Latinx

There’s a quote in my colleague Karen Garcia’s story about second- and third-generation Latinxs reclaiming the Spanish language that really gets at the heart of what this newsletter is all about:“I can assure you that there are 62.1 million Latinos in 2020, which means there are 62.1 million different ways of experiencing being Latino,” David Hayes-Bautista, director of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, told Garcia.Say it louder for the people in the back: There is no one right way to being…

Among the films playing at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival is “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” a feature documentary about the highly competitive world of high school mariachi.In 2019, the University Interscholastic League, the governing body that oversees all high school competitions in Texas, held its first sanctioned mariachi contest. Since then, these have been largely dominated by high schools from the Rio Grande Valley (Puro 956 cuh!), which really isn’t that surprising given that many districts in the region have…

Walter F. Ulloa, a Mexican American pioneer of U.S. Spanish-language media, died unexpectedly of a heart attack on New Year’s Eve. He was 74 years old.A native of Brawley, Calif., and graduate of the University of Southern California and Loyola Law School, Ulloa got his start in media in 1976 working for KMEX-TV, Univision’s Los Angeles flagship station that has played an outsize role in the history of Spanish-language media in the United States.He began by writing daily commentary for Danny Villanueva Jr., the station’s…

What’s the difference between a Democrat and a Republican? When it comes to immigration, it’s harder to tell these days.The Biden administration announced last Thursday the implementation of a new immigration policy that would expand Title 42 — the once obscure public health law first used by former President Trump — to quickly expel people from the border.The policy would also allow 30,000 people per month from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti to apply for a humanitarian parole program through an online portal that…

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, if you wanted to find great new music — particularly independent music— you pretty much had to rely on digital word of mouth. Before the cold and calculating recommendations made by the streamer algorithms, there were the blogs.And when it came to Iberoamerican indie music, there was no better place for discovery than Club Fonograma.“The site supported, amplified, and critiqued wildly popular and important music that was perennially ignored by major labels and recording academies,” said…

In last week’s Latinx Files, we recapped our favorite albums and podcasts of 2022. This week, it’s all about television, film and books. Without further ado, here are more things we enjoyed. A quick note, I’ve bundled television and movies into the same category because Hollywood still has an aversion to putting Latinxs in front and behind the camera. Here’s hoping they do better in 2023. Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams and Chris Estrada in “This Fool.”(Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times; Netflix;…

It’s the end of the year, which means that every outlet that covers culture is putting out their best-of-year lists. It’s a great way to recap the year that was, and it also gives people an excuse to publish something pre-written ahead of the slow holiday season.We are no different. Over the course of the next two weeks, we’ll be publishing our favorite Latinx media of 2022. Next week, we’ll do books, TV and film. This week, it’s all about our favorite music and podcasts of the year.Now if you’ll excuse me, my tamales are…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Millennial age groups—born mid 1980s to early 2000s—now have more money at hand than they have ever controlled before. And they are spending it, says Olivia Johnson, assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Consumer Sciences at the University of Houston College of Technology. …

On Tuesday morning, embattled L.A. Councilmember Kevin de León appeared on CNN and reiterated that he had no plans of resigning in the wake of a leaked audio tape that rocked city hall two months ago.Calls for De León’s resignation have come from all sides — from his colleagues and mine, activist groups, and even President Biden. Still, the council member said that he would not step down.“Tens of millions of Americans go to work every single day with folks that they don’t like,” De León told anchor Kate Bolduan. “You know…

Today is Latina Equal Pay Day. a symbolic date meant to highlight a glaring economic disparity hindering Latinas.In 2021, Latinas — including those working part time — earned 54 cents for every dollar their white male counterparts made. For those working full time, that figure goes up nominally to 57 cents on the dollar. For comparison’s sake, white women earned 73 cents on the dollar.That means that Latinas have to work nearly twice as long to make the same amount of money.This pay disparity adds up. According to a…