[RAICES] Raices list and mtg

Thu Feb 20 12:40:26 EST 2003

Hello all. 
I want to remind you that we set up this listserve as a way for Pan-Latino 
students on campus to exchange information, advertising current events,etc with 
eachother.  If you have information that you want to share with the group, 
please make sure this is done in a respectable manner. Come to the meetings-
where dialogue can best happen. We can have dicussions where we talk face to 
face, and get to know eachother. 

1st MEETING
Tonight,Thirsday, February 20th, 
8pm @ the Cultural Center 
We will eat, have introductions, and set-up
a regular meeting time. 

If you have any other questions or concerns feel free to contact me personally.

(to unsubscribe from the RAICES e-mail list, send me a request to be taken 
off)  

Quoting Brett Engle <bge03 at hampshire.edu>:

> wow some people can't take a joke
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: raices-admin at lists.hampshire.edu
> [mailto:raices-admin at lists.hampshire.edu]On Behalf Of Adrián López
> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 8:56 PM
> To: raices at lists.hampshire.edu
> Subject: Re: [RAICES] crap in vanity fair
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> This forum is not intended for people to be calling petitions «stupid».
> Please,
> don't do so.
> 
> I am enclosing the apologize that Vanity Fair has offered.
> 
> Adrián
> 
> 
> -------------------------
> 
> Dear Reader:
> 
> 
> We are writing you to relay our distress at the reaction a column in the
> February issue of Vanity Fair has caused you and others within the Latin
> community in the United States and elsewhere, and to explain the reasoning
> behind our decision to publish the column, the effect of which has been the
> exact opposite of what we intended. Our intent, in short, was to mock the
> very
> ethnic stereotypes that some have accused us of reinforcing.
> 
> Dame Edna Everage is a fictitious character created and portrayed by the
> Australian entertainer and author Barry Humphries. Edna is a caricature of
> a
> certain type of small-minded, socially ambitious, vaguely upper-class
> person.
> Those familiar with Dame Edna's performances understand that her
> politically
> incorrect and often insulting utterances are meant as a parody of backward
> attitudes Humphries finds irritating or offensive.    
> 
> When we hired Barry Humphries two years ago to write a satirical advice
> column
> in Dame Edna's name, we did so on the comedic premise that Dame Edna is the
> last person on Earth that anyone would go to for sound advice. In stark
> contrast to a serious advice columnist, Dame Edna takes her questioners'
> worst
> assumptions and runs with them. Then, for instance, in the same column that
> has caused so much controversy, one questioner asks about a lingering
> redness
> that has resulted from a cosmetic operation, Edna replies, "You'll probably
> look like a beetroot for the rest of your life." When another expresses a
> distaste for salmon, she launches into an irrational attack on the fish,
> even
> suggesting that it causes salmonella. Clearly, this advice column should
> not
> be taken seriously.  
> 
> In her column in our February issue, Edna responds to a questioner who
> claims
> to feel pressure to learn Spanish. Right away, her outrageously ignorant
> suggestions that the only work of Spanish literature worth reading is Don
> Quixote, and that "a quick listen to the CD of Man of La Mancha will take
> care
> of that," tip the reader off that this is not a sincere, intelligent, or in
> any way legitimate analysis and that it is not meant to be taken at face
> value. She goes on: "Who speaks [Spanish] that you are so desperate to talk
> to? The help? Your leaf blower?" The backward bigotry of these statements
> was
> so far over the line that we felt it could only be taken as satire. In our
> judgment it was a politically incorrect but blatantly satirical barb
> directed
> against anyone who might be unaware of the great contributions Latin people
> have made and continue to make in every walk of life, here in the United
> States and around the world. (Note, too, that two sentences later, she
> insults
> English-speaking Americans, saying, "If you're American, try [learning]
> English.")  
> 
> Ironically, perhaps, the February issue featured a cover story on Salma
> Hayek.
> Talk about Spanish-speaking people the average American would be desperate
> to
> have a conversation with: there's the Oscar-nominated Salma Hayek; her
> brilliant furniture-designer brother, Sami; the handsome leading man
> Antonio
> Banderas; the director Robert Rodriguez; and the great 20th century artists
> Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Elsewhere in the magazine, John Richardson,
> who
> has devoted years to writing the definitive biography of the great Spanish
> painter Pablo Picasso, writes a long feature about Picasso's friendly
> rivalry
> with Henri Matisse. Would a magazine that honestly endorsed opinions like
> those voiced by the character Dame Edna have published these articles?
> 
> We have apologized publicly for the offense we caused
> unintentionally-indeed,
> counter to our intentions. We will reprint our public apology and a number
> of
> letters, including one by Salma Hayek herself, in our April issue, which
> will
> be published in the second week of March. We are asking those who feel
> offended by this piece to forgive us for our insensitivity. We also ask
> them
> to consider the context-the fact that these statements were meant to be
> read
> ironically-and to take into account the fact that it was never, ever our
> goal
> to disparage or insult any ethnic group. We are confident that our history
> and
> our future will erase any suspicions that we are biased against Spanish
> speakers or anyone else.
>   
> Sincerely,
> The Editors
> 
> ----------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting jib02 at hampshire.edu:
> 
> > For all of you who were seriously offended by the column in Vanity Fair
> I'd
> >
> > like you all to know that Dame Edna is a famous comedian. Hellloooo!! Her
> > column is in the magazine solely for humorous purposes. Of course its
> > supposed
> > to be ridiculous. So is she. I advise that before you get horribly upset
> > about
> > something you do some reseach. This was the most pointless and stupid
> > petition
> > Ive ever seen.
> > Julia
> > http://www.dame-edna.com/
> >
> > Quoting daniel older <djolder1 at yahoo.com>:
> >
> > >
> > > The following appeared in Vanity Fair magazine
> > > (February 2003), p. 116,
> > > in the column "Ask Dame Edna":
> > > Dear Dame Edna,
> > > I would very much like to learn a foreign language,
> > > preferably French or
> > > Italian, but every time I mention this, people tell me
> > > to learn Spanish
> > > instead. They say, "Everyone is going to be speaking
> > > Spanish in 10
> > > years. George W. Bush speaks Spanish." Could this be
> > > true? Are we all
> > > going to have to speak Spanish? Torn Romantic, Palm
> > > Beach
> > > Dear Torn:
> > > Forget Spanish. There's nothing in that language worth
> > > reading except
> > > Don Quixote, and a quick listen to the CD of Man of La
> > > Mancha will take
> > > care of that. There was a poet named Garcia Lorca, but
> > > I'd leave him on
> > > the intellectual back burner if I were you. As for
> > > everyone's speaking
> > > it, what twaddle! Who speaks it that you are really
> > > desperate to talk
> > > to? The help? Your leaf blower? Study French or
> > > German, where there are
> > > at least a few books worth reading, or, if you're
> > > American, try English.
> > > Dame Edna
> > > If this example of anti-Latino racism offends you,
> > > this petition
> > > encourages you to participate in a mass effort to
> > > request a formal
> > > apology from Vanity Fair and "Dame Edna," to support a
> > > boycott of Vanity
> > > Fair magazine, and to urge others to do the same.
> > > If you would like to sign the petition, please copy
> > > (rather than
> > > forward) this email in a new message, sign it and
> > > number your name, and
> > > circulate it widely.
> > >
> > > If you receive this list with 100 names signed, please
> > > send it to the
> > > Editor at vfmail at vf.com
> > > Thank you!
> > > Dear Editor,
> > > We, the undersigned, are infuriated at Dame Edna's
> > > response to Torn
> > > Romantic, Palm Beach (Vanity Fair, February 2003).
> > > Dame Edna could have
> > > chosen any number of amusing responses; however, she
> > > responded using
> > > cheap, two-dimensional stereotypes of Latinos and
> > > Latin Americans,
> > > revealing not only her racism but also her profound
> > > ignorance of who we
> > > are. As of last week, we are officially the largest
> > > minority population
> > > in the United States at 37 million and 13% of the
> > > population. Without
> > > us, the economy of the United States would come to a
> > > complete
> > > standstill. Moreover, if Dame Edna were even remotely
> > > cultured or
> > > educated, she would have read and lost herself in the
> > > exquisite writings
> > > of countless Latin American authors, including Nobel
> > > prize winners
> > > Octavio Paz, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, and Pablo Neruda.
> > > Dame Edna would
> > > have NEVER written such blatantly offensive material
> > > about African
> > > Americans or Jews, for obvious reasons. It seems that
> > > Dame Edna AND the
> > > Editors of Vanity Fair believe that Latinos and Latin
> > > Americans cannot
> > > read, and even if we could, we would never be Vanity
> > > Fair readers. We
> > > demand an apology in print in the next issue of Vanity
> > > Fair from the
> > > Editors and from Dame Edna. In the meantime, we will
> > > be mobilizing a
> > > boycott in protest of Vanity Fair.
> > > Signed,
> > > 1. Dr. Nicholas De Genova, Professor, Latino Studies,
> > > Columbia
> > > University, New York City.
> > > 2.  Nadia Guessous, Graduate Student, Anthropology and
> > > Gender Studies,
> > > Columbia University, New York City, NY.  USA.
> > > 3. Lucia Gimeno, Organizer, Brooklyn, NY.  USA
> > > 4. Daniel José Older, student, Amherst MA USA
> > >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
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> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
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> 
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