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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As schools close due to the coronavirus, some U.S. students face a digital ‘homework gap’
“As K-12 officials in many states close schools and shift classes and assignments online due to the spread of the new coronavirus, they confront the reality that some students do not have reliable access to the internet at home – particularly those who are from lower-income households.
…”A quarter of lower-income teens do not have access to a home computer. One-in-four teens in households with an annual income under $30,000 lack access to a computer at home, compared with just 4% of those in households earning over $75,000, according to the 2018 survey. There are also differences by race and ethnicity. Hispanic teens were especially likely to say they do not have access to a home computer: 18% said this, compared with 9% of white teens and 11% of black teens…”https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/16/as-schools-close-due-to-the-coronavirus-some-u-s-students-face-a-digital-homework-gap/
SAISD elementary school teacher dies after battle with COVID-19
“SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Independent School District officials confirmed Friday that one of their elementary school teachers died after a battle with COVID-19.
Carmen Canales, 48, taught at Ogden Academy. SAISD officials said she tested positive for the virus this summer and had been hospitalized. It’s the first death of a district employee due to COVID-19…”
Berkeley admits most ethnically diverse class in over 30 years
“..Freshman admission offers to African-American students increased by more than 40 percent, and offers to Chicanx-Latinx students increased by 45 percent. In addition, we saw gains in various measures of greater socio-economic diversity among students offered admission. Further, this exceptionally talented admitted class maintains the high academic accomplishment seen in admitted classes from prior years…”
https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/07/16/berkeley-admits-most-ethnically-diverse-class-in-over-30-years/
Mexican American textbook is courting controversy in Texas
“Mexican Americans might not recognize their cultural history as it unfolds in a new textbook proposed for Texas public schools.
Chicanos are described as people who “adopted a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy this society.”
In another passage, Mexican Americans are linked to undocumented immigrants.
Illegal immigration has “caused a…”
Koret Foundation awards $50 million to Bay Area colleges
“The San Francisco-based Koret Foundation has announced grants totaling more than $50 million in support of a dozen colleges and universities in the Bay Area.
To be distributed over five years, the grants will provide support for school leadership priorities, campus programs and initiatives, the creation and expansion of new models for learning, the modernization of campus technology and infrastructure, and efforts to strengthen relationships between institutions in the United States and Israel…”
How technology will change us after the COVID-19 pandemic is over
“…When Rice University suspended classes in early March after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus, three for-credit courses were available online. When Rice’s classes restarted on March 23, 1,906 online courses were offered, said Klara Jelinkova, the university’s chief information officer.Setting all this up – including training 487 professors, many of whom had never taught online before – was “simultaneously exhilirating and scary,” Jelinkova said.Online education has been around for a while, and some universities are built entirely on it. But many colleges — and particularly K-12 schools — have not embraced it…”
New UCLA Library program will begin digitizing cultural items for preservation
“A new conservation initiative at UCLA Library will help digitize at-risk cultural items and share them on a UCLA-hosted website.UCLA Library announced Oct. 9 the creation of Documenting Global Voices, a program that aims to preserve endangered symbolic materials of cultures. DGV will identify, fund and collaborate with international organizations that lack the necessary infrastructure and resources to preserve cultural heritage objects. UCLA Library will receive digital copies and upload them onto the DGV website to make them available to students, faculty and people around the world…”
“…DGV was developed from the International Digital Ephemera Project in 2011, which digitized rare manuscripts held by St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, Egypt and other facilities worldwide including Cuba, Iran and South Africa…”
Escuelitas, Literacy, and Imaginary Dual Citizenship
“… Reading, Writing, and Revolution escuelitas and the emergence
of a mexican american identity in texas PHILIS M. BARRAGÁN GOETZ
University of Texas Press austin … | Mexican American…”
USC makes tuition free to students of families making $80,000 or less
“Feb. 20 (UPI) — The University of Southern California said Thursday tuition will be free to students whose families make $80,000 or less.The announcement was part of a financial aid expansion to benefit low- and middle-income families, a university statement said. Along with offering tuition free to students whose families have an annual income of $80,000 or less, owning a home will not be counted in determination of a student’s financial need…”
UCLA introduces online module for equity, diversity and inclusion
UCLA requested undergraduate students to complete an optional online training module about equity, diversity and inclusion Thursday.UCLA assigned all incoming undergraduate students an online training module covering topics centered around equity, diversity and inclusion in September. The module, which is now open to continuing students as well, was created by EVERFI, an online educational resource company.The equity, diversity and inclusion module offers a basic education of its covered topics, including definitions, terms and personal stories, said UCLA Dean of Students Maria Blandizzi. She added that the module is intended to invite students to continue their learning of equity, diversity and inclusion after completing it…”
2020 Fall enrollment at a glance, University of California
“The UC fall enrollment at a glance outlines the ethnic and geographical makeup of the fall enrolled students as of the third week of the fall term. The information is provided by location, broad discipline and enrollment status…”
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/fall-enrollment-glance
Chicago group shows Hispanic medical students a path to medicine
“Growing up in Miami, Florida, Pilar Ortega, MD, had a Latino doctor and grew up in a community that included her family that emigrated from Spain and neighbors from Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Central America.
Advocacy in Action
It wasn’t until she was in college—and then even more so in medical school and residency—that she learned how unusual her situation had been and how acute the shortage of Hispanic physicians and health professionals is in the rest of the country.
While Hispanics make up the largest minority group in the U.S. with between 17% and 20% of the total population, they make up only about 5% of the physician workforce…”
Link to article
La Nochebuena Opera Outreach Program
“…Ever wonder how the poinsettia became a symbol of the holiday season? Composer, librettist and pianist Evan Mack answers that question in “Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena,” a children’s opera based on a Mexican folk tale.
Students from Hollister, La Patera and Isla Vista elementary schools will have an opportunity to hear the story when the Department of Music’s Opera Outreach Program performs the children’s opera in Karl Geiringer Hall, Tuesday through Sunday, Dec. 3-6…”
Link to article
Chicana/o studies department votes on adding Central American Studies to name
“…e Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies voted Nov. 15 to expand its name to include Central American studies.
Expanding the name had been a subject of conversation for years among faculty and students, said department chair Eric Avila. The faculty of the newly named César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies voted overwhelming in favor of the expansion, with 15 votes for, one against, and one abstention.
“I do not see this vote as a victory for one group of people, but rather for our entire department, which retains its roots in Chicana/o student activism, but adapts to a changing set of social, political, and demographic circumstances,” said Avila in a department-wide email sent Monday. “It is also a victory for UCLA, which continues to strive towards full equity, diversity and inclusion.”…”
Link to article
Helping Hands Destination College Advising Corps program puts recent college graduates to work as advisers in underserved high schools
“…Who better to guide aspiring college students on their path toward higher education than someone who has recently made that journey himself?
Consider Javier Evangelista. Growing up a first-generation Mexican American in Boyle Heights, a low-income neighborhood in Los Angeles, he had a rocky transition to college, he said, because he hadn’t yet learned “the importance of developing yourself.”…”
Link to article
Graduate enrollment, as a share of UC’s total undergraduate and graduate enrollment, has remained relatively steady since 2000.
“…With 21 percent graduate enrollment in 2018, including health science students, UC was lower than the average for non-UC AAU1 public institutions, at 27 percent, and the average for AAU private institutions, at 55 percent.
In fall 2018, the proportion of academic doctoral students varied across UC’s general campuses, from seven percent at Merced and Santa Cruz to 13 percent at Berkeley. At San Francisco, an exclusively graduate health-sciences campus, academic doctoral students made up 27 percent of fall 2018 enrollments. Since 2008, the share of academic doctoral students has declined at most campuses due to more rapid growth in the undergraduate, master’s, and professional populations.
UC awards 20 percent of California’s graduate academic master’s degrees, 62 percent of its academic doctoral degrees, and 21 percent of its graduate professional practice degrees…”
Link to report
Student’s short film champions putting self first over societal pressures
“Nicole Corona Diaz said she doesn’t think it’s ever too late for someone to change their career path.
Filmed over the weekend, the fourth-year film student’s untitled 12-minute short film tells the story of a rising college senior who suddenly decides not to take the LSAT despite having prepared her entire academic career for it. The film explores the main character Nicole’s stress as she juggles notions of success while struggling to provide for her mother and sister. She said she wants viewers to sympathize with Nicole, who ultimately learns to put herself first. Although they share the same name, Corona Diaz said Nicole is not necessarily based on herself…”
Link to article
UC admits all-time record number of freshmen, transfer students
“…The composition of the freshman class is similar to that of last year. Chicano/Latino students increased slightly as a proportion of admitted students from 33 percent to 34 percent, while Asian American students remained the largest ethnic group of admitted students at 35 percent. The proportion of white students stayed flat at 22 percent. The proportion of African American students also stayed flat at 5 percent, while American Indian students remained at 0.5 percent…”
Link to report
California top draw for fewer foreign students
“…California remains the top U.S. destination for foreign students, who primarily come from China and India, with enrollment dipping slightly in the 2018-19 school year for the first time in at least a decade, according to a survey released Monday.
Nationally, new enrollments of international students declined for the third year in a row although overall numbers are at a record high of nearly 1.1 million, according to a survey of 2,800 U.S. colleges and universities released by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. State Department…”
Link to article
Jenny S. Martinez
“Jenny S. Martinez is the Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law School and the law school’s 14th dean. Professor Martinez is a leading expert on international law and constitutional law, including comparative constitutional law. She is the author of The Slave Trade and the Origins of International Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2012) and numerous articles in leading academic journals. She teaches courses on constitutional law, civil procedure, international law, and international business transactions. She is a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a faculty affiliate of Stanford’s Center on International Security and Cooperation and Stanford’s Center on Democracy Development and the Rule of Law…”
Link to biography
