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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Expanding the pipeline for Latino bilingual teachers: A mixed methods study by Amabilia Valverde Valenzuela, University of Texas at El Paso
Current education reform in the US requires teacher preparation programs to educate future teachers according to the certification standards set forth by each state. Certification for teaching in Texas requires that preservice teachers successfully complete a series of comprehensive examinations in their teaching fields and in professional knowledge before entering full-time teaching…
Link to abstract
Dangerous Minds In Tucson: The Banning of Mexican American Studies and Critical Thinking In Arizona
C Acosta
… 3 Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal, one of the key political figures that drove
the banning of Mexican American Studies in Tucson, is a … I have a legal responsibility to uphold
the law and a professional imperative to ensure every student has access to an …
Link to article
Early Childrearing Practices and Their Relationship to Academic Performance in Mexican American Children
Arevalo, Amanda PT, DSc, PCS; Kolobe, Thubi H.A. PT, PhD, FAPTA; Arnold, Sandra PT, PhD; DeGrace, Beth PhD, OTR/L
Purpose:
To examine whether parenting behaviors and child rearing practices in the first 3 years of life among Mexican American (MA) families predict children’s academic performance at school age
Link to abstract
Academic Invulnerability Among Mexican-American Students: The Importance of Protective Resources and Appraisals
Sylvia Alatorre Alva
California State University, Fullerton
This study examined the characteristics of a cohort of Mexican-American tenth-grade students to determine why some Mexican-American students are academically successful and others are not, despite sharing a similar sociocultural background. Based on current work on invulnerable children, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of protective…
Link to abstract
Young Mexican-American runs for Texas legislature
Published February 03, 2014
Luis Lopez, born 25 years ago in Mexico, is running as a Democrat for the Texas House of Representatives on a platform of improving the educational system, protecting women’s rights and providing better support for small businesses…
Link to article
The Association Between School Engagement and Achievement Across Three Generations of Mexican American Students
JL Rodríguez, IP Boutakidis – Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 2014
… group diversity for school engagement and achievement in order to address how to develop and
implement curricula, student programs, and teacher professional development to more effectively
promote the school engagement and achievement of Mexican American students. …
Link to article
MEXICAN AMERICAN FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SIBLINGS AND ADDITIONAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR COLLEGE CHOICE PROCESS
D Elias McAllister – 2012
… Title of Document: MEXICAN AMERICAN FIRST- GENERATION STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS
OF SIBLINGS AND ADDITIONAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR COLLEGE CHOICE PROCESS …
choice process of Mexican American first-generation students who had an older …
Link to dissertation
Mexican Studies in Lone Star Classrooms?
Roundup: Not letting Texas high school students study Mexican-American history and literature is racist, say activists pushing for inclusive curricula.
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The Role of Behavioral and Cognitive Cultural Orientation on Mexican American College Students’ Life Satisfaction
L Ojeda, LM Edwards, EE Hardin, B Piña-Watson – Journal of Hispanic Higher …, 2014
… Implications for Practice Despite the limitations of this study and its exploratory nature,
our findings suggest several implications for professionals in college settings working
with Mexican American students. For example, higher …
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Acculturation and Religious Coping as Moderators of the Association Between Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican-American Vocational Students
A Fernandez, A Loukas – Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2013
… population, because of limited eco- nomic resources and access to other forms of coping, such
as professional counseling [2 … Although religious involvement is important to the Mexican-American
population, the amount of literature examining religiousness and its influence on …
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Push is on to close college gap for California’s Latinos
A study shows Latinos lag behind other Californians in finishing college. Educators are seeking ways to boost Latino graduation rates.
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College seems out of reach to most Latinos
San Leandro High School senior Veronica Santana strode across the stage in a scarlet cap and gown to receive her high school diploma at a graduation ceremony earlier this month on the hillside cam
Mexican-American Children’s Perspectives: Neighborhood Characteristics and Physical Activity in Texas-Mexico Border Colonias
N Mier, LEE CHANAM, ML Smith, W XIAOHUI… – Journal of environmental …, 2013
… Ten focus groups were conducted with 67 Mexican-American colonia children ages 8 to 13 living
in one of the poorest border … Findings may inform policy makers and public health professionals
about ways to promote PA among underserved children through urban planning …
Link to abstract
Familismo, Ethnic Identity, and Bicultural Stress as Predictors of Mexican American Adolescents’ Positive Psychological Functioning.
B Piña-Watson, L Ojeda, NE Castellon, M Dornhecker – 2013
… Familismo, Ethnic Identity, and Bicultural Stress as Predictors of Mexican American Adolescents’
Positive Psychological Functioning … Page 2. Familismo, Ethnic Identity, and Bicultural Stress as
Predictors of Mexican American Adolescents’ Positive Psychological Functioning …
Link to abstract
GIFTED, BILINGUAL, MEXICAN/MEXICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS: USING COMMUNITY CULTURAL WEALTH AS A STRATEGY FOR NEGOTIATING PARADOXES
TM Beam-Conroy – 2013
… the approved version of the following dissertation: GIFTED, BILINGUAL, MEXICAN/MEXICAN-
AMERICAN STUDENTS: USING COMMUNITY CULTURAL WEALTH AS A STRATEGY FOR
NEGOTIATING PARADOXES … vii GIFTED, BILINGUAL, MEXICAN/MEXICAN-AMERICAN
Link to dissertation
Mexican and Mexican-American children’s funds of knowledge as interventions into deficit thinking: opportunities for praxis in science education
MM Licona – Cultural Studies of Science Education
… These scholars have also identified other ways that Mexican American parents show they care
about their children’s educations: politically, legislatively … Of course, the responsibility to create
professional development for existing teachers cannot only be a point for rethinking the …
Link to abstract
Cultivating Critical Resilience among Mexican American Community College Students through a Three-Way Learning Community
B Campa – Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 2013
… Language was a common obstacle among the participants and their Mexican American
peers. In many parts of the world, speaking more than one language is seen as an
asset, an opportunity for personal and professional growth. …
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Sibling Caretaking Among Mexican American Youth: Conditions That Promote and Hinder Personal and School Success
PL East, SB Hamill – Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2013
… Others have found large gender disparities in Mexican American parents’ expectations for their
sons’ and daughters’ involvement in family roles and activities … as an end in and of itself, at the
expense of absent or severely limited educational and professional aspirations (Dodson …
The Facts on Immigration Today
People from Mexico account for a large part of the undocumented population … which also includes African Americans, women, young people, professionals,…
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Two legacies: how blacks and Mexican-Americans helped shape University of Texas history
This article was written by Susan Smith and publised in “Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Before Heman Sweatt, an African-American from Houston, won his lawsuit to attend the University of Texas School of Law, Carlos Cadena, a Mexican-American from San Antonio, was among its brightest students. Cadena graduated summa cum laude from the law school in 1940, a decade before Sweatt’s lawsuit forced UT to open its graduate and professional programs to Blacks
