SA Current - Columns

Saturday, November 21, 2009

DEAR UNCLE MAT

Dear Uncle Mat : I moved in with my boyfriend last year. I work in a nonprofit and he is a techy guy in a big company with a big paycheck. He has recently started to nag me about going back to grad school — something I want to do, but I have debts and expenses and love my job right now even though it doesn’t pay crap. He already carries the household and wants me to quit work and go back to school. This freaks me out. I would be totally dependent on him. I don’t have any savings or anything to fall back on if th ... [MORE]

Free Will Astrology

column: ARIES (March 21-April 19): “A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. My wish for you, Aries, is that you will have many such days in the coming weeks. In fact, I hope that you will be blessed over and over again with the hair-raising thrill of having your imagination pricked, causing it to half-blossom, half-explode. To get the most out of the fantastic possibilities, set aside any tendency you might have to be a know-it-a ... [MORE]

by Rob Brezsny | 11/18/2009

¡Ask A Mexican!

¡Ask a Mexican!: Dear Mexican: Why oh why do most Mexican-American women cut their long, black hair after reaching the pivotal age of 40? Not only do they cut it, but they then proceed to cut it short and dye it all shades of the most unnatural hair color for Mexicans: red. My own madre is guilty of this offense, and I see it on all the older women of SanTana! Why is this the case? Why do women in Mexico tend keep their long flowing hair and trencitas while women here in the States go for the Bozo look? Please h ... [MORE]

by Gustavo Arellano | 11/18/2009

Dear Uncle Mat

Dear Uncle Mat : Our circle of friends has suffered a very decisive split. Two guys who were in a long-term relationship since we have known them broke up. One of them had an affair with an acquaintance of mine who has recently been hanging out with all of us. He isn’t, or wasn’t, even gay. There are seven of us who always did everything together. The new guy made eight. He has, or had, a girlfriend, but she never really came out with us. Some of the guys in our group thought it was obvious he was up to no good ... [MORE]

Mabel Jingu Enkoji

Cuco Peeps: Several years ago I was driving through the high desert of Eastern California, on the way to a ski weekend in the Sierras, when my driving companion and I passed by what looked like a nice state-park entrance sign. I turned to Patrick at the wheel (who also happens to be Nisei, a first-generation Japanese-American) and asked him what it was. He replied matter-of-factly, “Manzanar, the World War II Japanese-American Internment Camp.” Mouth open, I inquired, “Have you ever been?” “Nope, but ... [MORE]

by William Jack Sibley | 11/11/2009

¡Ask a Mexican!

column: Dear Mexican: Whenever I see an ad for a Mexican ramera, they always describe themselves as “spicy.” Are Mexican women hiding habaneros in their panochas? — Concha Curious Dear Gabacho: “I wish I could say that ‘Mexican Spitfire’ Lupe Velez was to blame for the ‘spicy’ epithet so often associated with Mexican femme pulchritude,” says William Nericcio, author of Tex(t)-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the “Mexican” in America, “or that ersatz Latinas Rita Hayworth or ... [MORE]

by Gustavo Arellano | 11/11/2009

Free Will Astrology

column: ARIES (March 21-April 19): A whitewash happens when you use deceit to cover up the messy facts about a situation. A blackwash is just the opposite: It’s when you invoke candor as you reveal complications that have previously been veiled. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the coming weeks will be prime time to enjoy a jubilee of blackwashing. But I suggest that you proceed gently. Remember that not all hidden information is a sign of malfeasance or evil intentions. Sometimes the ... [MORE]

by Rob Brezsny | 11/11/2009

¡Ask a Mexican!

column: Dear Mexican: Why do beaners or gabachos deliberately try to ignore white people and act like they’re not there, or when you’re walking by, the lady beaners laugh so hard with a repulsive fake laugh that makes you want to just punch them? Not only I have noticed this, but a lot of other people say the same thing. Is it their secret way of saying, “Hey, notice me, I can have fun too!” It’s just plain, right-out rude, and I wish these gabachos or beaner girls would stop already with that extra-lou ... [MORE]

by Gustavo Arellano | 11/4/2009

Free Will Astrology

column: ARIES (March 21-April 19): There was a time when wetlands were considered dismal and unproductive. At best they were thought to be a waste of space, and at worst stinky breeding grounds for insect pests. For over 200 years, many marshes, bogs, and swamps were filled with dirt and transformed into places suitable for farms, houses, and recreational areas. But all that has changed in the last 30 years. Science has rehabilitated the reputation of wetlands, showing how crucial they are. They clean t ... [MORE]

by Rob Brezsny | 11/4/2009

Dear Uncle Mat

Dear Uncle Mat : There is no other way to put this than I am lonely. The holidays are upon us, and I am single for the first time in more than seven years, and I do not know what to do. I broke up with my boyfriend last May because I felt we were not going anywhere. We were fighting over small things, and he had let himself go. I am in great shape and consider my physical health and appearance to be important. He just stopped caring about these things a while back. Am I shallow to throw away a long relationship ... [MORE]

Free Will Astrology

column: ARIES (March 21-April 19):You may be as flooded with briny emotion as a Pisces on a meandering binge. You might be as embedded in a labyrinth of your own creation as the Geminis who verge on being too clever for their own good. You may be as cagey a listener as a Scorpio who’s searching for a hidden vulnerability in an ally. In other words, Aries, you’re not exactly yourself. But it’s one of those rare times when that’s a good thing. Halloween costume suggestion: the opposite of what you think y ... [MORE]

by Rob Bresny | 10/28/2009

Roll with the new

Cuco Peeps: Welcome to Media Day, the NBA equivalent of the first day of school, where flashing cameras capture young millionaires while ambivalent sportswriter types mill about. I’m here toda.y to talk with DeJuan Blair, the 6-foot, 8-inch, 265-pound Pittsburgh native who the Spurs selected with the 37 pick in the draft and who my father has already dubbed the Randy Moss of the NBA. “It could be a little early in the year,” cautions a Spurs insider when I mention my interest in Blair. “While several ... [MORE]

by M. Solis | 10/28/2009