Funny or Further Perpetuation of Negative Stereotypes?

Latino Comedy Project

So I'm probably just opening myself up for an 'academics can't take a joke' criticism, but a Mexican American student in my class showed me this video parody of the movie 300 done by the Latino Comedy Project that seems to do more harm than good.



I am not extremely familiar with the work of the Latino Comedy Project, so I can't say for sure what kind of message that the rest of their comedy troupe sends. Just for the fact that the migrants in the video are making animal-like growls, I would say that the message isn't a move in the right direction when it comes to the on-going dialogue about immigration reform. Based on the comments posted below this youtube video, I can say that the dialogues in the virtual realm are not generative in nature, and degrade into racist name-calling and vulgarity.

It might be the LCP's stance that they are making fun of these stereotypes to somehow make them less powerful, taking away from the strength of these kinds of generalizations. This was Dave Chappelle's initial explanation for his use of the n-word on Chapelle Show, although he came to the conclusion about his flippant use of the n-word on his show, explaining in this clip from Inside the Actor's Studio that "people aren't responsible enough."

Support Sotomayor

The Common Touch
Okay, so the selling point for Sotomayor has some negative connotation to it, but I guess we need to focus on the connotation that she possesses the "double consciousness" of not only race and gender, but also class.

Check out the site Presente.org to see the petition that's been put together.

Buenos Aires 2009

Back From Vacation

So I'm back from a week in San Diego and a week in Buenos Aires. Getting so syllabus kinks worked out for the summer bridge program I start Monday.

But I can't help posting a pic from the Borges Cultural Center...