Hispanic Fanatic

My wife is pregnant.

Yes, it’s pretty great news.

Our daughter is due in January. We’ve never been parents, so by next summer, I’ll be one of those annoying first-time fathers who believes the most important thing in the world is his baby’s capacity for drool. Just wait, I’ll be blogging about it day and night. This may cut into the readership of the 19.3 million mommy bloggers out there, so I apologize in advance for usurping their authority.

But with all the hectic preparation for the child’s arrival, and careful time set aside for crippling self-doubt and solipsistic panic attacks, I’ve barely had time to ponder the political ramifications of this kid. That has to change.

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My mother never hit me.

In Latino culture, of course, mi madre was a bizarre anomaly. We can all conjure up the image of a furious Hispanic mother, beating her kids with chancletas for some minor infraction.

In fact, say the word, “chancleta” or “chancla” to a Latino, and he or she will probably think of the weapon, not the footwear. Their original purpose appears to be secondary.

Yes, it’s all very humorous, all those little ninos and ninas cowering as they get whapped repeatedly. Except that it’s really not funny at all.

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I’m happy to announce that Lucy in Dallas has won the contest for passes to see the upcoming Ben Affleck movie Argo.

With hope, Lucy in Dallas will report back to us and let us know if Affleck is indeed playing a Latino in this movie (his character’s name is Mendez). If so, we’ll have a debate on what that’s all about.

I mean, he doesn’t look like a Mendez to me…

Changes are coming to the way we do business here at Hispanic Fanatic world headquarters. Before I get into all that, however, let’s squeeze in another movie contest.

All you have to do is comment on one of my posts (including this one) and you’ll be entered for the chance to win passes to the upcoming Ben Affleck movie Argo, which will be screened in the following cities:

Dallas, TX

El Paso, TX

Houston, TX

Los Angeles, CA

McAllen, TX

Miami, FL

Phoenix, AZ

San Antonio, TX

San Jose, CA

Based on true events, Argo is about a life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. And best of all, the lead character has a Latino name (Mendez)!

If you win, I’ll email you the passes. By the way, I won’t make your contact info public, so don’t worry about that.

I’ll announce the contest winners in the next week or so. In the meantime, let’s get those comments flying.