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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Women

Who Is Adan Banuelos, Bella Hadid’s Boyfriend and Professional Horseback Rider?

Shortly after Bella Hadid decided to ditch the Paris Fashion Week runway in favor of a Texas equestrian competition, fans started speculating about the model’s rumored new beau. So, who is Bella Hadid’s boyfriend? Turns out, he’s a cowboy.

In February, Hadid seemed to publicly confirm her relationship with Adan Banuelos, a professional horseback rider. On Valentine’s Day, the model posted a photo of the pair lovingly looking into each other’s eyes in a since-vanished Instagram story…”

https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/bella-hadid-boyfriend-adan-banuelos/

Meet the Jury for PhotoVogue and Vogue Mexico’s 2024 Open Call: Latin American Panorama

“Meet the Jury of Our Regional Open Call: Latin American Panorama. Vogue Mexico and Condé Nast staff, alongside experts from the international visual community with diverse backgrounds, will be reviewing your submissions!

This Open Call is open to everyone who identifies as Latin American, whether you’re based in the region or living abroad. The sole requirement is that applicants must be at least 18 years old…”

https://www.vogue.com/article/photovogue-local-open-call-2024-latinamerican-panorama-the-jury

SWE’s Second Virtual Event in Mexico: Fostering Women’s Professional Development

“SWE Mexico held a “Strengthening the Network” virtual event series which took place on 14, 21, and 28 Sept. 2023, consisting of two-hour sessions each day. A testament to the growth of networking in Mexico, there were 577 registrants from industries all over Latin America.

Five companies participated in the event: Cummins, PepsiCo, John Deere, Honeywell, and ABB. Two leading universities, La Salle University and UACJ (Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juarez), also participated. Attendees had the opportunity to learn about SWE, create connections, acquire significant knowledge and share experiences across various STEM fields with fellow Spanish-speaking participants…”

https://alltogether.swe.org/2024/01/swe-mexico-virtual-event/

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

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

Marissa Pérez discusses artistic background, evolution of styling

“Through her eclectic background in the arts, Marissa Pérez is tailoring her own trends.

Previously an event producer and managing director of the Student Committee for the Arts at UCLA, the alumnus currently works as a wardrobe stylist in the fashion industry. Pérez has assisted in dressing a number of different celebrities, including actresses Laverne Cox, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Zendaya.

Pérez spoke with the Daily Bruin’s Sanjana Chadive about the evolution of her interest in styling and how her background in other artistic mediums has informed her career…”

https://dailybruin.com/2023/10/01/qrez-discusses-artistic-background-evolution-of-styling

Consul General of Mexico in Raleigh addresses crowded Phyfer Auditorium

“It was standing room only when Claudia Velasco, Consul General of Mexico in Raleigh, N.C., addressed students, faculty, staff and visitors on Thursday, September 21 in Phyfer Auditorium. Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month, Velasco was sponsored by the Association of Latino Professionals for America – Clemson University Student Chapter, the Department of Management at the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business and the Consulate General of Mexico in Raleigh, N.C…”

https://news.clemson.edu/consul-general-of-mexico-in-raleigh-addresses-crowded-phyfer-auditorium/

UTRGV Mexican-American professor guides next generation of STEM professionals

“EDINBURG — Cristina Villalobos’ life is a mathematical statement: to get an answer you have to follow necessary steps, but her equation is far from over and she does it all while guiding Hispanic students in their own equations of life.

Villalobos is a Myles and Slyvia Aaronson endowed professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the founding director of the Center of Excellence in STEM…”

https://myrgv.com/local-news/2023/09/15/utrgv-mexican-american-professor-guides-next-generation-of-stem-professionals/

 

OPINION Mexico outpaces U.S. in women’s rights September 15, 2023 at 12:00 a.m.

“The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice decision decriminalizing abortion last week is a landmark ruling in a country that has historically outlawed the procedure with harsh penalties for the women who sought it and the healthcare professionals who provided it.

The ruling, which governs federal law in a nation of states, makes abortion legal in federal health institutions and requires the public health service to offer it. The decision does not automatically make abortion legal in all of Mexico (the way that the Roe vs. Wade decision had made abortion legal in all of the United States). But it could speed up a movement by Mexican states to legalize the procedure. Currently, 12 out of 32 states have decriminalized abortion…”

https://www.eldoradonews.com/news/2023/sep/15/mexico-outpaces-us-in-womens-rights/

Editorial: Mexico decriminalizes abortion while U.S. states want to criminalize it

“The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice decision decriminalizing abortion last week is a landmark ruling in a country that has historically outlawed the procedure with harsh penalties for the women who sought it and the healthcare professionals who provided it.

The ruling, which governs federal law in a nation of states, makes abortion legal in federal health institutions and requires the public health service to offer it. The decision does not automatically make abortion legal in all of Mexico (the way that the Roe vs. Wade decision had made abortion legal in all of the United States). But it could speed up a movement by Mexican states to legalize the procedure. Currently, 12 out of 32 states have decriminalized abortion…”

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-09-10/editorial-mexico-decriminalizes-abortion-while-u-s-states-want-to-criminalize-it

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…”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2023/becoming-an-investigative-journalist-as-a-mexican-american-reporter/

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

 

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…”

https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2023/021082/first-generation-graduate-anabel-rocha-ambrosio-builds-better-life-education-foundation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=First-generation%20graduate%20Anabel%20Rocha%20Ambrosio%20builds%20a%20better%20life%20with%20education%20as%20the%20foundation&utm_campaign=ecurrent%20June%2013%2C%202023

oe Biden raises eyebrows with ‘Flamin’ Hot’ Eva Longoria embrace

“President Biden got a little too close to actress Eva Longoria at the White House Thursday night — before the Hollywood starlet guided the 80-year-old’s mitts to relative safety.

The president embraced the “Desperate Housewives” alum after addressing a film screening of her directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” but let his hands hover a bit too long on her waist before the actress quickly moved to grasp them and took a step back…”

https://nypost.com/2023/06/16/biden-gets-handsy-with-eva-longoria-at-white-house/

Mexican-American artist Angelica Contreras uses her artwork to explore identity, culture, and social justice

“One of the most pronounced differences between Southern California and Wisconsin are the winters, and for Angelica Contreras six years ago, that was what welcomed her to Madison. Although Contreras moved from Los Angeles, she grew up in Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico. After earning a bachelor’s degree in art and a master’s degree in art education, Contreras moved back to the United States and eventually ended up in Madison where she was able to connect with a community of artists…”

https://madison365.com/latinx-artist-angelica-contreras-uses-her-art-work-to-explore-identity-tradition-social-justice/

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

 

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…”

https://dailybruin.com/2023/05/01/student-mariah-hernandez-spotlights-strong-latina-characters-in-directorial-debut

Prospanica Philadelphia elects Maria Cristina Rios as its new board president

Maria Cristina Rios is the new Board President of Prospanica Philadelphia.

Prospanica Philadelphia is a professional development organization whose mission is to empower and enable Hispanic professionals to achieve their full educational, economic, and social potential. Th

roughout her professional career, Rios has consistently demonstrated ways of reaching her own potential, as she has established herself as a recognized marketing leader. Her specialization includes retail and both multicultural and event marketing.

https://aldianews.com/en/leadership/advocacy/prospanica-phls-new-prez

Waxing and Waning Relations Between the Jewish and Mexican-American Communities in Los Angeles

“…Beyond Alliances contains four biographical essays in rough chronological order.  Genevieve Carpio wrote the first one about Jewish attorney David C. Marcus, one of whose most important clients was the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles and whose second wife, Yrma, was a political refugee from Mexico and a devout Catholic.  In 1943, he successfully defended the Bernals, a Mexican-American family whose Orange County neighbors wanted them evicted because their presence violated a racially restrictive housing covenant that stated that property should not be “used, leased, owned or occupied by any Mexicans or persons other than of the Caucasian race.” Five years before the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racially restrictive covenants in Shelley v. Kraemer, Marcus was able to persuade the court that there was no such thing as a “Mexican race,” and that therefore the restriction was (in words that sounded like television’s Perry Mason objecting to D.A. Hamilton Berger’s question) “incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.” Marcus noted that the status of Mexicans as Caucasians had permitted him to marry Yrma, notwithstanding California’s laws that at that time had prohibited miscegenation.  Furthermore, the restrictions went contrary to President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor Policy” with Latin America, which was part of the nation’s wartime defense fabric. The judge ruled in favor of the Bernals…”

https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2023/04/20/waxing-and-waning-relations-between-the-jewish-and-mexican-american-communities-in-los-angeles/

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/

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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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