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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From the archives: UCSB Library showcases community art collection
“An exhibit of groundbreaking prints dating back to the inception of California’s Chicano Civil Rights Movement opens on Oct. 25 at UC Santa Barbara Library.
The event, “Cultura Cura: 50 Years of Self Help Graphics in East LA,” highlights the library’s Special Research Collections extensive archive of art, records and related ephemera from Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG), an intergenerational Los Angeles-based nonprofit that has been facilitating and promoting printmaking and other art media by Chicano/a, Latinx and other BIPOC artists since 1970. SHG was founded by artists Carlos Bueno, Antonio Ibañez, Frank Hernandez and Sister Karen Boccalero…”
Gene Block and administrators discuss equity and diversity, campus expansion and more
“…The university has also increased diversity throughout Block’s tenure, but there is still a long way to go, he said. In 2008 – the first incoming class Block oversaw as chancellor – Black students made up 5% of the incoming class of freshmen, with Chicano/Latino students making up 16% and Native American students less than 1%. The fall 2022 incoming class was made up of 8% Black students, 22% Hispanic students and 1% Native students…”
First-generation students discuss experiences, resources at UCLA
“There’s just a lot of fear of reaching out or asking a ‘dumb question,’” said Williams, who studies at the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies and taught a university studies class geared toward first-generation students. “It’s just that lack of confidence because you haven’t had these experiences or know anyone that’s had these experiences.”
First-generation students can also feel a lack of belonging compared to other students depending on their socioeconomic background.
According to the Brookings Institution, about 51% of students from low-income families go to college compared to about 89% of students from well-off families…”
https://dailybruin.com/2023/09/21/first-generation-students-discuss-experiences-resources-at-ucla
Opinion | Stepping into the world of investigative journalism as a Mexican American reporter came with challenges, but also many rewards
“I was destined to toil in the soil — even if my 10-year-old self would have rejected the idea. As a kid, I was determined to escape after-school and weekend weeding and raking alongside my father, a gardener who landscaped homes in Santa Barbara, California, where I was born and raised.
“Study and go to college,” my no-nonsense mom would say whenever I complained about getting up at dawn on Saturdays to work.
Mom worked as a housekeeper, and my sisters and I were expected to pitch in on both of my parents’ jobs. All I wanted was to bury my head in books. My favorite teacher, years later, recalled how he’d arrive at school in the morning to find my fifth-grade self patiently sitting outside the library waiting to check out another pile of books…”
Meet Joe Molina
“For Joe Molina, role models matter. The second-year MBA student was raised early on by a single mom on the outskirts of San Diego, sandwiched between the beach and the desert. When he was 7, his mom married his stepdad, a Navy SEAL. The family rode dune buggies and camped together in the desert. “My stepdad kind of saved the family,” he says. “He took in two kids and really taught me what kind of father I should be.” Molina joined the military right out of high school, became a decorated Navy SEAL like his stepfather, got married, and had a daughter. At 32 and 27, respectively, he and his wife, Stephanie, enrolled at the University of San Diego, becoming first-generation college graduates…”
First-generation graduate Anabel Rocha Ambrosio builds a better life with education as the foundation
“In early January of 2004, Anabel Rocha Ambrosio moved to the U.S. with her parents and both sets of grandparents. She was two-and-a-half years old at the time, and has no memory of her first home in Tijuana, Mexico. Like many immigrants, the family was seeking a better life, especially for young Anabel…”
Living and learning in a bilingual world The World
“English has long been the lingua franca of US higher education. But in a country where 40 million people speak Spanish, is it time to think more bilingually? WLRN’s Elisa Baena visits educators who argue that teaching only in English is excluding talent that the US needs.”
https://theworld.org/media/2023-06-19/living-and-learning-bilingual-world
The Association of Mexican American Educators is looking for sponsors to refurbish the Cesar Chavez Native Garden in Nipomo
“NIPOMO, Calif. — The Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE) is holding a meeting today at the Cesar Chavez Native Garden in Nipomo in hopes of gathering resources to refurbish the park and hiking trail.
The AMAE is a state-wide organization that helps students receive scholarships to further their education.
The AMAE and many others used the San Luis Obispo County park for parent meetings and family picnics. Unfortunately, it has been unavailable since the pandemic…”
Las Cafeteras Presented By ¡Viva el Arte!
“Born and raised East of the Los Angeles River, Las Cafeteras are a sonic explosion of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats, and powerful rhymes that document stories of a community seeking to “build a world where many worlds fit.” This dynamic group transcends genres from Afro-Mexican to Americana, from Soul to Son Jarocho, from Roots to Rock and Hip Hop. The use of traditional instrumentation like the eight string jarana, four string requinto, quijada (donkey jawbone), and tarima (wooden platform) produce their unique and electrifying sound…”
Mexican American to Graduate USM with the Highest Honors
“Meet Cheyla Muñoz Ramos, a Mexican American student who served as the Presidential Standard Bearer at The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) Spring 2023 Commencement. Standard bearer is considered the highest honor bestowed upon a student during Commencement, as the selection is based on academic achievement, leadership, and campus involvement. Ramos finished with the highest grade point average of all USM graduation candidates.
Munoz graduated with a double major in International Studies and French through USM’s Honors College. Originally born in Minnesota to Mexican American parents, she spent most of her childhood and high school years in Veracruz, Mexico. She moved to the U.S. about seven years ago to attend high school in Pelahatchie, Miss…”
https://www.usm.edu/news/2023/release/cheyla-munoz-ramos.php
Graduating Electrical and Computer Engineering Major Receives the USC Viterbi Community Impact Award
“…Now, Rodriguez, an electrical and computer engineering major in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is being recognized for his community-driven leadership. He’s the 2023 recipient of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Community Impact Award, which recognizes the student who has provided the highest quality service to the Viterbi School and gone above and beyond their area of responsibility within a student organization…”
Student Mariah Hernandez spotlights strong Latina characters in directorial debut
“Mariah Hernandez is embracing unconventional forms of self-love in her upcoming film, “Self-Love, Mija!”
The fourth-year English student and member of UCLA’s Latine Film and Theatre Association made her film directorial debut exploring young womanhood and the significance of friendship in one’s healing journey, Hernandez said. Entering UCLA without prior film experience, Hernandez said LFTA presented her with the opportunity to delve into an art form she had been interested in but never explored. Beginning primarily as a writer, she said LFTA provided her with the encouragement she needed to challenge herself in a larger, directorial role…”
UCLA professor emeritus Judith Baca receives 2021 National Medal of Arts
“…Among her many works, Baca created “La Memoria de la Tierra: UCLA,” a mural displayed outside of Ackerman Union highlighting the presence of the Native American communities where UCLA was founded. The mural, which was unveiled last year, showcases the original Los Angeles River and its original peoples, highlights influential members of the UCLA community and displays a future in which the university coexists with and recognizes the Native land…”
Unfolding Histories Artist Sandy Rodriguez illuminates forgotten pasts of the Central Coast
“…Through the work, Rodriguez draws attention to a largely forgotten piece of local history: The Chumash Revolt of 1824. That year, the native peoples of this region rebelled against the Spanish and Mexican colonizers who controlled the area…”
Chicano/a studies chair Aída Hurtado named a fellow of American Education Research Association
“…Hurtado is among 24 individuals named to the 2023 AERA Fellows Program which honors scholars for their exceptional contributions to education research. Her work has focused on intersectional feminisms, particularly the effects of gender on educational success. In a novel way, she has looked at educational achievement with a focus on Latinas and Chicanas, ultimately disproving the idea that traditional Latino families just want their children to get married and have more children…”
Student Jasmine Gomez sells designed Slayed Sets to accessorize nails
“Jasmine Gomez’s Slayed Sets is nailing what it means to be a small business.
In August 2021, the fourth-year Chicana and Chicano studies and education and social transformation student launched Slayed Sets, which sells custom ready-to-wear press-on nails. Gomez said she started doing her own nails during her freshman year of college and came up with the idea of Slayed Sets after diving deeper into nail art at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic…”
UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion grants awards to student leaders
“…Award recipient Norma Sandoval said that her own experiences as a first-generation student in the sciences led her to support younger students in the field as well.
Sandoval, a molecular, cellular, and integrative physiology doctoral student, was nominated for the EDI Student Leadership Award by her mentor Stephanie Correa, an assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA.
She said it was meaningful to work with people such as Correa, who understands her values and supports the work she’s done, adding that she hopes to fulfill a similar role for other students looking into the field of science…”
Letter to the Editor: UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences combats racial inequity
“…The medical school includes the development of a Social Medicine Collab that uses human-centered design to bring integrated mental health and primary care to youth-serving organizations in primarily Latino and Black neighborhoods in South LA, using cultural and athletic events as a platform…”
Recording Latinx Dance Histories
“…Originally from the El Paso/Juárez border between Texas and the Mexican state of Chihuahua, it was Avelar’s time and work in New York City that crystalized her identity as a fronteriza (borderlands) artist. Early on, she knew her goal was to research and create accessible, inclusive dance practices anchored in Chicanx and Latinx feminism and border theory…”
Hispanics in Leadership: Meet Two Students at the Helm of CU Denver’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Chapte
“From the classroom to the workforce, student organizations at CU Denver help guide people into careers where they can make a difference. And the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) is no exception: In November, 11 CU Denver students travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina to participate in the organization’s national conference—and two even walked away with job offers. Here, we sat down with some members of SHPE’s leadership team to learn more about how the group helps develop leadership skills, builds a sense of belonging, and allows them to engage more with their campus…”
