Ask a Mexican

¡Ask a Mexican! was a syndicated satirical weekly newspaper column written by Gustavo Arellano in the Orange County, California alternative weekly OC Weekly. Publication of ¡Ask a Mexican! began in 2004 as a one-time spoof, but popularity has made it one of the weekly's most popular columns.[1]

Gustavo Arellano at the 2012 Texas Book Festival.

History

Every week, readers submit their questions about Mexican-American people and culture, including their customs, labor issues, and illegal immigration. Arellano usually responds to two queries a week[2] in a politically incorrect manner often starting with the words "Dear Gabacho." The column appears in about a dozen newspapers across the country.[3] Arellano has won numerous awards for the column, including the 2006 and 2008 Best Non-Political Column in a large-circulation weekly from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, the 2007 Presidents Award from the Los Angeles Press Club and an Impacto Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and a 2008 Latino Spirit award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus.[4]

The columns were collected in book form in 2008 as ¡Ask a Mexican! (Scribners, ISBN 978-1416540038).

On October 13, 2017, Arellano resigned his position with OC Weekly after refusing its owner's directive to fire half his staff. He told Tom Leykis that the paper owns the "copyright" (actually trademark) on the name ¡Ask a Mexican!, but that he intended to continue writing for other venues.[5]

References
  1. Daniel Hernandez, "Inquiring Gringos Want to Know", Banderas News, September 2006. Accessed 2010-10-21.
  2. Tim Gaynor, "Confused by your neighbors? Then Ask a Mexican!", Reuters, 1 May 2007. Accessed 2010-10-21.
  3. "Ep. 213: Jeff and Dan "Ask A Mexican" with Author and Journalist Gustavo Arellano" (Podcast). Virtue in the Wasteland. 00:05:16. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017. ...it used to be, at its height, ... in 39 markets across the United States. Unfortunately with the death of journalism ... I gotta make a new census, but at this point I'd say about 12 newspapers...CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. "Gustavo Arellano". Simon & Schuster Authors. Simon & Schuster, Inc. Retrieved 2 March 2017. He has received the President’s Award from the Los Angeles Press Club, an Impact Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and a 2008 Latino Spirit Award from the California State legislature.
  5. Masunaga, Samantha. "OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano resigns from alt-weekly newspaper in dispute over cost cuts". latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
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