Last night I had the opportunity to participate in the first LATISM-Chicago Chapter Tweet Up at DePaul University. Many thanks to NewFuturo for sponsoring the event which focused on education. The Tweet Up also gave many of us #LATISM tweeps the opportunity to finally meet “in real life.” I did more listening than talking last…
After posting this last night, I found this incredible piece written by Dr. Joseph Villescas after finding out that one his most promising Latino students has decided to leave academic pursuits for non-profit work. It’s a profound appeal for reconsideration given the lack of Latino representation in higher education. Consider it an addendum to my…
Over the weekend, I spent the morning riding my bike nearby downtown Madison and its surrounding neighborhoods. Since it’s almost September in this college town, scattered among the neighborhoods was a collection of moving vans, trucks, and jam-packed cars being unloaded by eager college students. Their nervy disposition revealed that many were probably incoming freshman…
I was 14 when Elvis Presley died in 1977. For some reason his death impacted me. Perhaps it was a passing that, at least for me, ended the thought that success meant invulnerability. While Elvis had his faults as person, there’s no denying his impact on our culture and society. One of my favorite Elvis…
In an effort to get acquainted with the Latino community in Madison, I had the pleasure of meeting Kent Craig, the Executive Director of Centro Hispano of Dane County (in Madison). Originally from Indiana, Kent was selected as the first non-Latino Executive Director of the center just a year ago after serving as Deputy Director…
Insightful piece by Guy Garcia regarding the plight of male Latinos and educational attainment as compared to Latinas. Among the possible causes of Latino men’s lack of educational attainment, say Saenz and Ponjuan, are a culturally-ingrained code of “machismo” that prizes swagger over scholarship and urban social peer groups that equate academic success with “acting…
Today I came across two cool articles regarding two Madison Latina leaders who are retiring from their respective jobs. As I settle into my new community, it’s cool to see the number of Latinos and Latinas that have already blazed the trail for others. Debra Amesqua is retiring after 15 years as the City of…
Tyler Cowen over at The Atlantic adds his two-cents regarding economic forecasts and the disappearing middle class. However, it was this portion of his discussion that caught my eye: Third, I find it striking that American mobility peaked sometime in the 1980s. Today there are people moving to find jobs, but not at anything like…
A few Latino students from the University of Nevada share their experiences in the University’s McNair Scholars Summer Research Colloquium. Money quote: Added Benjamin Del Rosario, a mechanical engineering major, “I learned from this experience that getting your Ph.D. isn’t about having a genius-level IQ. It’s about how willing you are able to be trained…
