Have you ever wondered why Latino men are stereotyped as chauvinistic, womanizing, misogynist pigs? Regardless of what part of the world they came from, it’s sadly a cultural norm in many cases to see women as inferior.  Is it also commonplace for little boys as young as three and four years old to identify Read More

    So how many times have you been asked the questions, “Do you prefer Latino or Hispanic?” I find it hard to believe that we’re in 2010 and a lot of people “that look like me” seem to answer differently. First, what we have to realize and tell ourselves is that we are American Read More

  Last Saturday I attended a Mother’s Day concert in Elizabeth, NJ. The concert was called “Canto a Mama” and featured artists such as Leo Dan, Charlie Zaa, Los Panchos and King Clave.  The crowd was obviously older and to be honest I may have been the youngest person in attendance. However, the music was Read More

By: Libby Julia At the age of 7 ½  my parents decided to separate and Mami packed my three siblings and me up and we left Puerto Rico; Chicago bound.   I had graduated first grade just a few months before and had confidently learned to say the words butter and water (both pronounced with a Read More

    In the last decade or so the United States has seen an influx of Latin culture. The US has been quick to accept certain aspects of Latin culture like our food, music, and our women. Famous Latinas such as Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Mendez, Shakira are now household names. Latinas are recognized Read More

    Latino tongues can be very fast like the machine gun of a revolutionary or very still like the sunset on a sidewalk. I am Chicana, an American of Mexican ancestry, and I speak English and some Spanish. My skin is so brown that Daddy calls me Prieta and Momma calls me India. As Read More

    While browsing a local independent book store, searching for new poetry books, I have found that there are not as many Latino women on the shelf as I’d like to see.  Poking through an anthology of this year’s best poetry, I fear that the hey-day of Latino writers such as Laura Esquivel, Sandra Read More

  A relaxer is a type of lotion or cream which makes hair less curly, and easier to straighten by chemically “relaxing” the natural curls. One of the most common types of hair relaxers are the ones that are lye-based. Lye-based relaxers are the strongest and produce the most dramatic hair straightening. Scientifically, lye is sodium hydroxide.  It is Read More

    Latinos have a very distinct way of living that honors our elderly, but modern living is keeping us from maintaining our traditional values as far as keeping our parents home to the end of life or at least for as long as we can.  There are about 16,000 nursing homes across America and Read More

  What perception does the culture at large have of Latina women? In my observation of the roles that my Latina sisters take on, there are traits that seem to be continually ascribed to our depiction. Stereotypes are not new to us, as we are surrounded by them constantly. For the Latina, I feel the Read More