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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Health

Latin America Roundup: Brazil, Mexico lay out regulatory priorities

“…Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection Against Health Risks (COFEPRIS) also recently made public its priorities and work agenda for 2024, some of which parallel those laid out by ANVISA.

In a document released on 30 January, COFEPRIS described efforts to promote regulatory certainty, improve confidence in its processes, and expand digitalization as a strategy to speed approvals.

COFEPRIS said 2024 would see the launch of its biosimilars unit and pharmaceutical development committee, both of which share the goal of expanding Mexican manufacturing. The agency also promised to refine rules for conducting clinical research “with the aim of achieving competitive service times.”…”

https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2024/2/latin-america-roundup-brazil,-mexico-lay-out-regul

Aging in disadvantaged neighborhoods may worsen age-related cognitive problems, especially among Mexican Americans

“…A team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, and other institutions analyzed data from 1,614 participants age 50 years or older in the Health and Aging Brain Study — Health Disparities. More than half of the participants identified as Mexican American, with the rest non-Hispanic White, and were on average age 66. To measure cognition, the researchers examined performance on cognitive tests assessing memory, language, attention, processing speed, and executive functioning. Neighborhood disadvantage of each participant’s current residence was characterized using the Area Deprivation Index, which uses indicators of poverty, education, housing, and employment….”

https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/topics/health-disparities

As migration to the US border rises, experts fear surge in sexual violence

“…A report published in November by the nonprofit Human Rights First found 1,300 reported attacks along the US-Mexico border since May, when US President Joe Biden tightened policies for asylum applications…”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/21/as-migration-to-the-us-border-rises-experts-fear-surge-in-sexual-violence

Mexican Americans Face Higher Odds for Liver Cancer With Each New Generation

A Mexican American professor who struggled with impostor phenomenon helps others overcome it

“…Like many people of similar backgrounds who she meets through her research, Gutiérrez suffers from the affliction commonly known asimpostor phenomenon, a condition that Gutiérrez refers to as “impostorization.” It’s the uneasy, ever-present sensation that you’re a fraud, your successes aren’t deserved, and it’s only a matter of time before you’re unmasked as the failure you truly are.

Typically, and ironically, it tends to afflict high achievers. In the United States, impostorization also tends disproportionately to affect women, people of color and immigrants or their offspring…”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-20/a-mexican-american-professor-struggled-with-impostor-phenomenon-now-she-helps-others-overcome-it

UTHealth Houston partners with Mexican organizations for $5 million NIH grant to improve implementation of cancer control interventions in Mexico and Latin America

“A five-year, $5 million grant has been awarded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to the UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation Science to support research and training in implementation science, with a focus on improving cancer control efforts in Mexico and Latin America.

The grant brings together researchers from UTHealth Houston, the Mexican National Institute of Public Health (INSP), the Mexican National Cancer Institute (INCan), and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF)…”

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1007686

 

Warrior spotlight celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month: Meet M.D.-Ph.D. student Rafael Ramos

“Rafael Ramos is a first-generation Mexican-American enrolled in the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s M.D.-Ph.D. program. He was born in the United States and grew up in Mexico. He moved back to his birth country for higher education, earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree before moving to Detroit in the late 2010s. Ramos has completed his first two years of medical school, and is in his third year of the doctoral portion of his degrees. He is a candidate in Biomedical Engineering, funded by the Detroit Cardiovascular Training Program T32 grant hosted by the Department of Physiology. He also received a Michigan Space Grant Consortium Graduate…”

https://today.wayne.edu/medicine/news/2023/10/11/warrior-spotlight-celebrates-hispanic-heritage-month-meet-md-phd-student-rafael-ramos-58828

Hispanic Americans in Military Medicine

“…Maria G. Roach served as a flight nurse during WWII with the Army Nurse Corps and received an Air Medal and two Bronze Stars for her actions. Born in Mexico to American parents, Roach grew up in Austin, Texas, where she attended the University of Texas at Austin prior to training as a nurse anesthetist at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. With the onset of WWII, Roach joined the 24th General Hospital at Tulane University and later trained at the School of Air Evacuation at Bowman Field, Kentucky. Once graduated, Roach served as both a pilot and nurse in Africa, India, Italy, and Brazil, completing medical air evacuations. Roach was discharged in 1945 and became a foreign service staff officer in the U.S. foreign service in 1946.,,”

https://www.health.mil/About-MHS/Military-Medical-History/Historical-Timelines/Hispanic

 

Latin America Roundup: COFEPRIS seeks to boost production of biologics in Mexico

“Officials with Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS) have met with local biopharmaceutical manufacturers and academics, seeking to increase national production of biological and biosimilar therapies, the vast majority of which are currently imported. The project “promises not only to transform the medical landscape, but also to strengthen the national economy,” and promote both local and regional health self-sufficiency, the agency said. COFEPRIS did not detail which entities had taken part in the meetings, or a timeframe for the project…”

https://www.raps.org/News-and-Articles/News-Articles/2023/8/Latin-America-Roundup-COFEPRIS-seeks-to-boost-prod

July Recognizes Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

“-Pulic Information Officer for the California Highway Patrol, Tomas Martinez, grew up in a household where mental health struggles were not acknowledged.– Martinez believes that cultural attitudes, such as the belief that men should not express their emotions, contribute to the lack of acknowledgement of mental health issues.– Stacey Kuwahara, the Director for Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, says that mistrust in health professionals can be a barrier for minority communities to seek help for mental health.– Kuwahara emphasizes that there are resources available for mental health support, including text, internet, phone, and video-based services.– Martinez encourages seeking help for mental health and believes it is important for maintaining healthy relationships with oneself and others…”

How Latino health care may suffer after Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling

“…They found a concerning lack of diversity in the country’s health workforce. While Mexican Americans make up the largest Latino subpopulation and nearly 11% of the country’s workforce, they make up less than 2% of physicians…”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/07/07/supreme-court-ruling-detrimental-to-latinos-health/70326568007/

Assistant Professor of Nursing Elected to National Board of Directors

“…Dominguez De Quezada, a first-generation Mexican-American and a native of the El Paso-Juárez community, has been an assistant professor in the College of Nursing since 2021. She earned a master’s degree in nursing at UTEP as well as a bachelor’s degree in nursing from New Mexico State University and a doctoral degree in nursing from The University of Texas at Tyler. In her research, she has focused on reducing health disparities commonly seen in the Hispanic community by addressing language incongruence between health care providers and patients living along the U.S.–Mexico border…”

https://www.utep.edu/newsfeed/2023/assistant-professor-of-nursing-elected-to-national-board-of-directors.html

 

Latino workers underrepresented in healthcare: analysis

“…According to the data, in the registered nurse profession, Mexican Americans made up 3.85% of the workforce; Puerto Ricans, 0.99%; Cuban Americans, 0.61%; and other Latinos, 2.08%.

For licensed practical nurses, Mexican Americans made up 7.94% of the workforce; Puerto Ricans, 1.45%; Cuban Americans, 0.51%; and other Latinos, 2.76%…”

https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/home/news/business-daily-news/latino-workers-underrepresented-in-healthcare-analysis/

Mexican doctor wins 2023 Carlos Slim Health Award

“…Dr. José Alejandro Madrigal Fernández is a physician at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Thereafter, he studied the specialty and the doctorate at the universities of Harvard, London and Stanford. His research focuses on immunotherapy and stem cell transplantation

Dr. Madrigal’s leadership led him to pioneer the establishment of donor registries and umbilical cord banks around the world. He was the founder and scientific director of the Anthony Nolan Cellular Therapy Center. His leadership led him to chair the European Transplant Society. Besides. He was Vice-Chancellor for Latin America at University College London.

His research has resulted in the publication of over 500 articles in the world’s most prestigious journals, including Nature, Nature Genetics and The Lancet. He is currently conducting research on cell therapy against different types of cancer…”

https://worldnationnews.com/mexican-doctor-wins-2023-carlos-slim-health-award/

Activists’ network in Mexico helps U.S. women get abortions

“CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (AP) — Marcela Castro’s office in Chihuahua is more than 100 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, yet the distance doesn’t prevent her from assisting women in the United States in circumventing recently imposed bans on abortion.

From the headquarters of Marea Verde Chihuahua, an organization that has supported reproductive rights in northern Mexico since 2018, Castro and her colleagues provide virtual guidance, as well as shipments of abortion pills for women who want to terminate a pregnancy on their own…”

https://www.metro.us/activists-network-in-mexico-helps-u-s-women-get-abortions/

Dominican Health Professionals Commit to ‘Rise Up and Shine’ Read more at: https://adventistreview.org/news/dominican-health-professionals-commit-to-rise-up-and-shine/

“…More than a hundred physicians, bio-analysts, nurses, psychologists, physical therapists, pharmacologists, nutritionists, and other health professionals networked, enjoyed various learning experiences, took part in spiritual reflections, and impacted the community.

The event included specialized topic presentations by Franck Généus, health ministries director for the Inter-American Division of the Adventist Church; Chiapas Mexican Union health ministries director Faustino de los Santos; and North Mexican Union health ministries director Roel Cea. Cea also coordinates health ministries at Montemorelos University…”

https://adventistreview.org/news/dominican-health-professionals-commit-to-rise-up-and-shine/

 

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…”

https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2023/020868/marching-ahead?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Marching%20Ahead&utm_campaign=March%2016%2C%202023

Explainer: What is the US-Mexico GM corn dispute about?

“…March 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. has requested formal trade consultations with Mexico over the Latin American country’s plans to restrict imports of genetically modified corn.

The North American neighbors will inch closer to a full-blown trade dispute under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade (USMCA) if there is no resolution during the talks, which Mexico says will last one month.

-old native varieties and has questioned their impact on human health….”

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/what-is-us-mexico-gm-corn-dispute-about-2023-03-08/

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Poem
“…And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while…”

T.S. Eliot
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Mexican American Proarchive Annual Report for 2022

The American Community Survey is an annual survey administered by the federal government to help local officials and community leaders and businesses understand the changes that take place in their communities. It includes percentages of our population’s graduate school attainment and the employment of Mexican Americans in various occupations.  These important factors influence the allocation of federal resources. Mexican American Proarchives uses the data provided by the American Community Survey to better understand how Mexican Americans compare to the general population.

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