Drink Cultura: Chicanismo

This book is better than I imagined. I have not finished reading it but I am about halfways and I am loving it! It brings back memories from my childhood growing up in the border of Texas because I have such fond memories. This book talks about the little details in a Chicano's life that I thought only I knew about. I am a big fan of Erma Bombeck and the author (Burciaga) has a similar style except in Spanish. I highly recommend it!

Drink Cultura is a collection of mini-autobiographical essays (26 total) about life as a Chicano in El Paso, Texas. The author tells us about his personal life, and about his personal observations concerning Chicano culture. In "Pinatas" he writes a brief history about the Pinata, and how it has evolved since then. In "The Motherland" he writes about the term Chicano, and how the connotation attached has changed over time. "The Joy of Jalapenos" was a hysterical piece about the jalapeno, and the author's 'addiction' to the spicy chiles. He's poignant, insightful, and witty. The book is so funny I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occassion. Regardless of your own race, this book really hits your funny bone. If you're not Chicano/a, this is a good start towards learning about Chicano/a life, and if you are, you'll be able to relate to a lot of the stories. I highly recommend this book. c/s

Burciaga's very well written book brought many dormant memories to my husband and me. We, in many ways, lived the incidences he described in the book. It is an excellent book for many of us who also grew up during those times in "el chuko," and it is even a better history lesson to our children who never experienced the early chicano life. The vivid language and visions invoked in us the memory of the smells and the sights of that era which we will never see again.

Chock full of tidbits from everyday Chicano life. A very cool book full of cool info. A must for every Chicano or those who are interested in the Chicano life.

With Drink Cultura, Jose Antonio Burciaga joins the ranks of Tomas Rivera, Gloria Anzaldua, Ana Castillo and Denise Chavez, among others. Like them, Burciaga (w)rites about living within, between and sometimes outside of two cultures (5)--on the border of several marginal identities. This "limbo," as Burciaga calls it, of being "neither here nor there," however, does not come across as essentialist in his writing. Burciaga develops a multidimensional perspective that allows him to see things as funny, ironic, etc., rather than as a battle against hegemony. Like the many characters within the pages of Chicana/o fiction, in re(w)riting (his)tory, Burciaga transgresses boundaries and questions norms. In drawing from daily experience, Mesoamerican history, psychology, sociology, myths, tales, etc., Burciaga is able to construct a wittily engaging narrative that corresponds to his lived experience. By exploring the history of his culture(s) in this light, Burciaga is able to textualize the hybridity of the Chicano psyche--the Indianness, Hispanicity, Mexicanness,and Americanness; "the damnation and salvation,the celebration of it all" (5)