Latinos not reflected on Spanish TV

Blonde, Blue-Eyed, Euro-Cute Latinos on Spanish TV

Has Spanish language TV violated its trust to maintain American Latino cultural identity?

Dr. Al Carlos Hernández, www.LatinoLA.com

Edited by Susan Aceves

For second and third generation Latinos living in the USA, Spanish language TV is as foreign and disingenuous to our lifestyles as Jersey Shore. Everything portrayed on Univision, Galavision, and Telemundo reflects a "Euro-Cute" opinion of beauty; a visual that has tormented normal-looking Latinos for generations. To me, light skinned, light eyed, wealthy people represent the patron, not the peon.

Why, when I travel down south to the Motherland, is it always the Festival of St. Cara de Burro? I have never seen anyone even close to novella-quality walking the streets or even working the hotels.

Spanish-language TV has made a strangely twisted, anti-affirmative action effort to hire any Spanish-speaking white person on the planet who can over-act on cue. I have never seen a Benito Juarez-looking leading man or a leading lady like Freda. Brown is bad and guiro is always good.

Spanish TV ambitiously perpetuates this Arian beauty myth. People go to church with these novellas five times a week to learn the value of racial misinformation. No one says anything about it because these people happen to be speaking Spanish. Speaking Spanish doesn’t make one Latino. I met several Spanish speaking Chinese folks at Popeye’s Chicken.

Cortez spoke Spanish and taught it to La Malinche - then she turned around and sold out the Aztecs. Her name is remembered when you bang your thumb with a hammer, stub your toe on a bedpost or realize that your brother-in-law won the lottery.

Is Spanish TV selling out American Latinos and indoctrinating them into a universal Anglo ideal of beauty? Of course they are. It's all about giving the advertisers what they want: our money not our cultural integrity. This, via foreign-programmed Spanish TV, is for sale. I cannot relate to Spanish TV. It has even less quality than Network TV and we are excluded from that media as well.

I was amused to find that Captain Crunch, Colonel Sanders, and the Cocoa Puffs bird could speak Spanish. Advertising in Spanish media is now a multi-billion dollar-a-year industry, which seems redundant. Real numbers indicate that at least 70% of Latinos living in this country can communicate in English and prefer English as the language of commerce.

What concerns me, are the visual image values that are conveyed on the novellas and the variety shows night after night. Few Latinos have light hair, light eyes, and are draped in designer labels. The irony is that those whose actual lives mirror that description would never be caught dead watching Univision. Those who do pass for Anglo avoid the sting of American racism. We should continue to reject the American notion of "Euro-Cute" beauty as it is inherently colonial and racist. Many of us would protest such caricature on Network TV. On the other hand, they hired Blair Underwood to be a Black Cuban President. Seriously? It seems like they go around the block to avoid us.

Why do we accept caricature as legitimate? Is it just because the racist message is in Spanish? Our kids should not be subjected to situational values (assumed as truth from birth) that tell them that the Anglo ideal of beauty is good and ideals of color are wrong.

I find it also true that most of Spanish TV programming is a corny, cheap knock-off of what we American Latinos call, "played out." That being said, my monolingual sons watch Spanish TV to see the babes, TV volume down, while listening to rap. I like the guy who blows the horn on the whacked singing contestants on Sabado Gigante.

We rant. We boycott about the conspicuous lack of real Latinos on Network TV, as well we should. They don't even pretend to respect us. What we don't realize is that while the viewing numbers of Spanish TV soar into the hundreds of millions of households, they dwarf network ratings worldwide. And speaking of dwarfs, I saw a Mexican midget rodeo and almost laughed my way into the emergency room. I sincerely hope that the program was a comedy. If not, I volunteer my sincerest apologies.

Spanish networks, especially the local affiliates, should be held incredibly accountable to the community. They have a sacred trust to maintain and sustain Latino cultural integrity. It was second and third generation Latino activists who rallied and demanded a bigger Latino presence in modern media. We built the house. Spanish TV foreclosed on us. Now we have no real community presence on Network T.V. They pitch their commercials to the advertising agencies claiming to speak for the people. But how many Castilian-speaking, blonde-haired, green-eyed busboys have you met in the barrio?

And if you have never been to the Barrio, you are unqualified to comment.

A Latino's interview of Social Diva, Peg Samuel

INTERVIEW: The Social Diva, Peg Samuel
By Al Carlos Hernandez, Herald de Paris, October 17, 2010

HOLLYWOOD  – A native New Yorker, Peg Samuel likes to say that she was pretty much born with the ‘fabulous’ gene embedded in her DNA. However, no one ever said that ‘fabulous’ was mutually exclusive with ‘diva’ Peg spent many years fine tuning her diva skills for which she is so well known. So well known in fact, she wrote the book on it.

Peg’s journey began in 1995 as an internet pioneer working in digital advertising at well known sites such as Weather.com, Disney’s Info seek/Go.com, Value Click Media and Travel Ad Network. Peg was becoming affectionately known around town as ‘The Diva’ and the go-to girl for connecting, promoting and socializing. Friends say that her social butterfly personality made her situationally aware of the hip happenings on the social scene.

Peg wanted to combine her internet savvy with her love of lifestyle and her people skills. Armed with her personal mantra of “More Everything,” Peg launched Social Diva.com in 2000, a lifestyle and entertainment website and blog which answers the age-old dilemma: Where can a girl go to have some fun?  MORE.

Top Ten Reasons Latinos live longer than other Americans

TOP Ten reasons Latinos Live longer than other Americans
By Al Carlos, www.LatinoLA.com

10.We live longer but, we are sicker, we do this to irritate our Spouses.

9. We can't die, until we pay off credit cards by making the minimum payment.

8. We don't jump out of airplanes, windsurf, ski jump, or climb outside of buildings.

7. Our only use of a bungee cord is to hold stuff down in the pick up truck.

6. Because of surprise and random family visits we will never be bored to death.

5. Latino cuisine is the oldest in mankind, there would still be Aztecs, if Cortez didn't kill them.

4. We never abandon our elders to Old Folks homes, we honor them.

3. We never jog alone at night in the wilderness, thinking we have rights.

2. Latinos outlive whites by two-and-a-half years and blacks by more than seven years.

1. Out living them is one thing, out running them, is quite another thing.

Latina trailblazing Tejano music

Promesa Mortal keeps it in the family
Joey Guerra, 29-95.com, October 5, 2010

Publisher's Note:  This article first appeared on www.29-95.com.

HOUSTON - Tina Vega first picked up a bajo sexto (12-string guitar) at 9 years old. She probably didn’t realize it at the time, but it made her a bit of a trailblazer.

“It just caught my attention,” she says. “I love challenges. Even my dads friends were like, ‘Your hands are too little.’”

Now in her early 20s, Vega fronts Promesa Mortal, a norteño outfit featuring her two brothers and a female cousin on drums. Vega handles lead vocals and strums her bajo sexto.

And she’s still a rarity in a male-dominated field.

“It’s hard to be taken seriously as a female,” Vega says. “I’ve had a few promoters not give us jobs because I was playing the bajo. They wanted me to sing only and hire a male musician.

“I use it as motivation to keep moving forward. At my shows I always say, ‘Tambien las mujeres pueden.’ Women can do anything a man can do, especially in the music industry.”

Vega says she’s had unwavering support from her parents and sees the late Selena, who seamlessly combined Tejano and pop, as an inspiration. Linda Esobar, a well-respected conjunto singer, is also a mentor.

Promesa Mortal’s own sound is a hybrid of norteño and rock, influenced by everyone from Paramore, AC/DC and Spanish rock band Mana to more traditional acts Los Tigres del Norte and accordion legend Tony de la Rosa. The group released its debut CD, featuring tracks in Spanish and in English, earlier this year.

“Most conjunto bands, Tejano bands stay in their zone. They don’t want to venture out,” Vega says. “They’re scared to because they don’t know how the public will react.

“We want to show rock and pop fans that you can play anything with bajo sexto y acordeon.”

The Vega clan might look familiar to local fans of conjunto music. Promesa Mortal was formerly known as Tina y Los Gallitos, who appeared four times at the Festival Chicano and performed throughout Houston. Vega fronted that incarnation from 10-20 years old.

“We were young, and it was something new, an adventure,” she says. “We traveled a lot. We recorded three albums. We won about four awards.

“Playing with family has its pros and cons. I’m the bandleader, and my older brother doesn’t really like that I’m in charge. We butt heads over a few things. But we all kind of have things were in charge of and our specialties. It balances out.”

Remodeled museum to reopen on 10*10*10

New museum is family friendly, community rooted

A museum to be proud of

The renovated and expanded Crocker Art Museum and Gallery is the city’s newest pride and joy.

By Adrian Perez, for the SacLatino, September 29, 2010

SACRAMENTO - It has been several years since a concept was floated around for renovating and expanding Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum.  Finally, on October 10, 2010 (10-10-10) the public will get to enjoy one of northern California’s most modern and finest museums.

When looking at it from the outside, it is clear that there are two distinct buildings that now house the Crocker Art, but once inside, there is almost a completely seamless transition from one building to the other.  The $100 million addition compliments the old building by adding 125,000 square feet for art displays, classrooms and even a modern theater auditorium.

As the public enters the first floor of the new building, they are greeted at a round kiosk that serves as an information and admission booth.  However, anyone wanting to attend a class, visit the souvenir shop, or just have lunch in the Café can do so at no cost.  But, once inside, the feel and knowledge that you are in a museum will entice you to pay admission and enjoy hours of art displays that include paintings, sculptures, pottery, and rare exhibits.  Well worth the price of admission.

The new extension houses the art galleries on the second and third floors, which are reached by very large elevators and stairwells.  Once inside, museum goers will notice glass windows in virtually each gallery that serve an aesthetic value and as a navigation tool to let people know where they are located.  (Unlike many windowless museums that emit a claustrophobic feeling of being lost.)

The layout on the third floor is designed to create a reenactment of history of paintings and sculptures collected by the Crockers over the last 140 years.  It also includes contemporary art loaned or donated by world-renowned artists and private collectors.  In addition, the colors and sizes of each room were designed to accommodate the size and era of the paintings. 

For pottery and ceramic art lovers, the second floor provides a trip back in time to the 18th and 19th Centuries that include “meissen” porcelain dishware.  This floor also features an Asian and African art exhibit.

Finally, there’s the Museum Café, operated by local chef and restaurateur Patrick Mulvaney, from “Mulvaney’s” on the corner of 19th and L Streets.  According to his wife Bobbin Mulvaney, the Café will offer a range of salads, snacks (including health children snacks), sandwiches, daily hot-lunch specials and their own freshly baked pastries.  In addition to soft drink refreshments, beer and wine will also be served, but not until January 2011.  The Café is the museum’s official caterer as well, offering small and large private groups an extensive menu.

There is no question that Sacramento should be proud of the new Crocker Art Museum as a destination point for locals and vacationers alike.  Its grand opening is a free community celebration featuring art, music, food, dance and magic.

For more information about the Crocker Art Museum visit their website at www.crockerartmuseum.org or call them at (916) 808-7000.