HispanicTrending

NASA Astronaut Starts Agency's First Bilingual Twitter

July 2, 2009
Source: NASA
 
NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez, set to fly aboard space shuttle Discovery in August, is providing insights about his training on Twitter in both English and Spanish. It will be the agency's first bilingual Twitter.

Hernandez, who considers Stockton, Calif., his hometown, grew up in a migrant farming family, travelling each year between Mexico and California. He did not learn English until the age of 12.

Hernandez, whose Twitter account is astro_jose, can be followed at:

http://www.twitter.com/astro_jose

"I was inspired to pursue a dream to one day work in space while listening to the radio news about space exploration while working in the fields of northern California," Hernandez said. "I hope to spread that excitement about space, science and engineering and inspire others to follow their dreams by sharing my activities and interacting with my followers on Twitter."

Selected as an astronaut by NASA in May 2004, Hernandez will make his first spaceflight on the STS-128 shuttle mission that will continue assembly of the International Space Station. During the mission, he will oversee the transfer of supplies and equipment between the shuttle and station, assist with robotics operations and serve as a flight engineer in the shuttle cockpit during launch and landing. It will be the first shuttle mission to feature two Latino astronauts. Danny Olivas, who also is of Mexican descent, is among Hernandez's six crewmates.

For Hernandez's complete biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/hernandez-jm.html

New Republican group woos Latinos

July 1, 2009
By Chris Echegaray

A new Republican group is eyeing Tennessee's growing number of Latino voters, attempting to organize them in time for the 2010 gubernatorial election.

The Tennessee Republican National Hispanic Assembly formed in April, said Raul Lopez, the group's Cuban-American chairman, and its membership stands at 40. But the figure he's looking at is 52,000 — an estimate of potential Latino voters next year.

"Remember, Gov. Bredesen only won by 40,000 votes (in his first election), and Sen. Corker only won by 50,000 votes," he said. "So more and more statewide elections will come down to the only untapped political market: the Hispanic vote."

Leaders of the state's Latino Democratic organization — formed four years ago — say that they welcome the attention paid to voters, but that right-leaning politicos have alienated many on the topic of immigration.

"They have hard work ahead," said Fabian Bedne, an Argentine-American and president of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats.

He pointed to radio talk-show host Phil Valentine's place as guest speaker at a GOP recruiting event in South Nashville on Saturday.

A handful of Latinos mingled with state and local lawmakers, eating a buffet of Mexican food in the darkly lit Ibiza nightclub, nestled in a strip mall with a Laundromat next door.

"Illegal aliens make Hispanics in general look bad," and possibly bring diseases or terrorist connections, Valentine told the crowd.

No single issue rules

The immigration debate has been controversial, Lopez said, but not as important as other issues because of the diversity among Latinos. The U.S. holds varying immigration policies toward their home countries.

Two groups hold a unique status: Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens, while, under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans receive legal resident status if they can evade the Coast Guard and touch American soil. The first group trends Democratic, the second, Republican.

Some Latinos are invited to the U.S. either as refugees or under the Temporary Protected Status program because of discord and violence in their home nations.

A limited number of Mexicans, the largest group of Latinos in Tennessee, are granted legal entrance to the U.S. each year.

Their voting patterns differ widely based on geography and economic status.

Efforts to explore how each group votes have been going on for years in traditionally Latino-heavy states such as Florida and California.

Those who are beginning the task in Tennessee should understand there isn't a single issue that will woo Latino votes, experts say.

What ultimately matters is what issues are at play during elections and how individual Latinos relate to those, said Efrén Pérez, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University. "But that doesn't do justice to the complexity of Latinos, or any other voter, for that matter," he said.

But stances on immigration could sway Tennessee Latinos, Pérez said, and the Republican Party would gain from putting out a detailed policy statement instead of only working on image.

"Whatever gains they make could be undone when someone says, 'These are the guys that want to build the fence,' " he said.

Latino voters multiply

An estimated 10 million to 11 million Latinos nationwide voted for president in 2008, making it the largest turnout of Latino voters in history.

Sixty-seven percent of them voted for Barack Obama, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization.

That's compared with the 7.6 million Latinos who voted in the November 2004 elections, according to census data.

In Tennessee, an estimated 9,000 Latinos voted in 2006, according to the latest data from the Migration Policy Institute.

"I think it will be quite a while before they have a presence and population like they do in other states," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer with the Pew Hispanic Center. "But if they tend to be more present in certain places and are eligible to vote, they can make a difference in localities."

Carmen Hudgins, who is of Mexican descent, attended the GOP event at Ibiza. She explained her choice of party by quoting President Ronald Reagan: "Latinos are Republicans. They just don't know it."

Reagan was referring to the social conservatism and faith that drew her — as with many Latinos — to the Republican Party.

"My father, our family, didn't believe in handouts," Hudgins said. "My parents are from Mexico, and we were raised with values to work hard. When I decided to come to the event, I hoped to see other people like me."

Source: The Tennessean

Bloomberg's Spanish Lessons Pay Off

July 1, 2009
By Elizabeth Benjamin

Mayor Bloomberg's campaign today announced two endorsements that highlight his ongoing efforts to woo Hispanic New Yorkers - an ever-growing and increasingly significant voting bloc.

The mayor was endorsed by Impacto Latin News, a weekly newspaper with a circulation of 57,000 that is one of the nation's longest-running independently owned Hispanic papers.

This isn't Bloomberg's first endorsement by a Spanish-language paper, (others came from El Especialito and El Especial), but it is the first one to cite his (rather halting) attempts at being bilingual as a reason to back him, saying:

    "His commitment to the Hispanic community is so strong that he is even learning how to speak Spanish."


The editorial also touts "tremendous strides in the education front," adding: "He restructured the control over education to have direct influence over this entity."

The timing of that statement is a little off, given that the mayor no longer has direct control over the public school system, thanks to the deadlocked state Senate.

So far, Bloomberg has won endorsements from the editorial pages of the EcuaTimes, The New York Page, Irish Voice, The Queens Courier and the New York Community Times, which means Bradley Tusk is more than halfway to his goal.

A May Marist poll showed Bloomberg leading his likely Democratic opponent, Comptroller Bill Thompson, 51-33, with 13 percent of voters unsure who they would support.

Fifty percent of Latino voters said they would choose Bloomberg, compared to 30 percent for Thompson.

Team Bloomberg also released the following video (in both English and Spanish) of Alfred Placeres, president of the New York State Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, endorsing the mayor and touting how he has "really turned the city around."

Source: NY Daily News

Obama Threaded the Moral Needle of Latino Evangelicals in ’08

June 28, 2009
By Gastón Espinosa

A critical player in Barack Obama’s election victory, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) sought to further flex its political muscle last week by launching the Jesse Miranda Center, “The First Ever Hispanic Evangelical Think Tank,” according to the press release. Despite their often apolitical posture in the past, a number of Latino evangelicals across generational lines (like Jesse Miranda (CEO of the NHCLC), Samuel Rodriguez (president of the NHCLC), Luis Cortes, Wilfredo de Jesus, and others) are increasingly stressing the twin themes of “righteousness and justice,” which leaders like Miranda and Rodriguez define as the “reconciling message of Billy Graham with the activism of Martin Luther King Jr.”

This shift in Latino evangelical consciousness made Obama’s talk about faith-based organizing all the more appealing, and almost certainly helped flip the valuable Latino vote in the 2008 election. While Latino Protestant evangelicals cast 58% of their vote for Bush in 2004, they cast 57% of their votes for Obama in 2008; causing many to wonder just how it happened.

Yes on Abortion Rights, No on Gays

Making up over 80% of the nation’s 9.2 million Latino Protestants, Latino evangelicals take a holistic approach in deciding who to vote for, taking into account not only abortion and gay marriage, but also immigration reform, civil rights, social justice, jobs, and the economy. This was driven home by evangelical pastor Wilfredo De Jesus, head of the 4,000-member New Life Covenant Church of the Assemblies of God in South Chicago, who was impressed both that Obama spoke out about the “mistreatment of illegal immigrants,” and that he “understood the importance of justice issues such as health care, education, and immigration within the Hispanic faith community.” As a result, he accepted Obama’s invitation to direct his Latino Protestant outreach team; despite having voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, being pro-life, and opposing gay marriage.

Obama won over the Latino evangelical vote not only by providing a better economic recovery plan and hope for a better future, but also because he split the difference on the hot-button social issues by strongly supporting a pro-choice position on abortion, but rejecting gay marriage. He recognized what many Democrats do not: that, in the words of Bill Clinton, although the American electorate is “operationally progressive,” it is nonetheless “philosophically moderate-conservative.” This allowed him to split the evangelical vote by enabling otherwise conservative voters to believe that he agreed with them on at least one of their two key social concerns.

This gave Obama the surprising win over a plurality of the most religiously-devout Latino evangelical voters by speaking the language of faith. Although many have charged that he spoke about it only to counter charges that he was a Muslim and to distance himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in fact he began speaking about his faith journey (no doubt anticipating future criticism) in his autobiography, The Audacity of Hope (released in Spanish in 2006), long before the campaign formally began. He won over the hearts of many Latino evangelicals when wrote and often publicly stated on the campaign trail: “I let Jesus Christ into my life” because I “learned that my sins could be redeemed and if I placed my trust in Jesus, that he could set me on a path to eternal salvation.” This kind of conversion narrative about sin, redemption, and accepting Jesus Christ resonated with evangelicals across the nation.

This growing confidence in Obama was further underscored by his promise to correct the misperception that Democrats were anti-faith and anti-evangelical:

    Evangelicals have come to believe often times that Democrats are anti-faith. Part of my job in this campaign, something that I started doing well before this campaign, was to make sure I was showing up and reaching out and sharing my faith experience with people who share that faith. Hopefully we can build some bridges that can allow us to move the country forward.

His actions and words stood in stunning contrast to John McCain, who seemed to run a functionally secular campaign. Rich Cizik, Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), lamented in October 2008 that although the NAE had “been receiving weekly communication from the Obama camp,” they had received “nothing from McCain.” He stated that Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate to request a meeting with an NAE official in 28 years. Obama’s historic outreach (along with his decision to appoint the 26-year-old African-American Pentecostal pastor Joshua DuBois to direct his campaign outreach to faith communities) caught the attention of Latino evangelical leaders like Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, who stated: “It’s good to see a Democratic Nominee engage evangelical leaders. For too long the Democratic party seemed hostile to evangelicals.”

The Latino Religions and Politics National Survey in October 2009 found that all of these factors, along with Obama’s strong support for faith-based initiatives, prompted a plurality of Latinos who opposed gay marriage (47% to 38%) and abortion (54% to 31%) to vote for him. It also helped Obama beat McCain among Latinos who attended church (57% to 30%), prayed (58% to 29%), read the Bible (51% to 35%) once a week or more, or among those that said that religion provided guidance in their day-to-day lives (56% to 30%). All of which defies the stereotype that Latino evangelicals vote like their white evangelical counterparts.

Obama Let Jesus In, Latino Evangelicals Let Obama In

Obama flipped the Latino evangelical vote back to the Democratic column in part by, as noted above, proactively appointing Rev. Wilfredo de Jesus to direct his Spanish-speaking Protestant outreach team. In addition, he actively met with leaders like Samuel Rodríguez, Jesse Miranda, Mark González, Luis Cortes, and others. This outreach was reinforced by meetings with white and black evangelical and Pentecostal leaders like T.D. Jakes, Bishop Charles Blake (COGIC), Franklin Graham, and Jim Wallis, and by participating in evangelical-sponsored social justice forums on AIDS and other issues at Warren’s Saddleback Community Church—a sharp irony given that Warren is also a strong supporter of Proposition 8 in California.

De Jesus’ conservative views on abortion and marriage are not unique. In fact, Latino conservative views help to explain why their vote can shift so dramatically. The Latino Religions and Politics National Survey (October 2008) found that Latino Catholics and Protestants opposed abortion (67% and 73%) and gay marriage (57% and 74%) by sizable margins. This opposition is bipartisan as both Latino Democrats (65%) and Republicans (80%) opposed abortion. More importantly, Latino Independents also decisively opposed abortion (70%). These views are unlikely to drastically change from election cycle to election cycle as immigrants, churches, clergy, and religious schools reinforce them in the community.

These factors reveal that Latino evangelicals’ support for Obama had everything to do with the candidate’s efforts to show that their (and his) faith was relevant to him, his campaign, and his future administration. This analysis is strengthened when you consider that while Obama won 67% of the US Latino vote, a majority of these same Latino Catholics and Protestants also voted to pass state Constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage in California, Arizona, and Florida. This is significant because Latino Catholics and Protestants make up 91% of the US Latino community and 97% of the US Latino electorate. Obama succeeded ultimately by threading the moral needle: support for abortion rights but not gay marriage. Obama’s views, ideas, and policies are a blend of right- and left-of-center impulses that resonate with the views of a majority of Latinos.

Indeed, Latino evangelicals read Obama as a fresh start and new day for the Democratic Party. As a result, he increased his national Latino support over Kerry’s by 10-14 percentage points, his Latino Catholic support by 12-15 points, and his Latino Protestant support by 14-20 points. In fact, Obama reversed the trend in Latino Catholics and Protestants voting Republican between 1996 and 2004, scoring better than Gore and Kerry, but not Clinton. He also increased his support among all evangelicals by 5 percentage points from 21% to 26%. This was politically significant on Election Day as evangelicals (26%) are the largest single religious voting segment of the electorate, larger than either mainline Protestants (19%) or Catholics (19%).

Obama’s ability to attract and flip the Latino evangelical vote is thus due not only to their changing attitudes toward religion, politics, and social justice, but also to the changing attitudes of many Democrats toward evangelicals of all backgrounds. Whether this historic shift in the Latino vote will enable him to surpass Clinton’s level of support to win the 2012 election remains to be seen; although history, initiative, and faith are, at least at this moment, on his side.

Source: Religion Dispatches

The Resurrection of Producer Dennis Leoni

June 27, 2009
By Al Carlos Hernandez

Writer, director, producer Dennis Leoni broke mainstream media ground several years ago as the creative force behind the Showtime TV series "Resurrection Blvd." He spent five years of this life working 24-7 to give birth to three seasons. Fifty-three episodes and he is ready to jump back into the mix with new projects on the drawing board once more.

Leoni has learned that the process towards productivity can be arduous. Perseverance and staying true to your convictions in the end are what really matter.

Dennis remembers, "Having been born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, I attend the University of Arizona. After my sophomore year, I left to become an actor/stuntman at Old Tucson Studios. A couple of years later I moved to Hawaii and worked my way from in front of the camera to behind the camera, eventually working as an assistant director on the CBS series "Hawaii Five-O."

Once Leoni had written his first screenplay, he moved to Los Angeles. "Along the way there have been many supporters, mostly my friends, and, of course, a few naysayers. But I had a vision of what was possible and so I didn't let them deter me. Several spec scripts and a couple of odd writing jobs later, I was hired to write a six half-hour series for HBO/Cinemax.

"Ike Jones is the person who gave me my first job. Gil Grant is the one who gave me my first big opportunity to learn the ins and outs of a television series. I worked on three consecutive series with Gil Grant: "Hull High" for NBC, and 'Covington Cross' and 'McKenna' for ABC.

"I should also mention that my wife Debbie was the head of drama development at ABC during this time, which provided numerous contacts and an invaluable insight into the television business."

With more scripts and a world of experience under his belt, "I sold 'Resurrection Blvd.' to Showtime, on which I spent the next five years doing three seasons from 2000 until 2002."

"Resurrection Blvd." was ground breaking for Latinos in many ways. It helped Showtime make serious inroads into encouraging Latinos to purchase Showtime as part of their cable package.

"First off, let me say that 'Resurrection Blvd.' – other than my familial experiences – has been the greatest experience of my life. It put me on the map, so to speak, and shoved me out into the spotlight giving me access to people, places and things that most people only dream about. It is also the flagship of my creative legacy.

"However, there is a stigma that has branded me and others who have worked on the show. I worked for almost twenty years in series television before I created 'Resurrection Blvd.' but now it seems most of the industry thinks that all I can do are Latino projects."

Why do they have that opinion?

"Like I said before, I had not had a Latino character produced until I made 'Resurrection Blvd.' That's the bad part. Another negative is that the entertainment business has a bias against shows like 'Resurrection Blvd.' They feel that only Latinos will be interested such a program.

"The truth, according to Showtime's polls, is that fifty-five percent of 'Resurrection Blvd.'s' viewers were white or Anglo or European-American, which is what I call them. Thirty percent were African-American and only fifteen percent were Latino. One thing that I didn't like, and something I consider to be a large part of the problem, is that 'Resurrection Blvd.' was not marketed in a mainstream way. From the onset, Showtime and the media would not let go of the idea that 'Resurrection Blvd.' was about a Latino family, when I believe they should have focused on the fact that this was just another family struggling for a piece of the American dream…and who just happened to be Latino."

Leoni has not been resting on his laurels since 'Resurrection Blvd.' , but rather flying under the radar.

"Since 'Resurrection Blvd.' I've been hired to write several pilots in the hope of launching another series. With the television business changing, and not necessarily for the better, I have shifted my focus to feature films and have partnered with David Valdes in an effort to write, produce and direct my own films.

"It was my wife Debbie who first came up with the idea that I should write in my own voice, obviously a Latino one. Being at ABC, she saw that there were very few Latinos who were being given a chance or who had the experience or were capable enough to create any series, much less a Latino one. While my first screenplay was a period piece about a Mexican boy, I had never had a Latino character produced. It seemed like it was high time to change that fact, so it was a conscious decision on my part to make my Latino heritage at least part of my professional portfolio."

The conspicuous absence of Latino/American themed TV shows on mainstream media begs the question: Why?

Dennis strongly contends that "Latinos must pay more attention. I can't tell you how many Latinos I've met who have never heard of 'Resurrection Blvd.' and, worse, those who have and have never bothered to see what it's all about. So here is my mantra: CREATE MARKETPLACE. If we Latinos ever expect anything to change, we must create our own marketplace. If we don't buy our own goods, how can we expect anyone else to? If you want the 'powers that be' in the entertainment business to keep on ignoring us, then keep on supporting and going to see all of the mainstream crap they continually shove down our throats.

"If you want to change that, then make an effort to support Latino projects. Then and only then will movie executives pay attention to who we are. I'm not saying that every Latino has to like 'Resurrection Blvd.' and go out and buy the DVD and the soundtrack, although they should.

"What I am saying is that Latinos have to make an effort to discover what's out there being created for and about them and support it so there will be more."

Why does this always seem to happen?

Leoni said, "Sometimes I think we don't do this because of the historical and current pejorative connotations associated with being a Latino, i.e. being an illegal immigrant or a day laborer or just plain poor. Are we so busy assimilating and denying who we are that we can't stand up and fight for what's best for us culturally, politically, socially, economically and financially? Take a lesson: African-Americans have done it. We can too."

If and since this is true, does Leoni believe that his work is viewed subjectively because of his ethnic enhanced perspective?

"There's no question my work would be viewed more objectively if I were not a Latino writer/producer/director. It's very easy to be pigeon-holed in Hollywood. Being Latino just happens to be the latest trap."

Leoni wears many hats but which is his favorite?

"Writing is my passion because, first and foremost, that is what I am – a writer. Producing is the obvious next step because all writers want to see their work made. Directing is more of a defense mechanism because at this point in my career I want to protect the vision of my work."

What are you working on now?

"Right now I'm working on several projects, too numerous to mention, really. 'Pistolero', of course, is at the forefront. I keep saying I'm getting away from television but there are a couple of other projects that I'm interested in. One is a book that was sent to me called 'The Dark Side of the Dream', which is a story about a family that migrates north from Mexico just before WWII and produces a war hero who is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. There are many other elements to the story, including a side of the family that becomes involved in the struggle of the migrant farm workers. The combination of this dynamic of immigrants who fight and die for a country that refuses to treat them with respect and in a humane manner is fascinating to me. It's at the heart of something I think most Latinos who were born on this side of the border struggle with."

Why are those projects difficult to get made in this economic climate?

"Genre pieces with Latino leads are not being told. We have a lot of great historical and biographical pieces that need to be told, but we need to see horror pictures, westerns, mysteries, action-adventure, romantic comedies, etc. with Latino leads. We can and should be the primary characters in all kinds of situations. I'm primary in my home, just like every Latino is primary in their home. Why can't we see ourselves that way in the movies? I'll tell you why: because the European-American executives who decide on which movies get made don't see us that way. We're secondary to them in their homes.It's not necessarily an overtly racist or malicious thing, though it can be, but Latinos are the maids, the nannies and the gardeners in their homes. It's that simple. That's their experience of who we are."

What are some of your favorite genres?

"Westerns are my favorite. I grew up watching everything from 'The Rifleman' to 'The Lone Ranger' to 'Bonanza' to 'Zorro' with my grandma Paula. She gave me my love of westerns. That's why I'm making a western, and I think the best platform for this is a mainstream feature film that will be marketed to everyone. Both Latinos and non-Latinos will see a realistic portrayal of who we are and who we can be."

How has the downturn in the economy effected the production of entertainment properties?

"The downturn in the economy has created all sorts of problems. There's less money to make movies and movie-goers have less money to spend at the box office. Ad revenues are down in television, making it more difficult to make expensive dramas, which is why we have to suffer all those ridiculous reality shows. And it's difficult for everyone. I know many people – actors, writers, directors, producers, executives, agents – who have either taken other jobs to supplement their income or merely left the business to pursue entirely different careers. I remember early in my career when I first moved to L.A. that there was a strike and I had to go work in a 7-Eleven. Who knows, maybe they'll give me my old job back if I need it."

What are your overall hopes and dreams for the future?

"I just want to be treated equally and with respect, whether it's in business or life in general. My hope and vision is simple: that someday we won't have to even discuss much of this prejudicial nonsense because the playing field will be level and everyone will achieve or fail according to their merits. We don't necessarily have to like each other or even get along, but it's essential that we compete as equals. It's a long shot, but it could happen."

It could and should happen, indeed.

Source: LatinoLA

LiveSTRONG Launches Campaign for Hispanic Cancer Survivors

June 15, 2009

The Lance Armstrong Foundation today launched a massive 1 month multimedia Spanish campaign reaching out Spanish-Dominant Hispanic cancer survivors, their families and those who take care of them. They are using both traditional and new media to reach all generations and all walks of life. Check out LiveSTRONG’s recently updated Spanish language site @ www.LIVESTRONG.org/espanol

It is an important initiative from my fellow Austinites @ “LAF” as well as a much needed resource for Spanish-speaking Latinos who are fighting this disease. Please help spread the word to everyone you know who might benefit from it. Here is their official press release, “En Español” so you can easily pass it around; print it, email it, facebook it… whatever it takes for them to get it. It’s critical beyond doubt.

LIVESTRONG Lanza Campaña para Hispanos Sobrevivientes al Cáncer

WASHINGTON, DC (15 de junio de 2009) /PRNewswire/ — La Fundación Lance Armstrong, LAF por sus siglas en inglés, lanzó una campaña multimedia en español sin precedentes para apoyar a los sobrevivientes, familiares y a las personas encargadas del cuidado de los afectados por el cáncer entre la comunidad hispana de Estados Unidos, a través de la divulgación y promoción de recursos informativos y de orientación de alcance masivo del 15 al 31 de junio de 2009.

La campaña del programa LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare y LIVESTRONG.org/Español pone en las manos de los hispanos, la minoría más grande de Estados Unidos y la de mayor crecimiento en los últimos años, las herramientas necesarias y la información práctica para apoyar a las personas afectadas por el cáncer y también a aquellas a su alrededor, en momentos en los que la comunidad padece uno de los niveles más bajos de acceso a seguro médico de los Estados Unidos.

"Es un orgullo para mi poder servir de apoyo a la comunidad hispana de Estados Unidos, porque en la lucha contra el cáncer la unión hace la fuerza. Y estoy convencido de que juntos podemos ganar esta batalla", dijo Doug Ulman, CEO de la Fundación Lance Armstrong.

El esfuerzo inédito de LAF hacia los hispano-parlantes de Estados Unidos está apuntalado en una campaña multimedia masiva que incorpora medios tradicionales como la radio y un uso intensivo de nuevas tecnologías y redes sociales de Internet, a fin de alcanzar a hispanos de todas las generaciones, toda vez que el cáncer no discrimina.

Campaña Multimedia

A lo largo de la campaña se difundirán Anuncios de Servicio Público (PSA's) que brindarán información sobre el apoyo disponible a través de la Fundación Lance Armstrong y su programa LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare, con guías para visitar la nueva página del programa, que ha sido rediseñada para ayudar con más eficacia a la comunidad hispana, y donde sobrevivientes, familiares y personas interesadas pueden hacer consultas personalizadas.

A partir del 22 de junio, la campaña incorpora cinco programas de radio "En Vivo" en un número similar de los mercados más importantes para la comunidad hispana de Estados Unidos: Chicago (IL), San Francisco (CA), Phoenix (AZ), Denver (CO) y Washington (DC), donde especialistas en cáncer responderán de manera directa a las preguntas del público.

"Es importante recalcar, que todo aquel que requiera de nuestro apoyo, ya sea sobreviviente, familiar o persona que cuida al sobreviviente de cáncer, tiene a su alcance atención individualizada a través de LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare" agregó Ulman.

La campaña multimedia incluye además un conjunto de mensajes que por primera vez forman parte de un paquete informativo y de orientación de su clase dirigido expresamente hacia la comunidad hispana. Sus principales componentes son:

    * Una mini serie de videos en línea (webisodes) de corte testimonial que presenta algunos casos de los más usuales de sobrevivientes del cáncer y el tipo de ayuda que LAF pone a su alcance.
    * Una serie de cápsulas de audio (podcasts) que se pueden escuchar de manera instantánea o descargar a aparatos de audio portátiles a través del formato MP3 para tenerlos a disposición en cualquier momento.
    * Un dispositivo de ícono interactivo (widget) disponible para descargas al escritorio de computadoras personales para uso frecuente o para compartir con amigos en algunos de los sitios más populares de Internet como Facebook o MySpace, entre otros. El ícono tendrá información actualizada semanalmente y datos para contactar a la Fundación.
    * Un uso intensivo de las redes sociales de Internet como Twitter o YouTube para multiplicar los mensajes, a través de enlaces o páginas dedicadas para recordar a la comunidad que la ayuda está siempre al alcance de la mano con LAF.

"La comunidad hispana podrá, con todos esos recursos, conocer de primera mano información sobre el apoyo emocional y médico que requieren quienes han sido afectados por el cáncer", dijo Ulman, agregando que "estas personas recibirán el soporte para afrontar la vida después del cáncer, información sobre sus derechos como sobrevivientes, recursos para buscar tratamiento si carecen de seguro médico y asesoría sobre grupos comunitarios de apoyo para sobrevivientes".

Acerca de LAF

A través de su programa LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare www.LIVESTRONG.org/Espanol (teléfono 1866-927-7205) la Fundación ofrece consejería y referencias de programas locales, ayuda en temas financieros y de seguros, información actualizada de estudios clínicos sobre nuevos tratamientos para los diferentes tipos de cáncer, recomendaciones para hablar con los seres queridos, además de un amplio abanico de recursos para los sobrevivientes, familiares y quienes cuidan a los afectados por el cáncer.

Para más información o para obtener materiales relacionados con la campaña, comunicarse con Duly Fernandez al 202-360-4052 o duly.fernandez@hcnmedia.com

Mariach Vargas de Tecalitlán in Austin June 20th @ the Long Center

June 15, 2009
Press Release

The world-renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán will perform in Austin at The Long Center – Dell Hall June 20 as part of the Texas Mariachi Vargas Concert Tour. The long awaited concert is the first time Mariachi Vargas will perform in Austin since March 2006.

“Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán is recognized internationally as el mejor mariachi del mundo (the greatest mariachi in the world),” says Dr. Robin Moore, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin. “They are the most highly respected ensemble of its kind and one that has been around since the late nineteenth century,” he added.

Founded in 1897 by Gaspar Vargas, Mariachi Vargas has performed for 112 years and five generations. Their extensive history includes being featured in more than 200 Mexican films and music videos with performances throughout the world including Prague, Czech Republic, Japan, Canada and most recently Spain. Under the direction of Maestro Ruben Fuentes, a classically trained musician, composer and musical arranger, Mariachi Vargas consist of 12 members that make up some of the best voices and musicians in Latin America. Jose “Pepe” Martinez, Sr. is the group’s musical director and a vocalist and violinist who has performed with Mariachi Vargas since 1975.

Additional traditional mariachi instruments played by members of Mariachi Vargas include the harp, guitar, vihuela, trumpet and guitarron. “Mariachi Vargas’ innovations in instrumentation, orchestrational technique, and stage presentation have influenced and inspired countless generations of mariachi performers,” says Dr. Moore. “They set the standard for the mariachi music industry,” he added.

Concert goers can expect to hear songs from their latest recording Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Mas de 110 años y aguí estamos (more than 110 years and here we are) with popular favorites like "Para Siempre" (a love that will last forever) and "Estos Celos" (a song of jealousy) as well as traditional songs that have been played for decades like “Por Amor” (a song about love) and “Urge” (a song about the longing to be with the one you love).

Opening acts for the Mexico City based Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán include Esteban Velasquez from Odessa and Virginia Stille from Houston to be accompanied by the University of Texas - Mariachi Tejas.

Tickets to see Mariachi Vargas in concert are available at The Long Center 3M Box Office, www.thelongcenter.org or by calling 512-474-5664.

For additional tour dates visit mariachimusic.com or call 210-225-3353 for more information.

For Central Americans, a Latina high court nominee is nice but ...

June 04, 2009
By Baxter Smith    

President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court is a nice gesture, lunchtime people at El Paraiso restaurant confessed last Friday.

But a more important concern to them has to do with Washington straightening out its immigration policy.

The restaurant at 11628 Reisterstown Road specializes in papusas, rice and bean dishes, and the cuisine that Mexicanos, Salvadorans and others from Central America were brought up on.

The restaurant’s lunch and dinner crowd mostly consists of day laborers, landscape workers, couples and families from Reisterstown, Owings Mills and beyond.

“There’s not been much talk about it,” Mercedes Rodriguez, the Salvadoran who is El Paraiso’s owner, said about Sotomayor’s nomination.

“I saw it on the news,” he nodded toward a flat-screen TV on the wall. “But not much talk.”

While Latino civil rights groups dispatched press releases last week and returned fire from cable television hosts attacking Sotomayor, things seemed quieter elsewhere.

Acting as a translator, Rodriguez asked others in his restaurant about the importance of the Sotomayor nomination. He got only short responses in Spanish and a couple of empty shrugs.

Sotomayor describes herself as a Nuyorican, a term used by some New York Puerto Ricans who were reared in the big city and not on the island of their ancestors. As a Puerto Rican, she is automatically a U.S. citizen, so she has avoided the personal uncertainty over immigration status that is a big issue with many Central Americans.

“The culture is similar, and they think she understands this issue,” Rodriguez said. “But they say she’s only one among several. And one judge can only do so much. … They want to see what she will do.”

“Her background and culture could help the Latino people,” Rodriguez said, adding that she could see things from a different point of view.

Rodriguez asked a reporter if there was any news on immigration reform. “They need to do something,” he declared. “Some people working two jobs, 60 hours. People have been here many years. I think it’s time to do something.”

Indeed, immigration reform advocates have been turning up the heat on the Obama administration.

Meeting in Baltimore on Monday a group of them resolved to press for “a comprehensive legislative approach,” according to a statement from the local affiliate of the Reform Immigration for America Campaign.

Nationally, the group includes the American Jewish Committee, Catholic Social Services, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the National Education Association, Service Employees International Union, the Episcopal Church USA, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and the United Methodist Church, among others.

The campaign aims to “provide the grassroots support to ensure that President Obama’s commitment to reform the broken immigration system is fulfilled.”

Source: Carroll County Times

Experian SimmonsSM and Univision Unveil New Data Revealing Consumers' Reaction to Today's Economy

Press Release
June 2, 2009

Univision Communications Inc., the premier Spanish-language media company in the United States hosts Experian® SimmonsSM, the oldest and most-respected authority on consumer behavior, today to unveil the latest data revealing consumers’ reaction to today’s economic climate from a total market and Hispanic consumer perspective. With custom week-by-week data from Experian® SimmonsSM, marketers for the first time are able to take an in-depth look at real-time information that allows for a better understanding of the impact on consumers.

“The volatility of the current recessionary economy has created a need for more current week-by-week data, which is essential to effectively capture changes in consumer behavior and purchasing patterns,” said Ceril Shagrin, executive vice president, Corporate Research, Univision Communications Inc. “By analyzing weekly data versus bi-annual or quarterly, Experian® SimmonsSM was able to provide a more precise representation of overall consumer attitudes, which  reveals the resilience of the Hispanic consumer in this economy.”

“Experian® SimmonsSM’ custom analysis of weekly data allowed us to understand the reactions to economic events among different consumer groups.  This type of information is so important to marketers today as it provides a more recent picture of events and how they in turn impact consumer behaviors,” said Tom Morrison, vice president, media sales, Experian® SimmonsSM.

Using the week of September 29th, 2008 as the start of the economic meltdown, the results from the past 65 weeks indicate that while the overall consumer mindset is increasingly negative, Hispanics are more optimistic in the period following the meltdown versus prior to September 29th, 2008:

    * 12% of U.S. consumers feel better off financially today than a year ago (down from 21% pre-meltdown)
    * 34% of Hispanics are optimistic about their finances in the coming year (vs 25% of non-Hispanics)
    * 29% of Hispanics are more positive about the U.S. economy in the coming 12 months (vs 21% of non-Hispanics)
    * Hispanics average consumer confidence rating is 11% higher than non-Hispanics, and has remained constant since 2005, while non-Hispanics confidence rating has declined.

The results also show contributing factors to why Hispanics are less affected by today’s economic climate:

    * Only 45% of Hispanics have/use credit cards (vs 71% of non-Hispanics)
    * Hispanics are 44% more likely to use cash to pay bills than non-Hispanics (Index 156 to 91)
    * Hispanics are almost 2x as likely to rent their home as non-Hispanics (44% vs 23%), and are therefore less likely to be impacted by the high percent of mortgage foreclosures

The findings highlight Hispanics as a key target consumer for advertisers - even today:

·        Hispanics are consistently more frequent shoppers than non-Hispanics (34% vs 29%)

·        Twice as many Hispanics are willing to pay for branded prescriptions as non-Hispanics (31% vs 15%)

·        Hispanics are 38% more likely to buy from an advertiser than non-Hispanics (Index 131 to 95)


“Univision is committed to providing our partners the best data and research that helps them make sound business decisions,” said David Lawenda, president of Advertising Sales and Marketing, Univision Communication Inc. “Experian® SimmonsSM has provided us with a tremendous resource to obtain valuable information about current consumer behavior that can be leveraged to deliver growth today.”

 
Source:  Experian® SimmonsSM Proprietary Research Study, 2009

The generic Latino

June 1, 2009
By Gregory Rodriguez

President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court justice has been widely hailed as a triumph for Latinos. But it could just as likely spell the end of the very idea that there is such a thing as Latino America at all.

News accounts suggest that Latinos at large are thrilled with her nomination, and there's no doubt that there are many -- particularly among the political elites -- who are. But if you dig deeper into the rather loosely knit nature of American Latino "identity," you're likely to find a more nuanced view on what this nomination may mean to the roughly 50 million people in the United States of Latin American descent.

"Latino" or "Hispanic" are generic terms that are used to lump a variety of national origin groups into one category. They're used a lot, especially in the media. But their popularity notwithstanding, generic Latino-ness doesn't trump national origin for most people who, to some degree or another, fit the category. In other words, a person of Peruvian ancestry is likely to see himself as a Peruvian American first and as a Latino second. His links to the culture, stories and food of his or her family's country of origin tend to be stronger than those that tie him to Latinos of different national origins. Think of the distinction between being French or being European. The former is more deeply lived and felt than the latter.

A 2002 Pew Hispanic Center survey found that, when asked what terms they would use first to describe themselves, "Hispanics were much more likely to identify themselves by country of origin than as a 'Latino/Hispanic.' " Likewise, "when asked whether Latinos from different countries have separate and distinct cultures or share one Hispanic or Latino culture, respondents overwhelmingly (85%) say Latinos from different countries had different cultures, and only 14% say Latinos share one Hispanic/Latino culture." Latino unity was also elusive when politics was brought into the mix. When the Pew Center asked whether Latinos from different countries work together politically, 43% said yes but 49% said no.

It was only in the early 1970s that Mexican American activists on the West Coast and Puerto Ricans in the East sought to join forces to create a national Latino identity for political purposes. In 1975, politicians founded the National Assn. of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO). A year later, four Democratic members of the House of Representatives from Texas, California and New York joined with the resident commissioner-elect of Puerto Rico to form a Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Despite the differences between conservative, rural Mexican American-dominated districts in Texas and urban Puerto Rican barrios in New York, caucus members sought to forge a common national Latino agenda.

Even then, it didn't seem like a great idea to everyone. Some lawmakers found the term misleading but useful. Others saw it as a way for their groups to compete with the national category of African Americans for federal money. As one elected official put it: "Some people believe that Hispanics are a political force that has to be dealt with, that they're a voting bloc, and that's not necessarily true. But as long as we can give that impression and make them deal with us on that basis, hey, it's politically wise for us to do it."

Frank del Olmo, the Los Angeles Times columnist and associate editor, put it more squarely than most when he called the adoption of the catchall term "shortsighted" and "self-defeating." Del Olmo was instrumental in establishing which term the newspaper would adopt -- "Latino" -- but he also argued, in these very pages, that because Mexican Americans made up 65% of all Latinos (compared with 10% Puerto Rican and 4% Cuban), the generic term was more advantageous to non-Mexicans than it was to Mexican Americans.

"The term Hispanic allowed other Latinos to use a large and growing Mexican American population to increase their influence," he wrote. "Add up all the Cubans and Puerto Ricans on the East Coast, for instance, and they are still outnumbered by all the Mexicans in the Los Angeles area alone."

When Obama named Sotomayor on Tuesday, the headlines made use of the generic shorthand, trumpeting her as the first Latina or the first Hispanic nominee, and fitting her into a long tradition of Supreme Court nominees that signal the acceptance and achievements of minorities and women in the U.S. As political scientist John R. Schmidhauser wrote as far back as 1959, "The pattern of judicial selection has tacitly recognized the coming of age politically of many, but not all, of the ethnic and religious groups in America."

That this was specifically on presidents' minds is born out by 20th century history. In 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted to appoint a Catholic for political reasons when he named William J. Brennan Jr. Since 1916, there has been a "Jewish seat" on the bench. When Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice, resigned in 1991, President George H.W. Bush made a point to select another African American jurist. When Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981, he was upholding a campaign promise to name a woman to the court. In 1986, Reagan and members of Congress saw the selection of Antonin Scalia as a way of reaching out to Italian Americans.



But as historic as Sotomayor's nomination is, how well does it do that kind of outreach work? If most Latinos see themselves first as Mexican American or Cuban American or Dominican American, does the singling out of a Puerto Rican really indicate that their group has "come of age" politically in the United States?

I know just as many Mexican Americans who were moved by the nomination of a Puerto Rican woman to the Supreme Court as those who were not. I suspect that many voters may be happy enough about Sotomayor's achievement, but at the same time, they will realize that the elevation of a "Latina" goes only so far and not far enough. I suspect that they may even understand that Sotomayor's nomination could come at Mexican Americans' expense. Because the media and the political elites make no distinctions among Latino groups, Mexican Americans may find themselves waiting a very long time for one of their own to be nominated to the Supreme Court.

They may still decide that Frank del Olmo was right -- becoming generic Latino or Hispanic was self-defeating. Maybe it's time to dump the catchall terms.

Source: Los Angeles Times