Events | VivirLatino

Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Eye on the Florida Primary : Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Most Anti-Immigrant of All?

27 Jan 2012

I’m feeling a little dazed from the seemingly endless stream of GOP debates and the incumbent President’s non-statement statement on immigration policy during the SOTU. With the Florida primary just days away, both political parties are targeting the Latino vote that the state allegedly represents. Both parties are playing a spin game, ready to crown an opponent as the most anti-immigrant on one hand, while claiming that the Latino electorate in Florida doesn’t really care about immigration.

In last night’s GOP debate, on again off again front runner Newt Gingrich took a page from the Democratic National Committee, targeting Mitt Romney as the most anti-immigrant. Certainly this attack is related to Romney’s statements earlier this week touting “self-deportation” as a good solution to current problems. Romney, offended by Gingrich’s characterization, demanded an apology. As I pointed out in a piece I wrote for El Diario La Prensa last month, we are heading into dangerous territory when we try to find the “worst” among bad choices. Gingrich’s allegedly kinder, softer approach to immigration amounts to what the current Obama policy is on paper, allowing “non-threatening” immigrants with family ties and a long history in the U.S. to stay in a permanent limbo status.

A new/old Latino target is being pushed by one organization. Today, Presente.org launched a campaign targeting potential GOP Vice Presidential pick, Senator Marco Rubio. The campaign wittingly named “No Somos Rubios” (We are not Rubios/We are not Blondes), hones in on Republicans using a brown face with a brown name to earn Latino votes. This right wing strategy is being called into question not just based on Rubio’s anti-immigrant positions but also because Rubio represent such a specific facet of the Latino electorate. Rubio appeals to Cuban-American anti-Castro demographic. Rubio probably will not appeal to other Latinos, especially in the South West, who according to polls, played a critical role in Obama’s getting elected in 2008.

Casa Blanca Camino 2012: DREAMing of Hypocrisy in Iowa

3 Jan 2012

Many eyes are focused towards the Iowa Caucuses are today, highlighting the Republican U.S. Presidential Nominees and the state of presidential campaigning. High on show. Low on substance.

For many paying attention to the way immigration policy is playing out in this election, recent focus has been on Mitt Romney, a GOP front runner in Iowa and nationally, and recent statements he made. He said that if he were president and the DREAM Act were to pass in Congress, he would veto it.

Enter the Democrat/Progressive words of shock and finger pointing. This is additional proof of how much the Republicans hate immigrants, especially non-criminal college students or potential soldiers for whatever invented global conflict comes next. This is additional proof as to why everyone who loves immigrants, especially Latinos who are the perpetual faces of immigration policy, need to support the Democratic Party and vote for Barack Obama. This is what the Democrats use the Iowa Caucuses for, to knock down potential GOP nominees. Mitt Romney has been especially targeted by the Democratic National Committee who have a website and numerous videos focusing on Romney’s flip-flopping in a number of policy areas.

But hold on and wait a minute. Is it just me or does it seem like the Democrats (as a party, not individually) only really started talking about the DREAM Act after it failed a procedural vote last year? If I remember correctly, there were only a handful of Democrats who were really pushing the DREAM Act, especially as a standalone measure. If I remember correctly, for a long time, the party line was Comprehensive Immigration Reform until New York Democrat Charles Schumer beat that biometric horse into the ground, allowing the DREAM Act to be presented as the “oh well” option. And if I remember correctly weren’t there some Democrats who voted against the DREAM Act in that procedural vote last year?

Lo Que Hay This Weekend Boston & NYC: Danza Mexicana y Mas

8:13 am By Maegan La Mala · Arts|boston|dance|Events|mexico · Comments Off

25 Nov 2011

Boston

Friday, November 18th

Paredes en Fuego: The 2011 Cacique Youth Art Show Opening Reception
Villa Victoria Center for the Arts
85 W. NEWTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02118

Ongoing

Calpulli Danza Mexicana in Queens Theater in the Park
Saturday, November 26 – 8 pm
Sunday, November 27 3 pm
Queens Theater in the Park, Flushing Meadow Park
Tickets available via the Box Office or by calling 718-760-0064

Tickets can also be purchased at event sponsor Compliments U Boutique in Jackson Heights, Queens (80-14 37th Ave.) and at Calpulli Youth Dance locations in Queens and Staten Island

Lo Que Hay This Weekend en NYC : Blaktina in the Bronx y Mas

10:41 am By Maegan La Mala · Culture|Events|Lo Que Hay · Comments Off

14 Oct 2011

Please Keep Checking this Page as it will be updated throughout the weekend.

-Mala

Ongoing

October 14-28th

The Bronx Academy of Art & Dance presents its annual BlakTina Performance Series

A festival celebrating works by Black, Latina/o and Blatina/o artists. This year we are using BlakTina in the festival’s title to flip the Spanish language norm that uses the masculine to describe the universal.

Check out all the events at BAAD!’s website here

NYC : Lo Que Hay This Weekend – Poetry

3:53 pm By Maegan La Mala · Culture|Events|New York City · Comments Off

12 Aug 2011

There a few interesting events this weekend in NYC that are worthy of checking out, especially as summer days are drawing to a close.

I have done stuff with CityLore before and this event caught my eye because it is in Queens and at one of my favorite spots in Queens :

¡Voices in Flight!: Poetry from the Mexican-American Community

An Evening of Poetry and Music

Hosted by Raúl Hurtado, we will present poetry readings as part of the project, A White Wing Brushing the Building: Poetry in NYC Communities, presented by City Lore and Bowery Arts & Sciences. This event’s poets are Gabriel Rvera, Galix, Chepo, and Abelardo Duran. As part of the reading, poems will be projected onto the facade of the Terraza Café right off Roosevelt Blvd, which is the heart of the Latino community in Jackson Heights and Elmhurst.

There will also be music and dance by Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de New York and Zompantli who will perform the danzón, a national dance of Cuba, though beloved in Mexico.

When: Saturday, August 13th, 8:00 pm
Where: Terraza Café, 40-19 Gleane St., Elmhurst, NY 11373. Take the #7 train to 82nd St./Jackson Hieghts.
Admission: Free
For more information: City Lore 212-529-1955 , x 306

Follow us on Twitter @POEMobile.

Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice : The Real Problem with Choice

12:39 pm By Maegan La Mala · Health|Immigration|Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice|Women · 6 Comments

5 Aug 2011

As part of the Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health asks participants in it’s blog carnival : What’s the REAL problem with scapegoating immigrant women?

I wrote a very brief intro yesterday, questioning how we frame the question even and who gets to speak for themselves vs. who is spoken for.

My family is an immigrant family. I have taken heat from other Latinas for claiming this, for claiming being the first generation in my Puerto Rican family to be born in the United States. It is often raised that Puerto Rico is part of the United States, so that the migration patterns of the women who came before me, my tias and later my abuela, who came to New York looking for work in the garment industries, mujeres who came before their husbands to work in sweatshops run buy famous fashion designers, mujeres who now can barely see – and not just because of age, don’t matter or worse, don’t exist. As amiga Bianca Laureano wrote in her submission to the blog carnival :

Many folks think those narratives are not worthy or important, when really they have impacted me! And don’t I matter? Don’t the women with similar testimonios and experiences matter?

Bringing this back to the issue of immigrant women and reproductive justice, the buzzwords, according to mainstream (read white led) feminism and non-profits, is choice and access. The choice of how to prevent and plan pregnancies, allegedly revolutionized by the birth control pill, used Puerto Rican women of my grandmothers’ generation as the perfect test subjects. When our uteri weren’t being experimented on, they were being forcibly sterilized. My tias and my grandmothers weren’t accused of harboring anchor babies in their wombs, turning the possibility of “poor brown babies” being born as U.S. citizens as threats because of the colonial occupation of Puerto Rico sure sounds pretty damn close.

NYC Protesting Prisons and Deportations

15 Jul 2011

I’m working on a few posts right now, including a book review and a post about the California DREAM Act but in the meantime, I wanted to give a heads up to NYC area folks about some rallies where it might be good to say presente at. The weather is supposed to be lovely so the perfect reason to get outside and yell a little.

Today Friday, July 15th

PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH PELICAN BAY PRISON HUNGER STRIKERS
Today FRIDAY July 15 at 12:00 Noon
Federal Bldg. at Broadway & Thomas St. near Worth St. & Duane St.; MAP: < http://is.gd/bsM8D-/>
Info: <http://ow.ly/5EZG2 >

Prisoners on hunger strike in California are close to death.

Immigrants and Advocates Gather to Tell ICE: New Adjustments Fail to Hide Reality of Mass Deportation Program

Groups Also Confront Agency for Refusing to Meet with Families Affected by Unjust Immigration Laws and Policies

WHAT: Immigrants, faith leaders, and advocates will hold a rally to condemn Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s so-called reforms to the mass deportation program known as “Secure Communities” and its refusal to meet with directly impacted immigrants. ICE officials are scrambling to save face, as the program has come under intense scrutiny from Congress and advocates across the country. On a desperate marketing tour through Illinois, Massachusetts, and on Friday in New York – the three states who have refused to participate in “Secure Communities” – ICE is trying to sell advocates, police, and elected officials on the adequacy of recent cosmetic changes made to the fundamentally flawed program.

WHEN: Friday, July 15, 2011, 12:00pm (before ICE’s 1:00pm meeting with New York advocates)

WHERE: 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY (Broadway side) [probably Broadway & Thomas St.]

[TRANSIT: J to Chambers (north exit to Pearl St./Foley Sq.); #4, 5, 6 to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (north exit to Reade St./Foley Sq.); R (not N) to City Hall (at Broadway & Warren); A, C (not E) to Chambers St. (north exits to Chambers St. & Church St.); #1, 2, 3 to Chambers St. (at W. Broadway); E to WTC;
Broadway BUS; M22 bus via East Broadway, Worth & Chambers; M103 via Essex & Park Row;
MAP: < http://is.gd/bsM8D-/> -t.]

WHO: Immigrants and their families, faith leaders, and other advocates

WHY: New York immigrants and advocates join their Illinois and Massachusetts counterparts in lambasting the tweaks ICE announced on June 17 to the irreparable “Secure Communities” program. Advocates have decried the record-breaking deportations under the Obama Administration – nearly 400,000 in 2010 – and the role “Secure Communities” has played in exiling en masse immigrants from their families and communities. Protesters will rebuke ICE for excluding from its meetings the very people who are most greatly impacted by “Secure Communities” and call for a nationwide termination of the program, which funnels people directly into the deportation system, jeopardizes trust in the police, and encourages racial profiling.

Monday, July 18th

PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH PELICAN BAY PRISON HUNGER STRIKERS
MONDAY, July 18 from 11:30am-1:00pm
California State Franchise Office
1212 6th Ave. btw. 47th & 48th Streets: B, D, F, M to 47-50 St./Rockefeller Ctr.;
212.633.6646 < www.iacenter.org> 917.328.6470

Post Netroots Nation Gratitude

7:12 am By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Immigration|MINNEAPOLIS|Netroots Nation · Comments Off

21 Jun 2011

It’s been a day since I’ve returned home from Netroots Nation and am grateful for all the experiences had, conversations, reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. It’s always exciting when you meet someone you have worked with or engaged with online. That is what I have always found to be the most important takeaway from this conference. While some of the panels were good, it’s the conversations that will be built on away from Minneapolis that are most valuable.

It was especially exciting when those conversations were had with DREAMers from around the country that I hadn’t met in person before like Rigo, Felipe, Gaby, Tania, y Carlos who made me feel like a proud mami and fangirl all at the same time.

I had wonderful conversations with people in organizations that hopefully will lead to better communications and more effective and respectful collaborations on the issues that are critical to our communities.

A huge shout out to Democracy for America and America’s Voice who saw me worthy to receive a scholarship to participate in this year’s conference.

I am especially grateful to you the readers here and on twitter who followed the live tweets of various panels and events. I am working on a round up to fill in the gaps of the livetweets including what it was like to see the Right On! people in my bathing suit.

In a few days I am going to the Allied Media Conference with INCITE! so excuse me as I catch up. There are alot of updates on Secure Communities, work to be done to stop some deportations, and there will be a much fuller roundup of what went down at Netroots. As always stay connected.

Abrazos.

Live from Netroots Nation : Immigration and the Power of the Latino Vote Panel

10:17 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Netroots Nation · 3 Comments

17 Jun 2011

I asked and you voted!

Starting in approximately 20 minutes I will be livetweeting at VivirLatino the Immigration and the Power of the Latino Vote Panel.

Here is what it is about so please comment, tweet questions etc.

Immigration and the Power of the Latino Vote: Why Harry Reid Came Back and Alex Sink Sunk
FRI, 06/17/2011 – 10:30AM, L100 FG
Latino voters were critical to 2010 Senate victories and will play an even more central role in the race for the White House in 2012. But with the immigration reform promise still unfulfilled, President Obama under heavy criticism for deporting more immigrants than Bush and a Republican party searching for a Latino marketing strategy to mask their extremist agenda, where will these voters go? This panel will share polling and demographic data to uncover the enormous promise and challenge facing both parties as they develop strategies to court these voters in 2012. We will discuss the role of immigration reform as the key motivator for this growing segment of the American electorate and will discuss how candidates, like Majority Leader Harry Reid, modeled a winning strategy by delivering on their immigration promise.
PANELISTS: Adam Luna, Maribel Hastings, Markos Moulitsas, Eliseo Medina, Rep. Luis Gutierrez

The role of Eliseo Medina will be played by Paco Fabian as apparently Mr. Medina’s flight was cancelled.

Help Mala Plan Her Time at Netroots Nation : Friday Morning

1:17 pm By Maegan La Mala · MINNEAPOLIS|Netroots Nation · Comments Off

16 Jun 2011

Today I will be travelling to Minneapolis to be at the Netroots Nation conference for the third year!

As I sit and try to figure out the best use of my time, I am requesting your help. What would you like to see/read about tomorrow morning here and via Twitter ( hashtags #nn11 & #MalaDoesNN11)?

All of the above have their potential for eye rolling and snarkiness on my part. I am leaning towards option #2 just based on my work over the past year. The last two – while I will go to if chosen – have the potential for me being dramatic and walking out but I will respect whatever you choose.

Also don’t forget you can sponsor airplane internet access, meal or a drink by making a donation here.

Mil gracias!

Older Entries

Scrying Nicki Minaj, Stupid Hoe, and #Afrofutures | Nuñez Daughter: [...] forest of things that seem to matter a lot–like fingers waving in presidential faces� [...]

Karen: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/09/120109fa_fact_auletta [...]

Karen: I just read this about Rubio. Let's see the GOP make him a VP nominee. LOL http://www.democraticu [...]

Martes Media Minute : Roe v. Wade Anniversary, Medicaid Mama y Midwife Victory, Cervical Cancer Awareness month, & Mala’s Mami Closeup, | VivirLatino: [...] last week’s liveblog of a conversation on cervical cancer and Latin@s, Bianca Laureano s [...]

Emiliano: thanks for your reviews. i feel like you tell it like you really feel. [...]

VivirLatino