Every Day is Magic: Ada Limón
In her 2015 collection, Bright Dead Things, a National Book Award finalist for poetry, Ada Limón writes of moving to Kentucky: “Confession: I did not want to live here.” It’s perhaps not a surprising sentiment coming from a coastally oriented person who was raised in Northern California, attended college in Seattle, and then spent over a decade in New York City.
But Limón and her husband, Lucas, have been in Lexington for seven years now and the effects of settling into this place are noticeable in her new book, The Carrying (Milkweed, Aug.). It’s a phenomenally lively and attentive collection replete with the trappings of living a little closer to nature. While Bright Dead Things is marked by a preponderance of light, such as images of fireflies and neon signs, The Carrying features numerous appearances by various trees, birds, and beetles. Limón also demonstrates a greater willingness to be explicit in naming colors, particularly green. “It’s crazy green, the whole book,” she says. “Lexington is the greenest place I’ve ever lived.” Similarly, where in Bright Dead Things, Limón tells a lot of stories and anecdotes, in The Carrying she is very present in her thoughts and experiences.
As it turns out, these shifts in focus have another, altogether unexpected source. While putting Bright Dead Things together, Limón was diagnosed with chronic vestibular neuronitis, which can cause bouts of vertigo. “If I’m really having vertigo, it’s pretty intense and I really have to focus,”
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Undocumented Student Program provides #UndocuBruins funds to students
The Undocumented Student Program provided $500 in financial aid for each of 19 undocumented students using crowdfunded money collected last quarter.
USP is using funds from the #UndocuBruins campaign to provide financial support for undocumented students, helping them renew their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, said Paolo Velasco, director of the Bruin Resource Center. The #UndocuBruins campaign, which was created by the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s General Representative 1 office and USP, raised approximately $16,000 last quarter to provide scholarships for undocumented students…
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News flash! The Oscars are still so white. Just take a look at the most excluded group
After the #OscarsSoWhite outcry, we’re seeing glimmers of hope in Hollywood — with black actors, writers and directors nominated in multiple categories this year. But when it comes to Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans, the Academy Awards still have a long way to go to flip the script.
Take a look at this chart. It’s a look at 90 years of Academy Award winners in the major categories. While representation takes many forms, for ease of comparison we looked at US Census data and compared that with representation in Hollywood films. And what you see is that even as African-Americans have fared better in recent years, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans are woefully underrepresented…
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Center for Mexican-American Studies creates home for students
As a first generation student from Laredo, Texas, Ilse Colchado felt out of place when she began her college journey. She felt underrepresented and lost — until she found her home at the Center for Mexican-American Studies.
The Hispanic population makes up 20 percent of UT’s student body, according to UT’s 2017–2018 Statistical Handbook. Colchado, Mexican-American studies and anthropology junior, said her transition was difficult because she came from an environment with a majority Hispanic population to an environment where she was in the minority.
“I didn’t feel represented as a brown student, and so I added Mexican-American studies after my first year,” Colchado said. “That was where I felt like I belonged on campus, especially with having professors of color who integrated their own stories of survival.”…
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50 years after the Walkouts, Los Angeles Latino students are still fighting for educational equity
Before there were Dreamers, thousands of young Latinos marched out of their East Los Angeles classrooms half a century ago for their right to be educated.
“I was never told I was college material or capable of aspiring for something better,” said Bobby Verdugo, one of the leaders of the 1968 Chicano student movement known as “Walkouts or Blowouts.”
“Dreamers are being marginalized today. They are being treated like they don’t belong here, like they are not wanted. That’s how we felt 50 years ago,” Verdugo said.
March 1 marks the 50th anniversary of what has been called the nation’s first major mass protest against racism by Mexican-Americans. More than 15,000 students from Roosevelt, Wilson, Garfield, Lincoln, and Belmont high schools walked out of their classrooms to challenge the inequalities in Los Angeles public schools. Fifty years later, their bold action has reaped educational gains for Latinos, but they haven’t come fast enough, advocates say…
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Young returnees start over in Mexico after growing up in U.S.
Even before recent raids by the Department of Homeland Security, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants have been deported annually. And those who grew up in the U.S. have found themselves living in what feels like a foreign country. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro talks to some young people who are starting over and feeling culture shock after having to leave the U.S…
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Data: Latinos in Iowa City faced worst US bias in home loans
IOWA CTY, Iowa (AP) — Latinos seeking conventional home loans in the Iowa City area were nearly four times more likely to be denied than non-Hispanic whites in 2016, the widest disparity in the nation, a new analysis of federal data shows.
The findings suggest racial inequality in the mortgage market in the progressive college town and appear driven by a high rate of rejections for prospective Latino borrowers reported by a single financial institution, Hills Bank, according to the analysis of millions of records by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. The analysis controlled for factors such as applicants’ income, loan amount, neighborhood that could affect the likelihood of denial…
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Smithsonian Latino Center Accepting Applications for 2018 Young Ambassadors Program
The Smithsonian Latino Center is now accepting applications for the 2018 Young Ambassadors Program June 24 through Aug. 2. The application deadline April 9. The Young Ambassadors Program is a national program for graduating high school seniors that fosters the next generation of Latino leaders in the arts, sciences and humanities through an intensive training and internship program at the Smithsonian. The program receives major and continued support from Ford Motor Company Fund…
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There Are Literally No Asians Or Latinos Nominated For Acting Oscars This Year
Headlines touted the nominations as “diverse,” as several black actors received well-deserved recognition. However, no Asian or Latino actors snagged any nods for their acting this year.
Many actors of color and social media users, including Gina Rodriguez and Constance Wu, were not pleased, and called the Academy out on its lack of representation.
This will be the sixth consecutive year that no Latino actors have been nominated for an acting Academy Award. Last year, Dev Patel was the sole actor of Asian descent who received a nod..
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Colleges Scramble to Help Undocumented Students as Hopes for a DACA Deal Fade
On Wednesday afternoon, after House Democrats met with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, the spirit in Washington was one of stalemate. There was little progress toward a bipartisan deal to protect the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which prevents the deportation of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, in exchange for Democrats’ votes to prevent a government shutdown by January 19.
But across the country in Sacramento, at a press conference held by University of California system president Janet Napolitano, the mood was one of urgency. Flanked by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and two other UC system officials, she urged the system’s 4,000 undocumented students to hurry to take advantage of the recent court ruling that reinstated DACA renewals after the Trump administration ended them last fall—a ruling the Trump administration has already asked the Supreme Court to review. The University of California is waging its own court battle to protect DACA: In September, Napolitano—who carried out the initial implementation of DACA as President Barack Obama’s homeland security secretary—filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after the administration announced the program’s repeal…
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Latino Artists Are Taking Over the Stage at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards
Mark your calendars everyone! Latino celebrities are taking over the stage this year at the Grammys which include performances from Cardi B, Bruno Mars, Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and more.
On Wednesday, the Grammys list announced the list of artists and Latino were found everywhere. Looks like music’s biggest night will have some extra flavor this year with tunes like Cardi’s Bodak Yellow, Fonsi summer hit Despacito, along with the funky R&B vibes of 24K Magic…
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Among U.S. Latinos, the internet now rivals television as a source for news
On a typical weekday, three-quarters of U.S. Latinos get their news from internet sources, nearly equal to the share who do so from television, according to a 2016 survey of Latino adults by Pew Research Center…
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Identity and Race: Millions of Latinos No Longer Think Of Themselves As Latinos, Study Finds
There are some 43 million people in the United States with Hispanic ancestry. Almost 90 percent of them identify as Latino or Hispanic, making it the nation’s second-largest racial or ethnic group.
But according to an analysis of two national surveys by the Pew Research Center, around 11 percent of all people with Hispanic ancestry—5 million people—don’t identify as either…
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Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago
Even after decades of affirmative action, black and Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges and universities than they were 35 years ago, according to a New York Times analysis.
The share of black freshmen at elite schools is virtually unchanged since 1980. Black students are just 6 percent of freshmen but 15 percent of college-age Americans, as the chart below shows…
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The Jewish-American Writer Who Transformed U.S.-Mexico Relations
The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles is currently highlighting the life and writing of Anita Brenner, a Mexican-born, American Jewish writer. Brenner was born in 1905 in Aguascalientes, and spent the majority of her life writing about the art and culture of Mexico, trying to bridge the gap between the U.S. and Mexico…
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Mexican Views of the U.S. Turn Sharply Negative
Widespread dissatisfaction with economy and political leaders
By Margaret Vice and Hanyu Chwe
More Mexicans view the United States unfavorably than at any time in the past decade and a half. Nearly two-thirds of Mexicans (65%) express a negative opinion of the U.S., more than double the share two years ago (29%). Mexicans’ opinions about the economic relationship with their country’s northern neighbor are also deteriorating, though less dramatically: 55% now say economic ties between Mexico and the U.S. are good for their country, down from 70% in 2013…
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Fact Tank – Our Lives in Numbers September 18, 2017 How the U.S. Hispanic population is changing
The Latino population in the United States has reached nearly 58 million in 2016 and has been the principal driver of U.S. demographic growth, accounting for half of national population growth since 2000. The Latino population itself has evolved during this time, with changes in immigration, education and other characteristics.
This summary draws on a statistical portrait of the nation’s Hispanic population, which includes trends going back to 1980. Here are some key facts about the nation’s Latino population…
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VIDEO: 5 Oakland police officers of Mexican heritage recognized for outstanding service in the community
OAKLAND (KRON) — Five police officers of Mexican heritage were recognized Thursday for their outstanding service in the community.
The ceremony took place at the consulate general office of Mexico in San Francisco.
The five officers were chosen by their peers in the Oakland Police Department.
The consulate general says this is the first time Mexican officers from the Bay Area received honorary recognition from his office…
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Aspen Ideas Festival: Being Latino in America today
There are 55 million Hispanics in the United States, and demographers expect Latinos will account for half of America’s population growth, and a substantial amount of economic growth as well.
Former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros says Latinos are the biggest story in the whole multicultural evolution of the United States — despite their exclusion from most history books, which tend to look only at white and black issues.
“Over the last 50 years we have made immense progress,” Cisneros said during a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival, June 29, 2017. “(People) understand our economic contribution, that mainstream economics idea. This country’s future workforce, its health of its social security system, its entrepreneurial new business formations is all about the role Latinos are going to play.”…
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Facebook Researchers Shut Down Artificial Intelligence That Created It’s Own Language
Facebook has recently developed a new artificial intelligence (AI), and it has since created its own language using code words to communicate more efficiently. Researchers promptly shut the system down over concerns that they might lose control over the A.I.
This isn’t the first time AIs have diverged from their training in the English language to develop their own, more efficient language. While the resulting phrases from this condensed method of communication sound like gibberish to the human ear, they do in fact make semantic sense when interpreted by AI agents…
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Culturally-relevant pedagogy critical to meet needs of today’s students
Educators must work to find better ways of building culturally relevant curriculum and reconfiguring their approach to pedagogy as they work with students, says Dr. Christopher Emdin, an associate professor with Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
During a presentation at the school this week, Emdin cautioned that incorporating cultural insight into teaching could be problematic, particularly when educators utilize their own biased preconceptions of how they think culture can manifest in classroom instruction.
