The least important yet most celebrated of these incidents involved comedian Barry Humphries, whose shtick is posing as the intolerably blue-blooded Dame Edna Everage, fount of upper-class crapola.  Humphries has a regular page in Vanity Fair.  Inspired perhaps by Salma Hayek's appearance on the February issue's cover and the star's genuinely shocking revelations about Hollywood's absurd disdain for her native tongue, Humphries had his mad matron take some outlandish pokes at the Spanish language, its literary canon, and people who speak it. 

The joke was ill-conceived and it offended an enormous group of people, including Hayek herself, who so eagerly took Humphries' alter ego to task that popular attention was diverted from far more disturbing words in the same issue of VF.  Hayek said in her interview that a studio boss once told her: "It doesn’t matter how good you are. You can never be a leading lady, because we can’t take the risk of you opening your mouth and people thinking of their maids — because that’s what you sound like."

2. "Te sacaré un susto por racista y culero..."

A couple days after Dame Edna hit the fan, FOX News noisemaker Bill O'Reilly—who, unlike Edna, is unfortunately not a fictional figure—attracted attention for uttering the epithet "wetback" on his highly rated program.  What made O'Reilly's gaffe still less brilliant was that the word didn't even make sense in context.  It just sort of drizzled out of his overworked piehole, a Freudian slip.

We decided, around the office here, that the nearly charming O'Reilly needs some intensive deprogramming.  As luck would have it the Mexican band Molotov, with the much-discussed video of their sensational new tune "Frijolero," has given us an ideal training aid for bilingual Insensitivity Training.  O'Reilly is hereby sentenced to view it repeatedly till he internalizes the message.  And if his Larousse doesn't define puñetero, he's welcome to ring us up and we will be happy to call him one.

3. Meanwhile, back in th' jungle...

The aptly titled The Savage Nation by beloved radio talk show host Michael Savage is contesting the top spot on the NY Times Best-Seller List with a study of Savage's own fan base, Stupid White Men.  Known for his gracious characterization of developing  countries as "turd world nations," Savage was rewarded for his healing wit in February with a TV show of his own on MSNBC.  Below are some nuggets of wisdom transcribed from his radio show:

"With the [Latino] population that has emerged, since they breed like rabbits, in many cases the whites will become a minority in their own nation... The white people don't breed as often for whatever reason. I guess many homosexuals are involved. That is also part of the grand plan, to push homosexuality to cut down on the white race."

"I'm beginning to think that women should be denied the vote. Their hormones rage; they are too emotional."

"You open the door to [third world immigrants], and the next thing you know, they are defecating on your country and breeding out of control."
 

4. More talk radio fun

From: Solina Marquis
To: librarywillie@hotmail.com
Subject: Meds info in Spanish  

Hi Willie,  
Saw your request in SOL 83 for some ideas on Spanish-language pharmaceutical reference guides. Don't know if you're looking for print or electronic, but here are a couple of sites you might try. They probably aren't what you're looking for, but sometimes we have to settle for less than perfect, I guess.

You may want to look first at http://www.rxlist.com/ . Type in the name of a medication (in English). Once you arrive at the page for that medication, you will probably see some options to click on for patient information in Spanish. Typically, no Spanish medication names are given, but this is a good source of patient information, and unlike some Web sites, you CAN enlarge the small type size of the information to make it fairly readable.  

Medicamentos en la Red: http://www.infomedicamento.net/p/SELECCION_DE_MEDICAMENTOS/
Guias_farmacoterapeuticas/  

Here's one of the sites that is linked from the one above that I thought was fairly good, though it may not fit your needs: http://usuarios.lycos.es/FARHSD/VADGUIAFARHSD.htm#D  

Buena Salud has an Enciclopedia Farmacológica at http://www.buenasalud.com/enc/ , but like most of these Web resources, you can't find medications by the English name.  

Another source you may want to explore if you aren't familiar with it is Tu Otro Médico's "Medicamentos" page. Lots of good information, but not a particularly good search feature -- can't look for meds by name, only by category. Also NO English names of meds, only in Spanish. Usually this isn't too much of a problem because the names are so similar, but it could be a real impediment for users looking on their own: http://www.tuotromedico.com/indice3.htm  

Good luck, Willie.  

Solina Solina Marquis, MLS Student
Texas Woman's University
solina-marquis@attbi.com

[She's the greatest long-distance doula, too, but that's another story...]

"ROCKLEDGE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 2003--The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American Cancer Society are pleased to announce three new resources available to Spanish-speaking patients and their families.
    Ovarian Cancer, Melanoma, and Fever and Neutropenia are the newest additions to the Treatment Guidelines for Patients with Cancer series in the Spanish language. Other Spanish titles include Breast Cancer, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Lung Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Cancer Pain, Nausea and Vomiting, and Cancer-Related Fatigue.
    The series, available in booklet form or online (www.nccn.org), is dedicated to educating patients and their families about cancer..."

Katia Roberto conquered the quiz, and we're awfully happy for her.  Check out Katia's Diary of a Mad Cataloger website, and be on the lookout this fall for an exciting book she edited along with Jessamyn West, Revolting Librarians Redux, from McFarland. 

In addition to her other virtues, Katia is a George Lopez fan.  It paid off for her big time when she won a package of bilingual children's books from Raven Tree Press:

The optional quiz question last time was a real stumper: G-Lo and Gael García Bernal both appeared in the made-for-cable 2001 filmography Fidel.  Lopez was a drunken, donkey-riding cacique killed by the Cuban revolutionaries to set an example.  García Bernal, by the way, played Che Guevara, which he just finished up doing again in the upcoming release The Motorcycle Diaries. 

Since we're on the subject, word is that Benicio Del Toro is slated to portray Che in a Stephen Soderbergh project set to start shooting sometime soon.  Want more Hollywood news?  Sure you do.  Call me up Tuesday night and I'll let you know how our city council election turned out.

Hey, Soderbergh and Del Toro hooked up once before for that movie Traffic, about international drug dealing, right?  So let's give away a copy of the currently huge-selling drug-runner novel La reina del sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte—that's a twenty-buck value, with free shipping thrown in.  All you have to do is be the first person with the correct answer to an easy question.    Just come up with the name of the fabulous band that released a hit song based on the book you're about to win.  But send your answer here, nowhere else, okay?

From: Dee Goldman
To: Biblio (That's the listserv of the new Pacific NW chapter of REFORMA—congratulations, folks!)
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 9:17 AM
Subject: Art Contest

From: Centro Mexicano  cemep@hotmail.com

Dear Friends,
I am sending you some information about the drawing contest, "Este Es mi Mexico."

For the seventh consecutive year the children's drawing contest "Este es mi Mexico" will be brought with the support of the Verizon Select Services enterprise.

The theme of the contest is "Ay! Fiesta Bonita..." Children are able to draw any religious celebration, civic or historic days and festivals. Some examples may include Christmas, The Day of the Kings (El Dia de los Reyes), etc.

Rules:
1. Children between the ages of seven (7) and eleven (11) years may participate.
2. The size of the drawing submissions is the same as in 2002:  30 x 30 cm/ 12 x 12 in
3. Fourteen (14) winning drawings will be selected instead of twenty-one (21) as in 2002.
4. The convocation receives the drawings in the Mexican consulates from the beginning of February until May 15th.

Lic. Estela García   cemep@hotmail.com
PCME Coordinator & Liaison to the MCO
Tel. (503) 946-0100  /  Fax. (503) 478-0439

Hey, Judy
What a fascinating question!  I'm going to put that in the SOL and maybe other folks will let you know what they think.  There is plenty of evidence that the word multa is applied to library fines in Latin America
(http://www2.cob.itesm.mx/biblioteca/politi.htm for e.g.) but the fact that your colega regiomontana squirms when she hears it can't be ignored.  She's a native speaker, after all.; I'm not, so I dunno.  Keep in mind that Mexican public libraries do not charge fines, which might help explain the dissonant ring she gets from that word.  Deuda translates pretty snugly to 'debt,' so while it comes close to what a library fine is, it's not precisely the same...I wonder how she'd feel about sanciones?  That still sounds vicious, though, too.   Ah, library fines are just plain evil, is what it comes down to...

Thank you for writing in, and for visiting the site!

12. Duct tape: A sticky translation question

Consulta Spanish-Language Collection Launched by Gale /  by Barbara Quint

"Thomson’s Gale Group chose the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference to debut Consulta, its first Spanish-language Resource Center. The new product combines reference content from Océano Grupo Editorial, some of which has never before been available online in the U.S., with Gale reference content.

You can read the rest of Barbara Quint's article, if you want.

14. A rich resource for book ideas

A terrific collection development tool is Kat Avila's Buscando California site.  You'll find lists of books here—looking for Puerto Rican theater stuff?  Chicano folklore?  Asian/Pacific Islander resources?  Check it out.  Most of what's listed is in English, mind you.  Zillions of well-indexed links, too.

From: jruiz@flvax.ferg.lib.ct.us
Subject: Greetings

I have been looking at your website and want to congratulate you on your work.

I wanted to suggest you try to include on your website anything that has been written on the political aspects of having a Spanish web page in a public library. I am giving a presentation on this based on my personal experiences at The Ferguson Library and would like to know what experiences other public librarians have in dealing with this issue. When I say political aspects I mean both from perspective of "office politics" (i.e. trying to sell the idea to administrators and colleagues)  as well as the community outreach aspects and the public's perception of the library as an institution that wants to address the needs of Spanish speaking citizens.

Also, may I ask you to consider for your section Libraries With Sites in Spanish our website at The Ferguson Library:
http://www.fergusonlibrary.org/spanish.htm

Muchas gracias.

From the Northwest Arkansas News (Rogers, AR), March 2:

"Nearly a dozen people met Saturday in a focus group to discuss how the library can improve its service to Hispanics. This is the first of several such focus groups tied to the library's support for a proposed 1-percent sales tax for capital improvement. If approved, $2 million of the estimated $80 million raised by the tax would be used to expand the library.

"The Rogers library isn't alone is assessing how it reaches Hispanics. Throughout Northwest Arkansas, cities scurry to bolster their Spanish-language collections and engage their newest constituents..."

More here.

17. Victor Villaseñor named first-ever Steinbeck Chair

Victor Villaseñor, whose deep and dreamy family novels—Rain of Gold, Thirteen Senses, and more—have charmed readers of both English and Spanish,  was named in late February to the first John Steinbeck Chair at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, CA.

You can read more about Villaseñor's appointment, and about the author himself.