Viva la Feminista

The Mexican-American music scene hit repeat the night of Dec 8, 2012. Another rising star was taken away from their fans. Jenni Rivera was the Queen of Banda, a regional type of Mexican music. At the time of her death, I had heard of her, but it was mostly connected to her reality TV show. Given my bias against most things reality TV, I ignored additional news of her...that was until that night. Chicago Public Media journalist, Michael Puente , has crafted a nice "fan" book of Rivera that serves as a 101 for those of us who missed her rise to fame. I had the chance to chat with Puente about the book and Rivera's life. Puente sums up the book as: A chronicle of Jenni Rivera's life, her career, her achievements and her untimely passing through published reports and additional reporting. Fans of Jenni will enjoy the full-color photos and interesting details about her life. It is true. This book is a definite coffee table book not one to sit on a shelf. There are

Demeter Press is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of the collection, Mothering in East Asian Communities: Politics and Practices Edited by Patti Duncan and Gina Wong In Mothering in East Asian Communities , Duncan and Wong seamlessly rupture a homogenous identity category—that of the “tiger mom.” The editors invoke the works of diverse contributors who critically challenge essentialized identity categories and racialized and sexualized experiences of women of color within the institution of motherhood and practices of mothering. Here, the edited volume grapples with globalization, transnationalism, and capitalism with an East Asian ethno-racial-cultural context. Duncan and Wong offer a personal and political analysis of motherhood that is socially and culturally constructed, shaped by race, class, culture, sexuality, and other social categories. —Roksana Badruddoja, Ph.D., M.B.A., Advanced Assistant Professor of Sociology & Coordinator of Women’s and Gender Studie

Well we've turned on the heat at home, pumpkin spice products have hit the market and we have to wear socks again...this only means one thing, summer is over. But before we put away the lawn lights (ahem...), let's take some time to view this amazing video that Kat Lazo , Patricia Valoy , Dior Vargas and Raquel Reichard took the time to make in response to my prompt to talk about how your girlfriends fit into your feminism. Thank you mujeres for this video. It was moving, funny and sums up the summer perfectly. I'm not even going to attempt a summary post. Thank you to everyone who participated this summer: Linda Garcia Merchant Vicky Barrios Brenda Hernandez Amy Richard Lisa Quinones-Fontanez Lilian Coral April Lee Elisa Batista Sandra Ramos O’Briant Estela Delgado Summer of Feminista 2014 is a project of Viva la Feminista where Latinas are discussing girlfriends.  Link and quote, but do not repost without written permission . Read how you

A quick update... 1) I am all set! And we're now just one month away from me paying for the most expensive vomit ever. YES!! 2) While I only raised less than half of what I wanted to pay for this birthday gift, I am closing down my GoFundMe campaign for two reasons. The first was the fact that they will allow campaigns to support the police officer who killed Michael Brown , but secondly they think raising money for abortions is bad. So ok, make a case that raising money for an officer before he's found guilty shouldn't be a big deal..Seriously, I'll give you that. And even PayPal and all the credit card companies are making money off this tragedy ( there's also a campaign to support Brown's family ). OK, ok...but what really got me is that they wrote in no abortions in the GoFundMe " What's not allowed " page. And if you know me, you know I raise money for abortions a lot, so seriously, I can't give that platform anymore of my money...