Carlos Mencia: Racist Jerk or Thieving Jerk?

Dear Mexican: I’m a minority, and I know we can be overly sensitive sometimes, but I just can’t stand Carlos Mencia. Not only are his jokes asinine, but I feel they are actually racist. Whereas Dave Chappelle tried to make fun of society’s racist thoughts, Mencia seems to promote them…

Art Attack!

Look for art to break out all over the mall during Denver Arts Week, which runs October 5-12 (for details, go to the Night & Day section of the October 4 Westword). But in fact, you can expect art to break out even earlier, since a few underground-art types, concerned…

They Like Us, They Really Like Us

Denver has always been the Sally Field of cities, grateful for the slightest nod of recognition from the national media. Under normal circumstances, the filming of an Eddie Murphy movie in this town — Nowhereland, for example, which is currently shooting around Denver — would be front-page news. But these…

Charity Begins at Home

Elected officials in Denver get to do double duty. In celebrity-short Denver, they’re in constant demand for do-good events. On Friday night, for example, Denver DA Mitch Morrissey was on deck at Elway’s in the Concerts for Kids “celebrity server” event, which raised more than $50,000 for children’s charities. The…

Bilingual Education and Ignorance

Dear Mexican: After the great migration of Jews to this nation, a question was posed: “How long does it take a Jew to go from being a street sweeper to becoming a corporate attorney?” The answer: “One generation.” Not so for Mexicans. Most Mexicans seem to recoil from education like…

Fucking With McSwane

Once again, David McSwane is the most talked-about student journalist in the country. But rather than saluting his enterprise with awards, this time the prudey-pants professionals are tsk-tsking the editor of the Colorado State University newspaper for this shocker: He published an editorial with the headline:”Fuck Bush.” If you can’t…

Mex and Match

Dear Readers: A couple of weeks ago, I asked half-breeds to write in with nicknames that describe their mixed Mexican heritage. Many, muchos responses continue to trickle in; gracias for the submissions. The following is a handy glossary that ustedes wrote, with the occasional Mexican commentary — enjoy! If you’re…

Things to Do in Denver When You’re Not Dead

Now it looks like Colorado’s latest celebrity arrived in this state by accident. . According to his attorney, fugitive financier Norman Hsu was “sick and confused” and may have mistakenly gotten out of an Amtrak train heading to Denver rather than the Bay Area Rapid Transit train that would have…

On The Road, Again

Unpack your berets and bongos and prepare for a finger-snappin’ sit-in at the Denver City & County Building. Because on September 18, when the city reveals its choice for the next One Book, One Denver selection, it will not be On the Road. Again. Never mind that author Jack Kerouac…

Papi Dont Preach

Dear Mexican: I am addressing this to both you and Dan Savage, hoping one of you will have an answer: Why do Mexican chicks yell for their papi during sex? Daddy del Diablo Dear Readers: After getting the above query, Dan Savage, author of the pinche hilarious column Savage Love,…

Michael Heckuva Job Brown Knows Disaster

It’s a disaster in the making. “Since the terrible events of September 11, 2001, and with the increasing and widespread concern for pandemic influenza worldwide, Coloradans have been deluged with constant warnings about their ongoing safety,” reads the What If? Colorado program overview page prepared by the Office of Emergency…

So Hsu Me!

Some boosters think Colorado needs celebrities in the worst way. And that’s how this state gets them. Earlier this summer, Andrew Speaker was kept under wraps — literally — at National Jewish, after his global run from a tuberculosis diagnosis. And yesterday, fugitive fundraiser Norman Hsu wound up in a…

Ports-to-Plains: Keep on Truckin’

“Mexican Trucks Stampede to U.S.!” Web sites and radio shows are full of talk today about the Mexican truckers who will soon — perhaps even today — cross the border into Texas in a Bush-sanctioned trade deal. This talk describes the Mexican truck deal as the camel’s nose under the…

Funny Business

Dear Mexican: A new line of Speedy González clothing came out earlier this year. As a black vendor in a predominantly Mexican market, I immediately thought about selling some of these items. I am 35, and although I remember the cartoon coming on when I was a young kid, I…

Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow

When the 37th annual confab of the Beewery Collectibles of America — the CANvention — convened in Denver last week, there was only one possible person to deliver the keynote address: Mayor John Hickenlooper, who gave this town one of its most liquid assets when he and a couple of…

Sit Down, Stand Up

Dear Mexican: Do you agree with immigration-rights activists calling Elvira Arellano, who is an illegal immigrant and a criminal, I might add, the Mexican Rosa Parks? The very idea that these people refer to her as such is deeply disturbing. Rosa Parks was a legal resident of this country and…

Macho Nacchio Man

You can’t keep a good judge down. Yesterday Joe Nacchio notched a win in the first round of his appeal over his conviction for illegal insider trading, with three appellate judges ruling that the badly toupeed former Qwest exec can stay free on $2 million bond pending an expedited appeal…

Read My Lip Liner

Dear readers: It’s not just questions and racist rants that invade the Mexican’s mailbox. Your feedback sneaks under my digital fence, también. Let’s start with Lean Like a K Street Chola, a former gangbanger turned lobbyist who wrote in a couple of weeks back wondering how she could explain to…

Brown Fields

Dear Mexican: I had a discussion with a couple of gringos who said immigration (both legal and illegal) needs to stop. I replied jokingly, “Then who will take our orders at McDonald’s or work in the fields?” They told me there are Americans willing to work those jobs, especially in…

Nobel Virtues

Yes, Ivan Suvanjieff has been nominated for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. But he has a bigger concern right now. “I’m going to miss the White Stripes on this tour,” he laments. The artist/musician/former Ford factory-worker/current peace-pusher had tickets for Jack White’s New Mexico show in October, but it was…

Drink Up, Ladies!

This is not only something I can do as a United States citizen, this is something I believe I must do,” Steve Horner told Judge Brian Campbell. “This is Rosa Parksish. This is Martin Luther Kingish.” This is ludicrousish. On its surface, the concept of ladies’ nights might seem unfair…