Going back to college
Going back to college
By Iya Bakare – She sits on a grape purple velvet couch blanketed with notebooks, papers and her human resource management textbooks at Starbuck’s as she studies for her upcoming midterm. Sandra Guajardo, known as Sandy to most, is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in business...
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Latina business owner fights recession
Latina business owner fights recession
By Lisa Cisneros – It’s a rainy Saturday morning and Lourdes Borjas is cutting 13-year-old Claire Tanaka’s hair while her mother looks on from the plushy red couch at Bianca’s Hair Designs. Borjas is busier today than she has been recently because her business like so...
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RAPPROCHEMENT — THE COW’S SKULL AND I
RAPPROCHEMENT — THE COW’S SKULL
By Marisella Veiga – More than 20 years ago I shrieked after lifting a metal lid off a trash can outside my kitchen door. A cow’s skull rested on top of the garbage, as if it had been carefully placed there. This is Portage, Ohio, not Santeria or voodoo country, I thought,...
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Obama silent on immigration reform
Obama silent on immigration reform
By Teresa Puente – There are many important issues facing our new president from the economy to the housing crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But one topic Obama is ignoring is immigration reform. We heard Obama talk about immigration reform on the campaign trail...
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Life lessons
Life lessons
By Jan Peña-Davis – “Thank you for coming today,” was my daily greeting to my class of high school juniors and seniors at Roberto Clemente Community Academy in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. I know that the simple of act of getting to school requires enormous...
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An American Dream
An American Dream
By Irma Iliana Gutierrez – If you want to know why President Obama should pressure Congress to pass amnesty for the 12 million undocumented immigrants who have worked so hard and contributed to this country, then I will tell you about my grandfather. My grandfather’s first day...
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Undocumented, Unlicensed
Undocumented, Unlicensed
By Mari Barrera – I uphold my privileges as a U.S citizen because to me they are a reminder of my parents’ struggle to cross the border, start a new life and give my family the American Dream. It is a reminder as well of the years they endured struggling through courses and...
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The Forgotten Border
The Forgotten Border
By Stella Nichols – Being a Guatemalan-American in such a sundry city like Chicago allows me to maintain and preserve the proficiency of my Spanish. Or according to everyone else, the proficiency of my Mexican. “Stella, you speak Spanish? I didn’t know you’re...
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Let Young Immigrants Achieve Their Dreams
Let Young Immigrants Achieve Their Dream
By Lisa Cisneros – The DREAM Act would benefit America as a whole and I find that ignorance and fear are two of the factors keeping it from being passed.  Ignorance, because not everyone understands that the requirements to qualify are strict and hardly a cake walk, and fear,...
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First-generation College Grad
First-generation College Grad
By Lourdes Vazquez – In a couple of months many students will take part in a ceremony where they will walk across a stage to receive a paper that will ultimately be proof of their education. For some it will only be the end of their educational career and they will begin their...
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