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Cindy Casares

Cindy Casares is the founding editor of Guanabee and a columnist for The Texas Observer.

Recent Articles

Approaching Peak Bitch on Television

TV is overrun with unflattering portrayals of women—where's the uproar?

Cindy CasaresApr 10, 2012
AP Photo

The new TV series GCB—originally titled Good Christian Bitches after the book of the same name—premiered last month on ABC. Don’t Trust the B–– in Apt. 23 will premiere on the same network April 11. Can you imagine a network using “the N word” in a show title? Don’t trust the N-word in Apt. 23. That won’t happen, but between 1998 and 2007, the use of the word “bitch,” on television tripled, from 431 uses on 103 prime-time episodes in 1998 to 1, 277 uses on 685 shows in 2007. I don’t have the figures for 2012, but I’d be willing to bet that this latest development means our culture is even more comfortable with the term.

Not Sweet Home Alabama

Civil rights leaders help undocumented immigrants fight against HB 56 in the state.

Cindy CasaresFeb 24, 2012
(AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Recently, Scott Douglas III, a civil-rights activist in Alabama and executive director of the Greater Birmingham Ministries, appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his involvement as a plaintiff in an American civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit against the state of Alabama. The case challenges the state's infamous HB 56 law, which imposes a litany of sanctions on undocumented immigrants. The law:

Caliente Comedy

Network television is ramping up diversity this season by headlining comedies with Latinos. 

Cindy CasaresFeb 14, 2012

This year is shaping up to be a breakout one for Latinos on network television. CBS’s launch of Rob, Rob Schneider’s show about a non-Latino who marries a Mexican American woman after knowing her for six weeks and then has to win over her family, is the first Latino family sitcom on network television since George Lopez was canceled in 2007. Rob premiered last month to 13.5 million viewers, giving CBS its best ratings in that time slot since 2010. It’s part of a trend of increasing Latino visibility on television.

Earth to Planet GOP

Cindy CasaresJan 18, 2012

Watching the Republican presidential primaries leaves me feeling kind of sorry for the candidates. In their attempts to appeal to minority voters, they’re like a group of Dungeons and Dragons buddies decorating their basement in hopes that the cheerleaders will show up. I’ve got news for you guys: You may get cheered on for telling poor people to shape up and calling Barack Obama the "food-stamp president" at GOP debates, but you’re sorely out of touch with the rest of us.

Bad Education

In Arizona, only the courts can save ethnic-studies programs in public schools.

Cindy CasaresJan 09, 2012

Arizona took a shot at the state's Latino residents last week after a judge ruled that Tucson’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) program violates ARS 15-112, a new Arizona law targeted at ethnic-studies programs in the state.

In response to the decision, state Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal announced that the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) must revise or drop its Mexican-American Studies program, appeal the decision, or face a 10 percent cut in state funding.

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