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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Cesar Millan Net Worth
“Cesar Millan, the renowned Mexican-American dog trainer, author, and TV personality, has amassed a net worth of $20 million through his groundbreaking work in the world of canine behavior and training. Best known for his hit television series “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan,” he has revolutionized the way people understand and interact with their furry companions…”
Views on the importance of language to national identity
“…Opinions are strongest in Hungary, Indonesia and the Netherlands, where 96% say speaking the most common language is important, and at least six-in-ten say it is very important. High shares echo this sentiment in Brazil and Kenya, where around three-quarters or more say it is very important. Even in the U.S. – where people are the least likely to place importance on speaking the most common language –…”
July Recognizes Minority Mental Health Awareness Month
“-Pulic Information Officer for the California Highway Patrol, Tomas Martinez, grew up in a household where mental health struggles were not acknowledged.– Martinez believes that cultural attitudes, such as the belief that men should not express their emotions, contribute to the lack of acknowledgement of mental health issues.– Stacey Kuwahara, the Director for Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, says that mistrust in health professionals can be a barrier for minority communities to seek help for mental health.– Kuwahara emphasizes that there are resources available for mental health support, including text, internet, phone, and video-based services.– Martinez encourages seeking help for mental health and believes it is important for maintaining healthy relationships with oneself and others…”
Does Culture Affect our Personality?
“…Loosely defined, culture refers to the shared values, beliefs and norms of a specific group of people. Culture, therefore, influences the manner we learn, live and behave. Because of this, many theorists believe that culture is an important shaper of our personality. One of the general assumptions asserting the effect of culture to personality is that people who are born and bred in the same culture share common personality traits…”
https://explorable.com/culture-and-personality
Mental Health Mission: Ricardo Muñoz wants to ‘give psychology away’ worldwide.
“When Ricardo Muñoz was 10 years old, his mother sat him down for a talk. Their family was leaving Chosica, Peru, for better educational opportunities in the United States. Later, she said, they would return so that Muñoz could share what he learned. “She taught me two things that day,” Muñoz says. “One was that knowledge is worth traveling halfway around the world to get. And the second was that once you get it, you share it.”…”
Bilingual mental health resources for the Latinx community Mental health is an issue that affects over ten million people in the Latinx community
“According to a report from Mental Health America, the Latinx community is seen as “happy people” by 66% of the United States population. However, mental health is an issue that affects over ten million Latinos/nas/ne.In 2020, 16% of people reported having a mental illness. It is essential to highlight that 18.3% of the U.S population is estimated to be Latinx or Hispanic…”
My Child’s Egg Donor Is Latin American. Does That Make Him Latino?
“…I am the parent of a child who was conceived via in vitro fertilization and surrogacy using the sperm of a Caucasian man and a donor egg from someone who is half Colombian and half Central American. My spouse and I are professionals and both Caucasian, so (knock on wood) our son will most likely not encounter financial hardships. May we in good conscience check “Latino/Hispanic” on his college application?…”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/magazine/egg-donor-latin-american.html
In My Words: Navigating feelings of isolation as a biracial Latina who doesn’t speak Spanish
“Being biracial has allowed other people to pick and choose my identity for me.Non-Latinos have always labeled me as white and treated me as such because I am “white-passing.” Latinos have generally viewed me as Mexican and considered me a part of the communityIt has been normal for non-Latinos to ask about my ethnic background and then be surprised that I am of Mexican heritage. “Really?” they would say. “I thought you were Asian or just a white girl.”…”
Hispanic Heritage Month gets justifiable criticism, but it’s still worth celebrating. Here’s why
“It happens like clockwork: At least one corporation ends up apologizing during Hispanic Heritage Month because their campaign intended to celebrate Latinos ends up offending them. This year’s loser is Twitch.
The Amazon-owned live video streaming platform issued an apology within hours of launching its campaign last month after users called them out on Twitter for the design of their Hispanic Heritage Month-themed emotes, which employed stereotypical and racist depictions of what Latinos are like…’
Their U.S. roots date back centuries, but these Latinos still wonder if it’s enough to belong
By Esmeralda Bermudez, Paloma Esquivel
Aug. 16, 2019
“It’s a tricky thing, what makes up an American.
There are Latinos whose families have been on this land since long before the Statue of Liberty greeted newcomers from New York Harbor, before the Civil War and the Declaration of Independence.
In the days since the El Paso massacre, many have found themselves reflecting, wrestling with their place in society and asking questions about how their heritage, their language and their skin color has shaped them and the way other Americans perceive them…”
link to article
The Hummingbird as Warrior: Evolution of a Fierce and Furious Beak
“…If you want to know what makes hummingbirds tick, it’s best to avoid most poetry about them.
Bird-beam of the summer day,
— Whither on your sunny way?
Whither? Probably off to have a bloodcurdling fight, that’s whither.
John Vance Cheney wrote that verse, but let’s not point fingers. He has plenty of poetic company, all seduced by the color, beauty and teeny tininess of the hummingbird but failed to notice the ferocity burning in its rapidly beating heart.
The Aztecs weren’t fooled. Their god of war, Huitzilopochtli, was a hummingbird. The Aztecs loved war, and they loved the beauty of the birds as well. It seems they didn’t find any contradiction in the marriage of beauty and bloodthirsty aggression…”
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A journalist’s journey, guided by curiosity for her father’s illness
“…Now the story of a daughter who grew up on the border between the United States and Mexico. She searches for herself, while also coming to grips with her father’s mental illness.
Amna Nawaz has the latest selection from the “NewsHour” Bookshelf…”
Link to transcript
What you need to know about Mexico’s historic election
“Mexico holds an historic election on Sunday: its biggest to date in terms of the sheer number of races.
Eighty-eight million registered voters — many of whom are fed up with corruption and inefficiency under the administration of current president Enrique Peña Nieto — will get the chance to change the face of Mexico’s government, and affect the course of U.S. relations, with major border and trade issues at stake.
Beyond the presidential race, more than 1600 elected positions at the state and local level are up for a vote across 30 of Mexico’s 32 states — including Mexico City’s mayor — as well as its entire federal legislative body: 500 seats in the legislature, and 128 in its senate…”
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Mexican Americans’ many routes to finding their own national identities
“…Alfredo Corchado is messing with my head, forcing me to think hard about something I had neatly packed away: What it means to be Mexican American. What are friends for if not to turn your world upside down?
As a reporter — currently for the Dallas Morning News, and earlier at the El Paso Herald-Post and the Wall Street Journal — Corchado has always been a good storyteller. But when he began writing books, he had to learn to tell his own story. He has become good at that, too…”
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Identity and Race: Millions of Latinos No Longer Think Of Themselves As Latinos, Study Finds
There are some 43 million people in the United States with Hispanic ancestry. Almost 90 percent of them identify as Latino or Hispanic, making it the nation’s second-largest racial or ethnic group.
But according to an analysis of two national surveys by the Pew Research Center, around 11 percent of all people with Hispanic ancestry—5 million people—don’t identify as either…
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Autentico: The Definitive Guide to Latino Career Success
R Rodriguez, AT Tapia – 2017
… When Judith Turnock and I wrote Cracking the Corporate Code we were aware that although
the book was about the success of the thirty-two African-Americans we cited, interest in the book
would go far beyond that group. … FRIDA KAHLO, Mexican painter W hy of whom this …
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My Professional Journey
MJT Vasquez – Journeys to Professional Excellence: Stories of …, 2017 – books.google.com
The most wonderful, exciting, humbling, and intimidating period in my life was my service as
president of the American Psychological Association (APA). The decision to run, the process
of campaigning, the election, and the period of service were all part of that phase of my…
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Machismo is a factor in the retention of Latino college men
Texas State University was recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution March 24, 2011. One of the things that this HSI or any others across the nation fail to research is the hidden cultural factors that affect Latino enrollment and graduation—namely, machismo.
Machismo, meaning strong or aggressive masculine pride, has been a part of the Latin culture since the beginning. From the Aztecs to the Tejanos to the contemporary Latino, the stigma remains men provide for their families. Even for Latinos who leave the nest, the expectation to support the family remains—especially for the eldest male…
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Mexican American Psychology: Social, Cultural and Clinical Perspectives
MA Tovar – 2017 – books.google.com
There are now more than 32 million Mexican Americans living in the United States. As a
result, the odds that a clinician will work with a member of this population—one of the fastest-
growing minority groups in the United States—is extremely high. Understanding the culture…
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The Role of Ethnicity
Counseling LGBTQI + Person of Color…
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