Monday, January 23, 2006
Changing Rhythms
Sunday turned out to be a pretty interesting day. Not only
did I watch two blow-out football games during the day and Kobe
Bryant scoring 81 points last night, but our fair city made the
cover of La Opinion, the venerable Spanish language newspaper
that has circulation in Southern California second only to the
Los Angeles Times. I found one web site that estimated the
circulation as of 2004 to be more than 125,000 copies, reaching
nearly 500,000 individuals daily.
The article, written by editor Pilar Marrero, dealt with the current turmoil in Costa Mesa and featured the perceived impact of one particularly persistent activist in town - a man who has been at the forefront of the anti-Latino movement for several years. In fact, the article provided links to several of this man's offensive, ultra-conservative internet essays and quoted segments of them.
Since I was among those quoted in the article - although I don't know how accurately, because I have only a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish - I made the rounds of our town, trying to find a news rack with a copy of La Opinion available for purchase. I spent the best part of an hour and located many empty racks before finally finding a couple copies remaining at a local convenience store. Ironically, this store is the closest one to my home and would have been the last place I touched down on my search loop.
As I purchased the copies of the newspaper I asked the cashier - a young Latina woman - if she'd read it. I pointed to the article entitled, "Ideas Radicales en Costa Mesa" (Radical ideas in Costa Mesa), which featured a photo of the activist in question scowling up at us. She said she had not, but took a minute to glance through the first portion before expressing disgust with the subject. She mentioned that the city has no idea of the amount of work Latinos do, and commented that they were going to stage a boycott for a day so people would understand. That would be interesting, if they could actually pull it off.
So, the beat goes on - although I'm beginning to hear a little latin rhythm in it now.
11:11 am pst
The article, written by editor Pilar Marrero, dealt with the current turmoil in Costa Mesa and featured the perceived impact of one particularly persistent activist in town - a man who has been at the forefront of the anti-Latino movement for several years. In fact, the article provided links to several of this man's offensive, ultra-conservative internet essays and quoted segments of them.
Since I was among those quoted in the article - although I don't know how accurately, because I have only a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish - I made the rounds of our town, trying to find a news rack with a copy of La Opinion available for purchase. I spent the best part of an hour and located many empty racks before finally finding a couple copies remaining at a local convenience store. Ironically, this store is the closest one to my home and would have been the last place I touched down on my search loop.
As I purchased the copies of the newspaper I asked the cashier - a young Latina woman - if she'd read it. I pointed to the article entitled, "Ideas Radicales en Costa Mesa" (Radical ideas in Costa Mesa), which featured a photo of the activist in question scowling up at us. She said she had not, but took a minute to glance through the first portion before expressing disgust with the subject. She mentioned that the city has no idea of the amount of work Latinos do, and commented that they were going to stage a boycott for a day so people would understand. That would be interesting, if they could actually pull it off.
So, the beat goes on - although I'm beginning to hear a little latin rhythm in it now.
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