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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The Culture of Generativity: Exploring the Manifestation of Generativity in the Manifestation of Generativity in the Mexican/Mexican-American Population
Generativity is a developmental stage in adulthood where an individual makes a
conscious decision to leave their mark on the world with the intent to make the world a
better place for future generations. Research has shown that engaging in generative acts
benefits both the person engaging in such practices as well as the recipient, and thus
generativity is positively correlated with reported well being. It has also been shown that
adults engaging in such practices are psychologically healthier and ease into old age with
less resistance than their non-generative counterparts. Generativity is a strengths-
based approach. It is shaped by one’s cultural values and beliefs and also serves
as a window into one’s particular culture…
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Al Madrigal’s New Special ‘Half Like Me’ Is What Latinos Have Been Waiting For
Al Madrigal goes on a journey of self-discovery… starting with how to pronounce his own name.
In his new one-hour special “Half Like Me,” premiering on Fusion on January 22, The Daily Show’s senior Latino correspondent travels across the U.S. to discover what it means to be half Mexican and half white.
“Being half has always been confusing,” Madrigal says in the preview for the special. “White people think you’re Mexican and Latinos give me shit about not being Latino enough.”…
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Chef Ray Garcia’s Broken Spanish Will Speak L.A.’s Mother Tongue: Mexican Cuisine –
The former Fig chef joins the city’s Alta California stars in the cocina as he takes over the former Rivera space
January 15, 2015 Bill Esparza Chefs and Restaurateurs, Dining
When Broken Spanish opens in the former Rivera space, chef Ray Garcia will boldly join the ranks of what I’ve been calling Alta California cuisine, a style of cooking from a group of Los Angeles-born pocho (Mexican-American) chefs rooted in the Latin cuisines of their youth, fine-dining experience in our California-cuisine kitchens, and the use of our abundant and diverse local products from L.A. farmers’ markets. Garcia is one of the most respected chefs in Los Angeles, known for his European-inspired cooking. But you could catch him at events where he’d prepare things like whole pig-head carnitas, and Garcia also had tacos and Mexican comfort dishes on the brunch menu at Fig, where he previously served as executive chef…
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Shumaker Loop names first Hispanic managing partner
Julio Esquivel, partner and a member of the management committee at Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP, is about to make history in the company.
Esquivel will be the firm’s next managing partner, taking over for J. Todd Timmerman, and will be the first Hispanic managing partner in the firm’s history.
Esquivel specializes in corporate law with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, securities, IPOs, franchise and distribution, and international transactions. He’s been a member of Shumaker Loop for 17 years, and said Partner Greg Yadley was his mentor from the start at the firm…
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The Things All White Latinos Are Tired of Hearing
As a white Latina, if I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “You’re whiter than I am!” I’d have enough money to … well, the point is, I’d be making it rain, OK?
(Also, yes: I’m aware that I’m whiter than you. Trust me. I’d like to be able to tan as easily as you think I do, but alas, that’s not really in the cards for me.)
For many people, it’s not the most offensive thing ever to be told you don’t look Latina or to be asked if you’re adopted or to be asked why you’re white if you’re Latina, but the truth is, people often have a specific, stereotypical idea of what it means to be Latino in the U.S. today, and often that idea is at odds with the reality that pale-skinned, blue-eyed, or blonde Latinos actually can and do exist. After a while, it gets kind of annoying to constantly have to “prove” to people — Latinos and non-Latinos alike — how “Latina” you really are…
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In 3 Minutes, This Video Will Completely Change the Way You Think About Race
By Marcie Bianco January 14, 2015
Is “race” just another label?
From Raven-Symoné to Toni Morrison, a growing number of people are now claiming that race is a social construct. As Morrison told Stephen Colbert last year, “There’s no such thing as race. None. There’s just the human race, scientifically, anthropologically. Racism [too] is a construct.” Not that race isn’t without benefits, she explained: “Money can be made off of it. People who don’t like themselves can feel better because of it. … It has a social function.”
But what does that actually mean? Jenée Desmond Harris, in a new video for Vox, has created an excellent primer for anyone confused about the concept. Whether you agree with her or not, this three-minute video will almost certainly get you thinking differently about race…
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Meet Austin, Texas’s Growing Ranks Of Latino Business Owners
AUSTIN, TX — Becoming a successful entrepreneur is all about the business of product, payroll, cash flow, money in and money out. But maybe most of all it is about risk-taking and sacrifice. Just ask Adriana Rodriguez, German Ustariz and his wife Delmy, three Central Texans who took a chance and turned their business ventures into profit makers.
They are among the thousands of people fueling a booming growth in Hispanic-owned businesses in the greater Austin area, a compelling portrait which emerges in a recent study by the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Hispanic-owned businesses in the study posted revenues of $4.8 billion in 2013, an impressive 90 percent increase over 2007 revenues reported in a Census Survey of Business Owners. More robust growth is expected. The study projects that Hispanic-owned businesses could exceed 51,000 in number and add more than $12.8 billion to the Central Texas economy by 2020. Employment by Hispanic-owned businesses in the region is projected to more than double – from just shy of 49,000 in 2013 to 127,500 in 2020…
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Ruben Navarrette Jr.: TV’s skewed vision of Latinos
Through perseverance and hard work, Latinos have overcome a long history of discrimination and made it to the U.S. Senate, the Supreme court and the Cabinet. You’ll find them in the executive suites of Fortune 50 companies, leading championship sports teams, and heading the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations. They’ve even made it to outer space.
That was easy. Now for the last frontier: television.
Studies have been done on what some call the entertainment industry’s “brownout.” One recent examination of the problem — “The Latino Media Gap: A Report on the State of Latinos in U.S. Media,” which was released last year by Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race — found that Latinos lag far behind whites and African-Americans in landing leading roles. When Latinos have appeared on television, it’s usually in one-dimensional, stereotypical and cookie-cutter roles: the housekeeper or hoodlum, the cop or soldier, the sexpot or illegal immigrant, the gardener or gang-banger…
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Golden Globes Winners 2015: Latinos Gina Rodriguez, Alejandro González Iñárritu Take Home A Prize, Who Else Won? [FULL LIST]
Action! Award Season has officially begun this year with the Golden Globes. On Sunday, January 11, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded the best of movies and television while Tina Fey and Amy Poehler brought they hilarious skits to the award show hosting it yet again. Helping the funny duo present winners with their prizes were Latin divas Salma Hayek and Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Gervais, Amy Adams, Adrien Brody, Anna Faris, Kevin Hart, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Pratt, Channing Tatum, Lily Tomlin, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Our new TV obsession, Latina Gina Rodríguez went home with a little statue. The “Jane The Virgin” star was nominated for the first time and gave a heartfelt speech when she was called on the stage to pick up her prize. As she fought back her tears of excitement, she thanked her family, cast mates, the network and everyone who believed in her, and added, “This award is so much more than myself, it represents a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes.”…
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CHCI Swearing-In Ceremony Welcomes New Chair Rep. Linda Sanchez and Hispanic Members of the 114th Congress
Government Fri, January 09, 2015 12:01 PM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an historic night for the Hispanic community, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the nation’s premier Latino youth leadership development and educational organization, welcomed the Hispanic members of the 114th Congress at a ceremonial swearing-in on Tuesday, January 6, 2015, at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. More than 400 people turned out to see seventeen Hispanic members, including newly-elected CHCI Chair Rep. Linda Sanchez, stand shoulder to shoulder and be sworn in as leaders of their communities by the Honorable Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr., Chief Judge, Central District of California.
“My goal for CHCI is simple: empower the next generation to realize their potential and to lead,” said Sanchez. “There are so many talented Latino youth that only need a door of opportunity to open for them. CHCI opens that door. I’ve been fortunate to have had great mentors, like Judge Hatter, who taught me not to accept others’ limited expectations for what I could be or achieve. CHCI does the same thing…
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Home Entertainment Story Berkeley: Mexican-American author Michele Serros, 48, dies
BERKELEY — Michele Serros, a short story writer, essayist and poet whose wry and witty observations on growing up Mexican-American in Southern California became required reading in many ethnic studies courses, has died at age 48.
Serros died Sunday at her home in Berkeley after a 20-month battle with a rare form of oral cancer, said her husband, Antonio Magana.
Serros was a community college student when she burst on the literary scene in 1994 with the publication of “Chicana Falsa and Other Stories of Death, Identity and Oxnard,” a collection of stories and poems inspired by her family life and childhood in a majority Hispanic coastal community. A fourth-generation Californian who did not learn to speak Spanish well until she was an adult, she gave voice to the struggle for belonging girls like her faced while straddling cultures…
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Cooper medical tries to buck the trend of Latinos absent from medical workforce
It’s no secret that doctors nationwide lack a Latino presence, but a recent study revealed just how dire the situation has become: A new report by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) shows that only 4 percent of Latinos and African-Americans are in the physician workforce.
So the message being sent nationally to medical schools is simple – create a more diverse physician workforce.
SEE ALSO: Shortage of Hispanic doctors increases health risks for all
One school not only taking the directive to heart but actually leading the way is Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) . The relatively new institution, which serves the stressed Camden, New Jersey area, is already showing positive results that should in time help diversify doctors in the region…
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First Chicano film is added to the National Film Registry Entertainment FIlm & TV by Jonathan Muñoz – Jan 5, 2015
Along with classics such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Saving Private Ryan,” a Chicano film has found its way the National Film Registry, making it the first one in U.S. history.
Through the National Film Preservation Act, the Librarian of Congress names twenty-five films deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant to the National Film Registry every year. The goal preserve them so that future generations will be able to see these as well. It’s what makes “Please Don’t Burry Me Alive!” so special, now that’s it forms a part of the registry…
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In With the New: Meet Congress’ Latino Newcomers
The total number of Latinos in Congress rose by one, to 29, after the midterm elections, a new high, according to tallies kept by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Here are the newcomers who will be sworn in after the 114th Congress convenes Jan. 7…
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‘Sciences,’ ‘Girl,’ ‘Gueros’ up for Palm Springs Fest’s Cine Latino Award
MADRID – Argentina’s “Natural Sciences,” Mexico’s “Gueros” and Spain’s “Magical Girl” and are among a record 27 titles — including “Wild Tales” and “Libertador,” both shortlisted for a foreign-language film Oscar nomination — that compete for the Cine Latino Award at the 26th Palm Springs Intl. Film Festival.
Prize goes to the best movie from Latin America, Spain or Portugal at the fest, which kicks off today. Sponsored by Mexico’s Guadalajara Festival, its biggest film event, and the University of Guadalajara Foundation in USA, the Cine Latino Award is now in its third year.
The Cine Latino Award’s cash prize has been raised to $10,000, Raul Padilla, president of the University of Guadalajara Foundation in USA, announced Friday. This recognizes and strengthens the fast-building bridges between the U.S. and Mexican film communities, seen in the number of companies operating out of both the U.S. and Mexico and the burgeoning number of U.S.-Mexico co-productions, in which Mexico brings increasingly significant coin to the table…
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Mexican American Studies students show academic gains, report says
As Los Angeles schools add ethnic studies courses, researchers report students who participate in Mexican American Studies increased their chances of graduating and passing state tests.
More than 100 Los Angeles Unified high schools will soon offer ethnic studies courses, such as Asian Literature, Mexican American History and African American Literature.
By 2019, every LAUSD student will have to take a one-semester ethnic studies course to graduate.
The University of Arizona study, published in the American Educational Research Journal’s December issue, found students’ chances of earning a cap and gown increased by nearly 10 percent when they took Mexican American Studies.
Struggling students showed an increased probability of passing the state reading test by about 9 percent after the course…
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The Election of Pete Chacón: Latino Hope, Pride and a New Belief in the System
By Maria E. Garcia
Peter “Pete” Chacón
The general public knew Peter Chacón as a California State Assemblyman who served from 1970-1992. Very few know or understand what Pete’s election meant to the Latino community.
From the time I was a small child I remember my parents going inside a building to vote. They would take turns voting as we sat in the car. One parent would go inside to vote while the other parent would care for us. Then the reverse would occur. Voting was always a special activity and in many ways a mystery…
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CONFESSIONS OF A MEXPATRIATE to Play Teatro Paraguas, 2/6-8
Teatro Paraguas presents Confessions of a Mexpatriate, an original one-man performance. …Mexpatriate depicts the misadventures of a man who embarks on a journey across Mexico in search of his life’s meaning, and in a discovery of what it truly means to be Mexican-American.
Mexpatriate takes the audience on the adventure of one heavily-American-media-saturated man, embarking on a passage across Mexico, in which he comes to embrace the beauty of the culture and what Mexico means to Mexican-Americans. A memory and a fantasy, scary and welcoming … these are just a few of the aspects of this comedic look at a soul-searching experience. Mexpatriate is portrayed by actor Mical Trejo and is directed by Ken Webster. Both Trejo and Webster are award-winning theater artists…
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George I. Sánchez : the long fight for Mexican American integration
“George I. Sánchez was a reformer, activist, and intellectual, and one of the most influential members of the ‘Mexican American Generation’ (1930-1960). A professor of education at the University of Texas from the beginning of World War II until the early 1970s, Sánchez was an outspoken proponent of integration and assimilation. He spent his life combating racial prejudice while working with such organizations as Read more..
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Latino Theater Company’s José Luiz Valenzuela on Creating Diverse Stage Productions
As the artistic director of the Latino Theater Company (LTC), José Luiz Valenzuela has spent the past 30 years producing work for the Los Angeles theater community. And as an immigrant himself, originally from Sinaloa, Mexico, Valenzuela is committed to telling stories that represent the new America—one that is more whole and diverse.
Operating out of the Los Angeles Theater Company since 2007, the LTC is an Equity group that employs 50–60 actors per season, with two seasons a year, and 5–7 plays within each of those seasons. And though the people in charge happen to be Latino, as Valenzuela explains, laughing, the LTC prides itself on producing work from various different cultures…
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