Page 17 - IAV Digital Magazine #433

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
After Racial BurritoControversy, ‘Offensive’
PortlandTacoFestival Canceled
Tortilla-wrapped street food is having a really hard time in Portland right now.
You may recall
the collective freak- out this spring when a couple of white ladies opened a very short-lived bur- rito cart. A fairly pos- itive profile in Willamette Week, which described their French fry- stuffed burritos as a “’grammable bur- rainbow,” sparked a fierce debate over cultural appropria- tion after the women referenced learning how to handmake tortillas somewhat surreptitiously during a Mexico vacation. Three days after the article was pub- lished, Kooks Burritos announced it was closing up shop for good.
Last weekend a sim- ilar racially charged kerfuffle contributed to the cancelation of the Portland Taco Festival. The two- day taco party, organized by Denver companies Connected Soul and Another Brother
Productions, appar- ently got off to a rocky start Saturday, as would-be eaters complained of two- hour lines and ven- dors running out of tacos.
“I wish I was full of tacos, instead of emotions,” a bummed-out Tacoma man told Portland’s KATU
2 while leaving the fest.
But as Eater Portland noted, even the day before the fest began Latino digital media compa- ny Mitú ripped the festival’s “offensive ads,” Chihuahua beauty pageant and its pitch of “margari- tas so good they’ll ‘remove your som- breros.’”
“The Portland Taco Festival ads plas- tered with hipsters posing behind hard shell taco cutouts and white boys don- ning Lucha Libre masks are just another example of the Pacific Northwest’s tone- deaf, casual racism,” wrote Mitú’s Emilly
Prado.
By Sunday morning organizers decided to cancel the last day of the fest, which they claim drew 3,000 people on day one. While they owned up to much of the chaos, conceding poor sig- nage contributed to the long lines, they refuted claims that vendors ran out of food and took issue with the accusations of cultural appropria- tion.
“This is something dear to me as it is my culture that is in question,” wrote co- founder Timothy Arguello, who is of Mexican descent. “Just as all other Mexican-Americans I grew up enjoying this great food and culture with my fami- ly and really love the fact that it is shared by so many. TacoFest is our col- lective dream that we’ve made into a reality. While it’s absolutely a work in progress, the pur- pose is to have fun and enjoy a diversity of people, food and activities. Much like Cinco De Mayo, St. Patricks day [sic] and all the other cul- turally centered cel- ebrations we feel there is nothing wrong with celebrat- ing something as universally loved as the taco together with all ethnicities as a way to bring peo- ple together.”
A husband and wife were traveling by car from Key West to Boston.
After almost 24 hours on the road, they’re felt too tired to continue, and they decide to stop for a rest.
They stopped at a nice hotel and took a room, but they only planned to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road.
When they checked out four hours later, the desk clerk hands them a bill for $350.
The man explodes and demands to know why the charge is so high. He tells the clerk although it’s a nice hotel, the rooms cer- tainly aren’t worth $350.
When the clerk tells him $350 is the stan- dard rate, the man insists on speaking to the Manager.
The Manager appears, listens to the man, and then explains that the hotel has an Olympic-sized pool and a huge confer- ence center that were available for the husband and wife to use.
“But we didn’t use them,” the man com- plains. “Well, they are here, and you could have,” explains
the Manager.
He goes on to explain they could have taken in one of the shows for which the hotel is famous. “The best entertain- ers from New York, Hollywood and Las Vegas perform here,” the Manager says.
“But we didn’t go to any of those shows,” complains the man again. “Well, we have them, and you could have,” the Manager replies.
No matter what facil- ity the Manager mentions, the man replies, “But we did- n’t use it!”
The Manager is unmoved, and even- tually the man gives up and agrees to pay. He writes a check and gives it to the Manager.
The Manager is sur- prised when he looks at the check. “But sir,” he says, “this check is only made out for $100.”
“That’s right,” says the man. “I charged you $250 for sleep- ing with my wife.”
“But I didn’t!” exclaims the Manager.
“Well,” the man replies, “she was here, and you could have used her."
A priest and a rabbi were sitting next to
each other on an air- plane.
After a while, the priest turned to the rabbi and asked, "Is it still a requirement of your faith that you not eat pork?
The rabbi respond- ed, "Yes, that is still one of our laws."
Priest then asked, "Have you ever eaten pork?"
To which the rabbi replied, "Yes on one occasion, I did suc- cumb to temptation and tasted a ham sandwich."
The priest nodded in understanding.
A while later, the rabbi spoke up and asked the priest, "Father, is it still a requirement of your church that you remain celibate?"
The priest answered, "Yes it is."
The rabbi then asked, "Father, have you ever fallen to the temptation of the flesh?"
The priest admitted, "On one occasion, I was weak and broke my faith."
.
The rabbi nodded understandingly, and remained silent.
Finally the rabbi could not hold it in and said, "Beats the hell out of ham sand- wich, doesn't it?"
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine