#never spoke to a tejano person in their life

[hymnsofheresy]

everytime i tell europeans my favorite cuisine is texmex & sonoran they are like “American bastardized Mexican food?” and i feel like im going insane. its not bastardized. its their fucking cuisine.

#never spoke to a tejano person in their life #im left to the task of explaining the mexican american war #as well as the texas independance #and how the border moved not the mexicans #and that their food with be shaped by a different geopolitical context #they get bored quickly #but i will defend the chimichanga

[selenaquintanillaperez]

(CNN) - Selena Quintanilla Perez was poised to become a superstar across America when her sudden death rocked millions of people.

Twenty-five years have passed since the "Queen of Tejano music" was killed by her fan club president but her songs and style still loom large in the memories of her fans.

Next month, MAC Cosmetics will launch a second makeup collection inspired by her, a Netflix series based on her life is in the works and she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a couple of years ago.As she continues drawing new generations of fans, here's a look at how she's impacted music and culture through the years:

Her music inspired many A-listers

The 23-year-old Grammy-winning singer has inspired the careers of numerous artists, including Demi Lovato, Camila Cabello and Selena Gomez, who was named after the singer.

Selena may have risen to stardom in the early 1990s but fans in both sides of the United States-Mexico border continue singing "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" and "Como la Flor" until now.

Songs from 1995 crossover album, "Dreaming of You," which was released unfinished after her Selena's death, continue making it to stages around the country.

Solange has covered "I Could Fall in Love" on tour multiple times. Last year, Camila Cabello performed "Dreaming of You" at the Houston Rodeo and Ally Brooke sang it during the Miss Universe pageant.

"Never imagined I would ever ever everrr hear this song sung at a MISS UNIVERSE pageant! (Not the best recording I did with my phone) @allybrooke Thank you so much for this! Truly honored you chose this song and honored her..," Selena's sister Suzette Quintanilla wrote on Instagram.

For Jennifer Lopez, her breakout role as Selena in the 1997 biographical film "Selena," which has become a cult classic for fans, was much more than a great step in her career.

"She had a sense of living in the moment, living in the present and following her heart," Lopez told Billboard. "For me, that was the biggest lesson."

She showed others it's OK to celebrate their identity

Selena was both Mexican and American. She sang in Spanish and spoke mostly in English. She couldn't be prouder of it and people took notice.

For many fans, it was the first time they saw someone who looked like them under the spotlight and thriving.

For that reason, Nathian Shae Rodriguez, a professor at San Diego State University, is teaching a class this semester using Selena's influence to examine representation in media.

"She gave me an identity in the media, and she gave me a person I could be," he told CNN last year. "I could listen to Spanish music while also being able to speak English. She existed in this in-between and that's how I felt."

Her wardrobe staples are unforgettable

Selena was as passionate about fashion as she was for music. She wore elaborate outfits onstage and produced her own clothing and accessories line.

She rocked crop tops, hoop earrings and bedazzled bustiers that fans still remember and imitate.

Selena owned two boutique stores in Texas at the time of her death.

Following her performance at the Houston Rodeo, Cardi B said her look in the video for her hit song "Please Me" featuring Bruno Mars was inspired by Selena.

"This was the inspo for 'Please Me,'" she said in an Instagram video while pointing at a photo of the singer in her signature bejeweled bustier along with a purple leather jacket.

Hundreds of fans who idolize Selena's signature bold lips rushed to MAC Cosmetics stores for a limited-edition makeup collection inspired by the singer was released in 2016. The company created the collection after 38,000 fans signed a petition asking it to do so.

Lipsticks, eye shadows, gloss and a face powder with purple packaging quickly sold out within hours.

Fans are already anticipating the new makeup collection set to be released in April.

#selena #selena quintanilla #selena quintanilla perez

[marveloverthinker]

Shadowrun San Antonio: The Burrito Run

Angels wept as Ryan walked the soaked streets of San Antonio.

His eyes flicked to them as he strode, the odd statues that had been built during the Aztlan war, part protest, part memorial, part fortification. The older folks swore that, in times of need, the Angels would strike to defend their turf, or some rot like that. But for now, rain gathered in their wings and flowed down their faces, like tears from a forgotten time. The scene was only slightly ruined by street vendors who shouted, for all to hear, about how their tamales were better than anything you could get on the other side of town.

Ryan took a seat at one such cart, balancing precariously on the rickety stool as a Tejana Ork woman, her deaths mask exquisitely painted, swayed over to him to take his order. “The regular, gringo?”

He grinned. “Double, if you'd be so kind, Marta. I won't be alone for long.”

The eyes narrowed, crinkling the paint around her eyes. “You know I don't like you doing business here. This is a clean establishment.”

“So Pablo over there assures me,” Ryan said with a touch of sarcasm, giving a nod to a cat that sprawled just within the shelter of the cart's canopy, gorging itself on a freshly caught rat.

Marta tsked through her tusks, a sound Ryan found fascinating. “From the Sewers, of course. Pablo does well with vermin. Like you.”

“Peace, Senora. No haggling or rough talk, I promise. Just a little food before heading elsewhere.”

Marta considered this, then the E-pesos Ryan offered her, which she finally took. “Fine, but if your bendejo friend makes a move on my Maria like the last guy…”

Guys were always making moves on Maria. Her bright eyes and sweet laugh caught attention, her grace held it, and her goblinoid heritage had taken the latina tradition of curves to a whole new level of enticing. Ryan chuckled. “She can handle herself, Marta…”

“That will be Senora Diaz to you, and any bendejo you bring by here, so long as you are on the job. It's passed time you gave up running shadows, anyway. We mourn enough dead boys as it is.”

Ryan simply sighed and waited as Marta started rolling the burritos, smiling a bit as she stuffed a little extra into his. Brusque though she could be, she had always complained that he was too skinny, elf or no.

There was a scraping noise as the stool next to him was pulled up, and he glanced over with a bit of a grin as a Stetson was placed on the Countertop, still dripping rain. “Nash,” he said in greeting.

“Ryan,” came the reply, heavy with classic Texan drawl. “Sorry I'm late. Took forever to find a dry place to tie up Annie.”

“It happens,” Ryan answered. “I already ordered. Hope you like burritos. And if you don't, keep it to yourself, because Marta's in a special mood.”

“Mierda.” Marta swore as she approached. “You never said who was coming.”

“Miss me, Marta?” Nash drawled, knuckling his forehead. “It's been awhile.”

“I should kick you both out now,” Marta said as she put the plates in front of them. “Two elves at a Ork cart. People will talk, and it will make trouble. You two can just disappear, but Maria's a good girl, deep down, and…”

“And yet, people talk anyway. Easy, mama. Nash. Ryan.” Ryan turned on his stool to see Maria swaying towards them, her usual skirts traded for faux-leather jeans and and a subtly armored jacket. “Don't eat too much, now. You know it makes you sleepy.”

“Pura Mierda,” Marta retorted. “They're both of them too skinny. How they do what they do without any more meat is…”

“A trade secret, ma'am,” Nash said, putting his stetson on as he stood. “We'd better roll, don't you think?”

Ryan sighed, swallowed down a few bites of the burrito (they really were among the best in town, and that was saying something) and then stood with a resigned nod. The three turned as one and walked back into the rain, ignoring Marta's muttering as it faded into the noise of the droplets all around them.

They made quite a scene, the three of them. Maria, graceful as a flamenco dancer with just enough deadly to keep people from staring too long. Nash, his boots, belt buckle, duster and stetson making him look like something of the Tri-D, and Ryan himself, looking just like he had when he got off the train from Seattle, complete with piercings, tattoos, and hair that stayed spiked despite the best efforts of the rain.

As odd a group as any Ryan had ever run with, but after three years of successful(ish) running, practically family, including the overbearing, mildly abusive aunt.

“So what is it tonight?” Maria asked as they turned a corner. “Hovercar, refitted aerial drone, or are you finally gonna let me take Annie for a ride?”

“Never,” Nash said, simply, and then blinked as his eyes went out of focus. Ryan hated that. Most riggers closed their eyes, but this… even though it mattered not at all to how Nash worked, it sure looked creepy. “Annie's mine. Today we go old school.” Even as he spoke, a rickety old van pulled up alongside them, tires splashing water from the street in every direction. Ryan climbed right in, but Maria sighed.

“Just once,” she complained as she followed, “I'd like to go to a job with some style…”

——

The red and blue lights sparkled in the rain droplets that clung stubbornly to the van's rearview window. Maria snapped the gum in her mouth as she rolled down her window, flashing a smile at the Troll who shined a light into the van's interior. “What seems to be the problem, officer?”

The Troll frowned, and opened its mouth hesitantly. “Vehicle not… not authorized. Old plates. No… wireless? Identification.” The words were slow and plodded, even for a Troll. Not an English speaker then… a recent recruit, from the capitol by his accent. Maria grinned at him. “What? Oh, sweetie, I been driving this heap for years now. I'm sure it can't be a problem.”

“Problem…” the Troll retorted, likely in way of disagreement. He pulled up a retinal scanner. “Will need SIN, and…”

Suddenly the lights on the patrol car went dark, and the sudden change gave the brief appearance of near perfect blackness inside the van before normal eyes could recover. The Troll barely had a moment to look to his vehicle before he froze at the sensation of a shotgun stuck in his back.

“You're new, huh? Well here's the deal, tusky…”

“Watch your mouth…” Maria called from the passenger seat, but Ryan refused to be distracted. “You can live a good long life in your line of work, or in this town, but never both, you got me? Or should I have the girl inside translate for you?”

The Troll glanced back to the van, where Maria had an SMG aimed up into his nostril. “I'll make sure he does.” She said sweetly, before a stream of Spanish talked the Troll gently through the process of climbing into the back of the Van with his hands behind his back.

Seeing she had the situation under control, Ryan rushed over to the squad car, where Nash was sitting, apparently all blank, in the front seat. “Any response?”

“His personal comms are run through the car. Our Sergeant… Martinez… has just reported some drugged out hippies, and run their data. They'll report back SINless and he'll be ordered to bring them in.”

“How long?”

“Ten minutes. The bottleneck on the info line to the computers at the Capitol makes their response time trash out here. You'd almost think Aztlan wasn't planning on staying.”

“I wish,” Ryan muttered, receiving an answering nod from Nash as he went to collect Maria. Ten minutes bought them time, widened the window a fraction. Popping open the van's rear doors, he awkwardly started changing into an Aztlan military uniform. —-

“Ten seconds and counting.”

Ryan rushed down the hallway, ignoring the shouts coming from behind him, all of them in the clipped Spanish of the Aztlani Capitol. The occupation government sent in more of them every day, it seemed, and yet San Antonio remained beautifully, gloriously, Tejano. Remembering the cultural mongrel that was the Seattle Metroplex, Ryan could only count that a victory, so long as he could keep breathing.

“Five seconds.” his earpiece chirped. Ryan grimaced. He didn't need the countdown, but wasted no breath informing Maria of that. No word from Nash, either, but Ryan didn't let that bother him. The car was either there, or not. Outside, he heard the squeal of tires on wet pavement, and grinned.

The doors burst open as Ryan hurled himself through them, gun already out and firing at the Van that tore away from the building. “Vamanos!” He shouted at the gate guards, who were staring at both him and the van, startled. “Saboteador!” From one of the windows of the van, a startled troll looked at him, then roared, firing with a sidearm. Ryan winced as one shot ricocheted dangerously near to him, then dove to a nearby military car, which picked him up and took of after the van, in hot pursuit.

Nash sat at the wheel, staring blankly ahead as Maria grinned at him from her hiding place in the back. Her lips mouthed the words, “dos… uno…”

And an explosion ripped the checkpoint apart behind them.

The radio burst to life, howling for all units to pursue the saboteur. Ryan took some shots from his open window, causing the Troll to duck his head again.

“Can I look, yet?” Maria asked from the backseat. Ryan growled.

“We've still got our friends all around us. Nash, how long?”

“Now. Hold on, Maria.”

The squib went off, and the car spun out as the other pursuit vehicles carefully wheeled around it, not even bothering to look back as they traded shots with the enraged Troll in the backseat. Ryan took a moment before moving… with the explosion, response to a single blown car would be slow.

Maria finally looked up and laughed at the pillar of fire and smoke that now rose in a bright pillar over southern San Antonio. Already, the Aztlan military was arriving, being informed of the situation by the cars now in high speed pursuit. Suddenly Nash blinked, then glanced over at him. They all got out of the car as one, easing their way down into the floodway that would lead them all the way back to the barrio.

“How'd it go inside?” Nash asked. Ryan just smiled, then held up the heavy cartridge. It would be a payday, after all. —-

The talking head blinked through the rain that fell through her tri-d image as she gave the report, her lips oddly out of sync due to the automated translation.

“Aztlani authorities have blamed the explosion on faulty gas lines running through the city, while local utilities workers have claimed no knowledge of any such faults. Investigations go apace, but given the usual reticence of the Occupation force to give details on such issues, it is possible that…”

Marta brought over three plates of tacos to place on the counter. “I heard two cops say that it was sabotage. Some rogue Troll, based on the reports over the band.”

Maria shrugged, taking one of the tacos and eating it voraciously. Nash shrugged as he shot his tequila back. “I heard that the troll was a captured occupation soldier himself, claims to have been kidnapped by an elf and a ork.”

“I've heard…” Ryan said, mouth full of taco, “that one of the cars in pursuit got taken out in the chase. The car was found, but with no sign of the two elves inside it. They might be insiders, but no one knows. All in car video feeds looped old footage… of the troll.”

“You are all too clever by half…” Marta said through her glower. “Eventually, those imbecil will learn who has been jerking them around, and when they do…”

Ryan sighed, and keyed up a credstick, which he slotted at the counter. The tip indicator gave a little ring, and Marta gasped as quite a lot of e-pesos flooded into her account.

“For the service, senora,” Ryan said as he took his leave. “Hasta la vista.”

#Shadowrun #San Antonio #Shadowsan #Elves #Orcs #Trolls

[selenaquintanillaperez]

It’s been nearly 25 years since the death of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, but the memory of the Grammy-winning, Mexican American singer is pervasive in popular culture. Musicians of all genres — from Bruno Mars to Kacey Musgraves — cover her songs. Companies have released Selena makeup and clothing collections. This year, Netflix is releasing a much-anticipated series about her life.

Quintanilla was known as the Queen of Tejano music. Tejano refers to the blend of sounds and cultures along the Mexico and Texas border. It's a generally male-dominated musical genre and mixes traditional music from Mexico with sounds from the US Southwest.

This spring, San Diego State University is offering a first-ever class exploring historical and modern Latinx media representation through Quintanilla’s enduring music and legacy.

Nathian Rodriguez, a professor specializing in critical-cultural and digital media studies, created the class, "Selena and Latinx Media Representation," for the university’s journalism and media studies department.

Rodriguez said discussions about Latinx media representation are especially relevant today. Hollywood faces persistent criticism over its inability to be more inclusive. A 2019 report found Latino actors represented only 3% of lead or co-lead roles in movies.

Meanwhile, controversy erupted over the novel “American Dirt,” which critics blasted for its stereotypical or erroneous depictions of Mexican migrants and life in Mexico. The debate highlighted the lack of diversity in the book publishing industry.

“There's so many things about [Selena] that speak to the sociopolitical atmosphere, that speaks to pop culture, that speaks to identity formation, that speaks to the need for Latinx representation across all media platforms,” Rodriguez said. “Selena is that perfect iconic figure that we can use as a lens to be able to investigate the history of Latinx representation in media, its current status and where it's going in the future.”

Rodriguez spoke to The World’s host Marco Werman about how Quintanilla’s music and legacy are helping Latinx students come to terms with their own identity and to think critically about the lack of Latinx representation in the media.

Marco Werman: What effect did Selena have on you and your own understanding of Latinx culture? Were you a fan?

Nathian Rodriguez: I spent a lot of my early childhood in San Antonio, Texas, and I grew up listening to the Tejano radio stations. I was always listening to the radio trying to win stuff. But I grew up in a very patriarchal Mexican household, and I consider myself a son of an immigrant. My grandfather was like my father to me. He was from Mexico and he spoke Spanish. My grandmother spoke Spanish. My mother and her brother spoke Spanish. And growing up, they really wanted me to speak English first so that I would be successful in school. And so because of that, I grew up in a household hearing Spanish all around me. But I spoke English, so I didn't speak Spanish correctly. I was kind of pocho. So, I never really felt like I belonged. I was always in the middle. I wasn’t Mexican enough, American enough.

So, when Selena came along and I was able to hear her sing in Spanish, but speak in English and talk about her own identity and mispronounce words and fumble on some of the Spanish, it really helped me identify with a Latino person that I had never been able to comprehend. This person that was in the middle, that was living a bicultural life. I saw a lot of myself in Selena. She helped me negotiate my Tejano identity, knowing that there wasn't one correct way to be a Latinx individual. That's really how she resonated with me. And growing up, I just kind of always, you know, looked at Selena as a person that was just authentic.

Selena died in 1995. That was 25 years ago. In the years since, have you seen Latinx media representation change?

I think that we're going in a more positive direction. We're also going in a direction where Latinx identities are not monolithic. A lot of times everybody automatically thinks Mexico, but Latinx is so much more than just a country or a nation or a geographic space. So, I see the direction of the current landscape since Selena's passing really starting to encompass this kind of blending of sorts, of different types of sound and people to make what the Latinx representation a lot more intersectional. Now, that doesn't mean that it's portrayed more often. I think it's just the few portrayals that we do have are more intersectional, and we still have a far way to go.

Is there a song by Selena that you feel captures not just who she was, but also what she represented then?

The first one was “Como La Flor,” which was her first No. 1 hit in Mexico, but also in the United States. And I think that really speaks to her ability to cross borders, to cross genres, and also to cross generations that students now, who weren't alive when Selena was alive, are able to remember that song. And it means something to them. The song lyrics also talk about being given something and then it withers away and you're sad about it. I think that also speaks to this Latin mourning of all the different things that are happening in terms of the militarization of the border, in terms of [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival] students being scared, in terms of children being put into cages. It really speaks to this whole Latinx culture of wanting and belonging and not being able to have it. I think in a more literal way, it also speaks to the fact that we're still mourning Selena, and we're still looking for, you know, those positive Latinx role models that transcend barriers and genres and generations. We're still searching for that. So, I think of all the songs that students bring, “Como La Flor” speaks to that.

Students also bring up “Amor Prohibido.” The lyrics talk about how society doesn't want certain people to be together, parents don’t want them to be together. I think people can internalize that and transfer that to maybe being of two different religions, different political ideologies, to people who are also part of the LGBTQ community.

And then the third one is “Tu Solo Tu,” which is a very traditional mariachi song. It's a cover, it’s not a Selena original. She was able to give a new Tejano, modern mainstream pop culture sound to a traditional mariachi song. And I think that's what made her so popular with Mexicans in Mexico. Because they heard a song that was familiar to them, but it had a very new take on it.

What do you hope students take away from your course? Like what do you want them to do with this knowledge?

The first and foremost goal is that I want people to be able to identify with Latinx culture in the mediated landscape, to be more critical in terms of media consumption and be more media literate. For media and journalism students, specifically those who are going out into the world to create media, create advertisements and work in film, television and music, I hope that they become not just critical consumers, but also critical producers, knowing that there are multiple ways in which you can depict Latinx individuals in positive, nuanced ways, not stereotypical, monolithic ways.

I want to give students a sense that they can go out there and do this, that just because they don't see themselves represented in the media, that they can take control and make those representations, whether its starting at a low level with podcasts and YouTube videos to becoming a Gregory Nava and making films.

#article #selena #selena quintanilla #selena quintanilla perez