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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RSS Google Alerts Archive

Included in Communication Learning Climates That Cultivate Racial and Ethnic Diversity

OI Davis, JM Martinez, TK Nakayama – … : Learning Climates That Cultivate Racial and … – ERIC
16 days ago – … As an African American, a Mexican American, and an Asian American who teach
and conduct research in performance studies, inter- cultural communication, and rhetoric,
respectively, we bring an array of differ- ences together in our professional lives at Arizona State …
Link to essay

Latino scholar gifts books to S.A. Central Library’s Latino Collection

The San Antonio Public Library, its foundation and the Latino Leadership for the Library Committee celebrated art historian Tomás Ybarra y Frausto Tuesday for a donation of hundreds of Latino literature books, accumulated over a long career as a scholar and Latino arts and cultural historian.
The works will go into the Central Library’s Latino Collection on the sixth floor. His gift was a timely one, as the space is being renovated with new branding and furniture. The project will be completed this fall…
Link to article

Students take pride in their heritage by showing #WhatLatinosLookLike

The Latino community wants the world to know #WhatLatinosLookLike.
When The New York Times reported “more Hispanics are declaring themselves white,” Latinos took to Twitter and Instagram to highlight the diversity of their community. Using the hashtag #WhatLatinosLookLike, Latinos posted pictures of themselves to refute the claim…
Link to article

3 Big Latino stars headed to the Walk of Fame

Their hard-working trajectory has made them some of the most successful Latinos in the entertainment business. That’s why three big Hispanic stars are headed to California’s popular tourist destination in Hollywood boulevard and Vine street to be honored with their very own star in the Walk of Fame.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has announced the “Class of 2015 Star Honorees,” which include three very much-loved artists of our own.
SEE ALSO: Stars of ‘Rio 2′ fly to Miami’s Walk of Fame
Next year, Colombian actress Sofia Vergara, Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Mexican comedian Eugenio Derbez will inaugurate their own permanent public monuments for their achievement in the biz…
Link to article

Yahoo Diversity Figures Show Lack of Blacks, Hispanics

Yahoo has released information on the diversity of its workforce, and like Google it has a lot of room for improvement.
Last month, Google revealed that only 2% of its workforce was Black, 3% Hispanic and women only 30%.
Yahoo has followed suit by publishing its workforce diversity figures, and they are along the same lines. Women make up 37% of the overall workforce, with blacks representing 2% and Hispanics 4%.
In leadership positions at Yahoo (defined as VP and above), the story is even more lopsided. 77% of those posts are held by men, 2% are held by Hispanics and only 1% by Blacks…

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Arthur J. Ochoa Receives Mexican American Bar Foundation Professional Achievement Award

Newswise — LOS ANGELES (June 17, 2014) – The Mexican American Bar Foundation named Arthur J. Ochoa, Cedars-Sinai’s senior vice president of Community Relations and Development, the 2014 recipient of the legal organization’s Professional Achievement Award. The award was presented at the Mexican American Bar Foundation’s Annual Scholarship and Awards Gala June 14 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles…
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Top 10 Chicano Films for M.A.S.

Mexican American Studies (MAS) is spreading like wildfire in Texas.

By the time you read this, Texas will have the most schools teaching MAS in the nation-and growing.

On that note, we’re fine-tuning the MAS Texas Took Kit to help any K-12 teacher to incorporate Mexican American Studies. This can range from implementing an entire curriculum to using one lesson plan for a particular unit or obvious time of year such as Hispanic Heritage Month…
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Truly Texas Mexican

After traveling through Europe, Latin America and Asia for 23 years, San Antonio native and Culinary Institute of America graduate Chef Adán Medrano was inspired to write a book about his biggest passion: the food of his home city. Medrano says his cookbook, Truly Texas Mexican, incorporates a written history of 10,000-year-old cooking techniques of Native Texas Indians along with traditional recipes, all while providing a fresh perspective on timeless dishes. “The more you know about your food, the more you will enjoy it,” Medrano says. “I call this ‘intellectually delicious.’” On Thursday (June 19), Nao restaurant, in partnership with the Twig Book Shop…
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The Book of Unknown Americans: A novel

by Cristina Henriquez

“A triumph of storytelling. Henríquez pulls us into the lives of her characters with such mastery that we hang on to them just as fiercely as they hang on to one another and their dreams. This passionate, powerful novel will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.” —Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk A boy and a girl who fall in love. Two families whose hopes collide …
Link to review

The Historical Evolution of Texas State University Through The Eyes of Three Latino Males

The purpose of this study is to capture the culture and climate within Student Affairs at Texas State University during the last thirty years through the eyes of three Latino professionals, during their collective sixty plus years of service as students and professionals This research uses Social Cartography to capture three life stories of Mexican American men working within the Division of Student Affairs at Texas State University…
Link to abstract

Reflections of a Latino in the Social Work Profession

This is a first-person account of seminal events that have helped shape the rich history and cultural heritage of the social work profession. In examining these events, the author has provided some personal history as a Mexican American growing up in South Texas that provides a historical and value context for his participation in these events. He also discusses his leadership experiences in serving on the national staff of NASW and volunteer leadership experiences in a number of professional organizations during critical times for the profession.
Link to abstract

Do Bilingual Teachers Hold Key to Latino Students’ Achievement Gap?

In an attempt to close the achievement gap between white and Latino students, the Santa Barbara Unified School District plans to hire more bilingual and bicultural teachers in 2015 and beyond.
The percentage of Hispanic students in Santa Barbara schools is more than double the percentage of Hispanic teachers.
“Our Latinos are…
Link to article

The Experience of Giving Informed Consent in a Mexican-American Older Adult

H Zamora – Sigma Theta Tau International’s 25th International …, 2014
… a complex process that has ethical and legal implications for the health care professionals who
are tasked with obtaining it. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and
describe the experience of giving informed consent in a Mexican American older adult …
Link to abstract

Mexican-American Boys’ Positive Outcomes and Resilience: Importance of Social Support and Individual Attributes

LA Chapin – Journal of Child and Family Studies
… Published online: 27 May 2014. Abstract. Qualitative interviews with 12 Mexican-American
adolescent boys and two adult professionals contributed to … 1. How do Mexican-American boys
define positive outcomes? … Vito. 18. Grad. Mechanical engineer and professional boxer. …
Link to article

Mexican American Medicine: History,Roots and Key Maladies

M Tovar – Multicultural Approaches to Health and Wellness in …, 2014
… Mexican American Medicine 277 According to Western medicine, culture bound syndromes are
not as le- gitimate and often are seen as a set of … field is necessary, especially when treating
individuals that have certain beliefs that are not the same as the health professional. …
Link to chapter


  

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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