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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Mexico City’s coronavirus death toll may be 3 times higher than official count, report says
“…Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity says it obtained a confidential database providing details on the 4,577 Mexico City deaths in which coronavirus or equivalent designations — such as “COVID-19,” “COV” and “SARS COV2” — were mentioned on death certificates. The certificates are kept in civil registry offices.
In 3,532 of the cases, the report said, the virus was listed on death certificates as the confirmed, suspected, probable or possible cause of death, sometimes in combination with other ailments, such as severe respiratory infections. In another 1,045 cases, COVID-19 was listed as a cause of death, without specifying whether it was suspected, likely or confirmed…’
Mexico registered 149 deaths of health professionals and 11,349 infections
“..While those affected 41% are nurses, 36% are doctors, 20% are other professions, 2% are laboratory workers and 1% are dentists; 19% had obesity, 12.6% hypertension and 7.9% diabetes 7.9%.
Mexicans do not stay at home, mobility increased worryingly in four states despite quarantine
‘Optimistic’ model predicts Mexico will have 6,859 deaths from COVID-19 by August 4
AMLO again questioned the increase in domestic violence during the health emergency…”
Canada, US, Mexico extend border restrictions
“…Essential cross-border workers like healthcare professionals, airline crews and truck drivers are still permitted to cross. Truck drivers are critical as they move food and medical goods in both directions. Much of Canada’s food supply comes from or via the U.S.”
How technology will change us after the COVID-19 pandemic is over
“…When Rice University suspended classes in early March after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus, three for-credit courses were available online. When Rice’s classes restarted on March 23, 1,906 online courses were offered, said Klara Jelinkova, the university’s chief information officer.Setting all this up – including training 487 professors, many of whom had never taught online before – was “simultaneously exhilirating and scary,” Jelinkova said.Online education has been around for a while, and some universities are built entirely on it. But many colleges — and particularly K-12 schools — have not embraced it…”
Facebook commits to seeking more minority directors
“…Minorities and women are underrepresented on Fortune 500 boards. Almost 70% of directors Fortune 500 companies are held by white men, according to a study from the Alliance for Board Diversity.They’re also underrepresented in the greater tech community. Facebook’s latest diversity report from August barely moved the needle: It increased its Hispanic and Black workforce by 1% each to 5% and 3%, respectively…”
https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/31/technology/facebook-board-diversity/index.html
Employment status of the Hispanic or Latino population by sex and age, 5/8/2020
Forced to wait in Mexico, migrant medical professionals become asset in fight against COVID-19
“…Mabel, who has been in Juarez for the past six months, is one of the dozens of nurses, lab technicians, chemists, biologists and even some doctors who arrived in Juarez during last year’s migrant surge. Returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program to wait indefinitely for a resolution to their asylum claim, these health professionals have suddenly become a valuable asset in the fight to stop the spread of the coronavirus.A total of 185 Mexican doctors, nurses and nursing assistants in the state of Chihuahua have been sent home after testing positive for the coronavirus. Pregnant nurses and elderly physicians have also been placed on leave and the state …”
An early look at the 2020 electorate
“…We project that the 2020 election will mark the first time that Hispanics will be the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the electorate, accounting for just over 13% of eligible voters – slightly more than blacks. This change reflects the gradual but continuous growth in the Hispanic share of eligible voters, up from 9% in the 2008 presidential election and 7% in the 2000 election. The black eligible voter population has grown about as fast as the electorate overall, meaning their share has held constant at about 12% since 2000…”
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/an-early-look-at-the-2020-electorate/
Miami-born Cesar Conde named chief of new NBC Universal news division
“Miami native Cesar Conde has been named chief of the newly-formed NBCUniversal News Group, part of a corporate reorganization at NBCUniversal announced Monday.Conde had been chairman of Telemundo and the company’s international business.
Conde will now lead an expanded news division that combines all TV and streaming operations, according to reports published by the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article242496056.html
UCLA-led study identifies LA neighborhoods most economically vulnerable to COVID-19
“..Latino and Asian majority neighborhoods in Los Angeles County are especially economically vulnerable to disruptions caused by COVID-19, a UCLA study found.The study, which was published April 1 by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative and the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, sought to locate neighborhoods in LA County that are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus because of their large number of at-risk workers.The researchers identified two sectors of the service workforce – hospitality and retail – that are especially at risk for coronavirus-induced layoffs…”
Lawsuit: US citizens with immigrant spouses should get help
“…The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has sued the federal government over its denial of coronavirus relief payments to U.S. citizens who are married to immigrants without social security numbers.The lawsuit was filed in Maryland on Tuesday on behalf of six American citizens who were denied coronavirus relief checks because they filed and paid taxes with a spouse who has what’s known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or a way for immigrants without legal status to still pay federal taxes, which millions do…”
10 MBA Programs With the Most Diversity More than 15 percent of students are underrepresented minorities at these MBA programs.
‘MBA Programs With Diverse ClassroomsAt more than 100 MBA programs, the percentage of African-American, Latino, American Indian and Pacific Islanders is less than 10 percent. A few schools, however, have a much stronger representation for these and other groups. Here are the 10 schools with the highest percentage of full-time students who are underrepresented minorities…”
First National Poll of Latinos in 2020 Finds 35% of Households Have Experienced a Layoff as a Result of COVID-19
“As the Latino community grapples with the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a higher rate of fatalities compared to other populations, the nation’s first in-depth poll of the Latino population in America for 2020 has found that 35% of Latino households have already experienced a job loss, while more than 65% of respondents reported having difficulty buying or finding necessities such as food, household supplies or medicine.
[Poll results here | Slide deck here]
The poll was conducted by Latino Decisions in partnership with SOMOS, the country’s largest physician-led health delivery network. Of SOMOS’s nearly 3,000 physicians and 800,000 patients, nearly all are immigrants or first-generation Americans, and over two-thirds are Latino…”
New UCLA Library program will begin digitizing cultural items for preservation
“A new conservation initiative at UCLA Library will help digitize at-risk cultural items and share them on a UCLA-hosted website.UCLA Library announced Oct. 9 the creation of Documenting Global Voices, a program that aims to preserve endangered symbolic materials of cultures. DGV will identify, fund and collaborate with international organizations that lack the necessary infrastructure and resources to preserve cultural heritage objects. UCLA Library will receive digital copies and upload them onto the DGV website to make them available to students, faculty and people around the world…”
“…DGV was developed from the International Digital Ephemera Project in 2011, which digitized rare manuscripts held by St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, Egypt and other facilities worldwide including Cuba, Iran and South Africa…”
As Latin America Shuts Down to Fight Virus, Brazil and Mexico Are Holdouts
“The leaders of the region’s two largest nations — Mexico and Brazil — have largely dismissed the dangers and have resisted calls for a lockdown…”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/world/americas/coronavirus-brasil-mexico.html
Mexico Likely To Keep Making The World’s Biggest Oil Hedge
“The Mexican oil hedge, or the Hacienda Hedge, is considered the biggest hedging bet on Wall Street as well as perhaps the most secretive. It has earned Mexico—and a few large investment banks—billions of U.S. dollars. Mexico buys put options from investment banks and typically hedges a whopping 200-300 million barrels of oil a year. With the put options, it has the right, but not the obligation, to sell oil at a previously set price and timing. But will this tradition continue under the newly elected administration?Throughout his campaign, Mexico’s now president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador kept the oil industry on edge with comments and promises that he would review the landmark 2013 energy reform of outgoing President Enrique Peña Nieto that ended seven decades of oil monopoly in the country…”
White House Seeks To Lower Farmworker Pay To Help Agriculture Industry
“…Last month, the U.S. State Department said it will start processing more applicants seeking H-2A temporary guest worker visas to ensure U.S. farmers have foreign workers in time for spring planting.The most recent push to lower wage rates for workers on H-2A visas has drawn pushback from some strange bedfellows: immigrant-rights advocates and immigration hard-liners usually aligned with Trump.Erik Nicholson, national vice president for the United Farm Workers, says people who have worked in agriculture for decades are concerned they are going to lose their jobs. And he said vulnerable guest workers are not being provided proper hand-washing facilities and still being forced to live in cramped housing…”
U.S. Latinos among hardest hit by pay cuts, job losses due to coronavirus
“Hispanics are more likely than Americans overall to say they or someone in their household has experienced a pay cut or lost their job because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 19-24…”
International doctors can help the US fight COVID-19. But can they get here?
“…Many are on visas, often working in poor or rural areas that may soon be the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.“We’re at risk for getting the infection, like the doctors in Italy and China,” said Vara Ponnada, an Indian doctor on an H1-B visa in Waterloo, Iowa, where several people have tested positive for COVID-19…”
US arrests 600 Mexican cartel members in one of the largest ever raids
“…The cartel is active in major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston and Atlanta, the agencies said. The DOJ and DEA also announced a superseding indictment on charges against Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” the leader of CJNG, for allegedly continuing criminal enterprise…”
