HAPPY NEW YEAR ! HAPPY 2021 !

Dear Comadres,

Happy New Year!

Hallelujah! We have finally shut the door on 2020. Yes, we are still working from home, and we are social distancing, and wearing masks, but 2021 is full of promise.

New for Las Comadres will be a Speaker Series via zoom. We will have a monthly keynote speaker each month on different topics, and Comadres everywhere are invited to join us and listen in. Our inaugural speaker will be Sylvia Acevedo on Wednesday, January 27. She will speak about "New Year, New Outlook For Latinas In America."  We will record her session and post to our new YouTube Channel.

Our websites will be updated this year, which we are very excited about. We'll let you know when to visit them: Las Comadres (www.lascomadres.com) and Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club (www.latinolit.com).

There will also be a quarterly newsletter. Tentative publication date will be in the Spring. We will have a contest to name the newsletter. Start thinking of names. The newsletter will highlight Comadres, their accomplishments and their history. Some Comadres have been with us for 20+ years. (Thank you, Comadres!)

Plus! Las Comadres celebrates its 21st Anniversary this year. And pandemic or no pandemic, we are having our Worldwide Comadrazo in April. We will be virtual this year. There will be a special keynote speaker, breakout rooms, a speech from our founder Nora De Hoyos Comstock, and we are introducing The Nora Awards for a Comadre of the Year, Comadre Community Service, and a Friend of Las Comadres (for a corporation).

There will be other surprises during the year, but we'll start with these.

So wear your masks, use your hand sanitizers, and keep social distancing.

Wishing you all the very best for 2021!

Maria 

Maria Ferrer
Director of Programs
Las Comadres Para Las Americas

"Winners are not People who never Fail, but People who never Quit."

 

LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS BOOK CLUB -- JANUARY 2021 BOOKS

  

Happy New Year!   Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club begins 2021 with an unflinching memoir and a groundbreaking ghost story.  Join us on Monday, January 25, for a LIVE teleconference with our two authors.  Until then, Happy Reading!

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Once I Was You

A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America

By Maria Hinojosa

Atria Books

 

In Once I Was You, The Emmy Award–winning journalist and anchor of NPR’s Latino USA shares her intimate experience growing up Mexican American on the South Side of Chicago. She offers a personal and illuminating account of how the rhetoric around immigration has not only long informed American attitudes toward outsiders, but also sanctioned willful negligence and profiteering at the expense of our country’s most vulnerable populations—charging us with the broken system we have today. An urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all, this honest and heartrending memoir paints a vivid portrait of how we got here and what it means to be a survivor, a feminist, a citizen, and a journalist who owns her voice while striving for the truth.  Also available in Spanish as Una Vez Fui Tu.

 

BIO:  Maria Hinojosa’s nearly thirty-year career as a journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WGBH, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring and executive producing the Peabody Award–winning show Latino USA, distributed by NPR. She is a frequent guest on MSNBC, and has won several awards, including four Emmys, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, and the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club. In 2010, she founded Futuro Media, an independent nonprofit organization with the mission of producing multimedia content from a POC perspective. Through the breadth of her work and as the founding co-anchor of the political podcast In the Thick, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. She lives with her family in Harlem in New York City.

  

CONVERSATIONS WITH BOOK

Cemetery Boys

By Aiden Thomas

Swoon Reads

Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him. When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

BIO:  Aiden Thomas is a New York Times Bestselling Author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. As a queer, trans Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden’s special talents include: quoting The Office, useless trivia, Jenga, finishing sentences with “is my FAVORITE”, and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.  Visit them at www.aiden-thomas.com.

 

LIVE TELECONFERENCE!  Monday, January 25, 5pm PT / 6pm MT/ 7pm CT/ 8pm EST.

Free Teleconference Registration here: http://lascomadres.com/latinolit/join-teleconference/

Simultaneous Twitter Chat on @ReadLatinoLit.  Follow hashtag #ReadLatinoLit.

 

BOOK SHOP:  Get your books at our Las Comadres Book Shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/lascomadresbookclub

 

BOOK DISCUSSIONS:  Find a Comadres & Friends Book Club near you.  The discussions are great.  Check here:  https://readlatinolit.blogspot.com/2020/11/las-comadres-friends-book-club.html

  

JOIN THE BOOK CLUB here: http://lascomadres.com/latinolit/join-book-club/

 

 READ LATINO LIT 

 

LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS BOOK CLUB -- DECEMBER BOOKS

  

LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS NATIONAL LATINO BOOK CLUB

announces it's Books for December 2020

  

BOOK OF THE MONTH

TIGERS, NOT DAUGHTERS

By Samantha Mabry

Algonquin Books

 In a stunning follow-up to her National Book Award–longlisted novel ALL THE WIND IN THE WORLD, Samantha Mabry weaves an aching, magical novel that is one part family drama, one part ghost story, and one part love story.

The Torres sisters dream of escape. Escape from their needy and despotic widowed father, and from their San Antonio neighborhood, full of old San Antonio families and all the traditions and expectations that go along with them. In the summer after her senior year of high school, Ana, the oldest sister, falls to her death from her bedroom window. A year later, her three younger sisters, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, are still consumed by grief and haunted by their sister’s memory. Their dream of leaving Southtown now seems out of reach. But then strange things start happening around the house: mysterious laughter, mysterious shadows, mysterious writing on the walls. The sisters begin to wonder if Ana really is haunting them, trying to send them a message—and what exactly she’s trying to say.

 

 

CONVERSATIONS WITH BOOK

DEATH OF A TELENOVELA STAR

By Teresa Dovelpage

Soho Crime

 Teresa Dovalpage’s Havana Mystery series published by Soho Crime started with the culinary mystery DEATH COMES IN THROUGH THE KITCHEN (2018), set in Havana and featuring Padrino, a santero-detective. It is loaded with authentic Cuban recipes like arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) and caldosa (a yummy stew). The second mystery, QUEEN OF BONES (2019) includes elements of Santería and, again, food—clearly, the author loves to eat! Both novels are rich in details about life on the island, the kind only an insider can provide. The third is DEATH OF A TELENOVELA STAR (2020) set on a Caribbean cruise and showcasing the dark—sometimes deadly—side of celebrity, as well as the shenanigans that often happen aboard a cruise ship. All are stand alone books.

 

LIVE TELECONFERENCE!  Monday, December 21, 5pm PT / 6pm MT/ 7pm CT/ 8pm EST.

Free Registration here: http://lascomadres.com/latinolit/join-teleconference/

Simultaneous Twitter Chat on @ReadLatinoLit.  Follow hashtag #ReadLatinoLit.

 

BOOK SHOP:  Get your books at our Las Comadres Book Shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/lascomadresbookclub

 

BOOK DISCUSSIONS:  Find a Comadres & Friends Book Club near you.  The discussions are great.  Check here:  https://readlatinolit.blogspot.com/2020/11/las-comadres-friends-book-club.html

  

READ LATINO LIT 

 

LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS BOOK CLUB --- NOVEMBER BOOKS

Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club 

announces its books for November 2020.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

THE RESURRECTION OF FULGENCIO RAMIREZ

by Rudy Ruiz

Blackstone Publishing

CONVERSATIONS WITH BOOK

FLYING FREE

by Cecilia Aragon

Blackstone Publishing

Visit the Comadres & Friends Book Club website for book summaries by clicking here.

Save the date! Monday, November 23, for our Live interview with authors Rudy Ruiz and Cecilia Aragon, and the simultaneous #TwitterChat at @ReadLatinoLit and follow hashtag #ReadLatinoLit.

Register for the November 23 teleconference by clicking here.   Early registrants may win a book from publisher; no guarantees.

Buy your books at Las Comadres Book Club Book Shop here:  https://bookshop.org/shop/lascomadresbookclub

Happy Reading

Read Latino Lit 

 

LATINA EQUAL PAY DAY

October 29.  Today is Latina Equal Pay Day, which marks how far into the year the average Latina must work to make what the average white, non-Hispanic man made the previous year, reports Forbes.

On average, Latinas in the US are paid 45% less than white men and 30% less than white women.  This pay gap starts in the teenage years, and widens for educated Latinas.  This gap affects Latinas, their families, their communities, their workplace, and, yes, society at large.

But, take heart!  This is a new decade for women, for Latinas.  Latinas are stepping forward and asking for promotions and raises at similar rates to white men and women.  It’s time to bridge that gap.

Here are some great articles on Latina Equal Pay Day:

Lean In offers wonderful stats on the pay gap by genre, age, education:

https://leanin.org/data-about-the-gender-pay-gap-for-latinas

 

Forbes writes about why closing the wage gap for Latinas is a win for all:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hollycorbett/2020/10/29/why-closing-the-wage-gap-on-latina-equal-pay-day-is-a-win-for-us-all/#2161952c7530

 

CNBC sheds light on the fact that this pay gap for Latinas has barely moved in 30 years and it overdue:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/29/latinas-face-an-ongoing-pay-gap-that-has-barely-moved-in-30-years.html

 

 Share with us ways that you feel would bring this wage gap for Latinas.#

BENEFITS OF BEING A COMADRE

 

Greetings, Comadres.  A new member recently asked what were the benefits of being a Comadre?

The 3 C’s immediately popped into my head:   connection, community & culture.

Connection is important, especially now when we are all stuck at home. The face to face meeting has been replaced by a zoom one.  We can all agree that zoom fatigue is rampant. However, the majority of Comadres I have spoken to still look forward to the online Comadrazos.  Our connection continues to energize. 

Community is created from our Comadres’ connection.  No Comadre stands alone. The one good thing that has come out of this crazy year, is that we all recognize the importance of connecting with others including family, friends & Comadres.  We are here for each other, whether you want to discuss the “good old days,” want to share a recipe, gossip about Latinx celebrities, need a sympathetic ear, et al. 

Celebrating our Culture is also important. We continue to celebrate our differences and similarities.  Before the pandemic, some Comadres Networks celebrated our culture by visiting diverse museums, art shows, theatres, etc. Now we celebrate our Latinidad by visiting those sites online.  Plus, our Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club offers a variety of books for all ages, on all genres, written by Latino authors from around the world. 

I would love to hear from You and the benefits you find in being a Comadre.  Post your comments below. 

Comadres Connect!

 

Maria Ferrer

Director of Programs

Las Comadres Para Las Americas

 

 

LAS COMADRES NAMES NEW DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

 

PRESS RELEASE

 LAS COMADRES PARA LAS AMERICAS

NAMES DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                

 

AUSTIN, TX—Las Comadres Para Las Americas has selected Maria Ferrer, the current Project Manager of Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club, as its new Director of Programs.

Maria Ferrer, a Comadre for over 15 years, will assist National Founder Nora de Hoyos Comstock in programming for the fast growing organization. She helped start the Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club, and has been its Media Coordinator for the past seven years.  Maria handles press releases and manages weekly posts about the book club on Facebook and Twitter.  She is also one of the Facilitators for the New York City Comadres Network. During the pandemic crisis, Maria and her fellow Facilitators created the Comades Connect program and hosts two weekly meetings: an informative Comadrazo session and a fun Happy Hour. 

“Being a Comadre,” says Maria, “means connecting, communicating, and celebrating our Latino culture. I am thrilled to be taking on managing the Las Comadres organization and its book club, and carrying on Nora’s legacy.”

As Director of Programs, Maria will re-establish communications with the Comadres Network and Book Club Facilitators; support the groups in growing their memberships; connect solitary Comadres to the nearest group in their area; increase Las Comadres’ social media presence; establish partnerships with other professional groups that empower Latinas; and develop a Comadres 2.0 for the new year and years to come.

 Nora de Hoyos Comstock is the National and International Founder, and served as President and CEO of Las Comadres para las Americas until her retirement in 2015. She remains on the Board of Las Comadres providing guidance and direction. She established the group over 20 years ago in Austin, TX.  Nora transformed the informal in-home gathering into the national and international Las Comadres network.  Today there are Comadres networks in over 50 cities, where Latinas are engaged in dialogues about education, employment, culture, resources, among other things. And, there are Comadres & Friends book clubs in over 15 cities, where readers of all ages meet monthly and connect via culture and literature.

 For more information on Las Comadres Para Las Americas and Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club, contact Maria Ferrer at mferrer.lascomadres@gmail.com or contact Nora de Hoyos Comstock at (512) 751-7837.#

 

 

Las Comadres Para Las Americas

www.lascomadres.com

www.latinolit.com

#LasComadres

#ReadLatinoLit

 

 

CELEBRATING LATINX HERITAGE MONTH

  

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. –Marcus Garvey

We’re not taught anything that we contributed to this country and we’ve been around for 500 years. – John Leguizamo

 

I get my energy and strength from the spirit and words of my ancestors, from my mother’s spirit that shines so bright, and from the unconditional love and support of my father and family. –Yvette Modestin

 

My great strength is knowing who I am and where I come from, my island. –Oscar de la Renta

 

Celebrating Latinx Heritage Month by looking at some books on Latinx history in the U.S.  In 2014, for the first time in history the majority of students were non-white. Finally, some educators were able to start teaching history that included the contributions of marginalized peoples.  It’s a start.  It’s a wave. A storm is coming, and we are the storm.

 

AN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINX HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

by Paul Ortiz (Beacon Press)

Incisive and timely, this bottom-up history, told from the interconnected vantage points of Latinx and African Americans, reveals the radically different ways that people of the diaspora have addressed issues still plaguing the United States today, and it offers a way forward in the continued struggle for universal civil rights. 

BIO:  Paul Ortiz is a professor of history and the director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida. He is the author of Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920 and coeditor of the oral history Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South. He lives in Gainesville, Florida.

 

 

LATINX: THE NEW FORCE IN AMERICAN POLITICS AND CULTURE 

by Ed Morales (Verso)

In this groundbreaking discussion, Ed Morales explains how Latinx political identities are tied to a long Latin American history of mestizaje—“mixedness” or “hybridity”—and that this border thinking is both a key to understanding bilingual, bicultural Latin cultures and politics and a challenge to America’s infamously black–white racial regime. This searching and long-overdue exploration of the meaning of race in American life reimagines Cornel West’s bestselling Race Matters with a unique Latinx inflection.

 BIO:  Ed Morales is an author, journalist, filmmaker, and poet who teaches at Columbia University. He is the author of The Latin Beat and Living in Spanglish. He has written for the Village Voice, Nation, New York Times, Rolling Stone, and other publications and is a regular commentator on NPR. His film Whose Barrio? premiered at the New York Latino International Film Festival. He lives in New York City.

 

 

THE STORY OF LATINOS AND EDUCATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

by Abdin Noboa-Rios (International Academic Publishers)

To understand the history of Latinos in particular, Dr. Noboa-Rios goes back in time to recreate the story. In this book, he relates the dark legacy before and after Plessy, as well as the post-Brown challenges that linger. For a better and more balanced future for the nation, America’s challenge is to ensure that Latino students excel. Understanding how and why this dark history has occurred is imperative to rectify the situation.

BIO:  Abdín Noboa-Ríos, Ph.D., a native of Puerto Rico, is a social scientist and educator who has worked in the fields of education, mental health, and organizational development for decades. As a former practitioner and now researcher from the barrios of Chicago and New York, Dr. Noboa-Ríos has long observed and confronted status quo. Alarmed by how flawed "reform" in education is, disquieted by how poorly conceived "policies" have promoted rather than solved inequity, and concerned about America’s future, he strongly questions where we are going. In response, he bravely calls for a new paradigm―a necessary renaissance―to escape the current chaos and move toward progress.

 

 

Happy Latinx Heritage Month

 ReadLatinoLit