I’ve been in Dallas for three weeks. Here are some cool spots I found so far
- Recycled Books in Denton
A pretty big and cool bookstore. They have a comics, DVD and audio selection. I found some cool stuff there for good prices, including BSG season 1 for $20.
- El Rancho De Edith
An extremely new restaurant with good food. Apparently there will be a mariachi band playing there every Sunday from 3-5pm.
- Grapevine Mills Mall.
Mall is huuuuge. We were there when the Virgin Store was closing out. We got some great deals on DVDs before it closed.
The free weekly Dallas Observer is a treat, especially the syndicated Ask A Mexican column. Every week the writer tears down at least one uninformed letter from a privileged gringo like the one below from this week. Despite stereotyping and some misogyny, I believe the column is a net positive in terms of ethnic perspectives in print media.
If we stereotype a person by drawing attention to the fact that someone is Mexican instead of the content of their actions, why do minority cultures celebrate the very fact that, say, Mexicans fought for certain types of rights? Aren’t they stereotyping themselves by doing so? If I did the same thing as a white person, I’d be considered racist. So, why aren’t you considered racist as well?
—14/88Dear Gabacho: I’ve contestado many a silly question in this column, but yours takes the pastel as the stupidest I’ve answered. What Know Nothings such as yourself don’t understand is that when minority groups struggle for civil rights, they’re merely calling America on its founding bluff—you know, that whole “all men are created equal” bullshit. So, when Mexican parents in Orange County in the 1940s sued four school districts for segregating Mexican kiddies away from gabachitos, the parents didn’t do it just to benefit wabs; the resulting lawsuit, Mendez vs. Westminster, served as a precedent to the much-more-famous Brown vs. Board of Education. When César Chávez marched and fasted for justice in the fields, his ultimate causa was the same as European unionists at the turn of the 20th century: a fair shake for the working man. When millions march for amnesty for the undocumented, it’s a protest against a hypocritical, Byzantine immigration system that entangles all foreigners, not just Mexicans. Whites fighting for “white” rights only shows how freaked some gabachos get about realizing that minorities are finally being treated like Americans. If trying to battle hate makes me a racist, then here’s a Roman salute to your face, pendejo.
Anyone notice that the numbers 14 and 88 are code used by white racists?