1:16 pm By Maegan La Mala · VivirLatino · 2 Comments
28 Dec 20101:21 pm By Maegan La Mala · Blogs|I Am This Land|Linking Latinos|Media|media justice|VivirLatino · Comments Off
29 Nov 2010Cross-Posted with gracious permission with Breakthrough’s b-Listed site.
Breakthrough’s I AM LAND contest, now calling on people to make a video on diversity to celebrate our differences and win prizes, also wants to share the important work our partners are doing to uplift diversity. Read our first in the I AM THIS LAND interview series with Maegan la Mala Ortiz, Managing Editor and Co-Publisher of Vivirlatino, a daily publication, featuring news, analysis and opinions about Latino politics and culture created for the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S. by Latinas.
b-listed: Why did you feel the need to start VivirLatino?
Maegan: Actually VivirLatino was started in 2005 by a company in Spain who wanted to break into the Latino market. The writers who were brought in as editors had already been writing on and off line about Latino issues. The editors became the owners a few years ago and we made a more concerted effort to represent who we represented: Latinas born and raised in the U.S. with strong ties to our home countries with a commitment to justice/love centered human rights who also participate/consume pop culture.
b-listed: How has the response been to your blog from within the Latino community?
Maegan: Pretty awesome. We have always received lots of support and love for keeping it real and honest and true. We also get props for being really independent. We aren’t funded by any organizations and our editors work from home while balancing paying jobs, kids, activism. Our growth and popularity has come from connecting the online work to on the ground work we are all involved in and supporting other such efforts. Criticisms and critiques include doing more stuff in Spanish/bilingually. Conservative Latinos aren’t likely to be fans of us as we are shamelessly progressive/radical.
b-listed: How can online media activism (through blogs, social networking sites and other forms of new media) improve relations between the different communities living in the country?
Maegan: The only way that online media activism can improve relations is if it is connected to real on the ground work. This isn’t a popular position to take, but VivirLatino has never existed to educate or organize people outside the Latino community. If non-Latinos get something out of it, beautiful and we welcome non-Latinos to read and engage but the Latino community is so huge, so diverse that we have so much work to do amongst ourselves (in terms of educating and organizing) and I think it is ok to say that. Where the interconnectivity comes in is that Latinos are more than just Latinos. We are parents, we are queer, we are women, we are workers, we are transgender, we are immigrants, we artists, we are undocumented, we are youth etc etc etc, so we need to support justice driven work for all those intersections and vice-versa. Coalitions, collaborations are beautiful and important things that must be used strategically.
b-listed: How do you think your work in the last five years has uplifted diversity?
Maegan: Just by being real. We have taken alot of heat for not following certain messaging but we have always been honest about who we are, what we experience in our communities and what people are telling us. Diversity has become such a buzzword almost to the point of meaninglessness. Diversity is not about holding hands to cover up difference. It is about acknowledging how difference works, good and bad and how we can build across not through or over difference.
b-listed: What has surprised you most since launching VivirLatino? Good or bad.
Maegan: Besides how much work it is? ja ja. I mean it is so much work. It’s not just writing blog posts or linking to other people. We try to collaborate with what activists are doing and really lend a critical perspective to the idea of “Latinidad.” Being independent is really really hard. It costs money and time and not wanting to compromise means turning away orgs, ads, and opportunities and it means we are really broke. But on the good side, there is a constant amazement of how many people read us and look to us and who we work and collaborate with. VivirLatino really is a few gatos doing this out of a huge sense of love and responsibility. In many ways it is an extension of selves and it sounds corny but when just one person sends us a letter or tells us in person how one post impacted them or made them think, that makes it all worth it.
b-listed: What do you hope for the future as we head into 2011.
Maegan: That we have enough money and time to keep doing what we love. That we see some movement towards justice for our communities including immigrants, queer people, women, mamis, parents…, that we can all find safety in our chosen communities/families and to paraphrase the Young Lords, that each generation keep moving the struggle(s) forward.
b-listed: Complete the sentence: I AM THIS LAND because…
Maegan: I AM THIS LAND because la historia me trajo aqui a traves de de genes, sangre, y lucha /history brought me here through genes, blood, and struggle.
Enter your video on diversity to win at I AM THIS LAND.
11:28 am By Maegan La Mala · VivirLatino · 1 Comment
18 Nov 2010Thanks to many generous donations (handwritten thank you cards to go out as soon as we meet our goal), we are so close to having all the money we need to move to a better hosting service that will work with us, respond to our needs and hopefully not have so much downtime/ site outages. As many of you know, the site has been down way too much this year. It has been incredibly frustrating and has hindered our ability to report on issues in a timely manner.
Please consider an early navidad regalito to push us that much closer to be able to provide a better service to all of you, our readers and supporters.
Gracias
2:53 pm By Maegan La Mala · VivirLatino · 2 Comments
8 Nov 2010We’ve extended our fund drive, seeking donations with the goal of moving to a more reliable hosting service with better customer service so that we can continue to do what we love, that is connect you with some of the best in independent Latino political and cultural commentary from a mujer-centric, progressive to radical perspective.
Just earlier today, I wrote how it’s those big bucks business model media makers who are given the attention and get all the credit. I know from my years at working here at VivirLatino, that being true to who you are, what your values are, and the communities you represent is what earns respect, and more importantly helps to create the space for growth.
Please consider a small donation to make our server migration possible so that we can continue to grow help to build towards a more just and love centered mundo for us all.
Please click on the chipin widget on the right ———–>
Gracias.
3:28 pm By Maegan La Mala · VivirLatino · 10 Comments
12 Oct 20109:00 am By Maegan La Mala · VivirLatino · 4 Comments
7 Oct 2010
Soon VivirLatino will be out of it’s toddler years and into out pre-school years. Next week we turn 5. If you have been followers of us for any length of time then you know that over the last two years we have had a number of problems with our hosting. From ridiculous overage charges anytime we post about something remotely popular (see Ricky Martin’s coming out posts) to database connectivity issues that have shut our site down at time for hours to days.
We’ve had enough and hopefully you have too.
We want to start out next 5 years running smoothly and without the fear of logging on to get Latino political/cultural news and commentary only to get an error message.
To get more reliable servers we need something we don’t have. Money. The little money we do get from advertising goes to pay the servers we have and overage fees. Our editors are not getting paid at the moment and that includes yours truly. VivirLatino is and in a way always has been a labor of love and commitment to our personal values and beliefs. We are not (contrary to what the haters say) funded by any organization.
We are asking you: our readers, our twitter followers, our facebook fans to consider Chipping In so that we can move our servers. To move and keep us online for the next year we need $500.
Can you help?
Mil gracias for your support and love.
Image / Some rights reserved by MysteryBee
2:40 pm By la Macha · VivirLatino|Women · 7 Comments
5 Jun 2010We here at VL have gotten a massive influx of trolls lately, I’m not really sure why. But the way I can tell a troll is that no matter what I, la Macha, editorista, have to say, Teh Trollz are always fairly certain that I am really la Mala, i.e Head Editorista. Because all us Latinas are the same, right?
And if Teh Trollz have no problem posting twenty-five comments under different names, then us Latinas don’t either, right? (Hello Brenda, gringa, another gringa, concerned, and a fair lady!).
Needless to say, I am a different person than la Mala–and I enjoy being her head goon. I will continue to delete anybody who is not commenting about something directly connected to a particular post, and I will even laugh while I do it.
Until then, I guess I should write more posts or something.
Have a great weekend,
la macha
Destroyer of Freedom of Speech since 1995
8:03 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Las Vegas|Media|Netroots Nation · 2 Comments
12 May 2010
Last year was Mala’s first time at Netroots Nation. Thanks to a scholarship from America’s Voice, who yes have purchased ads on the site (full disclosure), I went to Pittsburgh not knowing what to expect and had a tough time, to say the least.
So why would I apply for a scholarship to go again? Women like me aren’t usually invited to these types of events. The costs are prohibitive and there isn’t child care. Often women of color radical media makers hear that we were referenced, talked about but are not included in the conversation. Situations that we are living like the intersection of enforcement heavy immigration, sexual violence and mami’hood. Even when we are invited to conversation spaces like conventions, we find ourselves isolated, tokenized or ignored.
Part of me considers these conferences and conventions a social experiment where I test my own limits and the limits of others. I always end up crying. Sometimes those are tears of joy, sometimes those are tears of anger, fear, frustration. You can tell alot by who you end up crying with at a conference.
The last time I was in Las Vegas was in 2007 to cover the Latin Grammy Awards. We’ve changed alot since then.
Now towards the end of July, I will be in Vegas again for this year’s Netroots Nation, thanks to a scholarship from Democracy for America.
I feel like this year, I know what to expect and how to navigate a little better. I want to thank the academy people who voted for me and those on the judging panel who thought that my voice, presence, and experience was important. I hope that I can do my comunidad justice.
PS : I’m also excited that Prerna Lal from DREAM Activist will be there also via a scholarship.
Now I just need funding for my airfare!!!
4:50 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Events|Immigration|Media|media justice|New York City · 1 Comment
3 May 2010Hola VivirLatino familia! I’m writing this post before the sun rises over St. Petersburg, Florida where I’m at for the week gracias a Poynter. I’m here as a Sensemaking 2010 Fellow, which brings together a group of diverse media makers to talk about the business and ethics of media making.
I know this won’t be of huge interest to most of our readers, pero it should be interesting for many reasons.
I’m editing videos and fotos from the May Day rally and march here Union Square so that should be up soon. Across the country thousands marched and raised their voices against the hateful SB1070 and other Arizona measures and also against an immigration reform proposal built on the same enforcement rhetoric that has turned deadly and dangerous for our comunidades.
Do you have fotos and videos from May Day pro-migrante events you attended? If you would like to share them with the VivirLatino community let us know at info@vivirlatino.com.
Amor y lucha
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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