Humor: Day of the Dead debacle

Calavera de la Catrina ("La Catrina"), José Guadalupe Posada (1851-1913)

Hi, everyone!

The Mountain Room is gearing up for its Day of the Dead celebration on Friday. Please send in photos of loved ones for our altar. All parents are welcome to come by on Wednesday afternoon to help us make candles and decorate skulls.

Thanks!

Emily

What begins as a seemingly harmless celebration of Day of the Dead in an American pre-school takes some unusual turns as parents and children get involved.  Maria Semple, writing for the New Yorker, takes a humorous look at what can happen, chronicling events in this series of e-mails between a pre-school teacher and parents.

To read the article in the New Yorker’s humor section, Shouts and Murmurs, click here:  Day of the Dead or Halloween? : The New Yorker.

Information about: the graphic cartoon of José Guadalupe Posada:

Posada’s posters and political cartoons depicted members of every social class as calaveras (mischievous skeletons).  La Catrina, the “Calavera of the Female Dandy”, satirizes the life of the upper classes during the reign of Porfirio Diaz.  The humor of the device made his scathing political satire more acceptable.

Well-recognized and enjoyed in its day, Posada’s work gradually faded from popular memory until shortly after the Mexican Revolution.  In the 1920s his work was revived by French artist and art historian Jean Charlot and La Catrina, gaining iconic status as a symbol of uniquely Mexican art, was mass-produced for the public.  When Diego Rivera painted the mural Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda central, he painted himself as a boy holding hands with his depiction of Posada’s Catrina.

Today, José Guadalupe Posada’s work is synonymous with the lively Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.

Related articles

• ‘Day of the Dead’ expanding in US (boston.com)

The Mexican Sombrero, one heavy thing

From Eleven Heavy Things, (sculpture and photo opportunity) 2009 by Miranda July

The exhibition, Eleven Heavy Things by artist, filmmaker, and writer Miranda July featuring a series of 11 sculptures that encourage viewer interaction is now in the Melrose Wave Park at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.  The work was first exhibited in a garden within Giardino delle Vergini for the 53rd International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2009, and at Union Square Park in New York in 2010.

Related articles

Pictures of other heavy things at this site:

• Eleven Heavy Things by Miranda July (design-milk.com)

Returning home

The number of Mexicans annually leaving Mexico for the U.S. declined from more than one million in 2006 to 404,000 in 2010 – a 60% reduction – Pew Hispanic Center

Prejudice, stereotypes and Mexican’s disillusionment with the U.S. is the focus of the latest episode of South Park, The Last of the Meheecans: We’re Going Back!!  The character Butters, now Mantequilla, provides inspiration to Mexicans to return home where things are better.

Watch it here:  http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/399564/were-going-back  (warning: vulgar language)

Related articles:

• Bachmann pledges border fence with Mexico (GOP presidential hopeful’s hispanophobia)

Thank you…

Thank you.  Today, I reached my October goal for subscriptions.

Good humor: Hipster Ipsum

Juan Jose Arreola Zuniga (1918-2001), Mexico's premier experimental short story writer.

Hipster Ipsum | Artisanal filler text for your site or project..

OK, I admit it. This post does not directly relate to Mexico City or Mexico, but Spanish does descend from a Latin language.

Yes, there it is, to the right, under the Ibero Romance box...

Here’s what I got requesting 1 paragraph of Hipster with a shot of Latin and then punching the button “Beer me” at the Hipster Ipsum site.   The other option is Hipster, neat.  

Messenger bag do helvetica, sartorial vice echo park ullamco tofu farm-to-table occaecat assumenda letterpress. Master cleanse yr bicycle rights butcher pariatur, ad VHS eu. VHS nulla et readymade consequat banksy aliquip. Vice readymade wayfarers cred laboris fanny pack aute assumenda. Voluptate stumptown fap, salvia keffiyeh 8-bit nisi aliqua irure tempor laborum commodo butcher yr twee. Keytar jean shorts leggings salvia sustainable nisi. Exercitation ullamco echo park butcher nesciunt cred tofu nisi.

Just thought I’d share the fun.

Writer’s Prompt/Challenge:

Write a paragraph of filler text using your own sense of humor and personal flair.

If anyone’s asking why Juan Jose Arreola is this post’s iconic image, it’s because I thought he would give encouragement and inspiration to readers who plan to write a paragraph of filler text, and serve as a personal prompt to figure out how to write Spanish character marks with an English keyboard.  (His name is correctly spelled Juan José Arreola Zúñiga!)

Related articles

• 10 Handy Alternatives If You Are Tired Of The Usual Lorem Ipsum Filler Texts (makeuseof.com)

Emotional Bag Check

This was too GOOD not to share:  http://emotionalbagcheck.com/

I, and many of the people I know, live perpetually in suspense moving from country to country every three or four years.  We acquire a lot of baggage along the way, and stress.  Moving is high on the list of life experiences that cause stress and effects our lives in many ways, including our relationships with our spouses and children.  We leave friendships behind and feel physical pain when we hear the word roots.  Right now I have a friend moving and she’s finding it hard.  It would be nice to lighten her load.

For others, it’s not an international move, but illness, an aging parent, financial difficulties, loss of a loved one.  Life tests our resilience.

So, here’s something that might make your day, or the day of someone close to you, a little brighter, a little lighter:

Feeling weighed down by emotional baggage? A new web service offers a quick pick-me-up. Simply upload your drama to Emotional Bag Check—whether your burden relates to relationships, school, or work—and you’ll get advice from a stranger in the form of a song she hand-picked to help you cope. Or if you’re feeling emotionally generous, you can get a taste of someone else’s turmoil and send a song his way to help him deal.

Found on The Daily GOOD:  http://www.good.is/category/culture/