informed because each pathogen is different. i do believe we live in microbial world and disease is part of our relationship to nature and the idea that we should live in some kind of germ-free environment and never have this is really anomolus. you know, we had the first antibiotics in 1940's, by 1980's we started having hiv and lyme disease. so that period of time when we had, you know, this sense, this is a period of time when i grew up and i'm the daughter of two doctors so i grew up with that feeling, infection, like who cares,ly take care of antibiotics, it's simple, i don't need to live with that, that's not going to be part of my life, maybe i was wrong. we are going to adjust to a new

reality, stop working one by one which is already happening. >> thank you so much. >> thank you all. [applause] >> thank you so sonia. if you don't mind folding your own chair and you can get your book signed up here and books are for sale right at the front. thanks. [inaudible conversations] >> when i tune into it on the weekend, usually is authors sharing their new releases. >> watching the nonfiction authors on book tv is the best television for serious readers, on c-span they can have a longer conversation and into the

subject. >> book tv weekends, they bring you author after author that spotlight the work of fascinating people. >> i love book tv and i'm a c-span fan. >> you're watching book tv on c-span2. this week we are in anaheim california with the help of our local cable partner time warner, next gustavo arellano, author about ask a mexican, talked about stereotypes he witnessed as a latino american. >> the idea for ask a mexican actually came from my editor at the oc weekly at the time. he would always ask me questions about mexicans because i was the only latino on staff, i was the only person of color for that matter and i always answered them, silly stuff, what does this word mean in spanish, why do mexicans like burritos and tacos so much. there's a lot of ignorant people

about mexicans and we should make fun of them, we should make a column about ask a mexican, people will send you questions about mexicans and you're able to answer them. i wasn't offended by the idea about ask a mexican, i didn't want to do it at first because i didn't think anybody would care. in journalism you want to do stories that people will care about. i thought the idea, who is going to read an advise column about mexicans. he kept insisting and we needed to fill in a space, okay, fine, i will go back. he said, it's only going to be one time, totally jokey, not true at all, so i thought to to myself, what could be the dumbest question, he had asked it to me before, i go back and since it's supposed to be advise column, we have to start off with dear mexican, why do

mexicans call white people gringo, gabacho being a slightly word. the only gringos, mexicans call gringos gabachos. whatever, i can standby this. people went absolutely nuts for it. some people loved it and some people hated it. at the very bottom of the column since it was a joke, hey, you have a spicey question about mexicans, ask me, i'm the mexican and i put my personal e-mail. people started sending in questions immediately. what part of illegal mexicans don't understand, is it true that prescott bush stole the head of pancho villa. what's the the history of tortillas? whatever you can possibly

imagine from g-rated to x-rated. people continue to ask me questions ant them. to me the funniest one is why are mexicans always so damn happy. i could see them packed 15 to a truck and they're laughing, busting each other's balls all of that, why is it? questions like that how can you ever forget them? america more than 150 years after we took over the american southwest from méxico we are still obsessed with mexicans, mexicans are still a mystery, you could either cry about it and say we are misunderstood or try to exam where that's coming from and answer people's questions. misconceptions about mexicans have been around in the united states for 150 years, where do you want to start, we are criminals, the boy become gang members, the girls end up dropping out to become pregnant, we don't care about education, we are catholic, we are all

superbrown skin, that we all hate white people, puerto ricans, mexicans hate everyone except the most mexicans themselves. some are based on stereotypes, my job is to do research, if people say mexicans like to drink and drive, let's look at the dui rates, mexicans are more prone to criminality than other groups, let's look at the fbi stat itselfics through the bureau of justice, so what i try to do is in my column find the stats and give the serious answer and give but you have to liven it up with human or and cuss words. i love academia but they suffer from having no humor.

you come from the right wing. antiamerican, antiwhite column. you have criticisms from the left, this is an antimexican column, you're demeaning a very serious subject which is the treatment of mexicans right now in the united states. some people think it's not funny, all right, fine, some people say it's not racist enough against mexicans, it's not racist enough but to me it tells the column is doing its duty. it was mexicans specially we are the monkey in american relationships, historically, black and white, maybe asian, of course indians are all on reservations, who cares about them and then you get mexicans, americans have never been able to figure out, do we hate them more than blacks, are they lower or higher than blacks and a lot of thing have been written about. the great oral historian he once

interviewed a mexican-american in chicago, we were the buffered zone between ethic whites of chicago and the african americans, we weren't as racist as the white folks. the white people can't relate but we were kind of in the middle. it's interesting now because what's happening mexicans moving into the south, republican politicians they will go to african americans, we haven't liked you for almost 200 years but now we have this new group, we will like you now because let's unit in hating these mexicans, so those questions are the type of questions that i take on and what i always say specially when it comes the race relations in the country, a game of maneuvering and using the newest people to determine onize and let's get over that. we could say, okay, this is what we have to do, we have more similarities than differences, let's unit against true racism

or true discrimination. humor has been, i always tell people that satire to make bigger issues at hand, part of the united states since before 1776 for that matter. people don't like being lectured at, people don't want to read boring academic texts, they want to laugh, they want to get outraged and they want to laugh. it's an easier pill to swallow, no one wants to be reprimanded, screw you, you got us with that, that was really funny. i've gotten that before. i don't agree with your politics at all but you're really funny and i like reading it and you know for me it's all incremental victories, if you're at least reading what i have to say that means you are paying attention

to what you have to say which is far better where the country is not listening to the other's point of view. because it's coming from this person or this political point of view it's not even worthwhile of me to even pay attention to it and i think that's just toxic to our country. there will always be opportunity to bring humor into the most racist, one time somebody asked me why do mexican men like to rape so much, it's absolutely nuts, i remember reading it, when you get those types of questions they are trying to go to you and yelling, yelling doesn't do anything, so i remember i got the question, okay, okay, you think you're really clever, let's play ball, i ended up debunking that question, i made -- just a real quick in american history men of color have always been demonized for hypersexuality but the stats just don't merit such austere

owe type. white men are twice more likely to commit sexual assaults than mexican men but you never hear that discussed in the media because it's the truth. demogogs like stereotypes but that's what i did. i didn't get flustered by that horrific question. i was able to answer and cuss at him in many wonderful words. i always get the last word. that's the question in ask a mexican. people want me to get angry. mexicans talking trash on african americans, i am not an apologist. i have gotten, if anything when i get rakest i let them have it more than i do racist white people, you get it, you're racist, but us mexicans we can't

cry discrimination if we are doing the same crap that other people are doing to us. what i learned from doing in ask mexican column, the american people, there's a lot of racism out there, there is, but not as much as you would think which gladdens me. there's a lot of questions, though, i get it. if you lived in minnesota -- north dakota your entire life. all of the mexicans or neighbors and living on your street, you are going to have questions but a lot of the questions -- i divide them with innocent ignorant. what part of legal don't mexicans understand, why are mexicans so drunk, that's based on someone's biases that really they should get over, but then you have questions that are innocent, innocently ignorance, why do so much mexican music, that type of music the one with the tuba is called banda sinaloa

enze. i'm not going to expect the average american to know that so why would i call somebody racist. it's innocently ignorant. at that point my job is to educate those folks and i think a lot of americans are like that. they are innocently ignorant of a lot of the questions that they have that they give to me. what i was want people mexicans are just like americans request not more so, the stereotype mexicans not being previous generation of immigrant it's completely overgrown. méxico is right across the border from the united states but in this day and age, even if you're from thailand you get a plane ride, you can keep up with all your culture, mexicans have

always been assimilating to this country, the line that i use, mexicans are americans and mexicanses are assimilating into the united states, it's up to the united states to want to acknowledge that assimilation. learn and if you do have questions about mexicans, it is a great experience. it's a great book for you to take on road trips and to take on the airplane. i don't care how you read it. ..

the first sentence of the book is the history of american search tennis him as a betrayal. >> will discuss the history of american politics and why the right went wrong. conservatism from from goldwater to the tea party and beyond. coming up sunday, in-depth live with author and investigative journal jane mayer, her most recent book is dark money, the hidden history of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right. join the conversation and will be taking your phone calls, tweets and and e-mails from noon until 3:00 p.m. eastern.