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,”
Read More…
The Chicano Studies Program at the University of Texas at El Paso has recently launched a new online Bachelor of Arts in Chicano Studies option enabling students across the United States and around the globe to have access to one of the oldest and most respected Chicano Studies programs in the nation.In 1971, UTEP became the first university in Texas to introduce a Chicano Studies program…Link to article
Highest Honors: UCSB graduating students
For their scholastic achievement, their extraordinary service to the university and the community, and their personal courage and persistence, three graduating seniors at UC Santa Barbara have been named winners of the university’s top awards…
Link to article
6 Reasons Corporate America Misses Out On Trillions of Hispanic Dollars
America is changing and becoming more multicultural. A big part of that has been due to the Hispanic market. They are not just a sub-segment of our economy anymore. They have become a powerhouse of economic and political influence. Their purchasing power of over $1.5 trillion is larger than the GDP of Mexico, which is considered one of the top 10 economies in the world…
Link to article
The California Promise Program
If you are an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) student and a California resident entering SF State University in Fall 2017, you are invited to participate in the California Promise Program
If you are committed to graduating in 2 years, the CA Promise program can help you make that goal a reality. We encourage you to join the CA Promise Program and earn your degree in two years!
Benefits of SF State’s CA Promise Program
After Pledging to the program in your first semester, you will receive:
Priority registration every subsequent semester so that you can enroll in the courses you need to complete your degree program in two years (maximum of 60 units);
Guaranteed course availability with personalized academic plan;
Specialized advising each semester to ensure students stay on track…
Link to article
Mexican migrant workers came to California to pick grapes. Now they own wineries.
The Smithsonian recognizes five families who have worked their way up in the U.S. wine industry
Outside Robledo Family Winery, south of Sonoma, on a cool April Sunday, the U.S. and Mexican flags whipped a stiff salute in the wind blowing off the San Pablo Bay. A third banner bore the winery logo. The flags represent three themes central to the lives of Reynaldo Robledo and many other Mexican migrant workers who have helped shape California’s wine industry: heritage, opportunity and family…
Link to article
“When My Brother Was An Aztec,” by Natalie Diaz
I don’t think people usually take poetry to the beach, but this is different than your normal poetry book. Diaz is a powerhouse of a writer and this book is a wild ride. It has headlong rushes of ecstatic beautiful language, small details about life on Mahovi reservation. Diaz is Mohavi, one of the tribes of the Colorado river. And this is set in Arizona, but it’s also of course set in her heart and her head. There’s a sensibility that is so dark but so funny. It’s a rich, compelling piece of literature. And I would take it to the dock, put it down, and read it again. It’s the kind of book that you want to live with each poem for awhile…
Link to publications
How The First Latina Senator Is Putting Congress On Blast
Donald Trump’s presidential victory on Nov. 8, 2016 was an upsetting night for diversity advocates. However, the night was not without its silver linings — and the the election of freshman Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto was one of them.
“I’m proud to be Nevada’s 1st female and our nation’s 1st Latina senator,” tweeted Cortez Masto, who filled Harry Reid’s vacant seat, on election night. “It’s about time our government mirrors the diversity of our nation.”…
Link to article
Erasing Borders: The Mexican-American Connecting Students and Mentors
As a young student, I’d wake up around 4 a.m. in Tijuana, Mexico, hustle into the car with my mom and two sisters and spend up to three hours waiting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. We lived only 15 minutes from the border, but it was a process. Since we were born in San Diego, we could attend a private elementary and middle school in the U.S., which my parents believed would provide more economic opportunity later in life. My dad, who works for the Mexican government, stayed local. My mom is a manager of a health center in San Diego. For her, our school was just a stop on her way to work…
Link to article
A Man of Letters
Francisco Lomelí is one of the busiest men in Spanish publishing at the moment. The professor of Chicano and Chicana Studies and of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Santa Barbara has three works out now — a reference book on Latino literature, a revised and updated anthology of essays on Aztlán and a magazine of Latino arts and literature…
Link to article
Literary Dynamo
Author of more than 200 publications, books, essays, articles, reviews and short stories, UC Santa Barbara professor Sara Poot-Herrera is known for “always working” — organizing conferences or speaking events on Mexican and Spanish American literature, as well as writing, editing and teaching.
“According to my friends, I don’t sleep,” Poot-Herrera joked. Initially “torn” about missing her apartment and friends in Mexico, she sustains her cultural ties by inviting Mexican writers to speak to her students at UCSB, such as Elmar Mendoza, a key figure in the genre known as narcoliterature — crime fiction. The students, she noted, “were captivated.”…
Link to article
10 Interesting Hispanic Facts About Mother’s Day
Motherly love and love for our mothers are inherent human traits. This is why Mother’s Day is celebrated in one way or another around the world, and U.S. Latinos are no exception.
It is no surprise that many product and retail categories spike around the second Sunday of May, and since Latino moms are the fastest growing group of mothers in America, an increasing number of Hispanic advertising campaigns are trying to convince Latinos to use their brand for gifts to honor their moms.
Below you’ll find a list of facts and figures that are interesting and relevant for Hispanic marketing initiatives:…
Link to article
Beyond the Spitfire: Re-visioning Latinas in Sylvia Morales’ A Crushing Love 2009
From Dolores del Río to Salma Hayek and from Lupe Vélez to Eva Longoria, the portrayal of
Latinas in the United States has provoked debate, criticism and controversy. Since the era of
silent movies, Hollywood’s depiction of the Latina has been rigidly prescribed and reductive…
Link to book preview
In Her L.A. Neighborhood, Playwright Josefina Lopez Creates a ‘Casa’ for the Performing Arts
LOS ANGELES — Josefina Lopez has an amazing story: she grew up in a modest neighborhood in the heart of the city’s east side and went on to co-write a hit movie that made America Ferrera a star. Since then, she has harnessed her success to give Latino youth a space to explore – and succeed – in the performing arts.
Recently at her Casa 0101 Theater, a group of actors were rehearsing for a special 30th anniversary production of her acclaimed play, Simply Maria, or the American Dream…
Link to article
Rise In Latino, Black High School Grad Rates Boosts National Numbers
National graduation rates reached a record high of 81.4 percent in 2013, in part due to the increase of graduation rates among minority and low-income students.
Over the last decade, 1.8 million additional students have graduated from high school, according to a report released by America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, Everyone Graduates Center, and the Alliance for Excellent Education.
GradNation, a campaign by America’s Promise Alliance, was launched in 2010 to focus individuals, organizations and communities on decreasing dropout rates. They adopted a goal of raising the national average on-time high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020…
Link to article
Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Parts Unknown’ Takes a Deep Look at Los Angeles’ Mexican Food Scene
Anthony Bourdain took his love of food, culture, and conversation back to Los Angeles for season nine of CNN’s Parts Unknown. Over the course of several shows, Bourdain has done more than a few episodes in the City of Angels, but this time he focuses his lens on Latinos.
“What if we look at LA from the point of view of the largely unphotographed – the 47 percent of Angelenos who don’t show up so much on idiot sitcoms and superhero films?” Bourdain asked in voiceover. The former chef/current TV host gorged on Tacos Indiana 2 Taco Stand‘s pastor and lengua offerings, mole at Gish Bac Restaurant, camarones borrachos at Mariscos Chente, and Cielito Lindo‘s famous taquitos…
Link to article
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…
Link to article
Hispanics see potential for growth in construction industry
Santiago Perez has built a career in construction. His success story, however, wasn’t written overnight.
The owner of Coastline Construction and Renovation in Tulsa left his native Uruguay to come to the United States when he was 18.
“When I got here, I saw the potential to accomplish the American dream,” said Perez, 33. “It wasn’t just a movie thing.”
Perez hung drywall, framed and served as a project manager, and in 2015 he started Coastline, which specializes in out-of-state hotel renovation. His company, which employs about a dozen people full time, currently is in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, razing and converting a 200-room hotel into time shares…
Link to article
14 Latino Art Shows Not to Miss in 2017
2017 is proving to be a banner year for major Latino art shows, with many of America’s top museums hosting important and innovative exhibitions. Spanning a broad spectrum of styles, mediums, eras and regions — from 18th century Mexican painting to 21st century Chilean sculpture — these 14 shows taking place throughout the year highlight the constant evolution and incredibly rich diversity of Latino art…
Link to article
RANKING: Top 10 Video Platforms Preferred by US Hispanics
Which video platforms do US Hispanic users prefer? What types of content do they provide? Does gender play a role in audiovisual content preference? Read on for the answers to these questions, drawn from comScore’s February 2016 ranking…
Link to article
Analyst: Latino grocery stores likely to see more deals
Scott Moses, managing director and head of food retail and restaurants investment banking for Peter J. Solomon Co., said he sees a rise in Latino-focused grocers in the future, according to the Shelby Report.
Private equity firm KKR recently invested in Cardenas Markets (currently operating 30 stores) and Mi Pueblo (operating 19 stores).
Latino Americans comprise approximately 17% of the U.S. population in 2017….
Link to article
