Story Transcript
Para La Gente
Where did Al Pastor originate?
Volume I
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Planta tus sueños
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La Dept: Mi casa o tu casa? Page 9 dept: Musica Maestro Page 11
Tacos Al P Page 1
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Lista Tacos
Pastor 13 Fruits of Labor Page 17 Dia De Los Muertos Page 23 Dept: Peliculas Page 29 8
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MI CASA O TU CASA?
Did You Grow Up Latino? By Josie Green
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s there a shaker of Goya Adobo seasoning on your kitchen counter? How about a butter container full of leftovers in the fridge? There are some things that only people raised in a Latino family will understand, and 24/7 Tempo compiled 50 of them. Growing up Latino is a point of pride. From strong (and numerous) family ties, to being bilingual, to knowing how to dance and press tortillas with your eyes closed, if you grew up in a Latino household, you can definitely relate to some of these. 1. Family members call you mean names because they love you. 2. Your abuela thinks Vicks VapoRub cures l iterally everything. 3. Dinner with extended family goes until 3 am and includes dancing. 4. No home is complete without Jesus candles. 5. It’s normal to have four middle names. 6. There’s always a room full of nice furniture that you’re not allowed to sit on. 7. You’re not sure how many cousins you actually have…could be 50, could be 100. 8. You wish you could get paid for every time you had to translate a conversation between your Spanish-speaking abuelito and your English-speaking nephew. 9. You’ve experienced extreme carpooling. 10. Your abuela simultaneously force-feeds you and tells you you’re fat. 11. If you lose weight, your abuela thinks you’re sick 12. You absolutely must cheek kiss every person at the party.
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13. Everyone in the family goes by a silly nickname. Your cousins are Chichi, Lala, and Chango. 14. It’s a full time job translating Spanish radio hits for all your friends at school. 15. When you stay home sick, your mom makes you clean the house while she watches Telemundo. 16. You’ve known how to salsa and bachata since you could walk. 17. You’re scared to leave the house with wet hair because your mom convinced you that el aire would kill you. 18. You learned about love from telenovelas and will forever have unrealistic expectations. 19. Getting everyone into place for family photos requires extreme dedication. 20. Your newborn cousin already has a gold necklace and pierced ears. 21. Avoid the kitchen or you’ll be roped into menial labor. 22. Your extended family will “stop by” for the entire weekend. 23. There are always more children than you remember. 24. You got a black eye from el bolo at your cousin’s baptism. 25. There’s plastic over all the couches and the tablecloth. 26. When your mom pulls off la chancleta, it’s time to run. 27. You have to make the sign of the cross when you walk by a church. 28. Your friends think you eat tacos every night. 29. Your cousin’s quinceanera cost more than
your first year of college. 30. You’re not sure who’s actually your blood relative because everyone is a tia, tio, or primo. 31. Your tias never fail to ask when you’re going to get married and have kids. 32. You let your mom straighten your hair with the clothes iron. 33. You have serious birthday trauma from everyone trying to shove your face into the cake. 34. Why buy trash bags for the bathroom when you can reuse a grocery bag? 35. When your parents say you’re leaving the party, it means they’re going to take the next two hours to say goodbyes, and then you can leave. 36. People are constantly telling you to stop yelling, when you think you’re speaking normally. 37. When it’s time to find a job, all your tias try to network for you. 38. There’s always that one tio who tries to force you to drink with him. 39. Personal space does not exist at family gatherings. 40. You never need to hire a mechanic, thanks to your dad’s connections. 41. Even 12-year-olds can have red wine with dinner. 42. If a party starts at 6 o’clock, your family shows up at 9 o’clock. 43. You’ve been asked multiple times if you “speak Mexican.” 44. Christmas is a very big deal, and it’s celebrated at midnight on Christmas eve. Who waits until morning to open presents? 45. You’re never old enough to disobey your parents — even if you’re 50. 46. You’re constantly translating for your parents and their friends. 47. You were never allowed to go to sleepovers. 48. It’s normal to water down dish soap to make it last longer 49. Never trust that a cookie tin or butter container actually contains what it says. 50. You get excited when you meet someone else who speaks Spanish.
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MUSICA MAESTRO
Spotify Launches ‘Elevando Nuestra Música’ Campaign Featuring Karol G, Myke Towers and Mau Y Ricky By Luciana Villalba
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he biggest names in Latin music can be found on Spotify’s Viva Latino playlist. Today, the streaming platform has released a campaign for the month of November called “Elevando Nuestra Música,” which features stories by some of today’s biggest stars, like Colombian singer Karol G, Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers and Venezuelan sibling duo, Mau y Ricky. Viva Latino is the platform’s flagship Latin music playlist with over 11.3 million followers, making it the third most followed playlist globally on Spotify.Viva Latino caters to Latin music fans who, statistically, consume more new music than non-Latin fans. Viva Latino was created in 2014 around the requests of Latin music fans who,
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based on Spotify data, discover 46% more music than regular listeners. Since then, Latin music consumption has grown by 1680% on the platform, and will only continue to rise, according to a Spotify press release. The playlist features artists from varying geographic and music backgrounds, as well as a blend of established and new artists, keeping a pulse on which tracks are hot today and which will be tomorrow’s hits. Popular songs on Viva Latino, like Bad Bunny’s “Yonaguni” and Farruko’s “Pepas,” have the potential to end up on the Global Top 100 and Global Top 50 charts.For “Elevando Nuestra Música” Karol G, Myke Towers and Mau y Ricky share words of encouragement for emerging artists.
There are no boundaries when it comes to creating and collaborating with artists.
What’s it like to enter the world of Viva Latino? Let Karol G, Myke Towers and Mau y Ricky lead the way. The superstars are featured in a campaign film where they “crash” situations in which Latin music listeners are just going about their day listening to the playlist. From working, cooking, doing house chores or going out, Viva Latino is the playlist for any occasion. Besides the campaign film, the artists also share their stories about the current state of nuestra música via vignettes posted on the Viva Latino social handles. For example, Karol G offers words of encouragement to women launching their music careers; Myke Towers speaks to the power of culture and storytelling; Mau y Ricky delve into different genres within the Latin music sphere, and acknowledge that there are no boundaries when it comes to creating and collaborating with artists. The current state of Latin Music on Spotify. “Latin music has become an indispensable part of pop culture and we’re excited to see Viva Latino play a big role in that evolution. Today, we’re celebrating the artists and fans who make this the ultimate destination for Latin hits by unveiling a sophisticated new look for the playlist that steers away from stereotypical cultural symbols, as well as introducing an inclusive tagline, “Elevando Nuestra Música,” a mission that pushes and motivates us to take our music to the global stage,” said Antonio Vázquez, Head of US Latin Editorial.
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“the taco-maker shaves off the ee h t f f o s h e t v a f h f s o s e v sha outer layers o u t e oute r layers r lay ers straight into tortillas, and might top the pork with sliced pineapple, onion, cilantro and salsa.” 14
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Tacos Al Pastor’s Story of Origin May Surprise You by alison spiegel
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he vertical skewer is a key part of the equation, facilitating fat and juices to drip down onto the stack, "basting it as it crisps," describes Serious Eats. Some people think the pineapple on top of the spit marinates the meat as well, but Empellón Al Pastor chef Alex Stupak, who traveled to Mexico City to eat at 40 al pastor places in three days, disputes this assumption. Stupak told Grub Street that pine-apple rests on top of the spit so that it's easily accessible to the taco makers, and the belief that it marinates the meat is pure speculation. In addition to the contested purpose of the pineapple's place on the trompo, the provenance of placing a pineapple on top of the spit isn't as clear as the shawarma-al pastor connection either. According to Empellón Al Pastor, "where the addition of pineapple came from remains one of history's most delicious mysteries." A delicious mystery, indeed. Tacos al pastor come from Mexico, right? Yes, but that's not the whole story. The method of cooking "al pastor" actually comes from Lebanon. It's inspired by shawarma!
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Lebanese immigrants moved to Mexico in the early 1900s and they brought their famous technique of spit-roasted meat, primarily lamb, with them. The English translation of al pastor is "in the style of the shepherd." Mexican shepherds adapted the Lebanese style of spit-roasting lamb, using pork instead, and al pastor tacos became a beloved Mexican food the world over. Tacos al pastor are made from thin strips of pork that have been marinated in spices and chiles and then stacked onto a long spit called a trompo. In many -- but not all -- cases, a pineapple and onion are placed on top of the spit. As the meat cooks, the outside layer gets crispy from exposure to the heat. The tacomaker shaves off the outer layers straight into tortillas, and might top the pork with sliced pineapple, onion, cilantro and salsa. When we at HuffPost Taste fall hard for a food, we want to know everything there is to know about it. Inspired by a love affair with pho, the iconic Vietnamese noodle soup, we learned the proper way to enunciate the controversially pronounced dish (it's pronounced "fuh," for the record). As serious chocolate fans, we've dug deep to find out what cocoa butter really is, and after an afternoon of nostalgic munching on Goldfish, one of our favorite childhood snacks, we discovered they were labeled "soup crackers" and immediately got to the bottom of this surprising designation. (Were Goldfish meant to be
"swimming" in soup all along?!) Thanks to Empellón Al Pastor, a new restaurant catching everyone's attention in New York City, we recently rediscovered the glory of tacos al pastor. You know what happened next. We started reading up on this Mexican pork dish, and we were delighted to discover the surprising origin of tacos al pastor.
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fruits fruits fruits fruits fruits fruits ‘fruits of labor’ labor labor labor labor labor 17
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an intimate look at the life of a teenage farmworker BY S.E. Smith Emily Cohen Ibañez’ Fruits of Labor is an unusual entry in the genre of documentary work about farm laborers and the food system. The hour-long feature POV documentary, which airs on PBS and streams on the PBS website starting tonight, is focused on the daily life of Ashley Pavon (credited as a cowriter for her work on the film’s voiceovers), a teenage farmworker in Watsonville, California. And while a critical analysis of the food system is wound indirectly through every frame, the film focuses on Pavon and her experiences, narrowing the lens from some 830,000 farmworkers in the state to just one pair of hands that picks and packs strawberries in the smoky fields and chilly early mornings. Pavon is from a mixed-status family—she and her siblings have documentation that allows them to live and work in the United States, while their mother Beatriz does not. Questions of status and citizenship flow throughout; nationwide, around 50 percent of farmworkers are undocumented and the number is believed to be even higher in California. Filmed during the height of the immigration raids on the region’s agricultural regions under former President Trump, Fruits of Labor explores the emotional tension of living with familial uncertainty while coming of age. Pavon is struggling in high school, yet wants to go to college; in one scene, a guidance counselor winces as Pavon talks about her absences, forced to choose between work and her education. When she is in school, she’s exhausted from working the night shift at a packing facility, sorting flash-frozen strawberries. During the days she labors in the strawberry fields, picking fruit in repetitive, low-paid toil.
She experiences pressure to provide for her family, as her mother cannot support them alone in low-wage jobs as a cleaner and farmworker; while Beatriz aspires to one day buy a house for her family, they share a crowded home in which immigrants from 12 families share a bathroom. Her younger brother, also in high school, doesn’t work; Pavon expresses clear frustration with his privileged status as a boy, even as they have an affectionate relationship, and crushing fear at what might happen if her mother is deported. This taps into the deeply underlying theme of Latinas as providers for their families, managing everything from household cleaning to paying the rent. The hyperfocus on Pavon gives the viewer a very distinct and personal view, humanizing a farmworker who actually does very little work on screen. The viewer will come away from the film understanding in broad sketches what it’s like to work in the fields and the processing plant, but it is Pavon as a person they are likely to care for, and Pavon they will think about when slicing strawberries over their morning yogurt. As Pavon navigates her transition into adulthood, followed by the camera from the prom to the boardwalk and back home, it’s impossible to avoid her humanity. It’s also impossible to avoid a reckoning with the hidden costs of the food system and who ultimately pays them. Civil Eats spoke with Ibañez about the film, the dignity of farm work, labor organizing, and the next chapter in Ashley Pavon’s life.
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what brought you to this very personal approach?
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The coming-of-age story is a popular American genre in film, and yet, it’s rarely afforded to women of color, especially working women of color. I did a short film [on the same topic] for The Guardian that was more social issue based. For a feature, I wanted to show Ashley as the full, complex, layered young woman that she is. So that when you see people working in the fields, it’s not someone to ignore or to conflate with a social issue, but to see people as full humans, people with complexities, navigating all these dreams and desires that are often universally shared. To me, that was really important. Oftentimes, for women, work politics don’t end in the external work world, but actually in domestic life. To look really closely at gender, it required looking at the family and its dynamics. Those were some of the reasons I approached the film in the way that I did. “I wanted to show Ashley as the full, complex, layered young woman that she is. So that when you see people working in the fields, it’s not someone to ignore or to conflate with a social issue, but to see people as full humans.”
the theme of latina women holding up their families is an incredibly powerful element of this film. what surfaced as you followed ashley and her family, especially her brother, whom viewers might come to resent?
I think it’s a sensitive subject. I hope that viewers see how much love there is between Ashley and [her brother] Ashford. There’s an old saying here in the U.S., “boys will be boys.” Men are often burdened with having to be the breadwinners as they grow older, but young boys are given more freedom than young girls. It’s certainly the case in many Latino families, but I think it goes beyond that. The young girl is seen as the responsible one, who will take on the work responsibilities, to keep the family going, and to be able to lift everyone else up. That kind of burden oftentimes also thwarts our dreams and aspirations. Most of us have some relationship to a tension between family obligation and our own desires for individual independence and freedom—our dreams.
many viewers may be surprised to see teenagers at work in physically demanding jobs like this; can you tell me a little about underage farmworkers?
As Americans, food is so intimate that we want to look away. But actually, children have been working in the fields since the time of slavery. After Emancipation, there was Jim Crow. When we did get more broad worker protections across the country, with the New Deal, for example, Jim Crow was still in place, and what happened was that the Dixie Democrats actually wanted to exclude worker protections for Black and brown people. What they did was a compromise with Franklin D. Roosevelt to exclude whole sectors of the economy— agriculture and domestic labor, [which both] have a relationship with slavery. So, to this day, even though we have more worker protections, especially in California, they aren’t equal by any stretch to other forms of work in the American economy.
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how ancient traditions grew into a global holiday by: ivÁn romÁn
day of the dead traditions
celebrating the dead becomes part of a national culture
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the rise of la catrina ¢ £ ¤
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PELICULA
Why You Should Love: The Chair,’ Sandra Oh’s Character Is An Imperfect Mom To A Mexican Girl by Cristina Escobar
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n Netflix’s The Chair, Sandra Oh’s character Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim struggles with a lot of things, including motherhood. The show starts with her ascending the academic ranks in a fictional Ivy League. She’s the first woman and the first woman of color to chair the English department, which she describes like this: “I feel like someone handed me a ticking time bomb because they wanted to make sure a woman was holding it when it explodes.” So yeah, Ji-Yoon has a lot of challenges. Being the single mother to an adopted Mexican girl is just one of these challenges. Sevenyear-old Ju-Hee, nickname Ju Ju, scares away babysitters (although it’s actually pretty common for kids to follow you into the bathroom), draws gruesome imagery (the sign of troubled kids everywhere), and generally pushes boundaries, (even when she knows it could spell big trouble for the
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grownups in her life). That’s a lot for Ji-Yoon to handle but Ju Ju’s problems never take over the show or Ji-Yoon’s story. No, in The Chair, motherhood is (a big) part of the story but never all of it. You know, just how it is for so many of us in real life. The other thing The Chair gets right about motherhood is that it is both fun AND hard. So often shows lack this nuance, leaving us with the impression that good moms always like caregiving and bad moms don’t. Yikes. But in The Chair, one of the most joyful scenes is when Ji-Yoon leaves the department party early and ends up bowling with her daughter. Yes, Ji-Yoon is worried about not being at work but the quality time with Ju Ju is more important. AND Ji-Yoon doesn’t face and professional repercussions for the choice, showing that even as a trailblazing woman of color, you don’t alw-
ays have to choose work to get ahead (and in fact to be happy and healthy, you actually shouldn’t). It’s a win for working moms everywhere. I’m also into how Ji-Yoon is this flawed, interesting person – and that extends to how she mothers. At one point, she takes over all of Ju Ju’s therapy session because she needs to talk! At another, she expresses regret about how little the mother-daughter pair cuddle, how they don’t resemble the ideal relationship. This moment is tender and vulnerable – The Chair is definitely inviting us to sympathize rather than judge Ji-Yoon. And it’s this tone I’m particularly grateful for. You see women of color know we have to be twice (three times? more?) as good to get half as far. And that’s not just professionally, but too often personally too. Looking particularly at motherhood, there are all sorts of stereotypes of the bad mom of color. The US has a long, ugly history of the purposeful disruption of our families whether it’s through Indian schools, slavery, or eugenics. These ideas reverberate on, still affecting our access to reproductive choices, quality education, and even the simple ability to not be mistaken for the nanny. So yeah, Ji-Yoon and the less professional impressive rest of us are up against a lot. Racism and sexism loom large in The Chair, making Ji-Yoon’s path more difficult every step of the way. And the show does us moms of color a solid by naming those forces and letting Ji-Yoon address them imperfectly. It portays motherhood like so many of us experience it: part of our identities but not of all it, this strange combination of difficult and joyful, and part of the messy thing that is being human. With those three things, The Chair makes space for moms of color to better understand and forgive ourselves. We don’t always have to be the best. We can be good enough and that’ll be ok.
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