“Community organizer’s childhood led to her activism”
from the Bay Area Reporter

Olga Talamante was 11 years old when her parents plucked her from Mexico to drive their family across the U.S. border, settling in Gilroy, California. Five decades later, Talamante will be riding in a red low-rider convertible during Sunday’s LGBT Pride Parade as one of six community grand marshals selected by the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee for their outstanding contributions to the LGBT community.

“It’s an amazing honor,” Talamante said. “I’ve had a lot of public life, but to be acknowledged is very humbling. I feel fortunate to be one among many deserving people.” [Read more…] about Feature: Olga Talamante named Grand Marshal of SF LGBT Pride

The official MALCS Summer Institute 2012 t-shirts and tote bag are now available for pre-order. These v-neck, slim-cut t-shirts come in sizes from Small-XXL in both red and black. Each item features a beautiful full color design courtesy of artist Silvia Ji.

T-shirts are $20 individually and tote bags are $15 individually. However, when you purchase a Jefa Combo Pack you get your choice of T-shirt plus the tote bag for only $30, getting a $5 discount! To order, please click here to print the form and mail to Theresa Peña. You can pick up your order upon arriving to the Institute.

This message is also a quick reminder to reserve your Institute housing as soon as possible. Discounted dorm packages are available and running out quickly! Being one of the most attractive tourist cities in the country, Santa Barbara’s hotel costs rise during the summer months. Additionally, it is recommended that you take notice that hotel rates differ between weekdays and weekends. We encourage attendees who are looking to minimize travel costs to apply to stay in the dorms. Click here to view the housing application.

We are excited for your arrival and remind you that as a part of your registration you will receive a ticket to the Tortuga Awards Dinner ($25 value) where you can join in celebration of the accomplishments of fellow members. We are happy to announce that we will be conducting a raffle for an iPad and several other distinguished prizes during the dinner and winners must be present to win. If you would like more information on purchasing additional Tortuga Award Dinner tickets please email moc.liamgobfsctd-10c48a@bscu2102sclam

Best,
Aida Hurtado, Chair

Professor Maria Cotera presented a talk earlier this month at Stanford about her Online Chicana Feminist History Archive Project, created with documentary  filmmaker and producer Linda Garcia Merchant, of Voces Primeras. From the newsletter for the Clayman Center for Gender Research: 

“Today we talk about Chicana feminism almost exclusively in the academy,” Maria Cotera told an audience in Margaret Jacks Hall, “but in the 1970s, it was happening in the streets.”

The goal of Cotera’s ambitious online archive project, “Chicana por mi Raza,” is to recapture the once vibrant movement for the social, political, and economic justice of Mexican American, Chicana, and Hispanic women in the United States. When it launches later this year, the website will house a rich archive documenting the development of Chicana feminist thought and action from 1960 to 1990. The efforts of her and of the project’s co-founder, Linda Garcia Merchant, have amassed thousands of newspapers, reports, leaflets, out-of-print books, pieces of correspondence, and oral histories, most of which have been missing from mainstream archives.

Silence of the archive
In her recent talk, “Liberating the Feminist Archive: Mapping Chicana Feminisms in the Digital Age,” Cotera, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, previewed some materials from the database. She hopes that the site will “bring the history of Chicana feminism to a whole new audience, from public school educators to college students to established scholars.”

Article continues here

From the Las Vegas Sun

UNLV professor researching book on 2006 immigrant rights movement
Student walkouts, march on the Strip seen as turning points in local activism

By Tovin Lapan

Students who were the driving force behind a 2006 march that drew thousands to the Las Vegas Strip in support of immigrant rights are the focus of a new book being written by the director of UNLV’s women’s studies program.

UNLV professor Anita Tijerina Revilla was a co-editor of the book “Marching Students: Chicana Activism in Education, 1968 to the Present” that chronicled the 1968 student walkouts in Los Angeles and how they affected participants and future activism. She authored the book’s chapter on the Las Vegas Activist Crew, a group of students behind the May Day 2006 march that flooded the Strip with tens of thousands of people.

Revilla is now writing a book on the Activist Crew, and she said just as the 1968 student walkouts in Los Angeles had profoundly affected participants and the community, so did Las Vegas’ 2006 march and a series of preceding student walkouts.

The book will be titled “What Happens in Vegas Does Not Stay in Vegas: Social Justice Activism in Las Vegas.” Revilla will be working on it, as well as another book on activism in Los Angeles, during an upcoming sabbatical.

Story continues at Las Vegas Sun

This sounds like a great opportunity for pub! CFP Urban Review

Special Issue of Urban Review

Book Banning Censorship and Ethnic Studies in Urban Schools

From journalist Marisa Trevino at Latinalista:

In one of the strongest signals that the education community supports the DREAM Act — allowing undocumented students, who were brought to the US as children, attend college or enlist in the military and be put on a path to citizenship — the College Board released yesterday a state-specific resource guide for undocumented students.

The Repository of Resources for Undocumented Students lists information about admissions, financial aid, scholarships and support groups in 11 of the 14 states that have in-state tuition rates for undocumented students.

The author of the report, Alejandra Rincon, is an immigrant rights activist who holds a doctorate in education administration from the University of Texas. Dr. Rincon understands firsthand the challenges undocumented students and their families encounter in trying to find the necessary information if they live in one of the 11 states highlighted in the report: California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

In addition to breaking down the information state-by-state, the report also includes a General Resources section that lists various non-profit and corporate scholarships that are not state-specific, URLs to other in-depth guides to scholarships, financial aid information and other support-type literature.
Because the issue is still so fluid, the report’s author admits the report is not complete.

In 2011, three states passed their in-state tuition laws including Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island. Specific resources on those states are not included in this guide given the recent passage of the laws but the goal is to provide those in the near future.

In addition, last year saw two important developments in the area of financial aid as both California and Illinois passed laws to permit undocumented immigrant students’ greater access to such resources. Both laws are unique efforts that we hope inspire many more to follow suit.

See original article at Latina Lista and/or College Board Resource here