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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Expert on Latin American geography wins teaching award
“Honored for two decades of research, teaching and mentorship at UC Santa Barbara, David López-Carr, a professor in the Department of Geography, has won the 2024 CLAG
Teaching Award from the Conference of Latin American Geography.
Among López-Carr’s popular and highly rated courses, the Geography of Latin America is a favorite, he said, because “it’s a hybrid of physical and human geography that includes geology, climate, biogeography and geomorphology, and examines how humans have shaped their environments based on the natural endowments of the region and how they have responded to environmental change.”…”
LEAP Scholars help solidify and strengthen American partnership with Mexican Air Force
“When Mexico wanted to start a security forces career field in its air force, it looked at several countries to assist them. The presence of Language Enabled Airman Program (LEAP) Scholars, who have backgrounds in security forces, was a big factor in Mexico choosing to partner with the U.S. Air Force.
LEAP Scholars provided vital assistance during a visit from a Mexican secretary of defense delegation to Lackland Air Force Base, through real-time translations and cultural understanding. The visit led to a bilateral agreement between Mexico and the United States Air Force, strengthening partnership interoperability. The goal of this agreement is for Mexico to build a Security Forces Career Field in its Air Force…”
How First-Gen Mexican American Students Define Success
“As higher education grows increasingly diverse, equity gaps in completion and degree attainment between different ethnic and racial groups, particularly among Hispanic learners, still exist.
During the 2022–23 academic year, completion among all Hispanic students fell 1 percent, the first time since 2015–16, and first-time completion fell 1.9 percent among Hispanic students, according to an April report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
First-generation students also face unique family dynamics that motivate students’ learnings but can also pull students away from the residential college experience…”
Most doctors in US are from India
“India is the leading source of immigrant doctors in the United States and the second-largest source of registered nurses, according to a recent report by Remitly. However, when considering the total number of immigrant healthcare professionals, including home health aides and nursing assistants, India ranks third, after the Philippines and Mexico.,,”
https://www.msn.com/en-in/health/other/most-doctors-in-us-are-from-india/ar-BB1ogqPf
Unlocking investment opportunities in Latin America
“…Morena, Ms Sheinbaum’s party and its allies won a supermajority in the lower house of Congress but fell short in the Senate, making any changes to the constitution unlikely. “She doesn’t have a Senate majority, which will make it hard for extreme amendments,” adds Mr Aquilina.
“The current financial minister, who is well regarded by investors, will stay in place,” he says, with some of the financial community reassured by the way Ms Sheinbaum presents herself as more “market and business-friendly than the former president”.
Other specialists share this optimistic mood. “We expect her government to be well-grounded, with a reassuring appetite for compromise,” says Damien Buchet, chief investment officer at Finisterre Capital, part of Principal Asset Management, which manages $540.4bn in assets…”
https://www.pwmnet.com/unlocking-investment-opportunities-in-latin-america
Dollarama increases stake in Dollarcity, plans Mexican expansion
“Dollarama Inc. has increased its stake in Dollarcity to 60.1 percent and announced significant expansion plans for the Latin American chain, as per BNN Bloomberg.
Montreal-based Dollarama revealed on Wednesday that it acquired an additional 10 percent interest in Dollarcity, with plans to enter the Mexican market. This acquisition was made in exchange for 6,060,478 Dollarama common shares, valued at approximately $761.7m based on Tuesday’s share price of $125.68…”
UCSB’s ÉXITO Program graduates third cohort of future ethnic studies teachers amidst rising attacks on ethnic studies
“In Spanish, “éxito” means success. At UC Santa Barbara, ÉXITO stands for Educational eXcellence and Inclusion Training Opportunities, a first of its kind program in the UC system that provides students with a clearly structured pathway to becoming K-12 Ethnic Studies teachers. Funded by a $3 million U.S. Department of Education Title V grant, the program’s third cohort is now graduating…”
Funds forNGOs Grants and Resources for Sustainability. Discover the Best Funding Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean This June!
“…Latin America Professional Award
Deadline: 10 January 2025
Set up to celebrate dynamic and inspiring photographic work currently created in Latin America, the World Photography Organisation and Sony Latin America created the Latin America Professional Award…[more]…”
Listen: Generational shift strengthening San Antonio-Mexico economic bond
“In 1996, a group of Mexican entrepreneurs founded the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos to help Mexican professionals find success in the U.S. and assist Americans interested in doing business in Mexico.
Founded in San Antonio, the US – MX Business Association, as it’s known in English, or AEM, now has chapters all over the country. And while the founding chapter has always been active, the latest generation of young professionals, led by Victor Reyna, who was named president last fall, is breathing new life into the organization…”
University of Miami President Julio Frenk announced as UCLA’s new chancellor
“…Frenk will succeed outgoing Chancellor Gene Block, who announced his plan last August to retire at the end of this academic year after serving in the role since 2007. He will be the university’s first Latino chancellor…”
How Mexico’s President-Elect Got U.S. Help to Fight Crime
“…The cocaine raid was carried out with intelligence from Homeland Security Investigations, Mexican and U.S. officials said. It was a prime example of how Mexico’s new president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, quietly built strong relationships with U.S. law enforcement over five years as mayor of the country’s capital.
She took a law-and-order approach to tackling violent crime, boosting the number and wages of police officers and installing a security chief who worked closely with U.S. law enforcement. The result was a sharp drop in killings in the capital, an achievement that Sheinbaum has promised to replicate across the country…”
Capital One Opening Tech Center In Mexico
“Capital One is the latest foreign bank to enter the Mexican financial sector. However, it will not compete directly with BBVA or Banco Santander, given that the initial hirings suggest a focus on generating technology products for the North American market.
Mexico’s banking regulations mean that institutions must wait considerably for oversight checks to be completed. There is currently a backlog of at least five foreign banks—Banco Plata, Banco Masari, Banco ION, Konfío and Nu Mexico—awaiting their banking license. UK unicorn Revolut only recently passed its final test.
Starting with DevOps and human resources, Capital One aims for a 1,500-employee workforce of Mexicans or permanent residents over the next three years. Specifically, the bank is looking for creative professionals in technology, financial regulations and software development. Given the high demand for such workers, the bank is determined to create a startup environment…”
What Claudia Scheinbaum’s historic election win means for U.S.-Mexico relations
“…In Mexico City, she increased the wages and working conditions for the police. She used greater intelligence in police activities, and she more very carefully collaborated or guaranteed collaboration between law enforcement and the attorney general’s office. She will try to do something similar at the federal level.
That said, she’s not going to return to civilian policing with regard to federal criminal problems, like organized crime. She’s going to rely on the militarized National Guard, although she is going to try to expand its size, increase working conditions and wages, and increase their use of intelligence and collaboration with the attorney general’s office…”
A Healthy Mouth Can Lead to a Long and Healthy Life
“…Access to quality oral health care remains difficult for many Americans but especially for rural residents, minority residents and people with lower incomes. Children living in rural communities who are members of a minority group or a lower-income household may experience higher rates of untreated cavities and gingivitis. For children ages 2 to 5 years, 33% of Hispanic children and 28% of non-Hispanic Black children had cavities and severe tooth decay in their primary teeth, compared with 18% of non-Hispanic white children. Seventeen percent of children from low-income households have untreated cavities and severe tooth decay in their primary teeth, over three times the percentage of children from higher-income households…”
Mario T. García: A lifetime of achievement in Chicano/a history
“…García, who started teaching at UCSB in 1975, was among the first generation of professionally trained historians to excavate and document Chicano/a history, helping to set the foundation for emerging scholars during the past half-century. Among more than a dozen books, García’s recording of Corona’s testimonio would become “Memories of Chicano History: The Life and Narrative of Bert Corona” (UC Press, 1994), about the labor and community activist and organizer who, starting in the 1930s in Los Angeles, spearheaded the struggle for immigrant rights, particularly undocumented workers from Mexico…”
What to know about Mexico’s presidential election
“…Sheinbaum also speaks fluent English, unlike López Obrador. She did postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and her daughter lives in the U.S., meaning her presidency could lead to a more positive relationship with the U.S. than López Obrador’s at times standoffish tenure…”
A woman could be Mexico’s next leader. Millions of others continue in shadows as domestic workers
“…Still, as two female politicians — former mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum and former senator Xóchitl Gálvez — are leading the race to the June 2 presidential election, it’s unclear how much it will shift the realities of working women in the country…”
Borderlands Mexico: Widening technology gap a threat to US-Mexico trade, experts say
“…Commercial transportation is a category that is often stereotyped as a laggard in terms of technology adoption,” said Love, who is based in Laredo. “Most carriers, logistics professionals are just so busy keeping the lights on that they can’t really start to think about innovation in the future.”
Mexico replaced China as the top U.S. trading partner in 2023, with trade between the U.S. and Mexico totaling $798 billion last year. In the first quarter of 2024, trade between Mexico and the U.S. totaled $200.1 billion, a 1.7% year-over-year increase…”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/borderlands-mexico-widening-technology-gap-110000643.html
New student-created musical ‘DayDreamer’ fuses fantasy and Mexican culture
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“…The musical, which will be performed as a stage reading at Macgowan Hall from May 24 through May 26, delivers a Mexican-inspired fantasy that tells the story of a teenage protagonist with fire powers who ventures on a quest to find her missing mother and defeat an ancient evil who has stolen the sun. Mario Vega, a graduate student in fine arts in the Department of Theater, Film and Television, said he developed “DayDreamer” with San Diego State University alumnus Eliza Vedar two years ago, and has since been workshopping it to fulfill their vision of an empowering and engaging musical that utilizes both fantasy and cultural elements…”
Abel Valenzuela Jr. appointed as dean of UCLA College Division of Social Sciences
“His scholarship has shaped research on itinerant workers, worker centers and immigrant work. His studies have engaged local stakeholders and community-based organizations, and influenced policy and legislation on issues related to labor, social stratification, race, poverty and neighborhood change,” Hunt said in the email…”
