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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From the Delano Grape Strike to the Mexican American Vintners Association
By Humberto Gutierrez
There have been several longitudinal studies on Mexican American mobility showing that although the monetary movement of Mexican Americans is not quite as rapid as that of whites, there is still a steady accumulation of wealth across generations.
This mobility is evidenced by the progress made by Mexican American professionals. As evidence of this success, we have witnessed the birth of several prominent professional associations. Most notable are:
- MAES, Latinos in Science and Engineering
- AMAE, Association of Mexican American Educators
- MABA, Mexican American Bar Association
- SACNAS, Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
- MAHPA, Mexican American Hispanic Physicians Association
- MABPA, Mexican American Business and Professional Association
- MALFA, Mexican American Latino Faculty Association
- MAVA, Mexican American Vintners Association
The latest American Community Survey shows year-to-year progress, or lack of it, on the survey’s annual census.
Prominent among this year is the continued progress of Mexican American college enrollment, which has jumped from 18.1% in 2013 to 18.7% in 2014. Unfortunately, graduate or professional degrees remain low with a small gain. For 2013, the graduate or professional degree was 11.2% and for 2014 this percentage climbed to 11.4% for the total population, while for 2013 it was 2.8% for Mexican Americans, and 2.9% for 2014.
Occupations in management, business, science, and arts showed a nice increase for Mexican Americans, from 16.7% to 17.4% while for the total population percentages went from 36.3% in 2013 to 36.9% in 2014. Mexican Americans still lag far behind the total population but there is a slight gain as compared to the total population.
For industry, numbers have gone up slightly for the total population but have remained stagnant for Mexican Americans.
References
- Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the United States: 2014
- United States S0201 and B05006. Selected Population Profile in the United States
- Population Groups: Mexican and Mexico (foreign-born)
- Data Set: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates for years 2012 and 2014
- Census Bureau, American Fact Finder, Selected Population Profile in the United States
Mariachi Music as a Pathway to Higher Education in the United States
L Salazar – Journal of the Vernacular Music Center, 2015
… Due to low expectations, poverty, and possible language barriers, Latinos, particularly
Mexican-Americans, are plagued with low academic achievement and high high-
school dropout rates (Torres and de la Torre 1997:100). …
Link to article
Visas For Latin American Professionals Available at U.S. Consulates Overseas
Economies of 26 Latin American countries show signs of weakness and … TN for Mexican professionals: A list of 61 designated professions and the …
Link to article
MEXICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN AND ABORTION: EXPERIENCES AND REFLECTIONS
LB Welter – 2015
… for Meaning-making …..122 and Guidance …..122 Theme 3. Mexican-American Cultural Values …
215 Positive Outcomes from Abortion …..219 Expanded Academic, Professional, and Financial …
Link to dissertation
PLAYING IN PARADISE: THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF BEER GARDENS IN BORDERLANDS CITY 1870-1915
VA Herrera – 2015
… 5 Thomas Sheridan, “Peacock in the Parlor: Frontier Tucson’s Mexican Elite,” The
Journal of Arizona History 25, no. 3 (1984): 187. 6 Ibid., 34. Page 6. 6 … races in one
space; Mexicans, Americans, Castilians, and Native Americans all …
Link to thesis
Students need diverse teachers in their schools
While many San Francisco residents are aware of California’s teacher shortage, a second shortage threatening our schools may be less familiar: We don’t face just a numbers gap, but also a demographic gap. Statewide, 73 percent of students in California schools are nonwhite, compared with only 29 percent of teachers.
It’s the largest demographic gap between students and teachers nationwide…
Link to article
UC Riverside Library Awarded Grant to Participate in the Latino Americans: 500 Years of History Initiative
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) – The University of California, Riverside Library received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) to participate in the Latino Americans: 500 Years of History initiative…
Link to article
Conceptualizing Interpersonal Relationships in the Cultural Contexts of Individualism and Collectivism
CRPM Greenfield, B Quiroz
… There werc fifteen teachers from this school, including-eleven European Americans, two African
Amer- icans, and two Mexican Americans [one was born in the United States. and one had
immigrated thirteen years before). School “2 was an urban public school. …
Link to article
Racial Disparities in Orthodontic Care for Medicaid -Enrolled Children in Washington
JM Merritt – 2015
… indicative of a class II malocclusion. Whites, Blacks and Mexican Americans had a varying
prevalence of 57.6%, 64.4%, and 66.4% respectively for >2mm overjet.10 Class III malocclusion …
Blacks and Mexican Americans. Racial Disparities in Orthodontic Use for Children …
Link to thesis
10 New Books by Established Latino Authors
Over the summer I highlighted 9 books by emerging Latino voices, but it’s as important to acknowledge that Latino literature’s more familiar names are also gracing the covers on display on bookstore shelves in 2015.
Many of these prominent writers produced the foundational texts that shape the Latino literary canon such as The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros), The Latin Deli (Judith Ortiz Cofer) and The Devil’s Highway (Luis Alberto Urrea). Others listed here include the Poet Laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, and three younger writers (Joy Castro, Lorraine López and Urayoán Noel) whose prolific and stellar output has earned them a place among these legends of Latino letters. In celebration of Latino Heritage Month, I invite readers to consider the following new books from these established Latino authors…
Link to news report
Soledad O’Brien Launches ‘I Am Latino in America’ Tour
Following the success of Soledad O’Brien’s Black in America tours, which foster conversations on issues plaguing the Black community, the award-winning journalist launched another tour: I Am Latino in America.
While Black in America’s main focus has been overpolicing in the Black community, I Am Latino in America takes a look amplifying Latino voices leading up to the 2016 presidential election….
Link to article
Syndicated Chicano cartoonist to visit WNMU
SILVER CITY, N.M. — Political cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, who has been described as perhaps the most prolific Chicano artist in the nation, will be on the Western New Mexico University campus as part of the Raza Alumni Reunion for Homecoming 2015.
On Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., Alcaraz will give a presentation at the Global Resource Center on campus. He will speak about his experience as a writer and then premiere the first episode of Bordertown, an upcoming American adult animated sitcom. The premiere will be followed by a Q&A opportunity…
Link to article
‘Breakout Moment’: More Books Reflect Mexican American Kids, Teens by Juan Castillo
SAN MARCOS, TX. – The growing movement to reflect the lives of Mexican American children and young adults through the power of words has come a long way.
Just ask new U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, who over the weekend told a rapt audience of writers, illustrators and multicultural children’s book advocates at Texas State University, “This is our breakout moment.”
The first Mexican American to hold the position, Herrera spoke at the 2015 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, which celebrated its 20th anniversary. Herrera spoke excitedly about mounting positive bellwethers – more Latino authors, more interest from Hollywood and from corporate America, “more global interest, more global writers and voices.” …
Link to article
From Factory To Classroom: A Worker, A Student — And A Mother
Today, Noramay Cadena is a mechanical engineer, fitted with multiple degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But she came by her motivation in a place much different from the MIT classrooms: a factory in Los Angeles where her mother brought her one summer as a teenager…
Link to article
Hispanic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Opens Her Dream Dance School
NEW YORK, NY — Just two years ago, Lily Urzúa came to Queens, New York from Mexico to pursue her dreams of owning a dance company. With one suitcase and $200 in hand, she founded the Urzúa Queens Center of Performing Arts.
She’s realizing her dream, but the Latina entrepreneur concedes it requires more hard work than she expected.
“You just want it that bad that you think, ‘when I’m there everything is going to be nice,'” said Urzúa. “I just want to be enjoying it without suffering it.”…
Link to article
George I. Sánchez: The Long Fight for Mexican Integration by Carlos Kevin Blanton (review)
JL Pycior – Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 2015
… Today the University of Texas education building bears Sánchez’s name. What really matters,
though, as this definitive account makes clear, is that his words and deeds contributed mightily
to the civil rights advances of Mexican Americans. [End Page 231]. …
Link to review
The Effect of Bilingualism on Self-Perceived Multicultural Counseling Competence
R Form, TPC More
… Language switching and Mexican Americans’ emotional expression. Journal of Multicultural
Counseling and Development, 35, 154–168. … Counselor bilingual ability, counselor ethnicity,
acculturation, and Mexican Americans’ perceived counselor credibility. …
Link to article
Report: Minority Teachers Are Quitting at Rapid Rates
Although small strides have been made toward diversifying the U.S. school system over the past couple of decades, a new report shows there’s still a long way to go.
At a national level, schools have made progress in the hiring of minority teachers, according to a report by the Albert Shanker Institute, “The State of Teacher Diversity in American Education.” The attrition amongst minority teachers, however, is higher…
Link to article
Mexican Immigrant Family Life in a Pre-emerging Southern Gateway Community
HM Helms, ND Hengstebeck, Y Rodriguez, JL Mendez… – 2015
… This is no less true for Mexican Americans, who are the largest subgroup of Hispanics and make
up the largest group of immigrants in the United States.5 These programs also do not address
the larger contexts in which parents’ marriages and children’s development are …
Link to article
CUIDANDO A LOS NUESTROS: ELDER CARE IN THE CONTEMPORARY LATINO FAMILY
J Medina – 2015
… For many Euro-Americans, there exists little difference between Chicana/o, a Mexican
American, a Central American or a Spanish Caribbean native. … For example, Mexican-
Americans reside in the Southwest (eg, California and Texas); Puerto Ricans …
Link to thesis
