Alex Perez is an aspiring writer living with his girlfriend Ramona, who feeds him, washes and irons his clothes, and gives him nice and useful gifts. All that is expected of him in return is to satisfy her unquenchable sexual urges. Her mother Charlene is paying RamonaÍs bills until she graduates from college, and she thinks Alex is a free loader. HeÍs horrified when Charlene gives him an ultimatum: ñYou either marry her or I wonÍt put out another dime.î Quick thinker that he is, Alex negotiates a dowry: CharleneÍs Mercedes Benz convertible and an all-expense-paid road trip to Panama so he can marry Ramona in the presence of his beloved mother. Soon the deal is sealed and Alex finds himself headed down the Pan American Highway with his fianc?e and„much to his dismay„his future mother-in-law. Armed with maps and an assortment of emergency rations, Alex is determined to postpone their arrival in Panama and his impending nuptials. The unlikely trio has just crossed the border when two Mexican street urchins, Junior (Jaime Buffet, Jr.) and his brother Raul, join the group. And before they know it, AlexÍs delaying tactics lead the motley crew into a series of dodgy and often perilous situations frequently involving pistol-waving bandits and corrupt government officials. But itÍs their efforts to free CharleneÍs lover„a defrocked Guatemalan priest„from jail that leads to an even more twisted turn of events! Their travels through Mexico, Belize and Guatemala introduce them to a slew of colorful characters, including a drunken boat captain and his blind first mate, and a Guatemalan police officer, who owns several whorehouses. Featuring a roguish protagonist with a distinct, humorous voice, Cut & Run: The Misadventures of Alex Perez is a satirical take on the clash of cultures between north and south of the U.S. border.

This picaresque novel whisks the reader on a sex and scam-filled adventure down the Pan American Highway

What do 'bimbo,' 'glitch,' 'savvy,' and 'shtick' all have in common? They are all expressions used in informal American English that have been taken from other languages. This pioneering book provides a comprehensive description of borrowings in informal American English, based on a large database of citations from thousands of contemporary sources, including the press, film, and TV. It presents the United States as a linguistic 'melting pot,' with words from a diverse range of languages now frequently appearing in the lexicon. It examines these borrowings from various perspectives, including discussions of terms, donors, types, changes, functions, and themes. It also features an alphabetical glossary of 1,200 representative expressions, defined and illustrated by 5,500 usage examples, providing an insightful and practical resource for readers. Combining scholarship with readability, this book is a fascinating storehouse of information for students and researchers in linguistics as well as anyone interested in lexical variation in contemporary English.

This haunting collection of eleven stories grounded in Arizona reveals the varied lives of Mexican and Mexican-American protagonists.

The Brick People is an historical novel that traces the growth of California from the nineteenth to the twentieth century by following the development of the Simons Brick Factory. The bricks that laid the foundation of modern California were manufactured by the people that ventured from Central Mexico to stoke the furnaces of industry. With an attention to historical reality blended with myth and legend, Morales recounts the epic struggle of a people who forge their destiny, along with CaliforniaÍs. In this fictional story rooted in factual history, two families are pitted against each other: the powerful Simons and the proud Revueltas clan. The Brick People provides an authentic portrayal of the history of California and those who built it.

"Walking underground" for the first time in his life, Juan Marcos Villalobos, a freshly arrived migrant to New York City, offers his seat to a woman standing on the subway. Though his English isn't up to her rude reply, he quickly realizes that good manners in Nueva York are quite different than in Puerto Rico! Juan Marcos is eager to continue his studies in the United States and rents a room from family friends living in El Barrio, or Spanish Harlem. Soon, he has a job wrapping packages at a department store that pays as much as he made teaching high school at home. As he interacts with the Puerto Rican community in New York, he witnesses the problems his compatriots encounter, including discrimination, inadequate housing, jobs and wages. Despite these problems, friendships and romances bloom and rivalries surface, leading to betrayal and even attempted murder! Originally published in 1951 as Tropico en Manhattan, it was the first novel to focus on the postwar influx of Puerto Ricans to New York. Cotto-Thorner's use of code-switching, or "Spanglish," reflects the characters' bicultural reality and makes the novel a forerunner of Nuyorican writing and contemporary Latino literature. This new bilingual edition contains a first-ever English translation by J. Bret Maney that artfully captures the style and spirit of the original Spanish. The novel's exploration of class, race and gender"¬‚¬"while demonstrating the community's resilience and cultural pride"¬‚¬"ensures its relevance today.