The Magic of Little Magic

Posted in Television Influences on December 12, 2012 by lahueraloca

Please Mama, don’t eat the government cheese.

Words that are seared into my memory forever. All of us have that Little Magic spirit inside of us, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my future in that little magic ecstatic-like fashion.

Let’s backtrack. I grew up in a household where good comedy, and emphasis on good, was appreciated. While a young second-grader whose peers were often restricted from access to to the saucy  avant-garde programming of early 1990s Fox television, I on other hand was far from restricted, in fact encouraged, I got to watch some of the most cutting-edge portions of our popular culture in action, and I applaud my parents for being so cutting edge.

The Simpsons were and have always been a family staple. Second,  came In Living Color. My parents, always supporters of comics of color, have a sweet tooth for such since they both grew up very Chicano,  and I think it was important for them to let me watch In Living Color to have a more working sensibility of the real world. If I ever had questions I was always allowed to ask, my mom being the wonderful historian that she is, can unpack and explain anything, even to a seven-year-old who just asked what government cheese? And so I would say this was my first introduction into the welfare state, understanding what government cheese was, where it came from, and how particularly shitty  it was, I have learned the meaning of layers in comedy.

But this is about Little Magic, who stars as the government cheese in Please Mama, Don’t Eat the Government Cheese.  Little magic and her mama got some big dreams. Mama, David Alan Grier, and Little Magic (Kim Wayans) take every opportunity to get Little Magic the chance to be discovered and go on to fame and fortune. Needless to say Little Magic is quite talentless but that doesn’t stop her or her Mama from helping her garner all eyes on her. After a talent agent in the audience sneaks off, a confused Little Magic thinks things went well, and starts planning her fame filled future.
Little Magic: And then I’m going to get my own TV show….

Mama: Uh-huh

Little Magic: Called the Little Magic of Bel Air…
Mama: Uh-huh (irritated)

Little Magic: and then I’m going to fly to Hollywood on a plane that says Liiiiiiiiiitle Maaaaagic

Mama: Oh hush now! You better go get that agent in the parking lot before he leaves.

Little Magic: Sorry Mama! (Grins widely and earnestly)

When I’m deep in my work and planning on the future, making plans for websites, the next documentary, what can happen with this one and then I explained my partner what I’m planning, I start feeling like Little Magic moment and I start saying things like “Oh when I screen at SXSW…and then screen on TV…and get my PhD…and then have a big plane that says Little Magic! [Probably more appropriate is Little Yoya, my nickname] But I got to hush up now and perform step one. For Little Magic, her step one was to lock down that talent agent, for me step one is to keep steady on my path. I’m allowed to get excited but I can’t be in the future and the present, I need to work in the trench that I’m in now, a big plane in the sky will come later. When I need that boost optimism for my endeavors, as long as there’s youtube, there will be  Little Magic. But I have the secret of being able to call upon her all I want deep down in my permanent pop culture memory.

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Chola Philosophy #234: One can never have too many Old English lettering tattoos

Posted in Chola Philosophy on June 25, 2011 by lahueraloca

Why is it when you get your first tattoo someone is bound to tell you, “Watch out, they’re addictive!” No shit. Although I pride myself in the long gaps of time that pass between each tattoo, I none-the-less crave/think about the next. Tupac had “Thug Life” etched across his chiseled abdominals, for him Thug Life was an acronym, it stood in for “The Hate U Give Little Infants, Fuck Everybody.” Tupac described this as a representation of those who struggle against all odds to succeed in life, compared to those who are born into privilege. In other words, poverty begets poverty, and affluence begets affluence. But wait, let’s get back to tattoos. Chicano tattoos have continued to intrigue me from adolescence to adult hood, I’ve always admired that misty tear drop in permanent stasis below the eye, or the stunningly (poetic) rendition of one’s current/former love (remember tattoos are permanent, despite how much laser technology you access), but I’ve always love the hard intricate lines of the Old English lettered tattoo.

I spent 5 hours lying on my side while tatted by one of the best (Arnoldo Carrillo of Shades of Gray in Austin, TX), we fused the last names of my maternal grandparents (Silva and Davila) into a cross that angles down half of my upper torso. During a break from the long process (we listened to NPR over the tattoo needle buzz) I was complimented on my stoic manner while receiving said tattoo. I was “harder than some of the ex-cons that come in and get tatted,” he told me. This stroked my ego of course. I enjoyed hearing the praise, or at least what I interpreted as praise. “Fuck it,” I said to him. Let’s finish this. While getting ink done I am able to enter a meditative state. In fact, despite engaging in yoga or other meditation practices, I can still never reach the zen(ness) of being tattooed upon. One must become completely in tune with the body. Concentrating on breathing, making the skin fall asleep, while you remain awake in a pseudo catatonic state.

In progress. September 2009

My fascination perhaps lies with the absorption of Pinto Arte and lowrider Arte I would look at in my dad’s OG Magazines. Prison shading is by far the most delicate patient artistic work that I have come across. Old English lettering has a rigidity that is broken by a more than subtle ornate quality. Defiant yet poetic. Now, Old English lettering has been utilized as part of  Hip Hop and Rock imagery. It’s bold expressiveness connotates rebellion. And to a greater extent it represents prison life. Prison culture is fetishized as a marker of one’s ability to negotiate violence and survival, thus in a gender context, it represents an overly masculine representation.

In part because of my pseudo-androgyny feelings,  I chose my Old English tattoo to symbolize the lasting impression my maternal families have given me and it’s hardness is reflective of my personality, rigid on the exterior and artful in the interior.

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