Hi, I’m Camilla And Some Of My Best Friends Are Latin
18 August 2008, 6:00 PM. By Kat Fernandez
Hi, I’m Camilla Rowan and I’m new here! I know Daniel only hired me as a contributing editor to keep affirmative action off his ass, but I’ll take what I can get in this cruel world of oppression against my people. Seriously though, I am very much looking forward to not being fired in the next month (please?) and y’all can help by not posting DIE, GRINGA under my articles!
A little about me: I was born and raised in La Cambridge, Massachusetts and I like to think of myself as an expert on Latin America since I’ve been to Chichen Itza once and I own a chinchilla, which is a kind of angry rat from Peru. I mean, if that doesn’t make me an expert, then I don’t know what does. I’ll be writing about travel, culture, internet trends and whatever I rummage out of Guanabee’s trash bin. Many thanks to the incredible staff for their warm welcome even though it’s officially only my first week and I’m a total n00bleta!
(30) 
Post Your Comment
Did you know you can now share a link, image or video?
Click to submit your own notas.
Hola Camilla!
I’d like to be the first to say that I don’t appreciate gringas just walking up in here and taking our jobs! :)
Thats it I guess. Cute chinchilla, it’s gonna make a cute winter cap!
Ciao
Fredo
Boy, this NAFTA thing is really getting outta hand, ese!
At least I’m HALF-Latin!
Nice ermine, though.
’sta luego,
“Call Me Mister” Escobar
Eres una chola muy guapa! XOXO
Um, yeah. I’m sorry you had to be born on the wrong side of the Charles. Which predictably compels you to have a rat for a pet. Which, no doubt, you’ve rescued from some academic animal research lab. On your way to hug a tree. While listening to Eva Cassidy. On your recycled bike. Is that tofu I smell?
In other words, welcome. Can’t wait to hang out and be Massholes together!
Let’s have cuy for dinner, bitches!
Much Love,
Gabriel
Are you serious? You hired a white girl? Isn’t Alex white enough? I am *seriously* never reading Guanabee again. I’m serious. Bye!
Camilla, welcome to the team! Everybody take out your pañales because you might ruin your undies. Camilla is one of the funniest writers I know.
I’m not so white when you turn the lights out, baby.
p.s. @Gabriel, that’s not a cuy, you savage!!
camilla good luck wish the best for you. love your chichilla.
anna
@camilla: Yes, but the only way to prove you’re an authority on Latin culture is to eat it.
Did I accidentally stumble on stuffwhitepeoplelike?
I dunno, is she lighter than a brown paper bag?
@ wha?: “White enough?” Good-bye and good riddance.
Welcome Camilla!
Welcome! I can’t wait to read all about chinchillas!
Nice! The sad thing is…you make me miss my chinchilla! :( R.I.P. Chilli!
Camilla,
While I am sure you’re a lovely person your arrival at GB makes me uneasy.
I specifically tune in to GB to read the opinions/ critiques of funny, brilliant, and always insightful women of color along with other facets of the Latino experience (Gay Latinos, Latinos raised in outside of the US, etc).
I often relate to Cindy and Alex’s interpretations of Latino culture as it unfolds across the world and even further their insights on gender roles and expectations of Latinas.
I don’t tune in to GB to check on the opinions of Ivy League educated liberal white women, there plenty of other places I can go for that.
@ Callejera, I think camilla’s articles thus far have been wonderful to read and do not deviate at all from the great reporting found on Guanabee. Although you seem to not agree with her skin colour, I do not see what this has to do with her ability as a journalist and a blogger. How can you pass judgment solely from her background? I will continue to happily read with a mind open to this fresh voice.
Good luck, Camilla!
All I can say is hot mama! Looking forward to reading more!
@ Charles Rubens
Who said anything about “skin colour”?
Do us all a favor and leave your intellectual huevera at the door.
Of course there are people who are not of color qualified to discuss issues of the marginalized, oppressed, and so on.
Agreed.
I live in Los Angeles, a place not three hours away from another country not to mention pockets full of various immigrants from every part of Latin America, and multiple generations of people of Latin American descent and yet what is reflected back at me through all forms of media (TV, news papers, blogs, magazines, etc.) remains, almost entirely, a monolith rooted in offensive stereotypes. It often makes no difference if there Latino participation in front or behind the proverbial camera. By and large Latinos have come to have to some degree of ownership over who and what we have been told we are.
And this is precisely why I have come to love GB so much. GB is rare to me–yes because it had a staff entirely of people of color but more importantly because each one of the staff members writes insightfully, critically, and thoughtfully as seen through their various lenses (gender, nationality, sexuality, etc) while utilizing a Latino sensibility similar to my own.
Really there are so few places that offer and open up the diversity, complexity, and provide a critical analysis of the Latino experience. Even more rare is a place made up of Latinos qualified to lead these dialogues. I thought this is what this blog was about? Perhaps I was confused or perhaps GB is moving towards a more lucrative (wider demographic) direction.
Now, in final attempt to expand your narrowness I’m going to repeat myself, my comment was solely meant to raise the point that thoughtful, critical people of color have such few places where they can fully and honestly articulate their thoughts without fear of brushing up against the boundaries of what constitutes “Latino,” what is or isn’t “Hispanic enough,” etc.
And now that I have clarified my position and hopefully you see that my comment was about the limited accesses afforded to voices of people of color and not racially motivated allow me to be very clear I remain apprehensive about Camilla joining the GB team.
judging by that picture, she looks darker than alex.. no? maybe it’s the lighting.. you’re ok by me.
Welcome Camilla.
oh and that rat of yours is gross.
Personally, I am happy that Camilla is here. So far I like what she’s written (if I’m identifying the posts correctly) and I dig her perspective.
But I do have to say it will be all kinds of awko-taco if she starts to make fun of Latinos like we do. I didn’t make the rules, but we all know the social mores regarding culture/race. Latinos making fun of other Latinos is funny. Other cultures/races making fun of Latinos could be considered racist.
This site is a lot of fun and many times I am laughing myself silly at the things only Latinos could know and write about. And I like that we make fun of ourselves here. It’s a funny, brilliant, Latin Schadenfreude.
However, if Camilla can be the only white person at the quinceañera and still hold her own, then she really is a Guanabee. And for that, I admire her spirit!
Um, yeah, yeah, whassup, nice ta meet ya…can I have your chincilla?
YES! I completely agree with everything Callejera said.
RU single?
@ callejero:
I do not see how Charles Rubens’s post was an attempt to be “intellectual.” I believe you said something about skin color when you mentioned “Ivy League educated liberal white women.” You have an interesting point and understand your perspective and see why Guanabee is special to you, but I think you should give this new staffer a chance. You may learn something.
I’m all for people getting to know about Latinos, that’s one more person on our side. Welcome to the Barrio, Camilla.
@Jeff Knight
All right.
Let’s do it:
I never said Charles Rubens was “attempting to be intellectual”; I was merely pleading with him to use some brainpower, not go for the quick reactionary impulse, and reduce our dialogue to a topical conversation about skin color because frankly I have no interest in that.
So here it is, again, isolated, for YOU:
“Do us all a favor and leave your intellectual huevera at the door.”
There it is, no accusation of intellectual attempt towards any one. If anything its kind of the opposite, in a loving mocking way of course.
As for your belief that I made a comment about “skin color,” allow me to redirect you to the context please focus on the capitalized word that prefaces what you quoted,
“I don’t tune in to GB to check on the OPINIONS of Ivy League educated liberal white women, there plenty of other places I can go for that.”
Ultimately what I value most from the media outlets I select are the diversity, depth, and scope of opinions. The opinions of Ivy League educated liberal white women are ubiquitous in contemporary media, while the work and commentary of liberal educated Latinas remains scant. So my question is, in this particular context, why continue to provide a platform for a voice that is abundantly represented in our culture?
Allow me to give you an example that might help. Suspend the thought that we are debating the access and prevalence of liberal White female writers vs. that of Latina writers. Lets look at film and the breath of truly amazing character allotted to “White actresses” vs. the anemic standard incarnations of roles for “Latina or Latina identified actresses”. Today, we have everything from the cute Natalie Portman, young serious starlet Ellen Page, to Gwyneth Paltrow, to Julianne Moore, to Jennifer Connelly, to Annett Benning all the way back and beyond to Judy Garland and Joan Crawford as representative of the scope and diversity of what constitutes “White femininity” on film. While “Latina actresses” have an anemic history that encompasses the works of Rita Moreno and Rita Hayworth who in there youth (where the bulk of the career of an actress typically happens regardless of race) were more often than not relegated to play some variation of a hyper sexual Mamacita or “Buenas Mujeres,” the submissive innocent females of no consequence. Imbedded in the films of yester year were the culturally informative seeds of what and who Latinas. Perhaps there is a slight growth of in character diversity today but for the most part roles for Latinas continue to reiterate our “caliente factor” or our “hard working ethic” (the virtuous women without faults). Now, let’s not dig up the one kind of decent film a Latina actress made that one time, along time ago, but instead examine the collectives bodies of work of Selma Hayek, J Lo, Jessica Alba, and company. Yep, it’s a world of hot women, lots of make up, maid uniforms, tanning agents and what have be lobotomies for everyone.
Cool, thanks for following me through that tangent and now lets go back to the debate at hand.
Just like the diversity for Latinas in terms of body type, look, character dimension and scope are just not there– not when you take the collectives works of white women and compare at least, neither does the diversity of printed opinions of Latinas exist in parallel form to the opinions of liberal white women. In fact I would argue that the Latina voice in print is even more severely restricted than our image on film because of preconceived notions about what Latinas think or don’t think about (Will or won’t read).
Again, I value this space because it presents a version of Latinas in print that is ridiculously difficult to find while the liberal white woman opinion comes to me in my edgy arts subscription magazines, and in most of my feminist paraphernalia which might as well be code for liberal white woman weekly, monthly, or whatever is the case. I’m not saying that I do not value these materials, because I do find interesting, creative, and/or novel things in these items, I am merely commenting on their ubiquitous nature.
Oh and who said anything about not giving “this new staffer a chance”? I have used the words “uneasy” and “apprehensive” and then proceeded to make my case as to why I feel this way given this particular context as I had come to understand it (Guanabee as a forum/ platform for contemporary Latino voices). Anyhow neither of my two words express a fixed position merely a cautious pause, which I have every right to feel and continue to stand by.
And I find your reduction of what is that I am attempting to voice mildly irritating.
@ Callejera
Eres tan rejerga como eres de hermosa!
Yes, you raise some interesting points as always but this Camilla is muy cute! And I love love her little ratita.
So when do I get to meet your fancy fancy boyfriend u been parading ’round town?
Shiori saw u two at The Standard. Did u get your drinks comped again? Something never change!
I hate all ya’ll smokin’ girls who can do that shit ;-)
Can’t believe u were so close to my house and didn’t invite. Bitch!
BTW Allen dice que he is very tall and handsome and has a yummy boy bubble butt. Is that right!! If it is…I hate u :p
Stop being such a stranger. We all miss u!
Hey, were u to wraped up being all intellectual to notice Jeff Knight totally gender fucked you? He called u “callejero.” That was funny.
@ Gil says
I’m so dropping by your office tomorrow towards the end of the work day (not calling or emailing you, so I hope you see this) and if I have to wait to see you I’m throwing a fit!
Lately its been more than a full day at work. The strategy meetings are far more consuming than I had anticipated but its all good. I’m ready to go hang with all of you boys!
BTW, Bubble Butt and I were at the Downtown LA Standard not the one near your home. Even so, I would have called you but we were on the rooftop bar in waterbed pods–need I say more.