Yet, if not for my participation in Upward Bound (a federally funded program to help prepare historically marginalized, first-gen kids to pursue higher education), I wouldn’t be able to compete at the highest level in my mathematics. More specifically, if not for my childhood friend Hector from the projects, who peer pressured me to apply to Upward Bound at Occidental College (Oxy) – a six-week, residential program – I would be oblivious to the college application process.
Category: Culture
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Daniel Villarreal and Danny De La Paz dish on “American Me, Chicano films
Many credit Olmos for the bravery it took to risk his career and reputation on such a violent and dark subject matter. Moreover, the anti-crime and Latino community wake-up call messages behind “American Me,” continue to resound today.
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BRUNA PORTUGAL, small city girl from Brazil takes on comedy, acting and LA
When Portugal was 6, her mother showed her on a map where they lived and where in comparison the famous actors Portugal looked up to lived in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Portugal remembers breaking down into tears over the news. From then on, she promised her mother that she was going to leave one day.
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JOY BUCK$, life as an LA Chicana rapper
What Joy Buck$ loves more than being in front of the microphones is the positive message that she can deliver and leave behind via rap verses. “In high school all of my friends would freestyle, that’s how we would vent to each other. We were a tough crowd, kids who wouldn’t like to show emotions,” Joy Buck$ said. “We would just bump a beat and rhyme our words with what we were going through.”
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TATIANA FERNANDEZ, Latina spreading awareness through TikTok
Tatiana Fernandez relishes her many interesting identities, such as being autistic, 1st Gen and queer. She credits her rave passion for driving her to look for work in the social media industry.
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COMMENTARY: What does Spanglish say about identity?
Dr. Malcom Finney believes that it just takes one moment of falling in love with speaking another language with another human being for us to realize that languages are not threatening.
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What Latinx likes to be called and why
For the Latinx community, there is a connection between ethnic identity and cultural identity, which varies for everyone, depending on family, socio economic status, environment and lots of other factors.
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COLUMN: This Chicana from Chicago calls California home
After years of being asked a version of this “Where are you from?” question, I don’t always answer it the same way. Sometimes I say I’m Latina. I’m involved in a campus group comprised of Latina women of different origins such as Mexico, Peru and El Salvador, and it makes sense that I say I’m Latina in that context. How I answer, how I identify, depends on the day and who is asking.
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EDITORIAL: Latinx, Hispanic, or Latino? What are we?
As of late there has been increased debate over the term Latinx. Some have argued that the term Latinx represents a whitewashing of the community as it is an artificial label imposed on us. Others have argued that it actually diminishes the community by adding a pejorative “x.” A best practice would be to ask a person their preference, when relevant, and for us not to label or mislabel each other.
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COMMENTARY: Applauding Oscar Firsts of Latino Representation
Latino representation and firsts may have been unfairly overshadowed. Ana María Ferreira, a literature professor born in Colombia, writes about some of the Oscar firsts for Latinos.