Helping DREAMers Pursuing Medical Careers Qualify for State Loan Forgiveness Scholarship Programs, by Senator Ricardo Lara

Battling Childhood Obesity in Hispanics, Still, by Frank DiMaria

In June of 2005, Hispanic Outlook reported on the health of the children living in Rio Grande City, a border town in Starr County, Texas, one of the poorest counties in the U.S. Most of the children living there were Mexican American, and at the time, their rates of obesity were among some of the highest in the nation. Unfortunately, little has changed in the past 11 years for the children of Starr County and for Hispanic children in general, according to Nancy F. Butte, Ph.D, professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Mariachi USA Goes To Cuba Iconic Music Festival, Story by Mariachi USA

MARIACHI USA, the premier mariachi music festival in the U.S., is headed to Cuba for a historic performance this fall. Mariachi musicians, singers and dancers will converge in La Habana on October 4-11, 2016 as part of a seven-day, six-night tour offered by Cuba Tours and Travel, announced Rodri J. Rodriguez, MARIACHI USA founder and longtime concert producer. The show’s company of 25 artists will perform on Sunday, October 9 at Teatro América, a historic theater built in the 1940s that has hosted international top talent over the years.

Wired And Connected But…? by <b>Gustavo A. Mellander</b>

Is it necessary to read and write to succeed in college? Students also need technological proficiency skills. They are essential. Yet too many Hispanics aren’t sufficiently computer savvy or Internet knowledgeable to function effectively when they arrive at college.

LA POET LAUREATE Luis J. Rodriguez Teaches as Scholar-in-Residence at CSUN, By California State University, Northridge

Aspiring writers and poets at California State University, Northridge had the opportunity to learn from the ultimate mentor this spring. None other than the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, Luis J. Rodriguez, a lifelong Angeleno and self-proclaimed “Valley Guy,” is serving as scholar-in-residence this semester and teaching a literature course in the Department of Chicana/o Studies. The class, “The Heartbeat at the Periphery: How Marginalized and Oppressed Literature is Moving the Culture,” focuses on works by people of color and labeled as “other” in the United States, including Chicana/o, Native American, African-American and LGBTQ writers, Rodriguez said. The graduate-level class includes undergraduates and graduate students. “I link literature to real life, to the world we’re in —poetry and its various rhythms, and its impact on people’s lives,” Rodriguez said. “Most of the time, young people are not exposed to great literature any more. Often, the canon is narrowed to white writers. My goal is to connect this great literature to the real world.”

Dora De Larios, The Fierce, The Warrior, The Artist, by Sylvia Mendoza

Internationally acclaimed ceramic and clay artist Dora De Larios wasn’t going to marry the first man that came along and proposed, even though he was a keeper—and any other sixteen year old would have jumped at the chance. It was the 1950s, after all, and what young women often did—even if they aspired to go to college, which she did.