California Today: A New Gig for the ‘Ask a Mexican’ Columnist

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/us/california-today-gustavo-arellano.html

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For more than a decade, Gustavo Arellano used his perch at OC Weekly to write about the stereotypes and the realities of Mexican-Americans in Southern California — his “Ask a Mexican” columns were collected into a book and turned into a play. Late last year, he stepped down as editor in chief of OC Weekly, saying he chose to resign rather than follow a request by the publication’s owners to lay off most of his staff.

And it didn’t take long for Mr. Arellano to find his next gig: Last week he started as a weekly columnist for the opinion section of The Los Angeles Times.

But when he announced days later that he had also signed on as an editor of Remezcla, a Latino culture website catering to millennials, there was nearly instant protest with claims that he had in the past used racist and homophobic language. With the hashtag #boycottgustavo, the Twitterverse successfully lobbied Remezcla to sever ties with him.

We caught up with Mr. Arellano by phone to talk about what he’s learned, what he’s planning to do and what he thinks of California now. Here’s some of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed:

Q. In your first column for The Times, you write disparagingly about any suggestion that California is past its prime. What gives you so much optimism? (And why the dig at The New York Times?)

A. Far too often the coverage in national publications is very much an East Coast view of California, with the same tired tropes. It reads coy and tongue in cheek. People think of California being filled with crazy hippies still. Even the idea that the middle class is fleeing and desperate, it’s just not paying attention to what is going on on the ground. California has always had a working class that has fought to stay here.

Q. You’ve spent a lot of your career focusing on and writing about Latino issues. Are you going to continue to do so?

A. Latinos are a huge part of California, so of course I am going to write about them. But it will not be the only thing. “Ask a Mexican” is over. I don’t like replicating myself. My beat is going to be California. I like challenges and feel like, “Let’s see if I can pull this off.” If I can’t, at least I tried.

Q. Were you surprised about the backlash, with people calling you racist and homophobic?

A. No, there have been people who have been targeting me for a while. There’s always going to be people who don’t like what you write. If you don’t have haters you are not doing your job correctly. The people accusing me of being racist, they don’t take my career in perspective. We covered these communities better than anyone else in Orange County. What seems to be the issue right now, is that in this country if you don’t have the same thoughts as other people you are immediately marked as the enemy. I’ve always been about throwing stories out there, and I’ll defend them.

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

• Last year, the fights were largely rhetorical. But 2018 has brought a full-fledged fight between the conservative Trump administration and liberal California — over issues like immigration, the environment and marijuana. [The New York Times]

• San Diego officials are in the middle of a campaign to get rid of homeless encampments along the San Diego River, hauling out tons of garbage and debris from the watershed. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

• In a Golden Globe ceremony like none other, Hollywood’s stars spoke of #MeToo, insisting that the industry could transform itself and would no longer tolerate harassment. [The New York Times]

• Wearing black and arriving in pairs: Eight actresses walked the red carpet with eight activists. Here’s what they had to say. [The New York Times]

• With his time in elected office coming to an end, Gov. Jerry Brown is settling into the family ranch in rural Colusa County. What will he do with his thousands of books? [The Los Angeles Times]

• This year’s flu outbreak has been so severe that pharmacies have run out of medicine and ambulances are stuck waiting to discharge patients. [The Los Angeles Times]

• A video from a suburban Sacramento high school has gone viral and prompted students there to complain of widespread racial harassment. [The Sacramento Bee]

• What, exactly, is the federal policy on marijuana? What does research say about the benefits and harm of marijuana use? Our reporters answer readers’ questions. [The New York Times]

• Two mountain lions orphaned in Orange County will now have a home at the Oakland Zoo. And some experts say the demand for such care will most likely increase. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

• A mysterious case of a lost headstone and a body thousands of miles — and an entire country — away. [The Fresno Bee]

• It’s your last chance to ice skate in downtown Santa Monica or Pershing Square — both rinks close Jan. 15.

• Celebrate the Lunar Near Year with the Asian American Expo at the Pomona Fairplex. The massive fair has nine performance spaces and more than 1,000 vendors. Plus, of course, endless food at three sprawling food courts.

• Have a laugh at the SF Sketchfest, a comedy festival that opens in San Francisco on Thursday.

• Get star-struck again at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, one of the largest film festivals in North America.

The Acid Tests — as the LSD-fueled parties were called — had only begun a few months earlier. So few knew what to expect on Jan. 8, 1966, when the Grateful Dead took the stage at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. The band had only recently changed its name from the Warlocks and had nowhere near the notoriety it soon would achieve.

The show is now the earliest fan-recording of the band, which relied largely on such recordings and word of mouth to gain popularity. The recording includes nearly as much banter as it does music and gives a glimpse into the wild-eyed commotion of the day. In the words of Jerry Garcia: “In the end, it’s nothing but mindless chaos.”

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.