{"id":31650,"date":"2017-07-07T02:21:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T09:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/?p=31650"},"modified":"2017-07-07T03:23:16","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T10:23:16","slug":"um-can-they-do-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/07\/um-can-they-do-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Can they do that these days?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I stopped at the local tienda<\/em>, craving tres leches<\/em> cake. Which alas they were out of. (Mañana<\/em> they promise.) While there I noticed, lined up along a counter, a row of cookie jars, all alike, all in the shape of the stereotypical snoozing Mexican. You know the guy<\/a>. Sombrero. Siesta. Posed as if sitting on the ground leaning against a handy wall. This particular version also featured a large red pepper on his hat, as if nobody would get the “Hey, here’s this clichéd Mexican!” message without that.<\/p>\n

These were the Latino equivalent of a blackfaced lawn jockey. But in context it was also the equivalent of going into a soul-food restaurant and finding a line of blackfaced lawn jockeys<\/em><\/strong><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I was kinda shocked.<\/p>\n

Now, this place is as authentically Mexican as it gets. Go in early in the morning and you can watch the kitchen ladies patting tortillas into shape. The food? Ohhhhh, the food they make! Very simple. Only a few items. But fresh and genuine as can be. The coolers are filled with Mexican softdrinks, flan, and my beloved tres leches cake. Unless you speak Spanish, you have to communicate with the cooks via the store owner or his son. While the place has a huge and devoted clientele of gringos, it’s also the<\/em> place for Mexican workers to enjoy lunch. Authentic.<\/p>\n

Meaning … I guess if they want to display or sell images of Mexicans snoozing under giant stereotypical sombreros, they’re entitled.<\/p>\n

Still, I’m not talking mere cliché. Mexican food and clichés together are hardly unusual. Who hasn’t dined in a restaurant whose walls feature a decor of striped serapes and velvet bullfighters? But those are neutral or heroic images. Siesta guy? Heck, the lawn jockey comparison might not be strong enough. He might be more akin to this character<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The tienda also gets a lot of tourist trade, and I’d love to know what the passing SJWs and\/or crusading Latino-rights types would think.<\/p>\n

OTOH, while I found it a little embarrassing, it’s also pleasant to be reminded that not every member of every “oppressed” group in the universe trades in taking perpetual offense at such things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I stopped at the local tienda, craving tres leches cake. Which alas they were out of. (Mañana they promise.) While there I noticed, lined up along a counter, a row of cookie jars, all alike, all in the shape of the stereotypical snoozing Mexican. You know the guy. Sombrero. Siesta. Posed as if sitting on the ground leaning against a handy wall. This particular version also featured a large red pepper on his hat, as if nobody would get the “Hey, here’s this clichéd Mexican!” message without that. These were the Latino equivalent of a blackfaced lawn jockey. But in…<\/p>\n

Continue readingCan they do that these days?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31650"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31675,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31650\/revisions\/31675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}