[caption id="attachment_1888" align="alignleft" width="280" caption="Me. At Work. Latino non-profit. Fabulous."][/caption] Am I Really Bilingual? I think this is an open letter to parents raising bilingual, Spanish-speaking children in America. For parents, like me, whose kids are speaking and reading English at school and hablando un poco de español at home. I have had a realization. [...]

[caption id="attachment_1879" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Seeing Clearly Now"][/caption] Our 8-year-old got her first pair of glasses this week. It was awesome and, for me, a little bit heartbreaking. She kept telling me all that she can now see — the grass isn’t a fuzzy blanket, there is a girl’s image on the Wendy’s sign, and hey, [...]

It would take you not living in the place where you grew up — far from the daily tastes, smells, sounds you love — to truly understand the joy I get when I discover Cuban/Miami-home-style food and products in Nashville’s grocery stores. In the morning, I ran into Publix to grab some coffee creamer and [...]

I doubt my eyes will be open at midnight tonight. I know for sure I won’t be wearing yellow panties, despite the good luck they promise. (I don’t own yellow panties. Bad color for me. But, on this New Year’s Eve of 2011, I will be mopping and throwing the dirty bucket water out the [...]

[caption id="attachment_1849" align="aligncenter" width="437" caption="Rules in Cuba"][/caption] Dear free-born, democratic country-living American friend…or stranger, here is something you can read before you once again utter the statement: “But at least in Cuba they have free health care and free education.” Not really true. And at what cost? Check out the photos from a 6th grade [...]

Please don’t call me Selfish I discovered a great essay by Susan Newman over at Babble that made me think a lot — again — about being the mother of An Only Child. The title was “Is it Selfish to Have One Child?” Selfish? Que-Que? The idea of being labeled selfish stopped me, made me [...]

The following is my talk from the Latism 2011 panel titled Social Media Disruption: Finding Your Voice.  It was my pleasure and honor to be with panel leader Julio Ricardo Varela of Latino Rebels, Lisa Stone, co-founder and CEO of Blogher and Catherine Connors of Her Bad Mother and Babble.  If you attended, you’ll see some words and [...]

Maria announced, quite proudly: “I know The F-Word!” “Really? What’s the F-Word?” “You know the F-Word, Mama.” “Fun, fudge, flip?” “Mamaaaaahhhh.” “OK, why don’t you tell me what you think the F-Word is?” “It’s a bad word.” “It’s OK. You’re not in trouble, I just want to make sure we’re talking about the same F-Word.” [...]

This essay is part of the first #HablaTalk writing prompt series I am doing with Latina Bloggers Connect. They’re a way to inspire the writer, bring out the video star, and promote the community of talented voices. Check out the community and join in. [caption id="attachment_1806" align="aligncenter" width="275" caption="Happy Happy Joy Joy"][/caption] A few weeks [...]

[caption id="attachment_1795" align="alignleft" width="257" caption="Author is coming to Nashville."][/caption] Hey, American South, look what is happening: A new cuisine is emerging, born of Southern and Latino cultures. Que? Tamales stuffed with greens, corn ice cream topped with hot praline sauce, brownies with chile, sweet potato and plaintain casserole. Welcome to El Nuevo South. The ingredients [...]