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,”
Read More…
San Jose State University
A new partnership with mobile app OOHLALA will help San Jose State University better assist its student population to get more involved in college life, particularly those who commute to the school, according to Sonja Daniels, the associate vice president for campus life….
Republicans overall disenchanted with higher ed, study finds
Though a majority of Americans still view higher education as being good for the country, there is division along party lines on how the industry is viewed. According to a Pew Research Center report released Monday, a majority of Republicans and right-leaning citizens (58%) believing colleges and universities have a negative impact on the country while 72% of Democrats and left-leaning individuals perceive positive impact…
<a href=”http://www.educationdive.com/news/republicans-overall-disenchanted-with-higher-ed-study-finds/446793/” target=”_blank”>Link to article”</a>
Carolina Herrera: A woman who broke the rules at the border with Mexico
Carolina Herrera: A Woman Who Broke the Rules at the Border of Mexico weaves a tale of the events that led to the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Carolina’s story is that of the revolution interwoven with a woman whose life was impacted by it. As she was growing up, Carolina had to navigate two cultures—her parents’ Mexican culture, and the mostly American culture she was surrounded with in El Paso, Texas…
How I Made It From teen immigrant to vintner, Rolando Herrera has bottled his dream
Rolando Herrera runs Mi Sueño Winery in Napa Valley, which annually produces about 8,000 to 10,000 cases of premium estate Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot and a specialty blend. The family-run operation, Spanish for “My Dream,” has 16 full-time employees and 40 acres of vineyards — with another 23 planned…
Link to article
University of California Graduate Admissions for Chicano/Latino students
UC is making slow but steady progress in diversifying the racial/ethnic makeup of its graduate academic students
Enrollment of underrepresented race/ethnic groups (African American, American Indian and Chicano/Latino) in UC’s graduate academic programs has grown over the past decade. In 2012–13, UC awarded academic doctoral degrees to underrepresented racial/ethnic groups at greater percentage rates than did its peers…
Unsurprisingly, Mexicans held a much more favourable view towards the United States before Trump
Within the last 30 years pro-American tendencies, from both Mexican authorities and the general public, brought the United States to be one of the most favored countries of Mexico. However, recent findings from Jesús Velasco show this tendency has reversed due to Donald Trump’s statements about Mexico during his presidential campaign. Today Mexicans are highly anti-Trump, and anti-American. Whether or not this pattern will change in the near future is difficult to say.
Donald Trump’s antagonistic rhetoric toward Mexico has caused an increase in anti-American sentiment among Mexicans.
Today, many in Mexico reject Trump’s policies and fear his administration, citing it as fascist, authoritarian, populist, dictatorial, xenophobic, misogynist or simply an aberration…
Link to article
UC-Irvine brings intentionality to its designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution
The University of California, Irvine is among the latest to earn the “Hispanic-Serving Institution” designation, joining a fast-growing group of U.S. higher education institutions that educate a student body that is at least 25% Hispanic.
And while many colleges and universities become HSIs by accident — simply by virtue of changing demographics — UC-Irvine’s goal of becoming an HSI has been a clear part of its strategic plan. The number of Latino students on UCI’s campus has more than doubled in the last decade, thanks to targeted recruitment efforts and pipeline building…
Link to article
Funding awarded for new Latino Center of Excellence
UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare has won a five-year $3.4 million grant to fund recruitment, scholarship and research efforts in the school’s new Latino Center of Excellence.
Awarded by the federal Health Resources & Services Administration, the grant will support efforts to boost Latino youth interest in behavioral and mental health and encourage them to pursue undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in social welfare…
Link to article
Tampa Chamber of Commerce offers boost to black and Hispanic-owned businesses
Nearly half (48 percent) of all Hillsborough businesses are minority-owned, yet those minority businesses contribute less than 5 percent of the county’s total revenue, according to a study by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
A new Minority Business Accelerator sponsored by the Tampa chamber seeks to fix that by providing black and Hispanic businesses with the skills, resources and networks to grow their businesses..
Link to article
UC San Diego is failing in equity and diversity
I recently retired from my position as a student affairs administrator and education studies lecturer after 28 years of service at UCSD. In 1991, along with UCSD alumni, faculty, students and staff, I helped found the UCSD Chicano/Latino Concilio to advocate for the access and success of Chicanos at the elite La Jolla campus. Creating an external organization was necessary as virtually no Chicano voices existed among the UCSD administration or academic senate to increase institutional diversity and equity…
Link to article
How Silicon Valley appropriates Mexican-American ideas, plus degrees of assimilation.
Ripping off music and movies? We call it piratería, and we know a guy at the Paramount Swap Meet who has Guardians of the Galaxy 3 on VHS. AirBnB? We’ve been renting out the couch to visitors since the days of the Toltecs. Uber? The aforementioned raiteros, what the gabacho media used to call gypsy cabs. Some app that you can use if you need someone to cut your lawn or fix your clogged toilet? Day laborers. Dia de los Muertos everything? BRUH…and all of this caca will continue…
Link to article
The Chicano Studies Program at the University of Texas at El Paso has recently launched a new online Bachelor of Arts in Chicano Studies option enabling students across the United States and around the globe to have access to one of the oldest and most respected Chicano Studies programs in the nation.In 1971, UTEP became the first university in Texas to introduce a Chicano Studies program…Link to article
Highest Honors: UCSB graduating students
For their scholastic achievement, their extraordinary service to the university and the community, and their personal courage and persistence, three graduating seniors at UC Santa Barbara have been named winners of the university’s top awards…
Link to article
6 Reasons Corporate America Misses Out On Trillions of Hispanic Dollars
America is changing and becoming more multicultural. A big part of that has been due to the Hispanic market. They are not just a sub-segment of our economy anymore. They have become a powerhouse of economic and political influence. Their purchasing power of over $1.5 trillion is larger than the GDP of Mexico, which is considered one of the top 10 economies in the world…
Link to article
The California Promise Program
If you are an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) student and a California resident entering SF State University in Fall 2017, you are invited to participate in the California Promise Program
If you are committed to graduating in 2 years, the CA Promise program can help you make that goal a reality. We encourage you to join the CA Promise Program and earn your degree in two years!
Benefits of SF State’s CA Promise Program
After Pledging to the program in your first semester, you will receive:
Priority registration every subsequent semester so that you can enroll in the courses you need to complete your degree program in two years (maximum of 60 units);
Guaranteed course availability with personalized academic plan;
Specialized advising each semester to ensure students stay on track…
Link to article
Mexican migrant workers came to California to pick grapes. Now they own wineries.
The Smithsonian recognizes five families who have worked their way up in the U.S. wine industry
Outside Robledo Family Winery, south of Sonoma, on a cool April Sunday, the U.S. and Mexican flags whipped a stiff salute in the wind blowing off the San Pablo Bay. A third banner bore the winery logo. The flags represent three themes central to the lives of Reynaldo Robledo and many other Mexican migrant workers who have helped shape California’s wine industry: heritage, opportunity and family…
Link to article
“When My Brother Was An Aztec,” by Natalie Diaz
I don’t think people usually take poetry to the beach, but this is different than your normal poetry book. Diaz is a powerhouse of a writer and this book is a wild ride. It has headlong rushes of ecstatic beautiful language, small details about life on Mahovi reservation. Diaz is Mohavi, one of the tribes of the Colorado river. And this is set in Arizona, but it’s also of course set in her heart and her head. There’s a sensibility that is so dark but so funny. It’s a rich, compelling piece of literature. And I would take it to the dock, put it down, and read it again. It’s the kind of book that you want to live with each poem for awhile…
Link to publications
How The First Latina Senator Is Putting Congress On Blast
Donald Trump’s presidential victory on Nov. 8, 2016 was an upsetting night for diversity advocates. However, the night was not without its silver linings — and the the election of freshman Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto was one of them.
“I’m proud to be Nevada’s 1st female and our nation’s 1st Latina senator,” tweeted Cortez Masto, who filled Harry Reid’s vacant seat, on election night. “It’s about time our government mirrors the diversity of our nation.”…
Link to article
Erasing Borders: The Mexican-American Connecting Students and Mentors
As a young student, I’d wake up around 4 a.m. in Tijuana, Mexico, hustle into the car with my mom and two sisters and spend up to three hours waiting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. We lived only 15 minutes from the border, but it was a process. Since we were born in San Diego, we could attend a private elementary and middle school in the U.S., which my parents believed would provide more economic opportunity later in life. My dad, who works for the Mexican government, stayed local. My mom is a manager of a health center in San Diego. For her, our school was just a stop on her way to work…
Link to article
