Esteban Colberto Reporto Gigante (a faux Sábado Gigante by no-holds-barred Stephen Colbert)

October 15 ends the weird not-really-a-month, but-definitely-30-days-long "Hispanic Heritage Month" in the U.S. As the Latino/Hispanic (although that latter term is a weird one because it implies Spanish-speaking and the majority of "hispanics" in the U.S. don't actually speak Spanish) population continues to grow in size, careers are being made in the attempt to figure out which way this group will vote.

The first thing to say is that that very question is inaccurate. There are significant ideological and historical differences within the community that calls itself Latino and so it makes much more sense to be more precise before making prophecies.

Nevertheless, Latino identity has been much more politicized this election (the presence of Zoraida Fonalledas at the RNC and Julián Castro at the DNC are one highlight--the former was received with such a lack of "respect" that the delegates were chastised from the podium; the latter has been accused of "not really speaking Spanish"). I find it interesting that two of the prime examples that stood out from the last few weeks have been humorous, intentional hyper-exaggerations of "latinidad" (latinness) that play on media images of the loud, the opinionated, the gyrating. (I've written before on the importance of playfulness in Latin art.)



"Easier as a Latino?" Rosie Perez responds to Mitt Romney's joke about wishing he were Mexican

Screengrab of Chicago Tribune's new word: Kamily

Right there, on the homepage of today's Chicago Tribune. Let's see how long it takes before they realize/fix this error.

John Novak's illustration of Thule, the period of cosmography at the Paris Review

Things that go well together:

A 16th century English composer puts to tune a poem about wonder and the edge of the world.

A 21st century illustrator sketches visions of volcanic eruptions and traveling merchants from Spain who've encountered wonder at the edge of their known world.




The Poem:

Thule, the period of cosmography,
Doth vaunt of Hecla, whose sulphureous fire
Doth melt the frozen clime and thaw the sky;
Trinacrian Etna's flames ascend not higher:
These things seem wondrous, yet more wondrous I,
Whose heart with fear doth freeze, with love doth fry.

The Andalusian merchant, that returns
Laden with cochineal and china dishes,
Reports in Spain how strangely Fogo burns
Amidst an ocean full of flying fishes:
These things seem wondrous, yet more wondrous I,
Whose heart with fear doth freeze, with love doth fry. 

UPDATE: For updates on services and a chance to share your memories of Neil, see the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Neil Smith at the American Association of Geography annual meeting in 2011.

Neil Smith, a Marxist geographer who found himself at home in an anthropology department, passed away early this morning. His sudden and unexpected passing leaves many of us in a lurch and I'm sure that there are many reflections and in memoria to come as the many people he touched try to make sense of his far-reaching legacy. (See "Uneven Development" (available free! online) "Uneven Development Redux")

Neil will be remembered as a firebrand who minced no words in his critiques and left no sacred cow unchallenged in his contributions to geography, history, anthropology, and more. But here I want to reflect on Neil Smith as someone who was very fortunate to be his student. I always found Neil, in spite of his fiery reputation, to have a quiet manner about him.

On a fall day, much like today, over a pint of stout (much like the one I'm enjoying now), Neil and I discussed a brief paper I'd turned in, which dealt with my earliest forays into a little studied part of the world: the Triple Frontier.

His reiterated his comment, "This sounds like the prelude to a dissertation..." and that was all the encouragement it took. It was in his class that I came across my dissertation topic.

Our "Endgame of Globalization" seminar that semester quickly became a course where the students had free rein to explore whatever interested us. He was as much a participant as he was a facilitator. Neil's seminal argument about the production of scale is the kind of productive and provocative idea grad students love to pick up and incorporate in their own work. He was never proprietary or fearful of what his ideas might become in the hands of his students. His fearless generosity with his ideas made him an excellent teacher.

An Irish stout

An American oatmeal stout

Neil, I'm really thankful to have been your student. Oh, and that plant you asked me to revive never really made it, sorry!

Location, Libation, Libation

A tale of two quintessential Argentine beverages: wine and yerba mate.

 

Trouble on the Triple Frontier

Pedro Meyer: detail from Batman and the Religious Procession (1991). A religious parade in Oaxaca

Laura Molina: Amor Alien/Amor extraterrestre (2004). An unmistakable reinterpretation of “The Legend of the Volcanoes” of Mexican myth.

 

Ignacio Montano: details from Assembling Energy Panels from the London Complex at Preference, Mars/Montando paneles solares del complejo de Londres de preferencia, Marte (1990). Floating astronauts with oxygen-packs at the Mars base—Just to be clear, this hasn’t happened, yet.

Alfredo Arreguin: Ballads from My Land/Corridos de mi tierra (2004). Emiliano Zapata and the Virgin de Guadalupe, as well as other iconic figures of Mexican history and legend fill the night sky.

Pedro Meyer: Batman and the Religious Procession (1991)

Ignacio Montano: Assembling Energy Panels from the London Complex at Preference, Mars/Montando paneles solares del complejo de Londres de preferencia, Marte (1990).