¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Joan Baez!



AKA Joan Chandos Báez.

Born January 9, 1941.

She is the daughter of a Mexican-born father and a Scottish-born mother and she is best known for being one of the most famous folk singers of her generation. She is also known in pop music circles for her cover of the Band's song "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

She has participated in the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War Peace Movement, and anti-death penalty protests. Unlike some of her radicals, she has criticized human rights violations in both left-wing and right-wing political regimes including those in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, and Vietnam. She has also protested against the U.S. Invasion of Iraq and on behalf of the American Gay Rights Movement.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Stephanie Elizondo Griest!

Born June 6, 1974.

She is a young Mexican-American writer from South Texas whose books include the 2004 book Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana and the 2008 book Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines. She is one of the few travel writers I have ever read who is also of Mexican descent. Then again she also won the 2007 Richard Margolis Award for Social Justice Reporting for her writing about Mexico so she is not exactly just another travel writer.

Like yours truly, she can be also described as a Latin half-and-half since only one side of her family is of Mexican descent. However, the same thing can be said about a lot of Mexican-Americans nowadays.

She is also one of my favorite writers and I'm sorry that she has not written more books.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Thomas Mann!

Born June 6, 1875. Died August 12, 1955.

He was a famous German writer of mixed ethnic ancestry who wrote such novels as The Magic Mountain and Buddenbrooks. He also wrote the novella "Tonio Kruger", which indirectly inspired my blog name, and in 1929, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Needless to say, he also inspired the creation of this blog. Which makes him my muse, so to speak. Or at least one of them.

Quote of the Week

I’m a mixed breed and hope to live longer because of it.
--Charisma Carpenter

Fantasy Quote of the Week

Leo was a half-breed: he had a magical father and a real mother, which meant he had a foot in both worlds and a home in neither.
--Simon R. Green, Drinking Midnight Wine

Movie Poster of the Week

Believe it or not, this is not the official movie of this blog.

Quote of the Week

My father is black and Venezuelan. My mother is Irish and an opera singer. I am me.
--Mariah Carey

My comment:

I suspect Ms. Carey's comment would be more popular if it did not sound so much like the racial equivalent of "me no Alamo." If not "I'm all right, Jack."

Then again writer Matt Ruff expressed the contrary sentiment a lot better with this quote.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Joan Baez!



AKA Joan Chandos Báez.

Born January 9, 1941.

She is the daughter of a Mexican-born father and a Scottish-born mother and she is best known for being one of the most famous folk singers of her generation. She is also known in pop music circles for her cover of the Band's song "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

She has participated in the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War Peace Movement, and anti-death penalty protests. Unlike some of her radicals, she has criticized human rights violations in both left-wing and right-wing political regimes including those in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, and Vietnam. She has also protested against the U.S. invasion of Iraq and on behalf of the American Gay Rights Movement.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Stephanie Elizondo Griest!

Born June 6, 1974.

She is a young Mexican-American writer from South Texas whose books include the 2004 book Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana and the 2008 book Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines. She is one of the few travel writers I have ever read who is also of Mexican descent. Then again she also won the 2007 Richard Margolis Award for Social Justice Reporting for her writing about Mexico so she is not exactly just another travel writer.

Like yours truly, she can be also described as a Latin half-and-half since only one side of her family is of Mexican descent. However, the same thing can be said about a lot of Mexican-Americans nowadays.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Thomas Mann!

Born June 6, 1875. Died August 12, 1955.

He was a famous German writer of mixed ethnic ancestry who wrote such novels as The Magic Mountain and Buddenbrooks. He also wrote the novella "Tonio Kruger", which indirectly inspired my blog name, and in 1929, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Movie Quote of the Week

Okay, we're half-breeds. We should go forth and multiply. The day there's nothing but half-breeds, there'll be peace.
--Sara Forestier, Le Nom des Gens (2010)

Question of the Week

So should the answer to this book's title question be "Just lucky, I guess"?

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte XXIV

Aubrey Plaza (1984 - ). The daughter of a Puerto Rican father and a mother of Irish and English descent. She is best known for her role as an intern on the NBC TV series Parks and Recreation.

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte XIX

Julie Ann Brown (1954 - ). Actress and singer of Irish/Mexican descent, best known for her role in the 1988 comedy Earth Girls Are Easy. Needless to say, she is not normally thought of as being part-Mexican -- or even part-Irish -- though her ancestry does make me wonder anew about the title of her album Trapped in the Body of a White Girl. Was Ms. Brown trying to tell us all something?

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte XVIII

Stacey Lauretta Dash (1966 - ). Actress of Mexican and African-American descent. She is best known for her role in the 1995 comedy Clueless.

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte XVII

Mariah Carey (1969 or 1970 - ). Daughter of an Irish American opera singer and a black Afro-Venezuelan engineer. Despite having dabbled in movies like Glitter and Precious, she is best known for her musical career.

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte XV

Lucie Arnaz (1951 - ). Perhaps the most famous Latina half and half ever. Daughter of a Cuban-born actor and an American actress. She is most famous for starring as Neil Diamond's love interest in the 1980 movie The Jazz Singer as well as for occasionally appearing on her famous mother's last TV series.

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte XII

Madeleine Stowe (1958 - ). An American actress who is the daughter of an American father and a Costa Rican mother. Her original name was Madeline Mora Stowe. She is best known for her roles in 1992's The Last of the Mohicans and 1995's Twelve Monkeys. Her first leading role, ironically enough, was as the half-Latina love interest of an ex-convict in 1987's Stakeout, but she isn't usually associated with Hispanic characters. Her most recent role was on the short-lived TV series Raines.

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte XI

Joanna Kerns (1953- ). American actress who is the daughter of a Mexican-American father and an Irish-American mother. Her original name was Joanne Crussie DeVarona. She is best known for playing Kirk Cameron's mother on the TV series Growing Pains. More recently, she appeared in the 2007 movie Knocked Up.

That's Funny. She Doesn't Look Latina: Parte X

Yvette Carmen Mimieux (1942- ). Daughter of a French father and a Mexican mother. She is best known for her role in 1960's The Time Machine, in which she played an Eloi. Admittedly I find it quite ironic that such a role was played by a person of Mexican descent since I had no idea that was so when I wrote this.