HBO's four-part series Olive Kitteridge is one of the best things I've ever watched. Frances McDormand is perfect in the title role, a middle-aged Maine native with layers of memories and emotions underneath her severe expression. It's based on Elizabeth Strout's...
United baggage area at O'Hare on 20 Nov 2014 I spent last week visiting my father in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one thing really struck me: there was no Christmas music on any of the radio stations out there. In the Chicagoland area, we have our local "lite...
(I'm blogging on an iPad app, so forgive me for the font going weird at times.) I've been watching with disgust the build-up to the new Black Thursday, which used to be known as Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, although it has its own fraught history, was one American...
Gina Rodriguez This is what I've been waiting and planning for. A woman named Gina Rodriguez is poised to become a household name. She's an actress from Chicago, born to Puerto Rican parents, who plays the character Jane Villanueva in the new series Jane the Virgin. I...
I've been reading Neil Howe and William Strauss' 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? "Thirteenth Generation" is what Howe and Strauss call what's more commonly known as Generation X. I wish their term had dominated because I've always felt like "Generation X" is a...
A common way to avoid facing problems is to stay very busy. I have friends who keep themselves booked so solidly that they don't have time to think about if they're really happy or what they can do about their job situation or why a relationship isn't working, etc....
One of the blogueras at La Bloga posted Chicana/Latina Hair: A Discussion about Identity and Your Pelo Journey and she linked my recent post on having short hair. Amelia Montes wrote a much more thorough and thoughtful post than mine, so take a look. Thanks, Amelia!
Every once in a while I see an opinion piece in which someone asserts that there's no discrimination against fat people in the U.S. As evidence they often use the large numbers of fat people we have in the U.S. This is just ill-informed. Such writers clearly don't...
Uh, Google! I'm disappointed that there's no reference to Cesar Chavez' birthday on your homepage today!
I'm going to see the new movie Cesar Chavez tonight. It's about one of the great Mexican American civil rights activists. My family is very excited about this film.
I have two jobs now: the full-time job I've had for five years and plan to stay in for 10 or 20 more, and my brand new Arbonne business. This has made me too busy to blog! All I can do right now are bullet points. 1. Hit my first month's goal of $1,000 in sales for...
So all these Chicagoans choose to live in Chicago, but rather than accept winter as part of the bargain, they complain about it. Why? My theory is that there are other things in their lives they're unhappy with, but they focus on the weather because it's easier to get...
Recently I realized that I don't watch enough programming to justify having subscriptions to both HuluPlus and Netflix. For as little time and attention span as I have for watching entertainment on a screen, it made no sense for me to pay for both, even though they...
(This message is aimed mostly at Americans and people traveling in the U.S. during December.) To anyone who goes out to a restaurant, bar, hotel or any other place where hospitality employees are working so YOU can enjoy Christmas, TIP GENEROUSLY. Bartenders and cab...
A tamal on top of other tamales. At Christmas time, we Mexicans often become more focused than usual on tamales, so I'd like to share a public service announcement from Pocho.com. This is what I've been saying for years: the singular of "tamales" isn't "tamale." It's...