Elenamary

I read an article and was subtly offended by it but I didn’t have a way to articulate why. I’ve been thinking about the article since I read it on Thursday. Then today while driving to pick-up a friend of mine who hangs out with a lot of hipsters, it hit me. What would it be like if I picked up a Spanish language newspaper written by some Latinos who wrote of hipsters moving into their neighborhood and what they were like, and how they viewed their new neighbors and asked them what they thought of racism?

The article is about a photographer Alexandra Copley (her Taqueria blog), who currently has a photography exhibit of taco trailers around Columbus, Ohio. I want to make it clear, I am not offended by Alexandra Copley’s work. It is more that I have a sense of my people being displayed as other worldly as entertainment like zoo animals.

It reminds me of a night when I was hanging out with a bunch of international students from Latin America who were attending OSU, when some sorority girls stopped and seemed entertained at watching us play dominoes, share food, and speak in Spanish. One of the girls said excitedly “I feel like it’s Culture awareness night!” She didn’t mean it as offensive and she was a sweet enough person but it made me uncomfortable. This article gives me a similar feeling, as does the idea of the exhibit. What are the true thoughts of hipsters and yuppies who go that gallery? How do they actually view people of color? What do they gain from the exhibit?

I am constantly shocked by the changes in my city and state. The change has been tremendous from the time back when my family got excited that Meijer grocery was selling chili peppers to today when I saw it. I stopped at a gas station on my way to work this morning, a gas station near the OSU campus. I say this because most Mexicanos in Columbus live on the West side of the city. So, there I was at a gas station in central Columbus and right by the cashier (not buried away in an “ethnic section”) was my favorite junk food, Sabritones! According to their website “a puffed wheat snack from Mexico that combines the authentic flavors of spicy chili with tangy lime”. At first I could never get Sabritones in Columbus. Then I could only get them at the Mexican grocery store. And now? Now they are at my gas station next to the mints. I am amazed. You Xicanos in Cali, and Chicago and in the Valley just don’t get it; This is amazing!