PRINTCultural correspondent
Arellano’s column builds bridges instead of walls
Jami Oetting
April 17, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
He’s got an answer for everything, and it’s not always the one you’d expect. He uses Spanish profanities, explains etymology and relates historical events in a single, surprising answer. “¡Ask a Mexican!” columnist Gustavo Arellano is one sassy señor who knows it all.
Arellano, who grew up in Anaheim, Calif., is the son of two Mexican immigrants. In addition to his notorious column, he is currently a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times and the food critic for OC Weekly. Don’t confuse this guy with Ann Landers though. The questioning readers aren’t “Depressed in Delaware” or “Pessimistic in Pennsylvania.”
What: SPJ Ethics Week discussion with Gustavo Arellano
When: Thur., April 24, 6 p.m.
Where: 204 Neff Hall, MU
Cost: Free
Call: 882-5736
Instead, “Vicente Fox’s Mustache” and “Pocho Pothead” replace the usual trite signatures. Arellano plays along with questions he receives from curious contributors such as, “When reading your articles and reviews, I imagine the Ricky Ricardo voice (not Mexican, but really, what’s the difference to a white guy?).” When Arellano was asked why Mexicans park their cars on the front lawn, he responded with, “Where do you want us to park them, MENSO (English translation: stupid)? The garage we rent out to a family of five? The backyard where we put up our recently immigrated cousins in tool-shacks-cum-homes?”
Arellano doesn’t shy away from the ridiculous and uses satire to broaden Americans’ understanding of the millions of Mexicans who live in the U.S. His column answers the questions that most people would be too embarrassed to ask of their Mexican friends; more importantly, it opens the dialogue for Americans to better understand that Mexicans aren’t just our amigos from south of the border but an ethnic group that is helping to shape the future of our country.
Arellano will be in Columbia April 24 to participate in a discussion hosted by MU’s Society of Professional Journalists. He will speak about his column, which is published in 33 weeklies across the country, his book of the same name and his career as a journalist, which seems destined for longevity despite a recent April Fool’s day joke he played on readers.
In his March 27 column, he wrote, “And with this, the Mexican formally bids adios, effective the feast day of St. Melito … there’s a little ranchito in Zacatecas waiting for me and a barefoot muchacha ready to cook me dinner. Vaya con Dios, America, and always remember: Order the enchilada-and-taco combo TO GO.”
— JAMI OETTING
Vox: How did you become interested in issues affecting Latinos in the U.S.?
Gustavo Arellano: I had been working with the OC Weekly as a freelancer since 2001 and as a staff writer since 2003. One of the big issues in Orange County is immigration. As a reporter, I had done every approach possible. I had done investigative pieces where I infiltrated hate groups. I had done first-person essays about my own relationships with immigration. My mom came here legally, and my dad came here in the trunk of a Chevy — illegally, obviously.
Vox: How did the idea for “¡Ask a Mexican!” develop, and what was your initial reaction to the suggestion?
GA: In November 2004, my former editor saw a billboard of a Spanish language DJ who was wearing a Viking helmet. It was a really goofy billboard. So he asked me who that guy was, and I explained it to him, and he said well, that just seems so strange. He suggested, “Why don’t we do a joke column called “¡Ask a Mexican!,” where people send you questions about Mexicans and you answer it? To me, this represented a different approach to the immigration debate. At first I thought no one would be interested in a column like that. I was hesitant, but my boss at the time persisted.
Vox: How did you get things started with the first installment of the column?
GA: I made up a question for myself: Why do Mexicans call white people gringos? Only gringos call gringos “gringos” because Mexicans call gringos “gabachos” (slang for white Americans). The question was silly and the answer, I would argue, was even sillier. But it was supposed to be a joke column. That was the point. I wanted to be as ridiculous as possible and see what happened.
Vox: Did anyone pay attention to “¡Ask a Mexican!” at first?
GA: We knew we were going to get a reaction, and, of course, the reaction was immediate. Half of white people hated it. They thought it was really racist and stereotypical. The other half loved it. Half of Latinos hated it. They thought it was perpetuating stereotypes. The other half loved it and thought it was the funniest thing they had ever read. And we expected that. What we didn’t expect, though, was for people to start sending questions, but I was basically daring people to send me questions.
Vox: With the column and your “¡Ask a Mexican!” YouTube videos, about how many questions do you get each week?
GA: I’d say I probably get about 50 questions a week, though usually half of them are questions that have been asked before. In my archives I have enough questions to last me six years if no one ever sent me a question again. If people send me a question I’ve never answered before, I put the question into a Microsoft Word document. That document is in Times New Roman 12 point font, single-spaced, and it’s 230 pages.
Vox: You use stereotypes and politically incorrect language to answer readers’ questions. Do you think that is a more effective approach than a more serious, traditional style of journalism?
GA: I write more serious essays for the Los Angeles Times as a contributing editor, and there, of course, I take a more studious, serious approach to immigration or whatever topic it may be. Every story has a different approach. “¡Ask a Mexican!” is filled with satire, and it’s a different approach to the same issues. Honestly, I can’t show you a study that hate crimes have decreased by 38 percent since the publication of the column. The only thing I can give you is personal anecdotes where people have actually told me, “I used to not like Mexicans or I didn’t understand them, but through your column I like Mexicans now.” Or Mexicans will write in saying thank you for defending us. Thank you for being such a great voice out there.
Vox: How do you think this is promoting awareness of Mexican culture and issues?
GA: Every story I do has a purpose. Sometimes the column is outrageous; sometimes it does push boundaries, but only to make a bigger point about a particular issue. Be satirical. Make people laugh. Cause outrage. But hopefully when they are outraged, they might stop to gather their thoughts a little bit and really think about what I’m trying to get at or what the issue is at hand.
Vox: If your parents read the column, what do they think about it? Do they approve?
GA: My mom doesn’t like it when I talk about sex. The other thing she doesn’t like is she says that sometimes I take it too far and tell the truth about Mexicans and the way we are, and people don’t like it when you talk about the truth of your community. And my dad, he loves the column. The only advice he ever gave me was that he said to me, “You cuss too much in the column.” But before I could make a defense, he stopped and said, “But then again, you know what, Mexican men tend to cuss a lot, so you’re fine. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
Vox: The paperback compilation of the questions and answers from “¡Ask a Mexican!” will be out April 22. You also have a memoir due in September. What can we expect from Orange County: A Personal History?
GA: This is actually the book that I have wanted to write my entire life. It’s half memoir, or half history of my family, going back to my great-grandpa coming to the U.S. in 1918 to pick oranges and goes up until the present day of myself. The other half is a history of Orange County, which, in the past couple of years, has really gained notoriety in the U.S., for various reasons, but mostly for being the setting of a lot of bad television. In my book, I am going to show how Orange County influences the U.S. on a more substantial level, everything from immigration policy to religion to pop culture to politics. The unifying theme will be my family’s history, but I’m using my history to make a bigger point about Mexican immigration — that yes, assimilation does happen. It’s very much an experimental memoir. I think people will enjoy it. At the very least, they will learn something about Orange County.
If you’d like to ask Gustavo Arellano a question about Mexicans, send an e-mail to themexican@askamexican.net.
