Dear Friends,

This is an opportunity to have a major impact in a very public way on
popular opinion. I hope that you will take a moment to add your name
and send this to other friends and colleagues who might want to make
their voices heard on this critical issue. Bobbi

Subject: Vanity Fair against Latinos
This petition is to request a formal apology from Vanity Fair and Dame
Edna for the offensive article regarding Latinos and the Spanish
language
which appears in the February 2003 issue of Vanity Fair. In the
meantime,
please boycott Vanity Fair magazine, and urge others to do the same. If
you are
offended by the word-for-word transcription below, please copy (rather
than forward) this email in a new message, sign it at the end of the
list,
and send it to all of the people whom you know. If you receive this list

with 100 names signed, please send it to the Editor at vfmail@...

Thank you!



Excerpt, Vanity Fair (February 2003), p. 116, Ask Dame Edna:

Dear Dame:
Edna, I would very much like to learn a foreign language, preferably
French or Italian, but every time I mention this, people tell me to
learn
Spanish instead. They say, "Everyone is going to be speaking Spanish in
10
years. George W. Bush speaks Spanish." Could this be true? Are we all
going to
have to speak Spanish?
Torn Romantic, Palm Beach


Dear Torn:
Forget Spanish. There's nothing in that language worth reading except
Don Quixote, and a quick listen to the CD of Man of La Mancha will take
care
of that. There was a poet named Garcia Lorca, but I'd leave him on the
intellectual back burner if I were you. As for everyone's speaking it,
what twaddle! Who speaks it that you are really desperate to talk to?
The
help? Your leaf blower? Study French or German, where there are at least

a few
books worth reading, or, if you're American, try English.

Dame Edna



Petition Letter Requesting Apology:

Dear Editor,

I was infuriated at Dame Edna's response to Torn Romantic, Palm Beach
(Vanity Fair, February 2003). Dame Edna could have chosen any number of
amusing responses; however, she responded using cheap, two-dimensional
stereotypes of Latinos and Latin Americans, revealing not only her
racism but also her profound ignorance of who we are.

We are not just 'the help' and the 'leaf blowers'. We are architects and

activists, journalists and doctors, governors and athletes, scientists
and business people. We are Nobel Prize Winners and Rhodes Scholars. We
speak Spanish, but we also speak fluent English, and many of us speak
other
languages as well. As of last week, we are officially the largest
minority
population in the United States at 37 million and 13% of the population.

Without us, the economy of this nation and the Americas, and
consequently
the world, would come to a complete standstill. If Dame Edna were even
remotely cultured or educated, she would have read and lost herself in
the exquisite writings of Nobel prize winners Octavio Paz, Gabriel
Garcia-Marquez, and Pablo Neruda. She would know that Sor Juana Inez de
la Cruz was one of the first feminists and poets in the Americas. She
would admire Isabel Allende and Sandra Cisneros for their passionate
prose and vibrant spirits. And of course, if it had not been for us, the

world would not know chocolate! And everyone knows life would not be
worth
living without chocolate.
Finally, I would like to point out that Dame Edna would have NEVER
written such blatantly offensive material about African-Americans or
Jews, for
obvious reasons. It seems that Dame Edna AND the Editors of Vanity Fair
believe that Latinos and Latin Americans cannot read, and even if we
could, we would never be Vanity Fair readers. For the life of me, I
still
cannot figure out why you chose to feature Salma Hayek on the cover and
in an
article celebrating her success immediately following such an offensive
piece.

I demand an apology in print in the next issue of Vanity Fair from the
Editors and from Dame Edna. In the meantime, I will be mobilizing
everyone I know to boycott and protest Vanity Fair.

By the way, I am a 31-year old Mexican-American woman, with three Ivy
League degrees, working in New York City at a major firm. I sure as hell

am NOT
the leaf blower or the help, and I think all of you need to go to
college.

Wendy Maldonado



1. Wendy Maldonado, Jackson Heights, NY
2. Jasmine J. Friedman, New York, NY
3. Angelique Jewell, New York, NY
4. Paula Cserei, Houston, TX
5. Monica Cardenas, Houston, TX
6. Denise de la Cruz; Houston, TX
7. Ana Aguirre, Houston, TX
8. Elisa Mendez, Fort Lee, NJ
9. Elizabeth Vidal, Orlando, FL
10. Mirta Fernandez, WNY, NJ
11. Jessica Feria, North Bergen, NJ
12. Jeannie Feria, North Bergen, NJ
13. Barbara Perez, North Bergen. NJ
14. Angel Perez, North Bergen, NJ
15. Angelina Deleon, Flemington, NJ
16. Rolando Deleon, Flemington, NJ
17. Nilo Calichs, North Bergen, NJ
18. Alicia Calichs, North Bergen, NJ
19. Casey Perez, North Bergen, NJ
20. Dean Perez, North Bergen, NJ
21. Myrta Gonzalez, Miami, FL
22. Ramiro Gonzalez, Miami, FL
23. Liz Martinez, Miami, FL.
24. Lisa Garcia, Miami, FL.
25. Zobeida Perez, Miami FL
26. Darlene Muniz, Miami, FL.
27. Julie Muniz-Gomez, Miami, FL.
28. Marisol Rodriguez, Miami, FL
29. Ileana Monteagudo, Miami, FL.
30. Lineda Paz, Miami, FL.
31. Yamilka Villalba, Miami, FL.
32. Alina Herrera Miami, FL.
33. Darlene Muniz Miami, FL.
34. Laura Rivera Miami, FL.
35. Lourdes Balepogi Miami, FL.
36. Jenny Esquijarosa Miami, FL. (Cuban-American)
37. Jossie Esquijarosa Miami, FL. (Cuban-American)
38. Angel Esquijarosa Miami, FL. (Cuban-American)
39. Jason P. Esquijarosa Miami, FL. (Cuban-American)
40. Robert R. Esquijarosa Miami, FL. (Cuban-American)
41. Cristin Aguilera Miami, GL
42. Davina Aryeh Washington,DC
43. Sylvia L. Connors Greenwich, CT
44. Daniella Peters Greenwich, CT
45. Ingrid M. Hess, Darien, CT
46. Leticia Fonseca de Arias . Panama, Rep. of Panama
47. Doris Miranda de Aleman, Panama, Rep. of Panama
48. Cristina Cardoze, New York, NY
49. Claudia Quintero, New York, NY
50. Analisa Arcacha, Miami, FL
51. Dunia Arsuaga, Miami, FL
52. Alexis Anderson, Miami FL (Mexicana/Salvadoraiña/Americana)
53. Kristina Mariscal, CA
54. Jesse S Navarrette, New Mexico.
55. JoAnn Samaniego, Odessa, TX,
56. Lorie DeAnda, Austin, TX.
57. Christine Buitron, Austin TX
58. Sal Buitron, Austin TX
59. Renee Dehoyoz, San Marcos TX
60. JoAnn S. Austin TX
61. Juanita Rivas, Austin, TX
62. Liliana Solis-Cota, San Diego, CA.
63. m. solis, uvalde, tx.
64. Larissa Santos, Baltimore, MD
65. Erica Benavides Garcia, Laredo, TX
66. Sandi Duggan, Rockville, MD
67. Lucia Bustamante, San Antonio, TX
68. Sylvia Partida, San Antonio, TX
69. Bobbi Ryder