Our 2004-2006 State Project was "Opening Doors for Latinas" across the state. It helped us learn more about Hispanic Culture in our state, and about programs, and activities. Input on programs, activities, books or other material was emailed to Project Co-Chair, Marjorie Vandenack. Marj regularly emailed information about the project to interested individuals.
There were two aspects of this project. Part One was developing, encouraging, and continuing programs at the college level, and Part Two was learning more about Hispanic Culture, and working with community members to exchange ideas. We hoped each branch would find ways to develop concrete steps to open doors in the community.
For Part Two, we sent out regular email bulletins to branch presidents, branch diversity chairs, committee members, and anyone who expressed an interest in being on that list. The email suggested books, references, and newspaper articles which help to inform us about Latina Culture, and about programs and activities which "Open Doors". Where possible we provided email links rather than long paragraphs. Links were provided for our State website (see below).
We looked for input from committee members to exchange ideas and information. For example, the Latina Resource Center (LRC) needs volunteers to help in many ways. Volunteers are needed for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, babysitting at the Center for women taking clasess, transportation to get women to the Center, marketing help to develop publications, money and materials for craft items sold at fundraisers, mentoring for Latina girls and women, Companera for Domestic Violence, and arts and crafts instructors, to name a few. The Center has a long wish list because the need is great and we can help. We can also exchange this information and branch presidents and/or diversity chairs can help find someone interested in volunteering. AMIGAS is a group of friends and supporters of the mission of the LRC. They help with fund raising to continue the work of the Center as its original $25,000 grant from Douglas County comes to an end. One can also join AMIGAS with a donation of $25 (or more). For more information, contact the LRC at 402-898-6760 or Mary Ellen O'Connell, Amigas Treasurer, 701 Sunset Trail, Omaha, NE 68132.
La Casa del Pueblo in Omaha is an outreach of the Methodist Church , and the Chicano Awareness Center in Omaha is a nonprofit organization aimed at celebrating Latino culture and helping young people figure out what it means to be Hispanic-American.
We were excited about the project and anxious to get things moving. Thanks for being a part of the project!
Marjorie Vandenack and June Fritz
Project Co-Chairs
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Upcoming Events/Articles:
Latina Summer Academy: The College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha will offer the fourth annual Latina Summer Academy for Latina high school sophomores which offers a taste of the college experience, encouraging girls to attend college while focusing on practical applications of math, science, and technology. For more information call Anne York (402 554 3986) or email anneyork@mail.unomaha.edu.
Other Project Information:
The AAUW Omaha Inc. Branch featured as its guest speaker AAUW branch member and Omaha Latina Resource Center Director Maria Luisa Gaston on September 11, 2004. Her topic was “New Horizons for Latina Women in Omaha”. Maria Luisa spoke about major barriers such as language and domestic violence Latina women must overcome. She also talked about success stories concerning local women. Maria Luisa encourages all members to volunteer their time and talent.
On Sunday, August 22, 2004 the Business section of the New York Times featured a picture of Janine Craane and her mother Valery, brokers at Merrill Lynch. This team of highly effective brokers filed a complaint for sexual and racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The part of this of special interest here is that these extremely successful women are Hispanic.
On Monday, September 13, 2004, the Omaha World Herald published an article on Maria Vazquez, director of Metropolitan Community College's South Omaha Campus. Maria is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, attended Metro, and went on to earn a Master’s Degree. She brings her bicultural heritage to a school which reaches out to minorities, helping them to become productive citizens as they join the workforce.
Dr. Lourdes Gouveia, Sociology Professor at UNO and keynote speaker at our AAUW State Convention this spring, is featured in the Fall 2004 edition of UNO Alum, as Director of OLLAS, Office of Latino and Latin American Studies. The program just received a federal appropriation of about $1 million, made possible by Senator Chuck Hagel. The program seeks to enhance academic curriculum for Latinos and Latinas, to help in the training of students, faculty and practitioners to meet the needs of the increasing Latino/a population of the Great Plains, UNO is also offering a new dual-major program with a major in French, German, or Spanish and a degree in business administration.
The Omaha World-Herald highlighted thirty-one people of Hispanic/Latino heritage during Hispanic Heritage month. On October 14, 2004 Veronica Petak was featured in the Living section. Petak came to the United States as an exchange student from Chili, and graduated in 1996 from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. As Assistant Dean of Students at the College of St. Mary, Veronica is able to give needed emotional support to young women at the college as they prepare for life beyond the classroom. She also oversees the Latina Summer Academy which gives local teens the opportunity to experience a week of college.
The AAUW Blair (NE) Branch last year featured Maria Luisa Gaston of the Latina Resource Center as a speaker. They will continue to Open Doors for Latinas. Their October 2004 was an informational meeting about opportunities in Blair to learn Hispanic contributions and culture.
The AAUW Lincoln Branch is developing an Adopt-a-School program. Their dieverse school population has many, many needs. Branch members hope to contribute time and talent to help children in the school.
The Latina Resource Center sponored Navidad in El Barrio ….Christmas in the Neighborhood on November 21, 2004 at Our Lady of Guadeloupe Hall in Omaha. This event featured: arts and crafts handmade by Latina women, specialty Latino foods (snacks, cakes, cookies), gift raffles, music, singers, cultural dances, and more. It was a fund raiser to help continue the work of the five-year old Center.
Cultural evening was held December 3, 2004 at the Western Heritage Museum. There were foods, handcrafts, and ethnic entertainment.
June Fritz, AAUW Crete Branch and co-chair of this diversity project, has been doing on site research in the Rio Grande Valley. The Valley has been home to Tex-Mex persons for many generations and Spanish is the predominant language.
GIRLS CLICK!
On December 4, 2004, Dr. Pat Funk, immediate past AAUW Nebraska State President, and co-director of the State project, Nebraska Girls and Technology, presented Girls Click! in Scottsbluff to eleven girls. Western Nebraska Community College students assisted the girls in working with computers. Pat and Linda Bors, project co-director, finalized a proposal from the College to set up a Girls Click! Computer Club for girls to become more computer savvy. Grant money for the project from the AAUW Educational Foundation funded this initiative.
In November Pat Funk, Joyce Cramer, and Marjorie Vandenack met with Maria Luisa Gaston, Director of the Latina Resource Center, to discuss a Girls Click! Program at the Latina Resource Center to help Latinas improve their computer skills. Again, grant money from the State Project helped fund this program.
The American Association of Retired People, AARP, began publishing Segund Juventud in February/March 2005. For more information, see www.aarpsegundajuventud.org.
GALLUP ORGANIZATION TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP OF LATINOS
The Gallup Organization is lending a bilingual executive to the State of Nebraska for a year to help develop young Latino leaders and business owners according to an Omaha World Herald article December 17, 2004. Governor Mike Johanns hopes Zulma X Guadalupe Barrios will help to increase entrepreneurship and create future leaders among the states’s fastest-growing population.
IMMIGRATION REFORM
El Perico del Pueblo is a bilingual paper published weekly for the Greater Omaha, Council Bluffs, Lincoln, and Fremont areas. It's name means "the newspaper of the city". An article in the September edition addressed changes in the Immigration Naturalization Service which is now split into three agencies with the US Citizenship Immigration Services being a department focusing on serving immigrants. A new immigration facility will be located near Eppley Airfield at Avenue H and Abbot Drive. It was to open in November 2004.
President Bush during his campaign suggested the overhauling of immigration laws. "Omaha" magazine featured in its November/December issue a “point--counterpoint” article which quoted Bruce Johansen, a UNO professor and Doug Kagan of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, expressing opposing views. Johansen points out immigrants pay taxes, social security, and withholding taxes that many of them never see. Half of the farm workers in the country are illegal immigrants, up from 10% in 1989, and without their contributions grocery store shelves would empty, and janitors, maids, cooks, and farmhands would not be available. Kagan, on the other hand feels rewarding lawbreakers is wrong and illegals should be deported. There is little doubt reform is needed and Senators Hagel and Kennedy are sponsoring S1645 which will offer amnesty to some illegal aliens.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
NEAToday, the magazine of the National Education Association, in its January 2005 edition writes about Respecting Diversity in an article on pages 30-31. The article notes many children make mistakes in the English language because they follow the rules of their first language, Vietnamese, Sudanese, African-American Vernacular English, or Ebonics. When teachers learn the rules of these languages they can help students see the differences from Standard English, and help them to use correct English. Also , students learn sometimes to use Standard English and sometimes to use your home language, depending on the audience. When students understand this, they come to the correct usage more quickly than being told, “This is wrong”.
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY HONORS LATINA LAWYER
Nicole Neesen was honored April 1, 2005 with the Frances M. Ryan Leadership Award for community service, advancing dignity and rights of low income people, and promoting diversification of the legal field. Neesen, 38, came to Creighton in 1984 from New Mexico and was encouraged by local Latino leaders to attend Law School. She serves on the Heartland Latino Leadership board and as ombudsman for Metropolitan Community College. She has a husband and two children. An Omaha World-Herald article on April 1, quotes her as saying “I am humbled and grateful. I’d like to think I put forth a positive image of what Latinos can contribute to the legal profession.”
AAUW-NEBRASKA STATE CONVENTION
Our State Convention held April 15-16, 2005 in Scottsbluff featured speakers who helped us continute to develop our sensitivity to and understanding of the needs of Hispanic women which is the core of our state project this year.
DECIDE OWN DESTINY
HOPE stands for Hispanic Outstanding Performers in Education. An Omaha World- Herald article on April 25, 2005 reports that Armado Salgado told students of the seventh and eighth grades to strive for jobs that show that they are the future of this country. 430 students received ribbons for making the honor roll. Salgado told students that as a 14 year old field laborer he was sprayed with pesticide. He and his family came to the United States twenty years ago and despite obstacles, he has achieved their hope of a life better than the one they had in Mexico. Salgado is a Boy Scouts executive.
LATINA SUMMER SCHOOL
Summer is the perfect time to broaden diversity and our local colleges are doing a great job. The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Latina Summer Academy, was held in June, and helps to nudge girls into non-traditional careers in business and technology. Doane College in Crete hosted in June a “new Americans” camp with financial aid among the prizes. Parents of Spanish speaking students, and parents from Vietnam and Bosnia were invited to learn about the college. The College of St. Mary held its fourth annual Latina summer academy in June targeting teens from rural towns. Students were treated to museums, nature hikes and restaurants of differing cultures.
Next year the Chicano Awareness Center, which helped coordinate the UNO event plans to partner with Clarkson College for a camp that promotes medical careers, according to Rebecca Valdez, the center’s director. Dana College also held a camp working with the Chicano Awareness Center, hoping to tap the value of differing ethnic groups on college campuses.
Dan Kunzman, vice president of admissions at Doane said that it makes good sense for colleges to reach out. The weeklong, overnight camps are designed to give minority students a chance to envision college as a reachable goal. (From the Omaha World Herald, Sat., June 18, 2005)
DIVERSITY IN OUR LIVES
Today we struggle with and embrace diversity in our schools, in our workplaces, in our churches and our social lives. There is much to learn. Workshops for teachers were held this summer in Lincoln, Chadron and Wayne. (Omaha World Herald, June 30, 2005) Teachers must understand the heritage of children in the classroom. In California educators are now required to have a least one course in how to teach students who are just learning English. Language diversity is offering more and more of a challenge to teachers in Nebraska schools as our population changes. Spanish heritage involves a strong interdependence among family members including cousins, aunts and uncles where the European heritage involves independence and self-sufficiency of each family unit, according to the article. Educators are learning to recognize and meet the diverse needs of children from a variety of heritages.
SCORE SERVICE CORE OF RETIRED EXECUTIVES
The Business section of the Omaha World Herald, July 6, 2005 featured Rose Krisinger, a volunteer with Score, giving business advice to Dixie Bettini, owner of Dixie’s Finest Whipped Icings. SCORE is a nonprofit counseling and information center created in 1964 and sponsored by the Small Business Administration. It now provides Spanish-speaking counselors to help minorities.
STATE HISPANIC POPULATION BOOMS
The Hispanic population of Nebraska boomed to almost 7%, nearly 120,000 people. This is a 27% gain since the 2000 census. The August 3rd edition of the Omaha World Herald Business section tells how Duane Anderson, president of Christ for the City International, is helping businesses bridge the culture gaps between Latinos and other North Americans, and how workers and employers can get along better in the workplace.
For example, Latino workers may avoid eye contact out of respect which makes the employer question honesty. A small gesture of award such as a certificate for reaching a goal will give a Latino something to take home and proudly share with family and friends. Anderson suggests employers should get to know their employees and ask about their family members.
MERCEDES ROSALES
Mercedes Rosales is the newly appointed director of the Latina Resource Center (LRC), a collaborative project of Catholic Charities, the Chicano Awareness Center, Heartland Family Service and the YWCA. It is a place of dignity where women grow in skills, confidence, and self respect. (August 2005 edition of New Horizons) We are working with the LRC as we continue our “Opening Doors” project.
EL PERICO
El Perico is a local, bilingual newspaper available in Omaha and nearby localities.
AAUW - NEBRASKA FUNDS FOR MULTICULTURAL PROJECTS
During the 2005-06 fiscal year, AAUW - Nebraska provided $1000 of funds to multicultural projects across the state to meet the needs of Latinas in Nebraska. Each branch was asked to submit an institution in their area to donate these funds which are to be used to help the groups buy software and other ESL material. We are proud to be making this financial contribution in the name of the American Association of University Women. The following are recipients of approximately $150:
- Rachael Gonzales, Noche de Familia, Scottsbluff - submitted by the Scottsbluff Branch
- Mercedes Rosales, Latina Resource Center, Omaha - submitted by the Blair Branch
- Mercedes Rosales, Latina Resource Center, Omaha - submitted by the Omaha Inc. Branch
- Crete Public Schools Special Programs Office, Blue Valley Family Center - submitted by the Crete Branch
- La Casa del Pueblo (outreach of the Methodist Church), Omaha - submitted by the Omaha Inc. Branch
- Shaping Minds And Rebuilding Tomorrows (SMART), YMCA, Lincoln - submitted by the Lincoln Branch
The Omaha, Inc. Branch also donated $300 to the Latina Resource Center in Omaha for the purchase of softward, books, or workbooks to help the women there learn English.
We congratulate the recipients and thank them for the work they are doing, and thank the branches for suggesting them.
GIRLS CLICK!
Our Nebraska Girls and Technology Project is clicking along. Mercedes Rosales, Program Director and Karen Mavropoulos, Site Coordinator for the Latina Resource Center and Pat Funk, AAUW State Girls and Technology Project chair agreed to begin a Computer Club to start in September 2005 called “Chicas Click”. This will be in cooperation with Metro Community College using grant money from the AAUW. The club will meet with Latina girls of 11-14 years of age and with their mothers on two Saturdays a month from September to January. Girls will be recruited from Girl Scout Troop 5007. The LRC will provide supervision and evaluation, designing a curriculum that includes small group process as well as individual learning and mother-daughter interaction. AAUW is pleased and proud to be a part of this endeavor which is a perfect fit with our current state project, Opening Doors for Latinas.
GETTING ANGRY CAN BE A GOOD THING - National Public Radio, Morning Edition, September 25, 2005, by Cecilia Munoz.
Cecilia Munoz is vice president of the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza. Born in Detroit to Bolivian immigrants, she has worked on behalf of Hispanic-Americans. Munoz was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2000. She notes, “I am deeply familiar with that hollow place that outrage carves in your soul. I've fed off of it to sustain my work for many years.”
I remember the exact moment when I discovered outrage as a kind of fuel. It was about 1980. I was 17, the daughter of Bolivian immigrants growing up in suburban Detroit. After a dinner table conversation with my family about the wars going on in Central America and the involvement of the United States (my country by birth and my parents' country by choice), a good friend said the thing that set me off. He told me that he thought the U.S. might someday go to war somewhere in Latin America. He looked me in the eye and told me that if it happens, he believes my parents belong in an internment camp just like the Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Now this was someone who knew us, who had sat at our table and knew how American we are. We are a little exotic maybe, but it never occurred to me that we were anything but an American family. For my friend, as for many others, there will always be doubt as to whether we really belong in this country, which is our home, enough doubt to justify taking away our freedom. My outrage that day became the propellant of my life, driving me straight to the civil rights movement, where I've worked ever since.
I guess outrage got me pretty far. I found jobs in the immigrant rights movement. I moved to Washington to work as an advocate. I found plenty more to be angry about along the way and built something of a reputation for being strident. Someone once sent my mom an article about my work. She was proud and everything but wanted to know why her baby was described as "ferocious."
Anger has a way, though, of hollowing out your insides. In my first job, if we helped 50 immigrant families in a day, the faces of the five who didn't qualify haunted my dreams at night. When I helped pass a bill in Congress to help Americans reunite with their immigrant families, I could only think of my cousin who didn't qualify and who had to wait another decade to get her immigration papers.
It's like that every day. You have victories but your defeats outnumber them by far, and you remember the names and faces of those who lost. I still have the article about the farm worker who took his life after we lost a political fight. I have not forgotten his name – and not just because his last name was the same as mine. His story reminds me of why I do this work and how little I can really do.
I am deeply familiar with that hollow place that outrage carves in your soul. I've fed off of it to sustain my work for many years. But it hasn't eaten me away completely, maybe because the hollow place gets filled with other, more powerful things like compassion, faith, family, music, the goodness of people around me. These things fill me up and temper my outrage with a deep sense of gratitude that I have the privilege of doing my small part to make things better.
OPENING DOORS AT UNO
The Fall 2005 Edition of the UNO Alum features on page 32 an article about the director of campus and student services on the Metro Community College South Campus. Maria Vasquez is a graduate of Metro Community College, and has a bachelor and Master’s degree from UNO.
SCOTTSBLUFF LATINA WOMAN FEATURED
The November 2005 issue of Latina Magazine featured an article about a Scottsbluff, Nebraska Latina woman. The article tells the story of Maria Miranda, an American born woman, whose mother was African American and whose father was Porto Rican. She grew up in Cleveland, graduated from Eastern Michigan University, and suffered from an inability to define herself as either Black or Latina. Hooking up with friends who taught her to speak “Rican”, she traveled to Arroyo Porto Rico, the town her father had come from, walked on the beach, felt the sticky breezes, and found her Porto Rican self.
FREMONT LATINOS
The September 8, 2005 edition of the Omaha World Herald, featured a story about the number of Hispanics and Latinos now living in Fremont. Many came to work at Hormel and have lived there ten years or more. A smaller city, it is harder to assimilate in Fremont, but because many people are from farms, there is a mutual background. The Latin American Festival held in Fremont in September helps to show the desire of the Hispanic community to integrate and share traditions and beliefs.
SENATOR HAGEL WISHES TO GIVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS A CHANCE
The October 23, 2005 issue of the Omaha World Herald on page B1, Magazine of the Midlands, tells of Senator Chuck Hagel’s plan to give illegal immigrants a way to work toward a legal status. The issue is controversial and Hagel is offering his plan in three smaller pieces in an effort to find something workable.
GASTON GIRILS FEATURED
The Omaha World Herald on November 20, 2005 told the story of the six Cuba-born Gaston girls, two of whom live in Omaha, who fled with their parents when Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. The home they left is still decorated with large oil paintings which belonged to the Gaston family, although it is occupied by Castro supporters. Maria Luisa Gaston was two years old when she left her home in Cuba but has been able to make occasional trips back and has visited the home which contains treasures dating to 1823. Creighton University Law School has been awarded $750,000 to help research ways to compensate Cuban immigrants for property left behind in their flight from Cuba.
Maria Luisa works with the College of St Mary to recruit Hispanic women while her sister Maria Teresa is director of Creighton’s Center for Service and Justice. Maria Luisa organized a group of women who get together three times a week to make handicrafts which are sold to help single mothers, new immigrants, widows and domestic violence survivors fund a college education.
HOUSE IMMIGRATION BILL
Dec 17, 2005, Omaha World Herald: The House passed a bill which will be very tough on immigrants in an attempt to close the borders of the US to illegal immigration. Supporters say that it will help bring order to a porous border. Opponents suggest it will be very hard on poor people and will punish them for minor violations.
NEBRASKA UNICAMERAL 2006 – IMMIGRANT TUITION
Senator Diana Schimek plans to name as her priority bill # 239 which would allow undocumented immigrants who graduate from Nebraska high schools to pay resident tuition at Nebraska colleges and universities. This will be of importance to all interested in “opening doors to Latinas” and will spark some lively legislative debate. (Omaha World Herald, Dec. 29, 2006, page 2a)
UNO REACHES OUT TO SOUTH OMAHA
Omaha World Herald, Dec. 28, 2005, page 1B: Students from UNO worked with businessmen from South Omaha to help each other learn. The students brought computer knowledge as they learned about their city and about the people who live there. The businessmen learned how to use computers in their business. Ten Service-Learning courses were attended by 250 students. This is a focus of the Midwest Consortium for Service -Learning in Higher Education which funnels federal grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service to member schools to offset costs of courses, and incentives for professors. It is mutually beneficial to both students and business people.
OPENING DOORS TO LATINAS – by Pat Sulu, Scottsbluff Branch, November 2005
Understanding cultures: The beginning of November is when Day of the Dead is celebrated. Though some Mexicans celebrate it with a mix of Aztec and Christian beliefs, many keep it as a type of Memorial Day celebration. November 1 is All Saint’s Day and is the day that many Hispanics remember the children who died. November 2 is All Soul’s Day and the day to remember the adults who died. There are “ofrendas” made: a table that contains memories of the person who passed away. The Day of the Dead has nothing to do with Halloween even though it is just 2 days afterwards. It is not scary. There are toys, pictures and candy with skulls and skeletons, but all have smiles on their faces and are dressed to be doing an everyday activity. For Mexican people, death is part of life and it is OK to make fun of each other.
Valley Bank opened a bank across from Safeway between Scottsbluff and Gering that has a Mexican flavor about it. The tellers and personnel who work there all speak both English and Spanish. During its grand opening, it had mariachi bands and celebrations that relate to people of Mexican decent. It is a very colorful bank and has already encouraged people who would otherwise not trust a bank environment to consider savings accounts and even loans to begin businesses.
Dr. William E. Roweton, of Chadron State College (CSC) is working with a grant that will encourage more Hispanics to enter college and further their education. It encourages higher education, at a tech school, 2 year college, 4 year college, or university. He is also beginning work with Valley Bank (the one with the Mexican flavor) to encourage school loans and make the system easier to get money for higher education. He is encouraging Valley bank and other banks, along with CSC, to develop an easy to understand (in English and Spanish) guide to scholarships, loans, grants, etc. targeted to Latina/Latinos in the Scottsbluff region.
Dr. Roweton is also working on getting an Hispanic adult placed in the middle schools and high schools on a regular basis around lunch time to visit with students and encourage them to begin study groups, apply themselves to classes, to think about higher education and to apply for scholarships
INSPIRING LATINA (December 2005 – January 2006, Latina Magazine, www.latina.com)
This issue tells the story of Hortensia Vidauri, daughter of a migrant farm worker who leads a team for the International Organization for Migration’s sub office in Pakia Afghanistan. She oversees the construction of schools, dams, clinics and roads in war-torn Afghanistan while monitoring programs that train women for jobs in the new government. She lived with her family in Salinas Valley, CA until she was 18 when she left to get a degree in international business management from San Francisco State University, thence to the Red Cross to lead teams bringing disaster relief to Latin American countries hit by natural disasters. In Afghanistan she drives in armored vehicles and lives within a UN compound for personal safety. She says “there are more people who want us here than don’t. She has been offered many safer jobs in the United States but wants to be out in the field where she can see the people being helped.
Latino/a authors:
- Laura Restrepo: This author has been compared to Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez to which she responds that we are all telling tales with the same goal through our body of work. Her 1989 book, Isle of Passion, has just been translated into English. She weaves a story of love and redemption about soldiers and their families left on an island in the early 20th century.
- Michel Martinez writes Finishing School, based on her experience as a New York City prosecutor (move over John Grisham.) Latina Magazine says this is a fast moving novel, full of suspense and is as exciting as her break out novel, Most Wanted.
- Jorge Franco has written Paradise Travel and it is said that Gabriel Garcia Marquez says of him that he is one to whom he would like to pass the torch. His first novel was the thriller, Rosario Tijeras. Marion and Reina are immigrants sent to the bleakest parts of New York City where Marion learns the hard lessons of class inequalities and unrequited love.
Latina women of special note in the year 2005:
- Dr. Maria Velez: A pediatric hematologist and oncologist in New Orleans, where she managed to help over 150 children get the chemotherapy they needed to stay alive. She made the four hour drive several times a week from a Houston affiliate hospital back to Katrina damaged New Orleans bringing lifesaving treatment to her patients. She said: ”I am over the feeling of hopelessness. Let’s move on and do something.”
- Shakira: Has become a star on her own terms, after an English language tour she took a hiatus, then released a Spanish language CD, something that could have been damaging to her career. It was not. Watch for her tour in 2006.
- Las trabajadoras, the whistle blowers: An all too familiar story, three Mexican women working at the Broadway Plaza Hotel in New York worked 15 hour days, were subject to verbal abuse and sexual harassment, and after months of mental and physical strain, filed a lawsuit against the hotel. It was not easy and they have been grilled by the lawyers for the hotel, but they want justice to be served. “I just want to work hard,” one of them says, “y salir Adelante.”
- Christina Norman, MTV Executive: In 2005 Shakira became the first artist ever to sing in Spanish on MTV, and Christina Norman whose mother is Porto Rican, attended the show as president of MTV. Born in the Bronx, she has plenty of experience having run VH1 previously. Her 14 year old daughter, Zoe, loves VH1 more than MTV but she is learning to love both.
- Gina Rizzo, The Fashionista: Thirty year old of Guatamalan and Sicilian descent works with boss Jennifer Lopez as fashion director of the clothing and fragrance line, Sweetface Fashion Company.
- Sara Ramirez, The Breakout Thespian: Thirty year old native of Mazatlan, Mexico, is the Tony Award winning singer in the hit show, Monty Python’s Spamalot. Her mom, also a singer, paid her way through New York’s Julliard School of Music and was her date at the Tony Awards.
- Olga Viso, the Art Director: Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian. Thirty eight years old, Spanish speaking she is the daughter of Cuban immigrants. She plans to integrate Latin voices into the museum’s collection.
- Latina GI’s: Of the 23,500 Hispanics deployed in the Middle East, some 2,500 are Latinas. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who serve our country.
Diversity (page 106):
“Diversity isn’t just some concept that makes everyone feel good.” According to the LR article about career opportunities for Latinas, Human Resources employees will be much sought after if they can speak Spanish, to help employees and employers understand cultural differences, and help businesses to diversify their staff. Sales people will be needed as more and more Hispanics own their own homes, buy new cars, and make purchases of larger ticket items. In construction, while many Hispanics work in specialty jobs, managers and supervisors are needed who both speak Spanish and understand the construction business.
EMBRACING OUR DIVERSITY
NEA Today, Jan 2006: Embracing our Diversity is the right thing to do. Every person has value. Civilization is something that is shared, and every single person who is living today is part of a group that has contributed to our civilization. And it’s the morally right thing to do to celebrate these gifts.
COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS
An article titled "Courages Conversation" in NEA Today, March 2006, begins with: “If a group of white students is smoking cigarettes along the schoolyard fence, that doesn’t feel like a crisis. But if a group of Black students is walking down the hall talking loud, that does feel like a crisis.” Jacob Ellis, a Black educator speaks out about how minority students are sometimes dealt with unfairly and in his school have organized a program called “Courageous Conversations” where students are encouraged to tell their experiences. This entire article can be found on line at www.nea.org/neatoday/0603/lastbell.html.
LATINAS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
Latina Magazine, March 2006, in the Adelante section features Latinas who are in law enforcement:
- Blanca Razana, 24, a Guatemalan, a patrol office in Glendale, CA
- Sandra Escalante, 33, Mexican American public information officer in Los Angeles
- Norma Cortes-Lopex, 46, Mexican American, assistant chief patrol agent in McAllen, TX
SPECIAL DATES
April 13-20 is Passover (Pesach). This Jewish festival begins at sunset on the 12th and continues until nightfall on the 20th. It commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt and marks the beginning of the harvest season.
April 16 is Easter. Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on this day, which is observed the first Sunday following the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.
June is Gay/Lesbian Pride Month.
June 2 is Republic Day in Italy. Italy selected a republican government instead of returning to a monarchy in 1946.
June 13-14 is Shavout, a Jewish festival commemorating the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.
June 14 is Flag Day in the United States. It marks the date in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes.
June 16 is the Day of the African Child, a day to celebrate the heritage of African-American childres and to commemorate the achievements and future challenges of Africa.
September 8 is International Literacy Day; it focuses attention on worldwide literacy issues and needs.
September 15 - October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage month. It honors the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens who trace their ancestry to Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
September 17 - 23 is Constitution Week. It celebrates our Constitution and reaffirms our rights and obligations as citizens.
October is Disability Awareness Month.
October 4 is the First Day of Ramadan; this day marks the beginning of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a holy time when Muslins fast and honor the revelation of the Korean to the prophet Muhammad.
October 16 is World Food Day; it focuses awareness on the problems of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty.
November is American Indian Heritage Month.
ADELANTE
Adelante means "moving forward". AAUW is encouraging us to read a book each month to help raise awareness of the diversity of our membership and country, and to promote understanding of this diversity. This helps us understand challenges and differences. Below are some book summaries to help guide you. These suggestions come from Association.
Book Summaries:
Barefoot Heart Stories of a Migrant Child by Elva Trevino Hart
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
Strangers Among Us by Roberto Suro
For a summary of Riding the Bus with My Sister by Rachel Simon, click here. The story will be made into a movie with Rosie O'Donnell playing Beth.
For a summary of First They Killed My Father, click here.
The Adelante book for January 2005 was The Seven Sisters of Eve by Bryan Sykes. Sykes is a professor of Molecular Medicine at Oxford University. Through his research he suggests we are all descended from seven women, (yes, women, not men) each with names with which we can identify. You can check out your ancestors at www.oxfordancestors.com. The book is written for the non-scientist although there are some paragraphs where he forgets we are not all science majors. Nonetheless, he solves the mystery of the populating of Polynesia and the true story of Anastasia of the Russian Royal family, and many others.
The Adelante book recommended for September 2005, in recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month, was The Pearl of the Antilles by Dr. Andrea O’Reilly Herrera (2000). It chronicles the lives of several generations of Cuban women. The story focuses on Margarita, an exile in the United States, who struggles to come to terms with her divided identity. It portrays the cultural fragmentation of living in exile, and that of their children who may never have lived in Cuba.
The suggested book for October 2005, Disability Awareness Month, was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Marc Haddon (2003). Christopher Boone is the autistic 15 year old narrator of this novel, who relaxes by doing math problems in his head, eats red but not yellow or brown foods and screams when he is touched. When he is accused of killing a neighbor’s dog, he takes a page from Sherlock Holmes and tracks down the killer.
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, the November 2005 selection featured The Trickster and the Troll by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (1999). The book combines traditions of her Norwegian husband’s background with that of the Lakota People with a plot twist that mirrors the changing American metaphor from melting pot to tossed salad.
The Adelante book recommended for April 2006 is She Says by Venus Khoury-Ghata. This book explores the mythical confessional attractions and repulsions of the French and Arabic imaginations with poems that open like “a suitcase filled with alphabets.” Sex, barrenness, grief, and death - the backdrop of a war-ravaged country, are always at the edges, made increasingly urgent by lines often jagged and spare, their music unaltered.
The suggested book for May 2006 is The Red Azalea by Anchee Min. This is an autobiography of a young Chinese woman born in 1957 as the eldest of four children of an educated couple, describing their changed lives during the Maoist regime. Min survives farm life to be chosen to train as an actress, emigrating to the U. S. in 1984 when she could no longer tolerate life in China.
The June 2006 recommended book is Trans-sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian. This is a compelling and disturbing novel which challenges our assumptions about gender, relationships, and sexuality. It is a demanding work that is often graphic, always gentle, and full of wisdom and surprising humor.
These books are available in local libraries, and can be ordered from the AAUW website at www.aauw.org. They make interesting, sometimes disturbing reading and will encourage lively discussion. Try them in a book discussion group or as a branch activity.
