Archive for November, 2005
Cristina la revista gets the ax
6:06 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Magazines| Marketing| Media · 1 Comment
30 Nov 2005
Cristina Saralegui — the Cuban talk show queen that mainstream media likes to call “the Hispanic Oprah — has been building her niche media empire since the Latino market was just that: a niche. So it seems strange that now, with such a boom in Latino marketing and an increased demand for content to support advertising, her magazine, “Cristina”, is getting the ax:
Still, experts said they were surprised by the decision, given the growth in the market.
Samir Husni, a professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi who tracks the industry, said the magazine should have been able to survive.
“We have not seen the tip of the iceberg yet,” he said. “At any given newsstand, even at the non-Hispanic areas, we have five to 10 titles in Spanish. There’s no saturation yet.”
Latino Baseball Pioneer Dies
4:27 pm By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico| Sports · Comments Off
30 Nov 2005
One of the first Latinos in the Major Leagues has passed away. Vic Power was a seven-time Gold Glove winner from Puerto Rico.
Power started his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1954. Aside from being a defensive wizard on the field, Power also completed the rarest of baseball feats when he stole home plate twice in the same game! Some players play a lifetime without stealing home once, and Power did it twice.
Power who was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, later returned to the isla del encanto where he managed several amateur teams and ran a youth baseball academy. Power passed away of cancer in Puerto Rico.
Via / Miami Herald
Different Diplomas for Latinos in NYC?
2:07 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education| New York City · Comments Off
30 Nov 2005
Yesterday’s NYC Council meeting got heated with accusations that there is a two tiered education system in place. The accusation stems from statistics revealing that one in 10 African-American and Hispanic students earn the harder to get Regents high school diploma, with most of those students earning what has been called a “watered down” local diploma.
While some may fall back on the all too easy response that maybe those students are not made for the test based Regents diploma, many high school students of color are tracked in non-Regents classes with parents not even knowing.
Via / WNBC
Daddy Yankee, the role model
12:12 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Entertainment| Music · Comments Off
30 Nov 2005
The reigning king of reggaeton reveals a few of his thoughts and aspirations in an interview with MTV, on the heels of his recent collaboration with Snoop Dogg:
“I have the responsibility to educate the people out there and teach them what reggaetón is about, so with this DVD I hope people will understand us more,” Yankee explained, adding that he hopes to serve as an example to youth that a person can become a success without forfeiting his values.
“As a Latino, a lot of people are looking at me as a leader, and I’m opening the door for a lot of kids who felt just like me when I was a kid. I know that five or 10 years from now, people will say, ‘Yo, thanks to Daddy Yankee,’ and I’ll be sitting proud of that because what I’m doing now is history.”
Latinos Can Wait in Texas
30 Nov 2005
Texas governor Rick Perry, much like California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger is not afraid to show his true colors. While Schwarzenegger alienates Californians by scapegoating teachers and nurses for the ills of the state, Perry is alienating Latinos and other minorities by showing them that they are not a priority.
Perry has called for a special election to take place January 17 to fill a vacant House of Representative position in a West Austin district, while an inner city Houston seat has been vacant since May. The inner city position will finally be filled this month, but it is strange that it took so long while the other district was filled so quickly (The West Austin position became vacant in November). The district that will be filled without much wait is overwhelmingly Anglo while the other seat which took over seven months is dominated by minorities. What a coincidence.
“It really shows a very basic and fundamental disrespect for the needs and concerns of Hispanic Texans,” said House Mexican-American Caucus Chairman Pete Gallego, D-Alpine.
Via / San Antonio Express-News
Sí TV to Rub Internationally
9:10 am By Maegan La Mala · Bilingualism| Latin America| Marketing| TV · 1 Comment
30 Nov 2005
Soon 20 countries in Latin America will be able to say, “There’s the rub” and they won’t be quoting Hamlet. Sí TV, the only U.S. English-language Latino network, will be distributing it’s roundtable relationship show, The Rub subtitled in Spanish and Portuguese, and broadcast it in over 20 countries including Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
I occasionally watch Sí TV and don’t think The Rub is the best the channel has to offer, but I think a show that features a multi-racial group of young people talking frankly about relationships, love, and sex could be a hit across Latin America.
Via / Latin Heat
Googling for Hate
6:30 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Internet| Marketing · 2 Comments
29 Nov 2005
A few of us have heard the anecdote about the news site that reported a story about some poor person who had been hacked apart, body packed into a suitcase, only to have Google AdSense serve a distasteful ad for Samsonite luggage next to the article. AdSense works in mysterious ways. And if not mysterious, unpredictable. Sometimes its technology associates keywords placed by advertisers and keywords placed by AdSense participants, like VL, correctly. When that happens, I think it’s just luck. In our case, we are not getting very lucky.
Justice for the Braceros
29 Nov 2005
A labor agreement between Mexico and the United States allowed nearly 2.5 million Mexican workers to come to this country beginning in 1942 to alleviate the severe labor shortages caused by World War II. Under the agreement, the workers were to contribute 10 percent of their paychecks to a pension fund, but the money, estimated in the millions of dollars, disappeared in bureaucratic mazes.
It seems that there will never be justice for the braceros. It seems that the guilty parties are simply waiting for this generation to pass away in order to wipe their hands clean of the thievery that was committed against these former farmworkers. Who kept the money that was due to the braceros? Was it the Mexican government? Was it the U.S. government? Was it the farming companies that exploited this source of cheap labor? Most likely it was a combination of all three.
Last month, the Mexican government finally issued rules on how it would distribute a newly created fund designated to compensate workers for a pension fund that never materialized: in payments of 38,000 pesos (about $3,600 U.S.) to each former bracero.
Understandably many braceros have refused this payment from the Mexican government stating that what they are owed is much more. It’s disgraceful how these workers continue to be treated.
Via / Monterey Herald
A Bush no le va a gustar
3:00 pm By Maegan La Mala · Latin America| Music| Politics · Comments Off
29 Nov 2005
The Cumbre de las Americas may have come and gone in Mar de Plata , Argentina but thanks to a group of 18 musicians from around the world that came together, President Bush and others can have a musical souvenir of the event. A Bush no le va a gustar is a compilation cd featuring popular artists like Manu Chau, Ojos de Brujo and others who criticize the neo-liberal “free-trade” policies of the U.S. president. The album was released by La Tribu FM and the company Doble F at La Cumbre de los Pueblos, a simultaneous popular summit held in protest of the Summit of the Americas.
I just have one question. How do I get a copy?
Via / VOY Music
Immigration, Money and a CEO’s demise
12:52 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| business · Comments Off
29 Nov 2005
Most of you have probably never heard of First Data Corporation, a Denver-based company specializing in transaction services. But the brand name Western Union should ring a bell. Western Union, a company that makes billions of dollars yearly on the backs of Latino immigrants who send money to their home countries has long been criticized for exploiting customer with high fees for wiring funds. Now, a Colorado publication is speculating that the involvement of First Data CEO Charles Fote’s in the immigration debate is the issue that proved to be his demise:
Over the last two years Fote had become a champion of enlightened debate over immigration reform, and First Data has sponsored a series of public forums to discuss and explore the issue. In March 2004, First Data created a $10 million “Empowerment Fund” to support Hispanic immigrants and counter anti-immigration movements across the country. The Fund, whose advisory panel includes Raul Yzaguirre, CEO of the National Council of La Raza (“The Race”), had allocated $800,000 for a Denver pilot program to increase the number of Latino business owners via the local Hispanic Chamber.
Hola!
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