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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Dragging the State Board into the Present
When Houston author and activist Tony Diaz lit a cultural fire at the State Board of Education last year by demanding that Texas honor its majority Hispanic student body with a high school course in Mexican-American studies, the board did what it does best: It burned.
Board member David Bradley (R-Beaumont), perhaps as a sort of thought exercise, proposed adding a course in Irish-American studies to honor his heritage. Board member Pat Hardy (R-Weatherford) deemed the course wholly unnecessary. “We’re citizens of the United States, not citizens of Mexico,” she said.
Diaz asked, “Who will walk with us into this new America, and who will turn their backs on us?”
MerryLynn Gerstenschlager of the Texas Eagle Forum wondered aloud what sort of “new America” Diaz had in mind and why the Founding Fathers weren’t good enough for him…
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Looking to hire Hispanic STEM graduates? FIU a top producer of science and engineering talent
FIU graduates more Hispanics with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) than any other university in the continental U.S., according to a report released today by Excelencia in Education.
Finding Your Workforce: Latinos in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), identifies institutions that graduate large numbers of Hispanics with STEM degrees in hopes of encouraging employers to engage with these institutions and hire graduates. FIU ranked second only to universities in Puerto Rico in graduating Hispanics with bachelor’s and master’s degrees…
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There’s a War Going on Here: Defending American Identity at the US-Mexican Border Through the Cinema
A Macleod
… view of the 1836 battle of the Alamo. Sam and Pilar are former lovers, kept apart by their respective
parents, Sam’s father and Pilar’s Mexican-American mother Mercedes Cruz … migrants and
drug-smugglers. The CBP agents we see are very professional and show …
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US Latino Unemployment Rate: 13 Million Latinos ‘Not in the Labor Force’ But May 2015 Hispanic Unemployment Declines
The U.S. Latino unemployment declined by one percentage point in comparison to May 2014, and economists have remained optimistic about the latest jobs report.
Overall, the U.S. unemployment rate increased from 5.4 percent in April to 5.5 percent for May. According to The New York Times, the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) helped ease the debate about the first quarter’s financial results. During May, 280,000 jobs were created, which was a stronger number than expected, and it may further the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates.
The Latino unemployment rate, however, declined from April’s 6.9 percent to 6.7 percent in May. As the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) noted, Latino employment gains in leisure and hospitality likely attributed to the unemployment rate decline as 57,000 jobs were added in this sector. The leisure and hospitality employment gains come as the summer vacation season approaches…
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Interactive effects of acculturation and pro-inflammatory factors on C-reactive protein among childbearing age Mexican-American women in the United States
Maternal pro-inflammatory states have been linked with increased risk of diabetes and obesity in offspring. Childbearing-age Mexican-American women (CAMAW) have the highest fertility rates and one of the highest levels of inflammation in the United States. A significant proportion migrates to the U.S. during early reproductive years. How acculturation interacts with various pro-inflammatory risk factors to influence inflammation risk in this population has not been examined…
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The Role of Mexican American Siblings in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
SAR De Jesús – 2015
Page 1. The Role of Mexican American Siblings in Adolescence and Young Adulthood by … Thank
you for the invaluable lessons and for caring about my professional development and well-being,
in you I found more than an advisor, I found a role model, and a friend. …
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Acculturation and Diet Quality among Mexican American Adults in the U.S.: Findings from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2008
The diet quality of Mexican Americans (MAs) is changing with the acculturation process. Using the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI2010), this study examined which aspects of diet quality are impacted by acculturation among MAs…
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Acculturation and Excessive Alcohol Consumption among Mexican American Current Drinkers- Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2012
The influence of acculturation on alcohol use among Mexican Americans in the U.S. remain unresolved. Research is needed to identify the unique effects of acculturation on consumption patterns and problems among drinkers. Using a sample derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), this study aimed to assess the relationship between acculturation and excessive alcohol consumption among Mexican American current drinkers…
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Chapter 7: The Many Dimensions of Hispanic Racial Identity
For Hispanics living in the United States, Hispanic identity is multidimensional and multifaceted. For some, it is defined most by their family’s country of origin, such as Mexican, Cuban or Dominican.48 For others, it is defined by pan-ethnic terms like Hispanic or Latino, emphasizing the commonalities of a diverse community…
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LinkedIn makes slight progress on diversity
SAN FRANCISCO — Change is coming very slowly to LinkedIn which over the past year only slightly increased the number of women and made no headway in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities at the professional networking company.
The Mountain View, Calif., company is still dominated by men, according to work force demographics released Tuesday. Nearly six out of 10 employees at LinkedIn — or 58% — are men, but that is an improvement from 61% last year.
Women also made some progress in the company leadership, holding 30% of those positions, a 5% increase from 2014.
In technical roles, women saw a 1% increase. In non-tech roles, LinkedIn had gender parity with 50% of those positions held by women.
But LinkedIn did not see any improvement in the small percentage of underrepresented minorities. In the U.S., 2% of LinkedIn employees are African American and 4% are Hispanic…
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Juan Felipe Herrera, From Farm Fields to Poet Laureate
The Library of Congress is to announce on Wednesday that Juan Felipe Herrera, a son of migrant farmworkers whose writing fuses wide-ranging experimentalism with reflections on Mexican-American identity, will be the next poet laureate.
The appointment is the nation’s highest honor in poetry and also something of a direct promotion for Mr. Herrera, who was poet laureate of California from 2012 to 2014…
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Latino Voters Are Crucial To the Environmental Movement; Studies Prove Most Consider Climate Change ‘Very’ Important
With around 54 million Latinos living in the United States these day, Latino voters are easily a major factor in determining the outcomes of elections. And this turns out to be good news for any environmentally-minded politicians out there.
A new study — which comes to us from Latino Decisions, a political opinion research group, and the nonprofit Hispanic Access Foundation — has revealed that 80 percent of Latino voters that participated in their “2014 Election Eve Poll” believed that it was “extremely” or “very” important for the federal government to take measures in order to reduce climate changing carbon pollution…
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Immigration News Today: Most US-Born, Foreign-Born Latinos and Millennials Support Pathway to Legal Status
While the two major political parties remain divided over providing undocumented immigrants a pathway to U.S. citizenship, a majority of Americans have made their preference known.
Overall American Sentiment:
With certain requirements required, most Americans, with 72 percent, said undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. should legally stay in the country. Based on Pew Research Center’s latest survey, when the 72 percent is broken down, 42 percent said they support immigrants’ right to apply for citizenship, while the remaining 26 percent prefer immigrants apply for permanent residency…
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Supreme Court could reshape voting districts, with big impact on Hispanics
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take up a Texas case that challenges the way nearly every U.S. voting district – from school boards to Congress – is drawn. The case, in essence, asks the court to specify what the word “person” means in its “one person, one vote” rule. The outcome of the case could have major impacts on Hispanic voting strength and representation from coast to coast…
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NCLR Educational Programs to Help Young Latinos and Millenials Swarm the Financial Services Sector
Hispanic/Latino banks, analysts, investors and tellers are noticeably absent from the financial sector. However, programs designed by one of the nation’s largest advocates for la raza should help to swarm the financial services sector with capable young Latinos…
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Dallas Latino leaders savor legislative win on in-state tuition for immigrants
Leaders from the new Latino Center for Leadership Development claimed victory Tuesday in preserving in-state tuition for unauthorized immigrants.
Now, they want to boost the use of in-state tuition at colleges and universities among immigrant students.
Miguel Solis, the center’s executive director, said unauthorized immigrants should never give up on an education, despite political gridlock in Washington and court obstacles on liberalizing immigration policies…
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Prominent Latino Commencement Speakers Offer Wisdom to College Grads
During the last few weeks thousands of college graduates around the country heard inspirational commencement speeches as they prepared to embark on their new lives.
We rounded some words of wisdom from prominent Latinos in government, civil rights and the arts who shared their own life stories and journeys and offered students guidance and inspiration for their post-college years…
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ENHANCING SELF – EFFICACY IN MEXICAN – AMERICAN FAMILIES
C Centeno – 2015
Page 1. ENHANCING SELF-EFFICACY IN MEXICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES A Project Presented
to the Faculty of California State University, Stanislaus … CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL
ENHANCING SELF-EFFICACY IN MEXICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES by Consuelo Centeno …
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Eva Longoria Reveals How She Fought Studio for Role as Inner-City Latina
Mexican-American actress Eva Longoria is one of the most visible Latinas in entertainment, but filmmakers on her latest project needed convincing she could play an inner-city Latina.
Speaking Sunday at the Produced By Conference, Longoria fielded an audience question about juggling her identity as both a Mexican and American female. She touched on her casting in Universal’s upcoming “Low Riders,” a family drama set in the world of hydraulic cars that starts production on Tuesday…
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Students Organize First “Harvard Latino Graduation”
A desire to create a space where Latinos graduating from Harvard University can celebrate their accomplishments with their families in a more meaningful and personal way led a group of students to organize the first-ever Harvard Latin@ Graduation ceremony.
“Many of us are first-generation college graduates and come from middle to lower-income backgrounds. So to be able to graduate from a prestigious institution like Harvard, it’s just really a dream come true,” said Erika Ontiveros Carlsen, a 27-year-old who’s graduating with a Master’s of Divinity degree from Harvard. She led efforts to plan the Harvard Latin@ Graduation – the “@” symbol is more gender neutral…
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