VivirLatino

Living & Luchando la Vida Latin@

Tag Archives: VivirLatino

Help VivirLatino Get More Reliable Hosting

October 7th, 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

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Introducing: The Other Latina!

June 5th, 2010

We 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

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VivirLatino Says Vegas or Bust

May 12th, 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!!!

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A Quick Note Monday Morning Note from Mala

May 3rd, 2010

Hola 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

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VivirLatino’s Live Blogging of President Obama’s State of the Union Address

January 27th, 2010

It’s been a minute since we’ve done a liveblogging of an event here at VivirLatino. Since We have covered in depth the Obama presidency from the campaign promises to their fulfullment (or not), I figured that hosting a live chat here would be fun.

So come and join us here tonite at 8:45 EST. The actual State of the Union Address is at 9 pm EST pero we’ll start serving drinks a little earlier to get warmed up.

Invite your friends, please note however that la Mala enforces a strict door policy.

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VivirLatino’s la Mala Speaking at Organizing 2.0 in NYC This Saturday

December 1st, 2009

Organizing20facebook2Before I was a blogger, I was a young activist. The transition from being “in the trenches” so to speak, to blogging hasn’t been an easy one and a large part of it is due to my status as a single mami. I needed to (and still do) be realistic as to my capacities. Pero deep down I still want to be down on the ground and in the calles. So part of my goal as a blogger has been to make connections between this online media work and what is happening on the ground. Which is why I’m very excited to be participating this weekend in the Organizing 2.0 Conference.

Is online organizing really ‘organizing’? That’s a challenging question for those of us from a labor or community organizing background. That said, online organizing has received a lot of positive attention recently in connection with the presidential elections. What does this mean for our organizations? What skills do we need to share to make the most of no-longer-new online tools for our campaigns in New York?

I’m on a panel on with some of my blogamigos. The panel is People of color/immigrant/non English online organizing (how’s that for a catch-all?). On the panel with me are Liza Sabater from Culture Kitchen/Daily Gotham and Jackie Mahendra from America’s Voice. Not on my panel pero equally una amiga in the struggle is Rachel LaBruyere from Reform Immigration for America who is heading a workshop on mobile phone activism.

The conference is relatively affordable, so if you are in the NYC area this Saturday come through, learn, support, and represent.

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