Every week, in his Ask a Mexican! column in OC Weekly, his alternative newsletter, Gustavo Arellano answers reader questions like:
“Is It Okay for Half Mexicans to Not Speak Spanish?” (Yeah, but also, who cares?)
“What’s the History of the Mexi-Mullet?” (Started in the 70s and just kept getting more awesome.)
“Why Do White People Want to Tan Themselves to Look Like Mexicans?” (Racism, sexism and the “erotic exotic.”)
Plus, many, many more difficult and bizarre questions.
So … when Arellano delivers his February 9th talk at the University of Louisville, bring your most original questions, or risk looking like a chump.
Arellano will present his free lecture, “How Mexican Food Conquered America – Even Kentucky,” at 5:30 p.m. in Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library.
The well-known columnist and author will do plenty of joking, but he is not kidding about the Kentucky part; he is working on a Southern Foodways Alliance oral history about Mexican restaurants in Kentucky. To tell the story, he will touch on how the margarita became so popular in the U.S., why college students love burritos so much, and how Doritos were invented at Disneyland.
Arellano’s books include “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America,” and “Orange County: A Personal History.” He has been heard on American Public Media’s “Marketplace” radio show, and has written commentaries for The Los Angeles Times.
The University of Louisville’s history and anthropology departments, liberal studies and Latin American and Latino studies programs and the Office of Diversity and International Affairs are sponsoring the lecture.
For more information, please call the history department at 502-852-6818 or contact Christine Ehrick at ehrick@louisville.edu.
Photo: Gustavo Arellano
