June 09, 2004

• I live in an area where I (an Anglo) am in a minority smaller than Hispanics and Asians. Years ago, the Asians were the business starters (the wonderful Filipino restaurants are gone, and I'm so sad), but now, the Hispanics have become the real entrepreneures. What was once a Safeway mega-store, and then an Albertsons, is now a smaller version of the Soriana stores in northern Mexico. They have a tortiarilliria, which gets huge lines of people when they're serving), sell Mexican pastries, and have a Mexican food take out counter, not to mention all the brands first generation immigrants knew and loved., as well as Anglo brands. This seems to be an area where new immigrants start out, so many of them speak little English, but in the commercial sphere, the second or third generation are investing in lots of businesses. And, in the old line anglo retail businesses, it's my guess that if you don't speak spansish, you won't get hired. The downside is that some things I've counted on (Americana) aren't available. We've lost all the clothing shops that I knew growing up, and Hispanic sizes are confusing. We no longer have a bookstore. We don't have a shoe store where I can shop for my Anglo-sized feet, and I don't understand the cuts of meat in Hispanic grocery stores. But, that's my problem. So, I'll continue driving 30 miles to the next bigger metropolis to find Trader Joe's, Jamba Juice, dim sum, and clothing I can wear. Maybe I'm an expat.
• I live in an area where I (an Anglo) am in a minority smaller than Hispanics and Asians. Years ago, the Asians were the business starters (the wonderful Filipino restaurants are gone, and I'm so sad), but now, the Hispanics have become the real entrepreneures. What was once a Safeway mega-store, and then an Albertsons, is now a smaller version of the Soriana stores in northern Mexico. They have a tortilliaria, which gets huge lines of people when they're serving), sell Mexican pastries, and have a Mexican food take out counter, not to mention all the brands first generation immigrants knew and loved., as well as Anglo brands. This seems to be an area where new immigrants start out, so many of them speak little English, but in the commercial sphere, the second or third generation are investing in lots of businesses. And, in the old line anglo retail businesses, it's my guess that if you don't speak spanish, you won't get hired. The downside is that some things I've counted on (Americana) aren't available. We've lost all the clothing shops that I knew growing up, and Hispanic sizes are confusing. We no longer have a bookstore. We don't have a shoe store where I can shop for my Anglo-sized feet, and I don't understand the cuts of meat in Hispanic grocery stores. But, that's my problem. So, I'll continue driving 30 miles to the next bigger metropolis to find Trader Joe's, Jamba Juice, dim sum, and clothing I can wear, etc.. Maybe I'm an expat.
• Well, hell!
• path -- I think a main component of hell would be the absence of bookstores.
• I can buy books on line. I'ts the shopping for clothing, shoes, Christmas presents, etc. That I miss. I think I just blew my cover.
• Here in Los Angeles the white man (myself included therein) has dropped to less than 30% of the population, but there is a disconnect between this reality and the one we export around the world via movies, television and the glamorized "Hollywood lifestyle". I sometimes feel that it is a bit of an apartheid state where reality never need trample on the blonde and beautiful dreams of Hollywood. Even the forces of nature are seen obeying the accepted dream of what Los Angeles is, as pointed out by Anthony Lane in his rather smart review of 'The Day After Tomorrow' for The New Yorker. While the Hollywood sign is blown away and beach communities bunker down no word from those huddled masses in the inland communities sparing the rather retarded seeming latino seen buffing an office floor. This sort of tacit racism is one of many factors that reinforce the sense of disbelonging found among imigrants and leads, as the author points out, to the negative urbanisation of certain groups. I am not advocating some sort of system by which depictions of various places are compelled to be historionically pluralistic, but just think it would be good for Hollywood to develop a better understanding of the community that has risen up around it. But then, as David Kipen informs us, they aren't make the movies for any of us Americans anymore...
• as one of the afore mentioned minority members, let me be the first to graciously say ALL YOUR SOUTHERN TERRITORIES ARE NOW BELONG TO US Thank you.
• Hell is repetition.
• Via A&L Daily (ugh, what a vice of mine) You could do a lot worse than read that site. Often quite good.
• Idaho 2000* demographics indicate "persons of Hispanic or Latino origin" 7.9% vs. 12.5% for the US overall and "white persons, not of Hispanic/Latino origin" 88.0% vs. 69.1% for US overall. There's a lot of migrant workers, both legal and illegal, that spend anywere from 3 months to a full year here that I'm sure aren't counted. They're the "invisible" Hispanic population. Add to that the fairly high numbers of various nationalities of Oriental peoples, and you'd think we could have a nice melange of cultures here. It's getting better, but it's still pretty barren in terms of resturants, entertainment, and grocery selections,etc. We've got a pretty "white" culture here in McIdaho. *(too lazy to use google-fu for more current stats)