps I'll post a few more besides the one that heads this blog, which depicts a "fandango" or dancing party of eskeletos. Mas luego.
In case readers have ever wondered about the origins of the "iconic" skull or skeleton figures that are so often used as emblems of Mexico or Mexican culture, I will tell you a bit about the man credited with first creating them. He was an engraver and print maker named Jose Guadalupe Posada. He was born in Aguascalientes ("Hot Waters") in Mexico's North and lived and worked in Mexico City for most of his creative life. His main period of productivity was during the two decades preceding the Mexican Revolution (which, as we all know, started in 1910.)
This was a time when printed broadsheets bearing corrido ballads, poetry about current events, accounts of the exploits of outlaws, etc., were peddled on the streets for centavos to keep people informed and entertained. Posada's imagery was prominently featured on many of these, frequently making use of the symbolism of the calavera, a word for skull which has a secondary meaning of a wild or roguish person.
Perhaps he sensed the approaching demise of the long-standing political and cultural elite, for the major theme of Posada's "calavera" (skull) figures was the futility of all human endeavor and the inevitability of death without regard to privilege or earthly possessions. Thus, political figures, the clergy, the wealthy, or simply common Mexican "types" were portrayed as skeletons pursuing their ordinary activities as if unaware of their fated mortality. The dark humor of this became popular and soon spread to the folk arts such as papel picado (paper cuttings), pastry and candy-making, ceramics, and paper mache. Today these crafts and Posada's imagery are strongly associated with the celebration of the Day of the Dead, El Dia de los Muertos, which takes place on the first and second of November each year.
Perhaps the most famous Posada calavera image is the one known as "La Catrina." A catrin or catrina is a vain and amibtious person of low social class who attempts to convey an appearance of glamour or wealth, as a household servant might by dressing up in her mistress's cast-off clothing. La Catrina is portrayed in her image wearing a showy hat with ostrich plumes, ostentatious earrings, and sometime even a feather boa. To me, her fleshless face bears an expression of exuberance and voraciousness as she cavorts through life. But to what end?
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| The most famous Posada calavera, "La Catrina" |
There are myriad calaveras-related images viewable online, and they're fun to look at. I encourage you to explore! Perhaps I'll post a few more besides the one that heads this blog, which depicts a "fandango" or dancing party of eskeletos. Mas luego.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Calavera
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| skeletons partying |
This is my blog dedicated to life on the border between Mexican and Anglo, straight and queer,old and young, urban and rural, beautiful and ugly, courageous and terrified, mad and sane.
I welcome all readers to join me in celebrating our diversity and power, in getting to know ourselves and one another better, and creating new and more colorful realities. Let's all do our best to tell our stories as truly as we can!
First Post
Today I am fasting, so my consciousness is dominated by a certain lightness of head and body. I am beginning to understand how fasting became a near-universal religious practice, because. As the early Christians might have said, it " casts out demons" so that I feel much more self-aware and in control of myself. In addition, time seems to pass much more slowly than it ordinarily does. It is as if I am given the opportunity to "get around to" so many trivial tasks that I normally avoid or overlook and to see their deeper meaning. Also, a heightening of senses, which for me are quite acute to begin with. What do others experience?
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