Archive for August, 2008
Ricky Martin Father of Twins
7:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities · Comments Off
20 Aug 2008
Continuing the trend of famous twins, it was just released that Ricky Martin is now the father of his own duo. Born via gestational surrogacy, the twin boys are doing just fine. The proud new papi will be taking time off to concentrate on raising the munchkins. I wonder how much his ‘first baby pictures’ will go for? Or will Ricky manage to rise above the ruckus?
Either way, congratulations are in order! I wish Ricky and his boys many blessings on their new journey!
via/Yahoo!
Major Plane Crash in Spain
20 Aug 2008
It happened at Terminal 6 at Madrid’s Barajas airport just about 2 hours ago. U.S. media is reporting 45 dead, but the numbers appear to be much higher. Spanish media reports differ, but at least 2 sources say that 140 of the 167 passengers and crew on board are dead, and 27 are in critical condition.
The Spanair flight, JKK 5022, was on its way to Las Palmas, Canary Islands when — according to first reports — it lost power in one of its engines just seconds after takeoff. This is the first accident at Madrid’s airport in over 25 years.
Via / El Mundo
Image via El País
Obama Gearing Up to Court Latin@ Voters
11:44 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · US Presidential Race 2008 · Comments Off
20 Aug 2008The Obama campaign is gearing up to begin outreach to Latin@ voters this week. Obama has already announced that he would be spending $20 million on outreach, and he just released the news that he formed a Latin@ advisory board.
Of course, McCain has reacted with cynicism to the news:
“It’s funny, they announced they’ll spend $20 million reaching out to Hispanic voters but when you go to Florida, the only Spanish ads are by John McCain,” said McCain spokeswoman Hessy Fernandez. “At the end of the day, John McCain doesn’t need an introduction with the Latino community. He has been working for more than two decades on the values, principles and issues Latino voters care about.”
I wonder how the bragging about Spanish language ads will go over with the Republican base that regularly votes to make English the national language?
Argentina to Recognize Inheritance Rights of Same Sex Couples
10:51 am By Maegan La Mala · Argentina|Family|GLBT|Latin America|society · Comments Off
20 Aug 2008
Argentine lawmakers have signed a resolution which would grant inheritance rights to same sex couple widows and widowers. The surviving partner would inherit the pension of their partner upon their death.
Gay rights activists are praising the move as a huge step in the recognition of their civil rights. The Argentine government says its part of a larger human rights plan under the administration of president Cristina Fernández.
To be eligible for the benefit, couples must prove that they have lived together for at least 5 years.
Via / El País
Texas Teachers Pack Heat
5:38 pm By Maegan La Mala · children|Education|society|Texas · 2 Comments
19 Aug 2008
At least one school district in the great state of Texas is letting its faculty carry concealed firearms into their classrooms:
Harrold ISD Superintendent David Thweatt said his school board unanimously passed the concealed weapon policy in October to protect employees and students in the case of an armed intruder or hostage situation.The school sits near a major highway and is a 30-minute drive from the Sheriff’s Office.
While Harrold is currently the only district we know about allowing teachers to carry guns, Texas governor Rick Perry says that he supports anyone with a permit being able to carry a concealed weapon wherever they like:
Gov. Rick Perry said Monday that local school districts should be able to decide whether to allow concealed weapons on their campuses.“I’m pretty much a fan that if you’ve been trained, if you are registered, then you ought to be able to carry a weapon,” Perry said.
America Ferrera Wins at ALMA Awards
4:53 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities · 2 Comments
19 Aug 2008Ms. America Ferrera of “Ugly Betty” fame, won entertainer of the year award for her portrayal of Betty Suarez at the ALMA awards yesterday.
My thoughts? I love America and the work that she does in both television and movies–but that does not prevent my from really disliking her dress. Zebra stripes are just not my thang, I guess.
Christina Applegate has Double Mastectomy
4:45 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities · Comments Off
19 Aug 2008
I’m not much of a fan of Christina Applegate, but I was mighty shocked to hear that she recently underwent a double mastectomy to deal with her breast cancer. Apparently she only had cancer in one breast, but because of a family history of breast cancer and genetic testing that showed she carried the cancer gene, she decided to remove both breasts. I admire that she is talking about this to the world, especially seeing as she’s in such a looks oriented profession. I hope she recovers beautifully.
Latino Henry Cejudo Gets Olympic Gold, Gets Stereotyped
4:04 pm By Maegan La Mala · mexico|race|society|Sports · 3 Comments
19 Aug 2008
Latino wrestler Henry Cejudo took home the gold for the U.S. in men’s freestyle wrestling in a dynamic win today over opponent Tomohiro Matsunaga.
According to The L.A. Times, Cejudo, the son of undocumented immigrants, invoked his Mexican heritage as he spoke about his win:
“This is cool. Coming out of a Mexican American background, it feels good to represent the U.S.,” said Cejudo, whowasborn in Los Angeles. “Not too many Mexicans get the chance to do that.”Cejudo’s parents divorced when he was 4 and he saw his father, Jorge, only one more time before he died in Mexico City. But his mother, Nelly Rico, raised a family of six children on her own, bouncing from low-paying jobs in California to New Mexico and Arizona, where the family sometimes slept four to a bed.
It’s a nice story, indeed. But what I personally don’t care for is the way his win is billed as “The American Dream”, supported comments from people who know him make it seem like that it’s a miracle he didn’t turn out to be a criminal in light of his family background. In fact, that’s exactly what they imply:
“He has done an unbelievable job coming from the environment that he came from,” his coach, Terry Brands, said. “Could be in prison. Could be a drug runner. Could be this, could be that. He’s done an unbelievable job of not being a victim.
Is this because he comes from a situation of adversity or because he comes from a situation of adversity and he’s brown? Way to taint an otherwise uplifting story…
Via / LA Times
231 Dominicans Tweet
1:03 pm By Maegan La Mala · Dominican Republic|Tech · Comments Off
19 Aug 2008
There’s a really interesting article up about the use of Twitter in the Dominican Republic. According to the article there are 231 tweeters in D.R. 11 of them being non-Dominicans who live/work there. 26% of the Dominican users have protected entries (hmm what are you hiding). 42% of the tweeters have blogs. 1 of the tweeters is a politician.
For more on who tweets in D.R. check out the full post here.
Via / Global Voices, My 2 K-Cents
Argentina’s Olympic Women’s Soccer Team Gets on the Hate Bandwagon
11:32 am By Maegan La Mala · Argentina|Beijing Summer Olympics|China|race|Sports · 3 Comments
19 Aug 2008
When the Spanish sports teams did their offensive eye posing, it was easy to dismiss the racism as coming from Europeans with their own history of conquest. But now the women’s Olympic soccer team from Argentina has been caught doing the same exact “slant-eye” pose, we have to wonder just what the hell is going on that makes people think that this is ok?
Besides the gesture being obviously offensive, there is the dismissal that all three teams have made: that they didn’t mean to offend. Which begs the question, what exactly did they intend? To make us laugh with their antics? To get us excited about China? To reveal a deep desire to be Chinese that they all have? To show us how stupid they are?
In this case payback is a bitch, as they say because Argentina’s women lost 2-0 to China. In fact, they lost all three of their matches.
Via / Who Ate All the Pie
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.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter
blog advertising is good for you
blog advertising is good for you
- Karen: Have you see the census figures for 2010? Latinos are not all that diverse. Most" Latinos" are Mexic [...]
- Maegan La Mala: Hi Karen, I agree but only in part. I think that people do get up in cults of personality but th [...]
- Maegan La Mala: I haven't heard anything about a rally being held Jose Luis. i know Presente.org is organizing a pet [...]
- Karen: Also, Al Sharpton, now a host on MSNBC, brought attention to the Trayvon Martin case because he knew [...]
- jose luis: when the rally is going to be held in SAn Diego..if there is on??? [...]
- Welcome to NY Secure Communities
- DOJ Puts Sheriff Arpaio on Notice. Who Will Put the DOJ on Notice?
- VL at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival: Babygirl
- 45th Precinct Residents to File Complaint Against Abusive NYPD Officers
- Monday Musica : Maga Bo – Quilombo do Futuro
- NYC : Confronting Police Violence in the Courts – May 19, 1-3pm – Justice Committee Workshop
- Passage of NYS DREAM Fund No Dream Come True
- No Surprise in the S-Comm Task Force Sham
- Why There Will be no Winners in the S.B. 1070 Supreme Court Decision.
- Worldwide Debut of Ana Tijoux’s Video Sacar la Voz
