Ugly Betty's Ugly 'hermana'

Thursday night and my brain and I are exhausted, I just sat and watched three hours of television and to be quite honest I don't know how folks do it. I'm tired from staring at the idiot box for so long, am super hungry from all the ads they numb us with (I've never wanted an iced Latte more than I do right now...forgive me fellow 'enlightened' brethrens), I swear I have Restless leg Syndrome and am just annoyed at the Nissan ads with with shiny new cars on the screen and the disclaimer afterwards claiming that if you lost your job and cannot make the payments they will make em for you: bullsh$#! First off that's a straight lie, the fine print will probably state that you need to hand over your first born after you lose your job THEN the payments start kicking it, BUT, that's after you're unemployment benefits run out!! It's sad because so many of us buy into that (yes I said US, cause I ain't completely unplugged...yet!). Now riddle me this: If there is a chance, a HIGH ONE-because nothing is guaranteed-but let's say there is a high chance of you losing your job (let's say we are in a recession like we are right now or if your boss gave your group 'the' severance pay speech) then why t f are you even considering buying a car? a brand spanking new one at that? the irony of this all is that most people tend to buy more stuff on impulse when they are down and out, when they are stressed about losing their jobs, but then they end up even more stressed and depressed when they can't make the car payment or only got a quarter tank of gas in their new E-class...(migue scratches her head).
Now to the point of this entry...the time was a mix between some Oprah ( i KNOW so many of my sistahs feel a certain way about her but I love me some Oprah...ssshhh don't tell no one, lol) some Ugly Betty-now let me stop here again and use one word: Yuck! What is up with her super 'hispanic', bright clothes wearing, fake a$# accent having, door knocker wearing, teenage mother, gum smaking 'hermana' and her bright ass Rexican house- are they Puerto Rican or Mexican? not trying to do the whole divide and rule here but there are obvious differences between both, but off course they cannot be distinguished by the naked white eye. What is really hood with that?!
Ok, now I am the first to tell you that stereotypes start from somewhere, I wish I could give the small-minded full credit and say that they made them up all by themselves but I can't. Stereotypes are relatively 'small' things that are blown way out of proportion like having one bright yellow wall and one bright orange wall and then a red white and green tapestry draped over your plastic covered couch...OMG!! Now, again, these are exagerrations of truths because we still got semi-plastic covered sofas in my house BUT our walls are beige and Gris and I DO NOT sound like Rosie Perez when we speak-see the balance?. Now there is nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage and where you come from - eating tacos, mangu, dancing bachata, playing dominoes, doing your first holy communion (although 80% of us never move on to do our confirmations and about 100% will most likely not marry through the catholic church) BUT the west tend to take it to a whole nother (yes-NOTHER) level. Our culture is comodified, and portrayed in ways that are tasteless like it is on that show. It's sad because the rest of the show is pretty good, the actors are great (I love America), the plot was nice and not over the top but then that one sore on my side...uggh!
There is just so much more to being Latino. Again, I am not into dividing and ruling but there are certain unique characteristics that make, let's say a Dominican Dominican and a Mexican Mexican. Maybe that is why the family on the show is Rexican or Moricua (lmao) you can't just paint your set bright orange, put a Jesus christ statue up or have a dam chihuahua as a pet and label the family 'hispanic'. What of my love for Khemet? Or my sistah B's beautiful nappy fro? And where will my homegirl's Yemaya statue fit into all of this? We are multidimensional and it's beautiful, we are a mixed salad not a melting pot ready to serve americans a heaping serving of 'hispanic' for yo' palate.

This post had a mind of it's own and I let it lead. I started out with the intention of writing about a Micheal J. Fox special I watched about Optimism and look at where we ended up. This is why I try not to title anything I write until I am almost done in an efforts let my creative juices flow!...I guess I'll leave that Optimism for the next add.

Until then, see you NOW.
M