Mexico – Fake Flamenco

Mexico, Natural World, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

7 Reasons You’ll Love Desserto Cactus Fabric

What if you could make an animal-friendly leather-like fabric that was breathable and environmentally sustainable? Mexican inventors Adrián López Velarde (auto industry) and Marte Cázarez (fashion industry) have discovered a way to make this dream come true. Move over pleather, there’s a new textile in town. They’ve invented a breathable, natural vegan material made from […]

Mexico, Nature

Happy World Wildlife Day

The United Nations began the tradition of this annual celebration March 3rd, 2013. Today, on the seventh anniversary, is a great time for a wildlife update. Let’s look at the status of a few animals on the World Wildlife Fund endangered list. These three are personal favorites: leopards, orangutans and vaquita porpoises. Amur Leopard: Panthera […]

Afro-Latinos, Mexico, Texas

Two Families, Two Ferries to Freedom

Two families on the Texas-México border are notable for their roles in the Underground Railroad heading south of the Río Grande. The Jacksons and the Webbers have similar histories. The women were Black former slaves and the men were White. Jackson was a former slave owner who freed his slaves, including Matilda who became his […]

Afro-Latinos, Indigenous Peoples, Mexico, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

South to Freedom from Slavery

Songs, quilts and legends celebrate the history of the Underground Railroad to the north. Those are wonderful stories, yet most of us don’t realize heading south was another way Blacks successfully emancipated themselves. Both routes had great dangers, but for southerners, they were far closer to Mexico. As Felix Haywood, a former Black slave said, […]

Latinas, Latinas in the News, Mexico, Spanish Culture and Language, writing

First Latina Poet Laureate of Madison

Thursday night I was fortunate enough to attend a reading by Angela Trudell Vasquez, Madison’s new poet laureate. She read from In Light, Always Light. Her poems are elegant and sparse. Word-by-word they lodge themselves in our hearts. Angie is an engaging speaker who builds rapport with her audience through personal anecdotes, a warm presence […]

Afro-Latinos, Mexico, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

First Black President in North America

Did you know that Mexico was the first country in North America to be led by a Black President, not the United States? That fact may be startling to citizens of a country that thinks of itself as a trail breaker (USA) In 1829, Vicente Guerrero of African, Mixteca or Tlapaneca and Spanish heritage was named […]