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…
Hispanic Homeownership Rate Continues to Rise
The Hispanic homeownership rate rose from 45.6 percent in 2015 to 46 percent in 2016, according to data from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). This is the second year in a row that this demographic experienced a homeownership rate increase.
This increase in homeownership is mirrored by a decline in the overall U.S. homeownership rate—a slight dip from 63.7 percent in 2015 to 63.4 percent last year—and reported declines in homeownership among African-Americans and Asian-Americans. NAHREP also reported that Hispanics led in net household formations in 2016, adding a total net increase of 330,000 households…
Link to article
Trump puts U.S. food, farm companies on edge over Mexico trade
By Tom Polansek and Mark Weinraub | CHICAGO
U.S. food producers and shippers are trying to speed up exports to Mexico and line up alternative markets as concerns rise that this lucrative business could be at risk if clashes over trade and immigration between the Trump administration and Mexico City escalate.
Diplomatic relations have soured fast this month, as the new U.S. administration floated a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports and a meeting between the presidents of the two countries was canceled. U.S. President Donald Trump has also pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) trade deal with Mexico and Canada…
Link to article
Valentines for all Seasons
A book of love poems by Humberto(Tito)Gutierrez…
Link to book preview
Success of Food Trucks Draws Hispanics into the Restaurant Trade
LOS ANGELES – Over the past few years, big cities have seen a boom in the food trucks that travel around town offering their fare, a success that has inspired many Hispanic food truckers to take the next step and open traditional restaurants that offer their usual menus to diners in less of a hurry but eager to get the same quality and originality.
“A business on wheels is always difficult – you have to be ready for anything, whether it’s a police complaint or finding a parking place. It’s harder than having an ordinary business,” Zeferino Garcia, now owner of two restaurants in Los Angeles, told EFE…
Link to article
Picturing Childhood: Youth In Transnational Comics
Mexican Director Ernesto Contreras Wins Audience Award at Sundance
LOS ANGELES – Mexican director Ernesto Contreras won the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic for “Sueño en otro idioma” (I Dream in Another Language) at the Sundance Film Festival.
The film tells the story of the arrival of a linguist in a community that is home to the last two speakers of a millennia-old language who have not spoken in 50 years…
Link to article
Ethnic Humor in a Multicultural Society
L Gogová – Ars Aeterna, 2016
… 22 yellow.” The Mexican child says, “When the phone greens, I pink it up and say yellow.” The
joke is an example of ethnic humour, which uses a minority ethnic group (in this case
Hispanic/Latino Americans) as a target and the aspect of linguistic imperfection as a pivot in …
Link to article PDF
Xavier Becerra formally nominated as California attorney general
Gov. Jerry Brown formally entered his nomination of Rep. Xavier Becerra for California attorney general on Tuesday, setting the 90-day clock for the Legislature to act.
Brown’s selection of Becerra, a Los Angeles Democrat and veteran of federal immigration and health care policy debates, came after the fall elevation of Democrat Kamala Harris to the U.S. Senate. Harris was sworn in Tuesday, after which Brown submitted his pick of Becerra to the Legislature. Their deadline is April 4. In the unlikely event that either the Assembly or Senate votes to reject him by that date, Brown will have to name someone else. If the houses vote to approve him or do not act, he will take office. Meanwhile, the acting attorney general is Kathleen “Kate” Kenealy, the chief deputy…
Link to article
Deported by Marriage: Americans Forced to Choose Between Love and Country
B Caldwell – Brooklyn Law Review, 2016
… Article 1 Fall 12-1-2016 Deported by Marriage: Americans Forced to … For more information, please
contact matilda.garrido@brooklaw.edu. Recommended Citation Beth Caldwell, Deported by
Marriage: Americans Forced to Choose Between Love and Country, 82 Brook. L. Rev. …
Link to article(PDF)
After sending many signals to Latinos in his campaign, Trump sends another: Not in my Cabinet
Republican and Democratic presidents have long nodded to the importance of diversity as they select their Cabinets. Since 1989, every president’s first Cabinet has included at least one Latino.
Not Donald Trump’s…
Link to article
Handbook of Political Trust: Immigration, ethnic diversity and political trust
Page 337. 20. Immigration, ethnic diversity and political trust Lauren McLaren
INTRODUCTION Feelings of community and identity are central features of modern
states. A great deal of the seminal research on the creation of …
Link to book excerpt
Black and Latina women pitch tech startups at Demo Day in Atlanta
Showcase is hosted by nationally-recognized, Atlanta-based incubator dedicated to increasing the number of women of color in tech
Startups led by Black and Latina women will make their case for capital at the first-ever demo day hosted by digitalundivided’s BIG Accelerator, the new, nationally-recognized Atlanta-based program dedicated to reversing the lack of diversity in the tech industry.
The BIG Demo Day will showcase live demonstrations by each startup to a select group of investors, corporate executives, and tech leaders, as well as talks by leading national experts from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Capital One, and Kapor Capital. helping women entrepreneurs of color develop sustainable businesses. The Demo Day is the culmination of an intense, 12-week accelerator program that provided each startup founder with coaching on how to scale their ventures, mentorship by top industry leaders, office space for one year, and $20,000 in seed funding from the investment fund Harriet Angels Syndicate…
Link to article
Take Notice, Hollywood. Latinos Are Part Of The New Mainstream.
Watching the Golden Globes last Sunday night, I recalled the story Diego Luna shared on Twitter of an older Hispanic man who cried after watching Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and for the first time being able to relate to a hero (Luna) in a blockbuster movie, a character who looked and sounded like him. While the story went viral and brought tears to the eyes of millions of Americans, I couldn’t help but wonder how that same man felt watching the Golden Globes that evening, and if he was wondering where the Latino nominees were who looked and sounded like him.
Now extend that experience to his kids and grandchildren, and the more than 40 million American Latinos in the U.S. who often feel invisible, non-existent, and irrelevant in the eyes of media – despite their spending power in movies and entertainment. And needless to say, this lack of Latinos has nothing to do with lack of talent or beauty, but with the lack of Latino hires on and off camera…
Link to article
Colorado Hispanic Bar Association celebrates 40
The Colorado Hispanic Bar Association (CHBA) will hold its annual gala and fundraiser on January 21, 2017, at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Denver. The event will raise operational funds for the organization, as well as scholarship funds on behalf of its Foundation. The gala begins at 5:30 p.m., with a cocktail hour and Latin Jazz played by Freddy Rodriguez. Dinner begins at 7:00 p.m., with a three-course meal. During the dinner program, the CHBA will honor outgoing President Arnulfo D. Hernández and swear in incoming President Ruth N. Mackey…
Link to article
Hispanic Latino Affairs launches mentorship program
A new UF mentorship program is helping Hispanic and Latino freshmen adjust to college life.
The Latino Educational Advancement Program, started by Hispanic Latino Affairs this Spring, is a five-week program that aims to help freshmen succeed in college classes and get involved on campus, said Carissa Cullum, the coordinator for LEAP. The program began Friday when the first 20 mentees and 10 mentors introduced themselves in the Multicultural and Diversity Affairs suite.
Cullum, a 24-year-old UF Latin American studies graduate student, said the program will host workshops every Tuesday starting this week. The workshops will teach students about on-campus resources, study tips, scholarship opportunities and Hispanic and Latino inclusion in higher education, she said…
Link to article
New Campaign Launched to Increase Latino Representation and Impact Across Greater Boston: Press Release
BOSTON, MA – The Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN) today launched a new campaign to increase Latino representation and impact in local government, which will include digital outreach, discussion forums and the release of a new report.
“Latinos are the region’s fastest growing population, contributing billions to our local economy and tax base, but we are largely absent from decision-making positions,” said GBLN Steering Committee Member Alex Oliver-Dávila. “This campaign will help increase the voice, impact and representation of Latinos across Greater Boston.”…
Link to article
Why This Poet Is Tired Of Trying To Prove He’s Both Mexican And American
n the 1997 film “Selena,” actor Edward James Olmos recited a monologue that resonated with many bicultural Latinos living in the United States. As he put it, being Mexican-American was “tough” because you have to be “more Mexican than the Mexicans, and more American than the Americans, both at the same time.”
And spoken word poet Christopher Martinez personally understands that struggle. The Mexican-American begins his poem, “An Untitled Brown Poem,” with a reference to the iconic words by the actor, who portrayed Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla’ father Abraham in the movie…
Link to article
République’s new wine director is now one of the most influential Latina sommeliers in the country
On the second day of January, Taylor Parsons, chief author of one of the most dynamic wine lists in Los Angeles, left his position at République — that day, by his calculation, represented his 1,000th evening menu at the celebrated Hancock Park bistro. He plans to spend the next year developing a restaurant project he can call his own, consulting, and helping his wife Briana Valdez expand her own business, the Loz Feliz Tex-Mex joint HomeState.
He left the wine program in the hands of 33-year-old Maria Garcia, who instantly becomes one of the most important wine directors in the city, and one of the most influential Latina sommeliers in the country.
Garcia is an L.A. native raised in Whittier. She was set on taking her history and political science degrees from UCLA into a career in education — in fact, she was teaching at a high school in Crenshaw when her interest in wine and cocktail culture drew her back toward..
Link to article
Latina Elected Officials Make History in States like Colorado, Illinois
Latina elected officials are making strides not just on the federal level with the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate and sworn in on Tuesday, but on the state and local level.
Colorado in particular stands out: It’s making history in 2017 with two Latinas in top positions.
Democrat Crisanta Durán becomes the state’s first-ever Speaker of the House. Fellow Democrat Lucía Guzmán was re-elected Senate Minority Leader…
Link to article
San Gabriel Valley Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio appointed first Latina chair of human services committee
State Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, has been appointed as the first Latina chair of the Assembly’s human services committee, her office announced Tuesday
The committee oversees child welfare services, foster care, CalWORKs, developmental disabilities services, adult protective services and other human services programs.
Rubio, who was elected to her first term in November, was appointed to the position by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon…
Link to article
