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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Stories of family, culture inspire alumna’s floral bookmark business
“Rosalva Isidoro’s bookmarks hold pages and tell stories of their own.
The UCLA alumna began selling artistic bookmarks through her Instagram-based business @rosalva_floralmarks after meeting her maternal grandmother for the first time two years ago. On that trip to Mexico, Isidoro said she learned how to weave flowers – a cultural tradition of intricately twisting the stems of flowers into compact bundles of blossoms. Cherishing the moment of her grandma’s teaching, she turned this skill into a floral bookmark business that she said currently aims to support her education and community…”
https://dailybruin.com/2021/02/10/stories-of-family-culture-inspire-alumnas-floral-bookmark-business
Gymnastics freshman Sara Ulias looks to swing into bars rotation
“Gymnastics freshman Sara Ulias looks to swing into bars rotation
Freshman Sara Ulias has done exhibition routines in both of UCLA gymnastics’ meets this season, adding a bars routine in the Bruins’ most recent meet against Arizona. (Lauren Man/Assistant Photo editor)
By Nico Edgar
Feb. 7, 2021 10:14 a.m.
A fresh face may be cracking the Bruins’ bars lineup.
Freshman Sara Ulias is on the verge of breaking into the bar rotation for No. 9 UCLA gymnastics (2-0) per coach Chris Waller. Working on adjusting her bar mount, Waller said the team is trying to raise the starting value of Ulias’ routine before her official debut.
A multimedal-winning bar specialist in her club years, Ulias performed exhibitions on the uneven bars and floor for the blue and gold in its 196.750-195.075 victory against then-No. 15 Arizona on Jan. 31 after making her exhibition debut with a floor routine against then-No. 15 Arizona State the week prior…”
https://dailybruin.com/2021/02/07/gymnastics-freshman-sara-ulias-looks-to-swing-into-bars-rotation
UTEP Names Andrea Cortinas as Vice President and Chief of Staff
“The University of Texas at El Paso announced today that El Paso native Andrea Cortinas will be promoted to the position of Vice President and Chief of Staff effective July 1, 2020. She will succeed Richard Adauto, who is retiring after 32 years of service to the University.
The University of Texas at El Paso announced today that El Paso native Andrea Cortinas will be promoted to the position of Vice President and Chief of Staff effective July 1, 2020. She will succeed Richard Adauto, who is retiring after 32 years of service to the University.
Cortinas has served as Chief Legal Officer at UTEP since 2016.
“Andrea is a trusted advisor and thoughtful leader on campus,” said Heather Wilson, President of UTEP. “She cares passionately about our mission and will serve the University well.”
Rewriting the Chicano Movement: New Histories of Mexican American Activism in the Civil Rights Era
“The Chicano Movement, el movimiento, is known as the largest and most expansive civil
rights and empowerment movement by Mexican Americans up to that time. It made
Chicanos into major American political actors and laid the foundation for today’s Latino …”
rights and empowerment movement by Mexican Americans up to that time. It made
Chicanos into major American political actors and laid the foundation for today’s Latino …”
By the numbers: Who’s going to chemistry and chemical engineering graduate school in the US
“…The average annual enrollment increases were higher across the board for chemical engineering, with an overall percent change of 3.6% in first-time enrollment and 3.2% in total enrollment. First-time enrollment of Hispanic students was particularly high, at an average annual increase of 17.3%, followed by first-time enrollment of Asian and Pacific Islander students at 6.0%…”
https://cen.acs.org/education/graduate-education/numbers-s-chemistry-chemical-engineering/97/i30
Student combines art with business to create, sell personalized stickers
“…In September, the fourth-year Spanish student began selling personalized stickers on her Instagram account, @amoreymagia. Inspired by the stories and experiences of others, Alcazar said she turns personal photographs into artistic stickers for her customers as she hopes to touch the hearts of others during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic…”
How the pandemic highlights racial disparities in higher education
“Typically during a recession, community college enrollment goes up as unemployed workers start looking for new skills. But that’s not happening this time around, signaling trouble for the economy and individual families going forward, particularly for lower-income students and students of color. Hari Sreenivasan reports as part of our ongoing series, “Rethinking College.”…”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-pandemic-highlights-racial-disparities-in-higher-education
More Hispanics are going to college and graduating, but disparity persists
“…The bad news? This progress remains uneven. Nationwide, the proportion of Hispanics who graduate within six years is still 10 percentage points lower than the proportion of whites, according to the Education Department. The proportion who graduate in four is nearly 14 percentage points lower…”
Biden Picks Connecticut Schools Chief Miguel Cardona As Education Secretary
“…Much of Cardona’s recent tenure has focused on reopening the state’s schools during the pandemic. According to The Connecticut Mirror, a local newspaper, about one-third of the state’s public school students currently are able to attend school in person full time. Like many state and district leaders across the country, Cardona has been balancing demands from teachers unions and parents amid budget constraints…”
Meet Elora López-Nandam An evolutionary biologist dives into microscopic marine mysteries.
“Tucked into the labyrinthine recesses of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, among 32 million specimens and cultural artifacts, is the slow loris. Rather, century-old specimens of the petite nocturnal primate from Southeast Asia, with whom Elora López-Nandam became quite acquainted. After spending a summer extracting and decoding their DNA while an undergrad at Columbia, López-Nandam turned her attention to another sluggish creature, the sea cucumber, and the conservation implications of its genetic diversity in the coral reefs near Fiji. Along the way, she decided to devote her life to…”
https://stanfordmag.org/contents/meet-elora-lopez-nandam
UCLA aims to become federally designated as Hispanic-Serving Institution by 2025
“UCLA plans to expand its Latino student population to a quarter of its enrolled student population in five years to qualify for additional federal grants, university administrators said in a campus-wide email Monday.
The university plans to become federally designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by 2025, which would make it eligible for various federal funds, Chancellor Gene Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter saidin the email. The university has created a task force with faculty and administrators to reach and maintain HSI status, they added…”
Remembering professor Juan Gómez-Quiñones, Chicano studies scholar and activist
“…Gómez-Quiñones, the co-founder and former director of the Chicano Studies Research Center, died Nov. 11 from congestive heart failure at the age of 80. He taught history at UCLA for almost 50 years. Gómez-Quiñones is remembered for his activism and empowering the Chicano community through his academic work…”
A Recipe for Success
“When the California state legislature passed Assembly Bill 2016 mandating the development of ethnic studies curricula for high schools, Lisa Sun-Hee Park was delighted.
The professor and chair of Asian American studies at UC Santa Barbara had been meeting with the chairs of Chicano and Chicana studies, Black studies and feminist studies and they all saw the bill as a great step forward for diversity and inclusion…”
Off and Running, Gerardo Aldana steps into new post as College of Creative Studies dean with a vision and a plan
“Not a lot of people have come into a new job as ready as Gerardo Aldana, the new dean of UC Santa Barbara’s College of Creative Studies (CCS), the campus’s unique community of self-motivated undergraduate students.
A professor of anthropology and of Chicana and Chicano studies, Aldana was associate dean of CCS from 2014 to 2016 and served two terms on the CCS Faculty Executive Committee. He knows the territory…”
Opinion: Use of standardized tests in admissions decisions amplifies inequities
“The University of California regularly professes its mission of equality.
But when it comes to admissions, the University needs the courts to remind them what it means to follow through on these promises.
On Aug. 31, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman ruled the UC can no longer use SAT or ACT scores in admissions or scholarship decisions.
The verdict comes more than three months after the UC announced its decision to introduce a “test-optional” policy for fall 2021 and fall 2022 and is the culmination of a nine-month-long lawsuit challenging the University’s use of the SAT and ACT in admissions decisions. The court ruled that the University’s use of standardized tests may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act because disabled students have almost no access to test-taking sites as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, leaving them at a severe disadvantage…”
Joseph Castro, Fresno State’s president, selected as new California State University Chancellor
“The California State University Board of Trustees selected Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro on Wednesday to lead the nation’s largest public university system. Castro will replace Chancellor Timothy White, who is expected to retire at the end of the year.
Castro, a grandson of Mexican immigrants, will become CSU’s first chancellor of color when he takes over the job on Jan. 4. He is also the first chancellor since the system was formed in the early 1960s to be named from inside the CSU system and first time the board selected a president of one of its campuses to head the system…”
Chancellor Richard A. Carranza
“…A son of a sheet metal worker and a hairdresser—and a grandson of Mexican immigrants—Carranza credits his public school education for putting him on a path to college and a successful career. He believes that a great education changes lives, and is excited to help the next generation of New Yorkers achieve their dreams. As Chancellor, he is building on the City’s Equity and Excellence for All agenda, which supports students academically, socially, and emotionally from early childhood through twelfth grade. He is also championing initiatives to help educators strengthen their practice and to empower more parents to become engaged in their children’s education…”
https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/leadership/doe-leadership-and-offices/chancellor
Mexico is in crisis. Its president insists on alternative reality.
“Last Saturday, Mexico’s finance minister, Arturo Herrera, offered a grim assessment of the country’s outlook after the pandemic. This year and the next, Mexico will have “the strongest crisis since 1932,” Herrera said.
That might end up being an understatement. The Mexican economy is in shambles. GDP has contracted for five consecutive quarters, well before the pandemic began. Investment has fallen at record rates. Crucial industries, such as tourism, have collapsed. Over the past few months, the country has lost at least 12 million jobs, more than 1 million in the formal sector alone. Without help from the government, which has insisted in a policy of austerity, thousands of small businesses have gone underwater. Wages have fallen dramatically. By the time the crisis ends, experts predict 25…”
Some school districts in the U.S. are getting creative to deliver educational services to students who lack computers at home
“..Similarly in Northeastern Michigan, Microsoft is working with internet service provider Allband Communications to put equipment on buses that harness TV white space (TVWS) to provide an internet connection. TVWS can deliver broadband internet over broadcast signals that are no longer in use, with a reach up to 18 miles, according to the WhiteSpace Alliance…”
https://www.educationdive.com/news/homework-gap-continues-to-impact-18-of-nations-students/556583/
Struggling With Lockdown, Schools Relearn Value of Older Tech: TV
“In a hillside shantytown of Lima, Peru, Delia Huamani’s school day starts not with the bustle of classmates, but with the flicker of a television. With physical schools closed indefinitely, she gets her lessons at home, from the country’s brand-new library of slickly made educational broadcasts.
As a substitute, it’s far from perfect. Delia, 10, says her parents cannot afford books — she misses reading about animals in the school library — and she has no one to check her work. She leans on her friend Katy Bautista, 12, who wishes she could ask the television presenters to slow down during difficult lessons…”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/world/coronavirus-television-schools.html
