Much love,
La Macha

Amy Richards & Maegan "Mamita Mala" Ortiz
Radical Mommyhood: A Coversation with Amy Richards and Maegan "Mamita Mala" Ortiz

Thursday, November 13 @ 7:00PM

Arlington St. Church, 351 Boylston St. Entrance, (Corner of Boylston and Arlington), Boston

Join Amy Richards and Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz for a frank conversation on radical mommyhood—how making the decision to have a child impacts who we are and who we want to be (as women, feminists, anti-racists, and artists). We’ll chat about the intersections of feminism and motherhood and how race and class in particular, play an important role in how motherhood is encountered, seen, and experienced.

Amy Richards is the author of Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself, and the co-author of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future and Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism (both with Jennifer Baumgardner). She is co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation and the feminist speakers bureau Soapbox. She lives in New York City with her family.

Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz is a radical Nuyorican mami, blogger, poeta, and freelance writer. La Mala is currently co-Editor of one of the top U.S. Latino blogs, VivirLatino. She is also a contributor on Anti-Racist Parent. Her words , blogging, and opinions have been featured at the Washington Post, The Huffington Post, NPR, and Latina Magazine. Check her out at: http://mamitamala.com/.

It should get interesting....

I was sitting on my 90 something year old abuela's bed last night, talking about many things including the election. My abuela, a Puerto Rican U.S. citizen looked at me and said, " Ojala que el prieto gana" (God willing the black one will win). It's her version of saying "that one" and while my abuela's racial politics are questionable, at least she doesn't want McCain to win.

VivirLatino will be covering the election all day so keep logging on to see videos, updates and reports from at least two locations in the U.S. and even a look in from Europe, cuz we be fancy like that.

In the meantime, put on your voting boots.

Video Via / Baratunde

Ok so maybe I exaggerate and by the world only mean the blogosphere, pero three years ago when I started as an editor here, I knew this would be a wonderful site and project and my expectations continue to be met.

We've had amazing editors, guest editors, special coverage of events as fluffy as the Latin Grammy Awards to serious events like debates and major political conventions. We've been to amazing concerts and conferences and gotten to chill with amazing writers and musicians and their talent. We've moved beyond this space to work in coalition for things we believe in like justice.

Pero the one thing that sets us apart and continues to set us apart for the rest of the Latino blogosphere, is our realness. We're not trying to be snarky for the sake of being hipster cool. We're not trying to make people comfortable. We're not making up our voices. Jennifer, La Macha, and I somos quienes somos with our silly pop culture addictions and our real struggles.

Gracias to you, VivirLatino audience for sticking with us through changes and for growing with us. Pa'lante siempre (and have a piece of cake).

Maegan la Mala Ortiz

For more fun, follow @mamitamala as well.

Pero even if you don't follow the debate party online, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, certainly will have us all watching. Will Biden say something stupid or racist? Will Palin mention hockey moms and seeing Russia from her house? Ay we can only hope so. We will have some analysis post debate (or the morning after depending on how the drinking game goes). In the meantime ponder this:

-Irma Galido
-Claudia Barragán
-Daniel Reyes y Nilko Andreas

Come through if you can.

Friend the event on Facebook.

Love and Kisses,
La Vivir Latino Team

P.S. The Vivir Latino Team also offers a deep and sincere apology to all those who have taken the time to leave comments but have not seen their comments published. Please know that we are working to correct the problem! And don't let this keep you from commenting! Now that we know, we will be more on the ball!

VL

A thousand apologies and if you really have to get in contact with us, email us at info at vivirlatino {dot} com.

Gracias!

The "Hispanic Political Bloggers" on the show discussing the evolution of Latino political blogs included VivirLatino, Liza Sabater from Culture Kitchen and The Daily Gotham, Kety Esquival of Cross Left, Edmundo Rocha of Para Justicia y Libertad, Tomas Custer of Hispanic Tips, and Esther Cepeda of 600 words.

The Newsmakers Roundtable airs tonight at 8 pm EST, 6 pm PT.

To find out how you can watch HITN in your hood, check out the channel listings here.

The Rocky Mountain News recently did a write up of the unprecedented number of bloggers invited to report on the DNC, with credentials and mentions VivirLatino.

We have a Latino student correspondent helping us out and making sure that a youth perspective is included in the coverage. While we have credentials to be inside, our coverage will include what's happening outside, including protests and how the Latino community in Denver feels about the convention, especially as campaigns lay it on thick for the Latino vote.

We've been credentialed for the event and are ready to cover it for you, but there is still an obstacle. As a non-traditional, independent media outlet, the costs associated with the event are less than accessible for us.

Please help us get to the Democratic National Convention by contributing a donation. Right now our most immediate need is getting airfare covered.

Dear Urban Jibaro,

I work in the toy department of a major retailer in a pretty diverse part of Pennsylvania. I see a lot of Latino families and I am curious about something. Whenever a kid throw a tantrum in my department, I hear their mothers threaten them with "John Kletter" and they immediately start behaving in most cases.

I have 3 kids myself and I would love to know how John Kletter can help me when they act up.

My question is "Who is John Kletter, and why are Latino children so afraid of him?

"Gracias" (thats all the Spanish I know)

Misty (Lancaster PA)

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Ok...so being that fact that I am completely new at this, I honestly did not know what the hell Misty was talking about. I googled "John Kletter" and did not find much...and was about to move on to our next submission...that is until I mentioned the question to one of my friends (she made me swear not to reveal her name) who has a thick accent and she said "que eso de jon kleta?"and then it hit me me like a ton of bricks...we had a phonetic translation issue here....John Kletter doesn't exist...at least not in the Latino universe what Misty actually witnessed was the power of the almighty "CHANCLETA".

This whole ASK A LATINO thing is gonna be fun...

So now that we got that squared away...Click below to read my official response to the first "ASK A LATINO" question.

Bienvenido!

George Torres, The Urban Jibaro

George Torres is a poet, cultural activist and founder of cultural online magazine www.SofritoForYourSoul.com. Having been born & raised between Brooklyn, NY & Bayamon, Puerto Rico, he was reared with traditional Puerto Rican values and incorporated that with what he learned in the streets of East New York. This mixture of elements in his life earned him the nickname "Urban Jibaro" that former Young Lord and Community Leader, the late Richie Perez bestowed on him.

His current projects include Capicu Poetry, a monthly open mic poetry / cultural showcase in Williamsburg Brooklyn of which he is co-founder. He also hosts the first Latino radio show on Blog Talk Radio called Radio Capicu.It is through this work that he hopes to continue to empower the community to promote and document the evolution of Latino culture in order to help second and third generation Latinos reconnect with lost elements of a cultural legacy they rightfully own.