SPILLING THE BEANS by Jose Antonio...

SPILLING THE BEANS by Jose Antonio Burciaga (Joshua Odell Editions: $12.95; 215 pp., paperback original). In these often irreverent essays about contemporary Chicano life, Jose Burciaga comments, “ . . . putting incongruous things together, things that don’t necessarily go together, can be funny. Mexican culture and Anglo-American culture have as many incongruities between them as commonalities.” Burciaga explores these incongruities in lively, informal discussions of the origins of the Margarita, the use and abuse of Spanish place-names in California and his experiences as a mural artist and as one of the founders of the comedy group Culture Clash.