Archive for December, 2005
Latino Themed Toys Popular With Kids
20 Dec 2005
“She likes Dora because she’s learning English, so it helps her,” explained Lizbeth’s mother, Celenia Paulino, who recently moved her children from the Dominican Republic to Miami.
It’s interesting to see how toys which I presume to target Latino kids are also catching the eye of everyone else. When I first saw the cartoon Dora the Explorer I thought it was a great idea. I didn’t realize how popular this particular cartoon was with all the kids. Perhaps kids will break with the belief by some that speaking Spanish is a bad thing.
The Hispanic population in the United States jumped from about 35 million in 2000 to an estimated 40 million in 2004, reaching 14 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census.
Hispanics are likely to have larger families and are on average younger than the general population — about 15 percent of Hispanics are 14 and under, compared with about 9 percent of people nationwide.
For manufacturers, that means more kids demanding more toys.
Via / Orlando Sentinel
Just Say Feliz Navidad and Be Done With It?
20 Dec 2005
With media talking heads and politicians worrying about how to properly greet people during the winter holidays without offending anyone or leaving anyone out (because it’s not like there’s a war going on or anything), according to DiversityInc, Christian Science Monitor columnist and comedian Julia Gorin has the solution, just say “Feliz Navidad”. According to the article:
Her solution stems from the knowledge that Latino cultures so far don’t seem to be troubled by wording complexes. “Latin Americans, for example, aren’t about to alter the greeting ‘Feliz Navidad.’ Like the song says, ‘Feliz Navidad! Feliz Navidad! I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas….’ It doesn’t say, ‘Feliz Día de Fiesta! Feliz Día de Fiesta!’ In fact, the Yahoo! dictionary doesn’t even have a translation for ‘holiday’ in Spanish,” says Gorin.
Nomar is Coming Home
19 Dec 2005
The former two-time batting champion and five-time All-Star returns to Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Nomar Garciaparra have agreed to a 1 year $6 million contract for the 2006 season. Garciaparra has a good opportunity with the Dodgers to return the form that made him a favorite of the great Ted Williams.
Garciaparra who is of Mexican descent was born in Whittier, graduated from St John Bosco High school in Bellflower and later attended Georgia Tech.
Via / Los Angeles Times
La India es Diferente
4:13 pm By Maegan La Mala · Celebrities|Music · 1 Comment
19 Dec 2005
Bueno not really because the Rican salsera, la India, knows that reggaeton esta muy pegao, and so she’s taking advantage of the genre. La India is collaborating on a new album titled Soy Diferente, due to be released on January 31 of the new year, with the queen of reggaeton, Ivy Queen. The album will also feature duets with Rican rapero Cheka, salsa hermano Tito Nieves, and even with her mother, Gloria Viera.
Via / La Tribuna Hispana
Half- Huelga on Public Transport in NYC
8:44 am By Maegan La Mala · New York City · Comments Off
19 Dec 2005
Today is the first day of a partial strike by two private bus lines that were recently acquired by the Metropolitan Transit Association (MTA). The two bus lines, Jamaica and Triboro bus lines, run through Queens, which is populated by 551,004 Latinos according to 2000 Census figures. Workers of the two lines have been working without a contract for about three years. The partial strike began because the lines are not officially under the MTA umbrella they are not subject to the high fines under New York State’s Taylor Law. The negotiations between the Transit Worker’s Union (TWU) and MTA continue today but if an agreement is not reached by midnight (EST) tonight, the entire public transport system including subways is set to go on strike.
Via / NY1
Hugo Chávez is Awarded Unesco José Martí Prize
9:10 pm By Maegan La Mala · Politics|Venezuela · 2 Comments
16 Dec 2005
Controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was awarded the José Martí Prize for his contribution towards unity and integration of Latin American and Caribbean nations by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Chávez will be officially given the award in Havana, Cuba on January 28th, José Martí’s birthday.
Via / El Universal
Increased Drinking Rates in Latinas
4:49 pm By Maegan La Mala · Health|society · 2 Comments
16 Dec 2005
A new study finds that drinking rates in female immigrants increase as they acculturate to the dominate culture here in the United States.
“The study found that Latina women who are highly acculturated to American society — that is, women who tend to speak English more than Spanish, associated heavily with Anglos, and feel comfortable in relationships with Anglos — tend to drink more than those who are not so highly acculturated. Specifically, these women are more likely to drink, and tend to drink more if they do drink,” researcher Sarah E. Zemore, associate scientist at the Alcohol Research Group, said in a prepared statement.
It seems that immigrant groups change in order to accommodate to the norms present in the country. For example, in the U.S. it is acceptable for women to drink alcohol, while that may be frowned upon in the home countries of some immigrants. I am curious if this could lead to more problems with alcoholism in Latina women or if it is even an issue.
Via / Health Day
The Pew Hispanic Center released a report yesterday that shows the gap between Latino workers and White workers is widening. Latinos continue to be overrepresented in jobs paying lower wages and jobs with lower educational requirements such as jobs in the service and construction industries despite the fact that the study looked at a ten year time period which has been touted as having the “largest economic expansion in recent U.S. history”. The representation of Latinos in management and other professional areas actually declined from 1990 to 2000. Most interestingly, citizenship did not seem to be a huge factor with both Mexicans and Puerto Ricans (who are all citizens of the United States) lagging the furthest behind whites.
Via / Pew Hispanic Center
Latino Enrollment at UC Berkeley Increasing
15 Dec 2005
The number of Latino freshman enrolled in UC Berkeley this year reached its highest level since 1997, according to the latest figures, which also show black students posting modest year-over-year gains.
The selective university has been struggling to boost enrollment of those students, whose lagging college-going rates led campus Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to suggest last month that California is approaching “educational apartheid” because of a 1996 voter initiative that banned affirmative action programs.
It seems that at UC Berkeley, even without the assistance of affirmitive action, there has been an increase in Latino enrollment. That doesn’t mean that the same can be said about all of the the schools in the University of California system. The news may sound positive but in reality it is negative because in 2005 Latinos are just getting to the levels that they were at back in 1997. I am positive that if affirmitive action programs were still in place the number of Latinos at UC Berkeley would be significantly higher.
Final enrollment numbers released Wednesday show that 426 Latino freshman attended University of California, Berkeley in the fall. That is up from 340 last year and is the most since 1997, the last year affirmative action was used and 469 Latino and Chicano freshman enrolled. In 1998, 271 Latino freshmen enrolled at UC Berkeley, according to UC data.
Via / Inside Bay Area
VivirLatino: Finalist in Weblog Awards. Vote and show us some amor!
8:44 am By Maegan La Mala · Blogs|VivirLatino · 1 Comment
15 Dec 2005
You love us. You really do love us. Well someone loves VivirLatino enough to have nominated us as one of the finalists in the 2005 Weblog Awards in the category of Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American Blog. Yes it is an honor just to be nominated and be among some other great blogs in the Latino flavored blogosphere but it would even be a greater honor to win. You, loyal VivirLatino reader, have until 11:59 pm tonight (eastern time) to vote for your favorite Latino blog. Please note that in order to vote Macromedia Flash version 7 (or higher) is required.
Vote VivirLatino for the Best Latino Caribbean, or South American Blog here!
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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