Latino arts, history and culture
NO LATINA IS AN ISLAND. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in life is that, whatever I do in life, everything I do, and am, is the result of the presence of others in my life. Which is to say, … [Read more...]
Why Speaking Spanglish Is Important To Me I find it very difficult in my personal life to complete a conversation without wanting to switch to Spanish, or to English, depending on which language I … [Read more...]
How Latino Nerds Will Inherit The Earth (Or At Least The U.S.) I am what the kids like to call a “nerd.” As far back as I can remember, I was one of the “smart kids.” And throughout elementary, … [Read more...]
Why Every Latino Professional Needs To Be A Mentor I remember when I was younger I would wonder how people who were my same age with similar experience managed to land jobs at name brand … [Read more...]
The Drawbacks Of Humildad In my family, humility has always been an important virtue. Culturally speaking, humility may be important because of the ever-present cultural permeating from … [Read more...]
LATINA SCI-FI NERD ASKS: DO LATINOS MAKE IT TO THE FUTURE? I don’t recall, exactly, how it was that I found “Star Trek,” but I remember that it was something I always looked forward to. By the time … [Read more...]
HOW MANY GENERATIONS UNTIL LATINOS BECOME “AMERICAN?” I consider myself Latina, close even to my family’s Mexican culture, bilingual and happily comfortable in that identity. But, more often than … [Read more...]
HOW MANY GENERATIONS UNTIL LATINOS BECOME “AMERICAN?” I consider myself Latina, close even to my family’s Mexican culture, bilingual and happily comfortable in that identity. But, more often than … [Read more...]
THE IMMIGRATION BILL THAT COULDN’T. The much-hyped immigration reform bill that millions of undocumented immigrants, as well as their families and allies, have been waiting for is expected to be … [Read more...]
THE AP'S DITCHING OF "ILLEGAL" SIGNALS A LARGER CHANGE FOR LATINOS. Last week the Associated Press finally decided to eliminate the word “illegal” from its style guide to describe immigrants (this … [Read more...]
CHICANOS? LA RAZA UNIDA? LATINOS IN TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA ARE FIGHTING THE SAME FIGHT. Recently I found myself in a room with Chicanos from East LA, Tejanos from the South Texas border, and even a … [Read more...]
HI JUSTICE SCALIA. I'M A LATINA AND I LIKE BEING ABLE TO VOTE. In the same week that I cast my ballot for Los Angeles mayor for the first time, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia sat on the … [Read more...]
3 THINGS TO CONSIDER ABOUT OBAMA & THE SENATE'S PROPOSED IMMIGRATION REFORM. President Barack Obama made a big show of outlining the principles of immigration reform Tuesday (you can read … [Read more...]
DEMOCRATS, OBAMA ARE LYING ABOUT IMMIGRATION REFORM Immigration reform is not going to happen in 2013, and if it does happen in 2014 before mid-term elections where the issue is being used as a … [Read more...]
WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY, LATINOS ARE GOING NOWHERE. I am definitely not the smartest person I know, nor am I the most technologically savvy. And yet, oftentimes it strikes me that in the world of media … [Read more...]
IMMIGRATION IS MY MOST FAVORITE PART OF AMERICANA. I’ve been obsessed with immigration as an issue for a long time. Back when I was in college, I used to bombard the Latino email list with stories … [Read more...]
“ILLEGAL" IS NOT RACIST - YEAH, RIGHT. How can I convince my editor that “illegal” is a racist term? A young woman frantically asked me for advice to answer this question this week. She was … [Read more...]
WHAT DOES JUNOT DÍAZ MEAN TO MEXICANS? The Dominican Pulitzer Prize winner writer Junot Díaz recently published a new collection of short stories, "This Is How You Lose Her," and as I’ve consumed … [Read more...]
FATIGUE: WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO EXPLAIN WHY RACE MATTERS? Lately, I’ve grown tired of trying talking about race to people who don’t think it’s important. It’s not that I’ve changed my mind, that … [Read more...]
When Mexicans Pull The “Eres Gringa” Card. I met a lovely Mexican woman recently, and for some reason I made the comment that I was from “Pocholandia,” which to me was pretty funny. My parents come … [Read more...]
What Does It Mean To “Act White”? Last week I wrote about how, in the course of being a Latina nerd, I was sometimes accused of “acting white.” It never really bothered me, but I’m not the only one … [Read more...]
