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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Social Sciences

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

Demographic Shift In The Big Apple: First Mexican-American Elected Official

Just a generation ago, Mexicans were a rarity in the Big Apple.

But now they are New York City’s fastest-growing Hispanic group, numbering well over 300,000 and comprising more than 12 percent of the city’s Latino population. It’s part of a demographic shift that, on the other end, has witnessed the city’s “Old Guard” – Puerto Ricans and Dominicans – seeing their numbers decline over the years.

Link to article

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

Acculturative Stress, Violence, and Resilence in the Lives of Mexican American Youth

LK HOLLERAN, S JUNG – STRESS TRAUMA SUBSTANCE USE-BRIDE, 2013
3 Acculturative Stress, Violence, and Resilience in the lives of Mexican-American Youth LORI
K. HOLLERAN and SOYON JUNG University of Texas at Austin, Austin, T’exas, USA This
ethnographic study examines the experiences of Mexican American youth in the Southwest …

Link to chapter

Dimensions of Protective Parent-Adolescent Dyads as Defined by Mexican American Sons

CM Dudzinski – 2013
… 5-2013 Dimensions of Protective Parent-Adolescent Dyads as Defined by Mexican American Sons
Clare M. Dudzinski St. … Recommended Citation Dudzinski, Clare M., “Dimensions of Protective
Parent-Adolescent Dyads as Defined by Mexican American Sons” (2013). …
Link to thesis

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 …

Link to abstract

“Macho men and passive women”: debunking myths about the sexualities of Latinos

Author(s): Katie Acosta and Marysol Asencio
Any investigation into the many factors that shape Latinos’ sexualities presents significant problems. For a start, the pan-ethnic or supra-ethnic label of Latino itself can obscure the tremendous diversity found within the population. Latinos include people who have recently arrived and those whose histories of living in what is now the continental U.S. span over 500 years. Many additional factors add to this population’s diversity…
Link to article

PAPI: UNDERSTANDING THE TEJANO FATHER HYBRID IDENTITY WITHIN THE MEXICAN AMERICAN FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND SCHOOL EXPERIENCE THROUGH A POSTCOLONIAL LENS

J Aleman – 2013
… Page 2. PAPI: UNDERSTANDING THE TEJANO FATHER HYBRID IDENTITY WITHIN THE
MEXICAN AMERICAN FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND SCHOOL EXPERIENCE THROUGH A … crime,
honestly taught me what it meant to be a professional. Her understanding of the …
The purpose of this study was the better understand the hybrid identity of the Tejano father and his role within the educational journey of his children. This study examined the “in-betweenness
Link to dissertation

Dignity’s Elements: Mexican American Studies’ Transformational Resistance and Hip Hop Manifestations through Counterstorytelling

B Partida – 2013
Page 1. California State University, Northridge Dignity’s Elements: Mexican American Studies’
Transformational Resistance and Hip Hop Manifestations through Counterstorytelling … ix Figures
Page 27 Figure 1-The Mexican American Studies Model: Critically Compassionate …

Link to thesis

Areas of conflict in the intimate couple

from “Trames”
by M.E. Meza-de-Luna and H. Romero-Zepeda.

In this paper conflict within couples is studied qualitatively in a Mexican context. The objective is to analyze the areas of conflict within couples of diverse sex and sexual orientation, focused on the areas of conflict in an intimate couple. Methodology: 61 narratives (43 interviews and 18 photo-interventions) were analyzed with Ground Theory. Results: Partners usually have a set of expectations that define their relationship.
Link to article

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

Link to article

The Relationship Between Mexican American Cultural Values and Resilience Among Mexican American College Students: A Mixed Methods Study

ML Morgan Consoli, JD Llamas – 2013
Page 1. Journal of Counseling Psychology The Relationship Between Mexican American Cultural
Values and Resilience Among Mexican American College Students: A Mixed Methods Study …
BRIEF REPORT The Relationship Between Mexican American Cultural Values and …

Link to abstract

Linking Acculturation Patterns, Acculturative Stress, and Education Policies to Educational Competence among Mexican-American Children

YM Kim – 2013
Page 1. Linking Acculturation Patterns, Acculturative Stress, and Education Policies to
Educational Competence among Mexican-American Children Yoon Mi Kim … mentor. I am very
grateful for your valuable academic and professional advice and for sharing …
Link to dissertation

Trajectories of Mexican American and Mainstream Cultural Values Among Mexican American Adolescents

GP Knight, CD Basilio, H Cham, NA Gonzales, Y Liu… – Journal of Youth and …, 2013
… This sample of Mexican American families was diverse with respect to both SES and language
(Roosa et al. 2008). … professional experience in a social service agency), strong in communication
and organizational skills, and knowl- edgeable about computers. …
Link to abstract

THE MEXICANISATION OF THE PEW HISPANIC CENTER

It is with great pleasure to discover that The Pew Hispanic Center has at last recognized that Mexican Americans like to be referred to as Mexican and not Hispanic. It is also welcome news that they have begun to publish articles about Mexican Americans.
The groundbreaking fact that governmental institutions are referring to Hispanics as Mexicans and specific groups is forward-moving in two ways,
1. Because it gives governmental institutions and other institutions a more accurate reading of the Mexican American community therefore it makes it easier to plan and project and,
2. It provides Mexican Americans and the larger population with recognition and validation for their accomplishments as well as their failures. In California, the Hispanic population is now equal to the white population and Mexican Americans comprise the largest number of Hispanics.

When I was looking for information for my Mexican American Professionals Articles a few years ago, I called the Pew Hispanic Center. I was able to speak with one of their principal writers and I asked him if his center had any information about Mexican American Professionals they could share with me. He informed me, in a very authoritative and abrupt way, that the Pew Hispanic Center did not have any such information. That they only dealt with Hispanics in their research. I said thank you and moved on to the Census Bureau Data.
Since that time, by their own research, they have concluded that “a report based on a nationwide survey” found most Hispanics don’t embrace the term “Hispanic,” and even fewer prefer the term “Latino.” Some light at the end of the tunnel. Gee, they had to do a nationwide survey to conclude that individuals think of themselves as “Guatemaltecos,” “Peruanos,” and even Mexicans.
Of further interest is the newest report released by the Pew Hispanic Center entitled “A Demographic Portrait of Mexican-Origin Hispanic in the United States.” It’s nice to see that we are finally worthy of being looked at as the majority of a minority. By their own admission, The Pew Hispanic Center in their recent publication “A Demographic Portrait of Mexican-Origin Hispanics in the United States” …Mexicans are by far the largest Hispanic-origin population in the U.S., accounting for nearly two-thirds (64%) of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2012”.
I hope that the Pew Hispanic Center will continue to gather and release information pertinent to Mexican Americans with a more in-depth look at women and other variables. In the 2011 American Community Survey, Mexican American Women out earned Bachelor’s degrees by 2%. They also outnumber men in several other professional areas. In so far as other variables are concerned it is surprising to see that Mexican Americans in at least one area are almost equally represented:
The following data is from my article entitled “Results of the American Community Survey…for 2011”:
Industry: Civilian employed population 16 years and older:
• 10.6% of the general population was employed in the professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services in 2010. In 2011, this number only increased by .1% to 10.7%.
• 10.1% of Mexican Americans were employed in the professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services in 2010. In 2011, this percentage remained the same.

This information is of great benefit to those in government or educational institutions that rely on this data to administer resources.

In spite of the limited resource of one, my website mexican-american-proarchive.com has provided annual reports on the results of the American Community Survey since it’s inception. They focus on Mexican American professionals and provide a link between the census data and the ability to read the information in an anecdotal form. I focus on what I think are the most important differences and similarities between Mexican American professionals vs. the overall population. The data is footnoted with It’s sources and when available a URL to the raw data is given.
I can be reached at:
Betohg2012@gmail.com
Tel. 650-738-8584


  

Poem
“…And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while…”

T.S. Eliot
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Mexican American Proarchive Annual Report for 2022

The American Community Survey is an annual survey administered by the federal government to help local officials and community leaders and businesses understand the changes that take place in their communities. It includes percentages of our population’s graduate school attainment and the employment of Mexican Americans in various occupations.  These important factors influence the allocation of federal resources. Mexican American Proarchives uses the data provided by the American Community Survey to better understand how Mexican Americans compare to the general population.

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