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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“I AM Latino in America” Tour stops in Dallas
DALLAS — SMU’s Cox Latino Leadership Initiative and the Dallas Convention and Visitor’s Bureau hosted the “I Am Latino in America” tour Tuesday at the McFarlin Memorial Auditorium.
The “I Am Latino in America” tour, hosted by award-winning journalist, Soledad O’Brien, kicked off in 2015 and returned in February 2016, adding Dallas to the cities it would visit.DALLAS — SMU’s Cox Latino Leadership Initiative and the Dallas Convention and Visitor’s Bureau hosted the “I Am Latino in America” tour Tuesday at the McFarlin Memorial Auditorium…
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Mobile-First: Why Latinos are more mobilized than ever for 2016’s election
As the 2016 Presidential election continues its headline-grabbing run to November, American voters are weighing a host of spirited issues and eagerly await the chance to be heard. For many Latino voters, the political stakes feel very personal — and where a candidate stands on these issues will factor heavily into who wins their vote.
Capturing these votes requires a smart digital strategy expressly designed for reaching this audience; the next occupant of the White House may well be in their hands…
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8 Latino business founders breaking down barriers
Making their million-dollar mark
Latino-founded businesses are booming, yet less than 2 percent of Latino entrepreneurs ever make it past the $1 million revenue mark, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the 1.4 million Latino-owned companies in the United States, the average has $156,000 in annual sales, revealed a study from the Latin Business Action Network (LBAN)…
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Why so few Latino-owned businesses get venture capital funding
In the world of venture capital, Latino-owned businesses are rarer than billion dollar unicorns.
Only about 1% of all Latino-owned businesses created between 2007 and 2012 in the U.S. received venture capital or angel investments, according to a report by the Stanford Graduate School of Business that surveyed roughly 1,800 businesses.
One big reason: Very few Latino-owned firms are even walking through the doors of venture capital firms to begin with…
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Nebraskan Hispanic population officially ‘large’
OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) – Nearly a third of Nebraska’s 93 counties recorded growth over the previous five years, a new U.S. census data report revealed last month. The biggest population gain was with the Hispanic and Latino populations, who hold the title for the largest minority population in the state.
Counties such as, Douglas, Dodge, Colfax, Madison, Dakota and several others have a Hispanic population that exceeds 10 percent of its entire population, which according to David Drozd, research coordinator for the Center for Public Affairs Research, is enough to say they have a large Hispanic population.
”It just is a good even break point for kind of saying, well that’s an established community, that’s a major presence in the area, and while it’s about 10% right now statewide, by 2050 our projections will show it’s going to be a quarter of the state’s population,” says Drozd…
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The Nation’s Latino Population Is Defined by Its Youth
Hispanics are the youngest major racial or ethnic group in the United States. About one-third, or 17.9 million, of the nation’s Hispanic population is younger than 18, and about a quarter, or 14.6 million, of all Hispanics are Millennials (ages 18 to 33 in 2014), according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data…
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Diversifying the Humanities Study finds gains in undergraduate degrees awarded, but losses at the doctoral level.
Humanities disciplines are seeing growth in the number of degrees awarded to minority students at the undergraduate level, hitting record levels in the largest humanities disciplines, according to an analysis being released today by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
But the analysis — based on various federal databases — shows uneven growth. Most of the gains are attributable to Latino students. The one exception to this trend was religion, where black students are making gains.
And at a time when minority students on many campuses are pushing their institutions to hire more minority faculty members, the analysis finds declines — with the exception of philosophy — in the number of doctoral degrees in the humanities awarded to minority students. These declines could complicate the efforts of colleges…
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Why Gifted Latinos Are Often Overlooked And Underserved
Three million school children in the U.S. are identified as gifted. That’s roughly the top 10 percent of the nation’s highest achieving students.
But Rene Islas, head of the National Association for Gifted Children, says tens of thousands of gifted English language learners are never identified. We sat down with Islas and asked him why.
He started out by explaining that there are several different measures for identifying gifted children. The most common in schools is recognizing achievement, above grade level work. But that poses a problem for English language learners, or ELLs, he says…
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5 Reasons Brands Should Use Facebook Instant Articles To Engage With U.S. Hispanics
Last month, Facebook announced that on April 12, they will be “opening up the Instant Articles program to all publishers—of any size, anywhere in the world.” Yes, this means that brands can now leverage Facebook Instant Articles to engage with consumers.
Facebook created Instant Articles to optimize the experience for users who click from Facebook to a third-party publisher’s website on their mobile devices. For brands, Instant Articles not only optimize page load times, but can be leveraged to create more immersive experiences that are integrated with the all-important Facebook news feed…
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Spotlight on U.S. Hispanic Writers
The Hispanic Division and the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress have launched a collaborative series of recorded interviews, “Spotlight on U.S. Hispanic Writers.” This series is co-sponsored by Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
“Spotlight on U.S. Hispanic Writers” features emerging and established American poets and prose writers of Hispanic descent who write predominantly in English. In each segment the featured poet or writer participates in a moderated discussion with the chief of the Hispanic Division, as well as reads from his or her work.
This series continues the tradition of the Hispanic Division Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape (AHLOT). The AHLOT is an ongoing collection of recorded interviews and readings of contemporary poets and prose writers from the Iberian Peninsula, Latin America, the Caribbean, and U.S. Hispanics, which has been compiled by this Division since the 1940s…
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5 Latinos Forging New Ground and Breaking Barriers
We’re all familiar with prominent Latinos who have broken barriers to become national and international household names – from Rita Moreno and Gloria Estefan to JLo and Pitbull. Or think Sonia Sotomayor or Pulitzer prize-winner Junot Díaz.
Here’s a small list of Latinos who are breaking barriers in their professions and leaving their mark as they shake things up. They range from ranging from multi-millionaire techies to VJs and Vine stars. They’re in different stages of their trajectories, and they’re all fascinating…
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Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program Recruits Second Cohort For Online Education and Empowerment
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/– The Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) has opened applications for the second cohort of its Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program (SLELP). SLELP is an investment in helping Latino entrepreneurs to scale — i.e., to grow — their businesses through an immersive six-week program that provides owners the valuable education, enhanced networks, personal mentorship and better understanding of capital resources necessary to grow their businesses, create jobs, and build a stronger economy.
“Latinos are quickly becoming the new face of entrepreneurship in the USA,” said Remy Arteaga, the Executive Director of LBAN. “Several studies, including one by the Kauffman Foundation, support the fact that Latinos are creating more new businesses than any other group in America. We want to empower these entrepreneurs to grow large businesses.”…
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For Board of Education member Herman G. Hernandez, it’s all about timing
CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | April 10, 2016, 3:03PM
Herman G. Hernandez speaks often to youngsters and teens, many of them Latino. He tells a bit about the oscillating arc of his own life and encourages the students to aim high, get involved, study hard and fail, fail, fail.
The sturdy, gregarious Guerneville native and nascent community leader might well recount how his first attempt at college crashed and burned. His parents, Herman J. and Guillermina Hernandez, were determined that, unlike themselves, both their son and their daughter, Daniela, would reap the benefits of advanced education…
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Millennials Make Up Almost Half of Latino Eligible Voters in 2016
Hispanic millennials will account for nearly half (44%) of the record 27.3 million Hispanic eligible voters projected for 2016—a share greater than any other racial or ethnic group of voters, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data…
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First Latino Newbery Medal Award winner set to visit Lee County Library
TUPELO – As the first Latino to win the prestigious Newbery Medal, Matt de la Peña writes stories that take place on the “other side of the tracks” by exploring identity and living as a young biracial boy.
De la Peña, author of the 2016 Newbery Medal award winner “The Last Stop on Market Street,” will visit the Lee County Library on April 11 to open up a conversation at the Helen Foster Lecture Series…
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Latino Internet Sensations Shine at Hispanicize
MIAMI, Florida — At the young age of 19, Venezuelan-born Internet sensation Lele Pons has captured a huge audience. Her funny skits appear on Vine where she has over 10 million followers and her videos generate 7.7 billion loops. The bicultural, bilingual Latina was the first recipient of the Latinovator awards at Hispanicize 2016, which kicked off its 7th annual event on Monday in Miami.
The 5-day event is unique because it brings together Latino trendsetters from a vast amount of fields including journalism, marketing, tech entrepreneurship, music, and film…
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Higher Education News from Northern Illinois: NIU to host ILACHE annual conference
The event is the first to take place outside Chicago – and, of course, it will mark the first time that NIU has hosted the conference.
Participants will discuss the reality of Latinos in higher education and reflect on the challenges that Latinos have overcome to open the path to new opportunities for future generations…
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The Elusive Nature of the Hispanic Category
By 2060, 115 percent more Americans will be of Hispanic origin than in 2015. Consequently, pundits identify “the Hispanic vote” as the next frontier for ensuring political success. Political elites have thus scrambled to investigate, quantify, and draw conclusions about this group in any way possible. They have asked Hispanic respondents about their political beliefs on a range of issues — principally, immigration — in an effort to define the policy matters that are most salient to Latinxs in the United States. This analysis propagates throughout campaign teams, interest groups, academia, and journalism, heavily influencing judgments about the allegiances of the Hispanic community. But, a central and largely unacknowledged point about mainstream political discourses regarding Hispanics are the inherent flaws in defining the Hispanic category itself. Because of distinct colonial histories between Latin America and the United States and between different nations within Latin America, the American mainstream cannot and should not…
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Reading Tejano History
CE Orozco – American Book Review, 2016
… Texas Mexican Americans and Postwar Civil Rights Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez University of
Texas Press www.utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books Pages; Print, $24.95. … The story about
the hiring of Mexican Americans in civil service jobs was unknown. …
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Why Accreditation Reform May Benefit Hispanic and Black Students Most
When it comes to higher education reform, doing a better job of accrediting and evaluating individual colleges for quality and student outcomes is at the top of the list for many policymakers. In just the past year, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on reforming the accreditation process, the Obama administration went to court to force for-profit schools to better prepare their students for “gainful employment” and also lost a battle to create a new College Ratings system to track data on post-degree earnings and job placement…
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