A woman-on-the-street survey of Latina moms in California mirrored the findings of The Mamiverse Study of Online Latina Moms and New Media, unveiled this week, showing that jobs, education, health and immigration are among the most important issues in the upcoming presidential election. Jobs and Education ranked tops with 6 out of 10 Online Latina […]
If navigating parenthood is tough, navigating childhood is tougher. We’ve all heard the horrifying stories of kids committing suicide because of bullying—bullycide as it being called. In California, a new law, named after 13-year-old Seth Walsh who killed himself after being tormented at school because he was gay, was passed last year.
Watching The Iron Lady on the big screen, I was suddenly taken out of the film by a flash of recognition. For a moment, I saw my great aunt Concepcion—known to us as To (my brother and I called her Toe)—come to life before me. Like Margaret Thatcher, Toe had a rather sharp nose, wore […]
In Proust’s novel, Remembrance of Things Past the narrator is transported back in time with the taste of the soft cookies called Madeleines dipped in tea. For me it is hearing the laughter of adults at a party. My parents threw great parties. The year would begin with a party on January 6, known as […]
Sometimes I wonder if true, deep, and meaningful friendships are of a bygone era. A neighbor of mine called on New Year’s Eve to wish us well. When I asked her plans for the evening, she said she and her husband were having dinner and martinis with the same group of friends they had spent […]
Scary clowns and racy lyrics are everywhere, or so it seems. I wish I could protect my kids from both! Just when I thought all was safe, the clown appeared. It was a Saturday night. Everyone was having a grand time. The men were watching college football, drinking beer. The women were drinking wine, nibbling […]
Grandmothers can affect the way our kids experience Christmas, and viceversa. Last December at school, my daughter sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer alongside Celebrate Kwanzaa and Chanukah, Oh Chanukah at her winter recital. One night after her recital, we paid one of our regular visits to my parents’ home. As we greeted each other, my […]
Being Latino in the US, years ago, meant we were freaks! Growing up Mexican in the bowels of Orange County, California, was lonely. On a whim in 1977, my parents sold everything they owned in Mexico City and moved us to the United States. From the beginning we were freaks. We were the only kids […]
What does The Very Hungry Caterpillar have to do with pregnancy, you may ask. I stared at the picture with a curious mix of mortification and amusement. There I am in all my pregnant glory on a website for all the world to see. Could this woman with a tiny head, a trapeze zebra-striped dress […]