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GUEST: Gustavo Arellano, award winning columnist at the OC Weekly and contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times

Was there ever anything you wanted to know about Mexicans, but were too politically correct to ask? For two years now, Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly has fielded numerous questions from readers about Mexicans in his notorious column, “¡Ask a Mexican!” Now newly released in book form, questions posed to “The Mexican,” range from the curious such as, “What’s the song La Bamba about?” to the downright racist, “What part of Illegal don’t Mexicans understand?” Arellano navigates the long list of inquires, which he describes as being like a queue at the check out lane of a Northgate Supermarket, with unrestrained wit, sarcasm, and research. Not everyone is in favor of Gustavo’s approach however. When the alternative OC Weekly first published the column in 2004, it angered left and right wingers alike. In one recent case, an Oregon man was suspended by his supervisors for five days for showing his fellow co-worker the “¡Ask a Mexican!” column. The man’s union refused to back him and his lawyer advised him to drop the case. Regardless of what controversies may follow, questions to “The Mexican,” will surely keep pouring in and Gustavo Arellano will be more than happy to answer them.

Gustavo’s Speaking events:

April 29: Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Sunday at 2:45 pm

May 3: Libreria Martinez, 1110 N. Main St., Santa Ana, (714) 973-7900, 7 pm

May 7: Borders Pico Rivera, 8852 Washington Blvd., Pico Rivera at 7 pm, (562)
942-9919

Read Gustavo’s OC Weekly column, ¡Ask a Mexican! here: http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/