Adventures of the Coconut Caucus

Far From Home, in the Kitchen

Male Latino Workers Find Domestic Skills Are Survival Tools
By Steve Hendrix
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 12, 2008; B01

Marco Antonio Muñiz Rosales learned to cook the way many immigrant men do: from a cellphone. (PLEASE TELL US HOW! I ONLY KNOW HOW TO TEXT MESSAGE!) Soon after arriving in the Washington area five years ago, the young construction worker found himself on the horn to a mountain town in western Guatemala, burning up calling-card minutes in pursuit of domestic skills he never learned at home. (BECAUSE OF COURSE ALL TOWNS IN GUATEMALA ARE MOUNTAIN TOWNS)

“I would ask my mother or my wife: ‘How do you cook this soup? How do you prepare the beans?’ ” Rosales said.

The women were amused and delighted to impart some advice remotely, Rosales said, maybe all the more so because it shattered the norms of their machismo society. “In my country, a man would never go into the kitchen and a woman would never go into the field. (THIS IS WHERE YOU, WHITE PERSON, GASP AT THE INHUMANITY OF IT ALL!) Here, I was forced to learn.”

For many of the single Latino men, or solteros, (A NEW WORD FOR ALL YOU WHITE PEOPLE OUT THERE TRYING TO LEARN ABOUT THE COMMUNITY) who come to the United States looking for work, the long trek across borders ends in the most foreign territory of all: the kitchen. (WHAT ARE ALL THOSE KNOBS FOR AND WHAT ARE ALL THOSE COMPARTMENTS, AND OH, MY GAWD, YOU STORE FOOD IN THOSE THINGS WITH DOORS?!! AY MAMACITY, THE YOUNITEDESTAYS ES WUNDERFUL!) For many, life in the Washington area is an all-male existence, from their construction and landscaping jobs in the day to the apartments crowded with fellow laborers at night, with no mother, wife or sister to handle the domestic chores. (YOU FORGOT THE MENTION THEIR FAVORITE COMPANION: HEINEKEN!)

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It was only a matter of time….

After Politico threatened La Política with “legal action” for using a perfectly good word in Spanish, what was a promising Latino political web outlet has called it quits…

Dear Reader:

We at CandidatoUSA are temporarily suspending publication while we reassess our editorial and business strategies. Rest assured that we remain committed to our journalistic mission of providing the best possible coverage of how candidates and campaigns are communicating to Latino voters and of the important role those voters are playing in this momentous election year.

In the meantime, our editor, Luis Clemens, will return to his work as a freelance journalist. All of us at CandidatoUSA, and surely our readers, recognize Luis’ contribution to a better understanding of the Latino voter and are very grateful for his efforts.

Our website will remain active while we go through this hiatus in CandidatoUSA’s life cycle.

During this brief period, we will re-focus our mission and our goals to better serve our 10,000-plus readers. For now, we will post updates on this website.

Saludos,
Arturo Villar
Publisher

As we mentioned before, the candidatousa name didn´t help, but we would like to note that we will not allow Politico to destroy us or continue to disrespect the Hispanic Media.