‘Ask a Mexican’ yourself when columnist visits

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

By Richard Anderson

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Some people love Gustavo Arellano, the son of illegal Mexican immigrants who for the past three years has penned the column “¡Ask a Mexican!” for the OC Weekly and a couple dozen other mostly alternative weekly papers around the country (including Planet Jackson Hole). They call him incisive and sharp, say he’s breaking down barriers between races, and, most of all, is funny.

Other people hate Gustavo Arellano. They find his column offensive, inflammatory, racist. If there were some redeeming quality to his responses to questions sent in by readers (“Why do Mexican swim with their clothes on?” “Why do Mexicans have so many babies?” “Does menudo really cure hangovers?”), it’s more often then not blotted by foul language and/or graphic adult content.

In either event, love him or hate him, you’ll want to meet him when the Teton County Library and Planet Jackson Hole co-sponsor “An Evening with Columnist Gustavo Arellano” 7:30-8:30 p.m. on Thursday in the library’s Ordway Auditorium. The event is free, open to all, and will be followed by a meet-and-greet with refreshments.
Arellano originally was hired as an investigative reporter and food critic for the OC Weekly, but when his boss passed a funny-peculiar billboard of a cross-eyed Latino in a Viking helmet and asked Arellano to explain it, it led to the brainstorm that became known as “¡Ask a Mexican!”

“It was to be a one-time-only joke column in an attempt to satirize the anti-Mexican sentiment that’s so prevalent down here in Orange County,” Arellano said in a May 2, 2007, interview with Planet Jackson Hole. But “the reaction just was instantaneous and the column just skyrocketed in both controversy and popularity ever since.”

At last count, “¡Ask a Mexican!” was reaching 1.3 million readers in about two dozen papers and had won the 2006 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies award for best column in a large-circulation weekly. Since the May release of the book version of the column (published by Simon & Schuster), Arellano has also appeared on local and national TV and radio (our own Mark “Fish” Fishman will converse with The Mexican at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, too), toured the nation to promote his book, and has become something of a celebrity Latino, called upon for comment whenever issues of immigration heat up – which these days happens every week.

“Besides being a fine writer, Arellano is young, smart, edgy and provocative,” Planet publisher Mary Grossman said when asked why the Planet decided to run the column. “While he can push a lot of buttons, he also offers an interesting and authoritative perspective on race relations. Not THE authoritative perspective, certainly, but he brings unique credentials to the task. Plus he can be pretty damn funny.”

So bring all those questions about Mexicans that have been keeping you up at night and be prepared for pull-no-punches responses that are just as likely to get you thinking as they are to get you laughing.

For more details about this or other library programs, call 733-2164 ext. 135 or visit www.TCLib.org. To read the Planet’s May Q&A with Arellano, visit www.PlanetJH.com/news/A_101031.aspx.
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