Thousands of Latinas come to the United States each year in hopes of building better lives for their families, but the transition is not an easy one.  Language barriers, lack of job training resources and unfamiliarity with the system can be overwhelming.  But a new partnership between League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Proctor & Gamble, the household product giant, is giving hope to Latina immigrants that the new start will lead to a bright future.

Last month, LULAC and Proctor & Gamble started Entre Comadres, a program created to help Latinas gain access to the important information they need to help themselves and their families succeed in the U.S.  The training centers, located in Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, offer Latinas access to resources ranging from English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to financial planning services to basic computer training.

LULAC instructors offer the classes, and each center has a bilingual program coordinator whose mission is tailoring the program to the participants needs.  The courses come at no charge and are available throughout the year.  The target audience is Latinas; however, anyone can participate in the program.

Even though the Entre Comadres program is currently offered in just three cities, LULAC has its own Technology Centers throughout 26 states, including Illinois.

Entre Comadres spokeswoman Daniella Biffi agreed to answer questions about the program from an inquiring mind.  Here’s the question and answer with Biffi.

The program is currently up and running, correct?

The Entre Comadres program is being rolled out currently and centers are up and running at LULAC community facilities and offer fully equipped classroom-style settings, including computers with Internet access, printers, video conferencing and other telecommunications equipment.

How many Latinas have taken advantage of the program thus far?

Since the program has just started, it is early to tell.  However, we have received very strong demand for courses and each center has wait lists for courses. We are hopeful that we can reach many Latinas in each city, since the program will continue throughout the year.

What has the response been from participants?

Overall we have had great response from Latinas in the community reaching out to the LULAC community facilities inquiring about the services offered and looking into what resources are available to them .  The program is intended to help women have access to information that helps them and their families lead their best life in the country.

Are Latinas from all ages attending?

The program is open to interested consumers of all ages and there is no limit to the amount of free courses a person can take.

Is the program focused on any particular demographic within the Latina community?

Although Entre Comadres was designed for Latinas who just moved to the U.S., anyone in the community can participate.

Have there been other partnering with P&G or other corporations for similar programs?  If so, how have they fared?  What outreach efforts have been made?

LULAC has great corporate partners who have helped us broaden our reach in the community, including AT&T and others who have supported the creation and sustained operation of centers like the ones housing the “Entre Comadres” program.  The community really benefits from these, and that is why we are proud to partner with companies such as P&G in helping LULAC provide much-needed services in our communities.

This sounds like an amazing program that can help thousands of Latinas.  I’m from Chicago, and there’s a great need in the city and outlying suburbs.  Are there any plans to expand the program?

Yes, I wish these types of programs were available sooner.  When I first moved here, my mother didn’t know the language and had to learn on her own without support.   We’re currently looking into other markets, but the program has to been successful where it’s currently run to expand to other cities.  If people don’t take advantage of the program, there goes the program.

For more information about Entre Comadres or to sign up for the free program options at LULAC, call 1-866-606-6033.  LULAC is the country’s largest and oldest Latino membership organization dedicated to economic, educational, political and civil rights advocacy for Latinas.

Angelica Jimenez is a graduate journalism student at Columbia College Chicago.

“My bad, girl, I thought you were black.”

Fifteen-year-old Delisha Lopez recounts as she remembers how her new locker partner greeted her at the start of this school year.

A sophomore student at Roberto Clemente Community Academy in gentrified Humboldt Park, Delisha fidgets as she twists a strand of short, dark, brown wavy hair, framing her round cocoa colored face.

The middle of three children, she chose Clemente over other schools because of the softball and baseball athletic programs. Although a good student, talking about sports makes her smile.

Clemente has a student population of Puerto Rican, Mexican, African-American and a sprinkling of Central American students, all ranging in skin tone from Spanish white to African dark.

Yet the issue of skin color and hair texture is often times the wedge between members of the same ethnic group.

The darker one is, the more negatively one is viewed.

Isn’t this the 21st century?

“How do you feel about being mistaken for black?” I ask Delisha.

“I remember the first day of school as the teacher called out my name.  ‘Lopez,’ she looked at me and added, ‘Aren’t you black?’”

Her voice became noticeably softer.

“I guess I’m used to it now or being mistaken for Dominican.”

But discrimination in the Hispanic community against our own darker-skinned ‘brothers’ didn’t disappear with our grandparent’s generation or upon arrival to the land of milk and honey.

Perhaps our parents were more effective at hiding it, but today as many groups attempt to assimilate into American culture, the practice of skin color categorization often rears its ugly head.

Within the Mexican community at the school, those students who look more Spanish shun the more indigenous students- the browner kids.

And those Mexican students from coastal regions where traces of African slavery are evident not only in skin color, but hair texture, roll with the black kids and ‘back burner’ their heritage.

Consequently, pockets of Spanish-speaking teenagers, separate themselves into groups according to “who looks the same,” fight one another over crumbs and inferior instruction that benefits no one.

“I stick to my own kind,” Delisha tells me,  “It’s even worse when I shop downtown with my mother, who has white skin and blue eyes.  I hear white people say lots of nasty things.”

I simply nod my head in understanding.

I do understand.

I’m the dark one in my family.

That being said, I am a connoisseur of televised murder. The “CSI” and “Law & Order” franchises, and “Criminal Minds,” with all their sexy and savvy detectives. Oxygen’s “Snapped” about real women who, you guessed it, snap and kill someone. They all horrify and intrigue me in equal measure.

A recently new contender to be on my regular bloody line up is the Spanish language “Mujeres Asesinas.” I thought it would be a Spanish version of “Snapped” and that I would have a feeling of watching something bootlegged. I was all prepared to watch “Mujeres Asesinas” and dislike it for various reasons.

But, girl…it’s so much better than “Snapped!”

So that you may understand the importance of that statement, let me elaborate on my love of the show “Snapped.”

Like “Mujeres Asesinas,” “Snapped” is based on the stories of everyday women who are pushed to their moral limits by grief and pain or greed and go off. Both shows tap into the female psyche making its largely female following ask themselves what, if anything, could push them to lose control and commit the ultimate crime?

It has made its way into the private jokes of my circle of girlfriends. When we are telling each other our soap opera chismes of jilted love or workplace suffering, one of us will invariably interrupt the story to interject the show’s title line by saying something like, “And that’s when 24 year old Columbia College student Jenny Patino….snapped!”

We laugh every time. Not because murder is funny but because it reminds us that whatever we’re dealing with isn’t worth killing for.

It is fascinating to wonder about what does push women to kill. Both societies in the U.S. and Latin America condone violence by men. Men committing murder, is sadly, no big deal. But violence in women? Que escandalo! This is the real reason we are drawn to these shows.

I was prepared to hate “Mujeres Asesinas” because I was accustomed to the documentary/interview style of “Snapped.” I thought it was an affront to have actresses portray these women’s stories instead of having the participants use their own voice.

I was all ready to spout-off about the unrealistic standards of beauty in both cultures. How the real, flawed women who lived these events were being hidden by perfectly manicured and groomed eye candy actresses. What a wonderful feminist rant that would have been. And after all, the intolerance of imperfections in women is probably one of the factors behind the use of professional actresses over interviews with the women the stories are based on.

My rant would have been very definitive and fiery if this were the only reason for the use of actresses. Instead, I find myself musing over the actresses themselves. Big names like Lucía Méndez, Daniela Romo,  Susana González and Daniela Castro. They are incredibly talented and immerse you in the story in a way that interviews never could. I watch the episodes, riveted, waiting for the height of their performance, that moment when these women “snap.” Through the actresses, you are transported into these women’s lives in a way that “Snapped” could only envy.

Now, about the actresses portraying murderesses….for the most part, they have one thing in common. They are older women.

You can say that their talent has ripened. They have more experience and therefore more captivating to watch than stumbling young ingénues. On the other hand, it is no secret that Latin America has a Madonna/whore complex, and this affects the roles actresses are limited to onscreen, especially with regards to age.

As a young actress in telenovelas, for example, you are limited to one of two roles that I like to call La Pendeja or La Hechada a Perder. The idiot and the spoiled girl. If you don’t know what I mean, then watch you some telenovelas and you’ll see. La Pendeja is the one who is either crying or widening her eyes like a porcelain doll saint. La Hechada a Perder is usually cackling or sleeping with someone. Older women in these telenovelas are divided along the saint/sinner lines as well, depending on whether their character helps La Pendeja or makes her suffer.

“Mujeres Asesinas” provides an opportunity to have juicier roles, especially for older actresses. The characters developed in each episode are not as easy to reduce in terms of good or evil. They are usually good women pushed by circumstance into doing evil things. The good girl pushed into doing wrong is not a new idea, however. Just think of Maria Felix in “Doña Diabla.” (If you haven’t seen this movie, stop reading right now and YouTube it. It’s a must see. But don’t forget to come back and finish reading.)

In “Tere, Desconfiada” Susana González, also known for having played La Pendeja in the telenovela “Entre el Amor y el Odio,” plays a woman whose husband is cheating on her with her bestfriend’s daughter, a young Hechada a Perder. She kills her husband with a pair of knitting needles and sewing scissors. Vicious! And how symbolic.

The older woman, rejected by society in the form of her husband sleeping with a younger woman lashes out by using markers of her femininity to bloody ends. That’ll teach any husbands watching the show not to cheat on their meek-looking wives with young things.

La Pendeja doesn’t always stay La Pendeja. The show serves as a double morality tale. Don’t kill. Don’t cheat. Tere is arrested for murder by “CSI” types, thereby making society safe from the powerful, violent older woman. As for the husband, well, he dies.

Now, the theme song of the show “Que Emane,” by Gloria Trevi is a bit problematic. The title translates to “let it emanate” or “let it flow.” Some of the lyrics conflate the emotions and blood flowing from wounds with the blood curse of Eve. Really? There’s no need to connect everything to the Madonna/whore complex. Does getting my period really have to connect me to murder, Trevi? Or maybe passing from youth into menopause makes me thirsty for blood in some way.

I feel connecting the show to Eve in any way dampens the moral complexity of these stories and ties into a misogynist view that all women are crazy by birthright. A better figure to connect to would be the Aztec goddess Coatlicue, who was beheaded by her daughter Coyolxauhqui and whose monolith stood at the top of the Templo Mayor demanding blood tribute. Serpents, representing blood fearsomely erupt from her neck. The truth is, we only go crazy when we’re pushed.

I’ve been resisting the crazy, Latina stereotype all my life. I guess it doesn’t help that I’m fascinated with shows about murder. But there is so much to learn about life from death. From shows like “Snapped” and “Mujeres Asesinas,” one learns about human limitations.

In short, “Mujeres Asesinas” has definitely made it into my crime show repertoire. With it’s blending of “CSI” type detectives, telenovela plot devices and real life drama, I cannot resist. This does not mean I am blind to its faults. On the contrary, I like to be as informed as possible about my guilty pleasures. “Mujeres Asesinas” is sensationalism wrapped in a cautionary tale. And if it is meant to teach anything, I hope that on some level, “Mujeres Asesinas” teaches men and women alike to fear transgressions against each other. Then maybe there would be a lot less real-life “snapping.”

Jenny Patiño is a student at Columbia College Chicago.

In the 2009 film “Sin Nombre”, there are many themes that are apparent throughout the film. Some of those themes consist of gang culture, where a “brotherhood” is placed before the law.

Then there are themes of love.  Love that is lost, found, concealed and destroyed. There are moments where families are torn apart just because they want to leave a certain place.  But what ties all these things together?

The Latinas portrayed in this film are definitely real women in our culture and world.  Women that love men that have chosen a path into violence, and women that have fallen victim of a broken home because of a heartbreaking attempt to relocate to another country.

Latinas involved in issues that are represented in this movie are faced with extraordinary situations that many people aren’t aware happen.

In the film, there are two main characters, Willy, or El Casper, is part of a gang while Sayra is a young girl trying to head to the U.S. from Honduras after she recently reunited with her father.
Willy has a girlfriend whom he keeps secret from the rest of the gang because he fears for her safety. When she does briefly get involved in what Willy’s life is like, it ends up costing her life.

Women that are in situations like Willy’s girlfriend, put themselves in danger every single day.  This isn’t just for Latinas, but it’s women from all walks of life that can be affected by whom they chose to surround themselves with.

Many sons and daughters can get caught up in the gang life and in turn will affect many mothers and fathers.  There is a constant fear of whom their children are associating with and whether or not they are going to make it home at the end of the day.

Even though there is the law, gangs such as the ones represented in Sin Nombre, find ways around the law.  They are capable of killing, stealing and harming innocent people.  And what is it for?  Is it street cred?  Respect?  Is it because there is nothing else to do?

Women need to find a way to stay away from situations like that because once one is involved, it is very hard to get out.  That is why Willy hid the woman he loved from the rest of the gang—he knew that there would be trouble for her.  Just like he knew there would be trouble when Sayra left her father to travel with him.

With Sayra’s situation in the film, immigration was the toughest adversary to overcome.  Such extreme relocation has the potential to break up a home and the prospect of losing loved ones.

Even though I am Latina, I have never had to deal with one of my family members being deported or having to try and find a way to come into or stay in the country.

I imagine how hard that could be.  In Sayra’s case in the movie, she had no one after she made the decision to leave her father.  Once she was separated from Willy, it was up to her to find her own way to the U.S.  She was alone.

So many women go through that as well, and I think that is a testament to how strong women truly are.  In such a patriarchal society, we are faced with situations and deal with issues that would have many men terrified.

We are powerful human beings, and that is something that was captured in this movie.  Regardless of the major task at hand, the women in the film and real women all over the world can overcome challenges that seem next to impossible.

They have the ability to change their situations, and when they do they will get to a place, either physically or mentally, where they can commend themselves for overcoming their most extreme challenges.

Benita Zepeda is a journalism student at Columbia College Chicago.

Latinas are losing a desperately need program providing culturally competent reproductive health and family planning because of harassment and intimidation from pro-life groups. Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast has succumbed to pressures from pro-life groups by ending its program, La Promesa While the need for these services is clear, opponents argue that Latinas are a pawn in promoting Planned Parenthood’s agenda.

The fallout from the strife between Planned Parenthood and pro-life groups is reflected in its decision to not seek a $50,000 grant from the Martin County Children’s Services Council to continue its La Promesa program.   The 600 women currently participating in La Promesa will be the last as the program runs through June 30.

Since 1995 Latinas have had the highest teen birth rate among all other racial and ethnic groups, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.  Fifty-three percent of Latina teens become pregnant before the age of 20.

Research from the CDC also shows Latinos are about twice as likely as non-Latino blacks and three times as likely as non-Latino whites to lack a regular health care provider.  Approximately 71 percent of Latinos report that they received health information through their family, friends, church groups and community groups.

Bill Beckman, spokesman for the Illinois Right to Life Committee, contends Planned Parenthood is not interested in providing health care, as it claims, but to perform abortions.  He sees the elimination of the program as a help for Latinas.

“Latinas attracted to the La Promesa program are the next victims of Planned Parenthood’s trap, said Beckman.  “The elimination of the La Promesa program because of Planned Parenthood’s decision not to seek government funding is good news for Latinas.”

Beckman also asserts that the funding available for such programs is a main incentive for Planned Parenthood.

“Planned Parenthood’s agenda is to treat women, including Latinas, as sexual objects from which to generate revenue,” Beckman said.

Offering education to Latinas about such vital health issues is empowering, not demeaning in the way Beckman describes.  To assume that Latinas are so malleable and easily manipulated underestimates and insults our intelligence.

Teaching about our own sexuality doesn’t turn Latinas into sexual objects.  These programs allow Latinas to receive the reproductive health care they need and should be able to participate without fear from harassment.

In 2009, La Promesa served more than 11,000 participants by offering medical services for Latinos in the area and assists families in developing ways to discuss what are to be considered taboo topics in the Latino community including sexually transmitted infections, teen pregnancy, and safe sexual behavior.

Alicia Torres, spokeswoman for Students for Life of Illinois, said that while Planned Parenthood tries to project an image of helping minority communities, their mission is promoting abortions.  And Latinas are not part of the organization’s plan to push its agenda.

“It is a tragedy that Latina women are now being targeted by this organization,” said Torres.  “The abortion rate among Latina women is now double the rate among white women.”

The true tragedy could be the premature ending of other services around the country dedicated to helping Latinas.

Planned Parenthood of Minnesota/South Dakota has a similar program, Entre Amigas, which offers a 12 week workshop in Spanish on topics ranging from sexuality, birth control methods, sexual abuse, domestic violence and sexual orientation.  Former participants are encouraged to pass the lessons with the community and receive a stipend for the work they do.

According to its website, the peer educators have taught 3,600 individuals in the community.  The information participants learned during the program will positively change their lives, as well as the lives of their spouses and children, Planned Parenthood of Minnesota/South Dakota stated on its website.

The loss of the La Promesa program is a loss to Latinas in southern Florida who have few alternatives when it comes to receive culturally sensitive education about reproductive health.  This may also be a threat the other existing programs who have been harassed by pro-life groups.
Some Planned Parenthood facilities perform abortions, but La Promesa and Entre Amigas are about educating and informing Latinas about the choices we have.  Pushing one agenda without giving the wide scope of options is damaging to Latinas and women in general.

By backing down to protesters, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Southern Florida is sending the message that bullying works.  Each day can be a grueling fight, but surrender isn’t the answer.

Angelica Jimenez is a graduate journalism student at Columbia College Chicago.

“Barriga llena corazón contento” is a Spanish proverb when translated means a full stomach, a happy heart.  For celebrity, author and chef- Ingrid Hoffman, she has turned this metaphor into her reality.

Hoffman, 44, started her entertainment career as a soap-opera star over 20 years ago in her homeland Colombia.  After  marrying a “foreigner” Ingrid left her successful career behind and moved to Miami. When she was told that she was not Hispanic enough by casting directors to pursue her acting career, she turned to her second love- food.

With her new passion determination and apron in hand, Ingrid became the host of several cooking shows catering to both the Spanish and English market – Galavision/Univision’s “Delicioso,” and the Food Network’s “Simply Delicioso.”  In addition to becoming a celebrity chef including the first Hispanic host on the Food Network,  Ingrid continued to have her hand in many projects including writing a cookbook, “Simply Delicioso: A Collection of Everyday Recipes with a Latin Twist,” becoming the owner several businesses, and  starting Hope Kitchen- a Food Truck that  that not only serves burgers but employs the homeless and gives recent chefs internship opportunities.

Hoffman has swung the doors of being an entrepreneur wide open  it was not always this easy. Like many other women in the industry, Ingrid  faced many obstacles including a divorce, rejection and times of uncertainty.

Although she is not a trained chef, Ingrid tod me during a recent email interview that she credits her cooking skills to both her mother-a Cordon Bleu  chef, and her culture. Ingrid’s ancestors are of German descent, hence the last name Hoffman. She was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, raised in Cali, Curacao, and the Netherlands Antilles.

Here is a question and answer with this Latina chef.

Did you always envision yourself being in front of the camera? If not, what was your childhood dream job?

IH: No I never did, I actually stumbled upon this. A friend had asked me to do short cooking segments in her show as a favor. And look where it took me.

A couple of interviews stated that  you faced some type of rejection when you tried to continue your acting career in Miami and were not dubbed as not being Latina enough. There was also a time that you mentioned while you were on your road to self-discovery there were some feelings of doubt and confusion. How did you overcome these obstacles?

IH: Doubt and confusion is something normal for me; I always have many ideas, dreams and passions or the opposite can be true where I go through spells of being creatively dry. But it comes with the territory of being curious and intense and obsessed so at this age I have learned that it is OK to be confused sometimes and that I do not always need to know how to figure it out.

My food reflects a lot of who I am – a “MUTT.” Because all of my ancestors where from different places and  where brought up in different countries like my self I have many different cultures in me. I not only grew up eating from all these different countries but love cooking food from our 22 Latin countries including Spain.”

What advice can you offer other Latina women who may be facing similar hurdles in respects to pursing their dreams?

IH:  First is define your dream, put in on paper and somewhere where you see it every day! Then go about editing it in to 1st year, 2nd year, etc. and make a list of the steps you need to achieve to in stages in order to built the road to the dream….. I call it my flight plan and it is taped on the mirror of my bathroom, it allows me to stay focused.

Keeping the success of your shows and book in mind (and if there was a time machine that could take you back in time) what is one piece of advice or quote that would tell  your younger self?

IH: Pick something you love and then work very hard to be the best at it, giving it your all. It’s never easy and do not give up. Perhaps reassess when it’s needed and make shifts and changes when needed, cover all your basis, do your homework and research all!

As far as her dreams and goals are concerned Ingrid is not only crossing many of them off of her list, but also setting new goals in mind. She plans to do some work with the Oye Chica Foundation, a foundation to help empower women in disadvantaged areas and continues to pursue her writing career, her People en Español monthly page, her next two books, as well as releasing a cookware line including salsa, sauces and spices.

For more information on Ingrid Hoffman or to learn more about Latin Burger, the social media gourmet truck on wheels, you can log onto one of the many social networking sites that she is a part of including twitter and facebook.

Natalia Avilez is a writer based in Chicago.

Latino students are looking for the same things other students look for in a college, according to Ana Maria Soto, the executive director of Latino Initiatives at National Louis University in Chicago.

“They’re looking for value in their education–a way to make a living and follow their dreams,” she says.

Soto is no stranger to the use of Latinos in marketing for colleges. She has been featured in advertisements for National Louis University. The school’s “I Got It At NLU” campaign has gotten her noticed. The ads effectively feature both students and staff members, simultaneously displaying the school’s growing diversity alongside the resources available to assist potential students.

Diversity has become a hot commodity in advertisements for colleges and universities, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that schools know what Latinos need to get from their education. Diversity in marketing doesn’t always play out on campus. Without being accompanied by a diverse faculty as well as programs and initiatives that offer support systems, advertisements of a school’s diversity are two-dimensional attempts at recruitment and retention.

“You have to have a holistic view of the person. There’s academic help, social help, financial aid help, all kinds of other issue,” says Soto.  “And that is only done by committed people in the front lines that gather the group, empower the students and not this diversity like window dressing that is prevalent sometimes.”

In addition to these ads, the school’s various programs include scholarships and initiatives which respond to the Latino community in Chicago. Among these is an MBA program held in Chicago’s Little Village, from which Soto recently graduated. She is currently working on a mentorship program called Mujeres de HACE for Latina businesswomen “who feel very alone in their current job because they’re probably the only Latino there.”

At NLU Soto is also working on getting Latinos through a special program for them to become teachers. She feels that the low percentage of Latino faculty at NLU and in higher education in general is due to the low Latino rate of graduation from high school, bachelor’s, masters, and then doctoral programs.

“When you get to the end of the pipeline choosing professors, the pool is really reduced,” she says.

She has been involved in an effort to diversify the pools of people interviewed for positions at NLU.

“Now if they get the job, that’s on qualifications,” she says.

She also cautions that not every Latino is going to be great for Latinos and mentor them.

For various reasons, minority students may end up feeling overlooked or unsupported on college campuses. Beatriz Ruiz, is a second year graduate student in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who will be graduating in May 2010. Despite having one of the highest percentages of Latino full-time faculty in Chicago (5 percent), Ruiz feels that this is not reflected in her particular department.

Ruiz says that she feels she has to constantly educate students and faculty about her Latino background, which she finds frustrating.

“There is almost a sort of tokenism that occurs. This hinders the pursuit of education because…that is not what most people expect to have to do and it can also be very isolating and discouraging,” Ruiz said.

Jose Diaz is a Fine Arts Major at Columbia College Chicago and president of the campus’ Latino Alliance student organization. He has been in pictures for the school’s Student Engagement Office, alongside students of other ethnicities.

“It was cool; it didn’t bother me at all, but I do keep it in mind that they’re trying to show diversity,” Diaz said.

At the same time, Diaz says he has never seen a billboard for Columbia in his neighborhood Back of the Yards. He says he gives his school an “F” with regards to reaching out to lower income Latino neighborhoods in Chicago.

“I was not expecting to be the only Latino in each class, it was just ridiculous,” he says.

Adriana Guerrero received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Chicago where she says diversity was a big problem for her.

“In general people wouldn’t try to talk to me,” said Guerrero.  “I think they tried to talk to others that they just felt more comfortable with.”

Guerrero says she felt alone throughout most of her experience in college, which included struggles with financial aid.

“I think it’s made me quite self conscious about how far I can go really in the field and it’s made me question whether I am smart enough or worthy enough to go on and get a higher education in psychology,” says Guerrero.

Alejandra Mendez, a senior at Hubbard High School in Chicago is preparing to graduate this June 2010. She is about to become part of the 54 percent of Latino high school graduates that move on to higher education. Mendez is on the hunt for the school with the program she feels is the best fit for her.

The corridors of her predominantly Latino high school feature a “College Wall” which is covered in brochures from various institutions. Among them is a pamphlet from New York University which claims that “Diversity is indispensible to NYU’s pursuit of excellence.” A closer examination of their records for undergraduate minority enrollment reveals a less than stellar reality.

While there is a large Asian American population (19 percent), Latino enrollment is less than half of that (8 percent). According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, at NYU only 3.5 percent of the faculty are Latino. While they may not be the most prominent group of students (or faculty) on campus, the NYU brochure certainly features images of Latinos students prominently.

Mendez dreams of attending either Southern Illinois University or the University of Missouri at Columbia and majoring in Psychology when she graduates from Hubbard. While seeing images of diversity in viewbooks may make a prospective student feel more welcome, it won’t ensure their enrollment. Mendez says that even though she would like diversity in her future school, it’s not her top priority. She’s more worried about other factors like the overall size of the school and financial aid. Proximity to her family, her support system, is also a big concern. While she doesn’t want to remain in Chicago, she says she’d like to be somewhere that’s “not that close, but not that far from home.”

“I think the amount of help financially that I’m going to get is the main factor,” says Mendez.

In order for images of diversity in campus marketing to be effective, they have to have some substance behind them. Financial aid, an emphasis on community, and a diverse and helpful faculty will ensure retention so that the educational pipeline becomes unclogged. Without this, future students like Mendez are at risk of finding themselves on their new campus feeling disillusioned and either isolated or burdened with the added responsibility of serving to educate their post-secondary institution–rather than the other way around.

Jenny Patiño is a student at Columbia College Chicago.

Georgia Hernandez, 20, a student says she has an image in her head of what she should look like and when she sees herself in the mirror she feels she is overweight.

“Sometimes I don’t feel attractive after I eat,” she said. “I don’t feel guilty about eating either. It’s when I’m trying on clothes… that’s when I’m like ‘oh my god.’”

Weight has always been an important issue that everyone at some point has dealt with. Statistics show that Latinas among all women of different ethnic groups are number one in being overweight, and they are second, after African Americans, in being obese. There are many reasons that can explain why weight is such a prominent issue that directly affects Latinas.

It’s easy to blame the media and fashion industry for the negative body-image issues Latinas have since both have taken it upon themselves to set the standards of beauty in America.

Another student Brenda Rodriguez, 21, also feels the pressure. “When I turn on the TV all I see are skinny girls…oh, and commercials advertising all these weight-loss supplements,” she said. “It makes me feel insecure.”

Interestingly, those who immigrate after the age of 17 are less likely to want to be thin. It is the Latinas who are born in the U.S or those who immigrate and go through the process of acculturation at a young age who likely to prefer a smaller body size.

What does that say about our cultural practices and America as a whole?

Today, many media outlets are trying to address the situation and educate young girls on what a healthy weight is and are also trying to provide positive role models.

For example, on the October issue of Latina Magazine, curvy actress America Ferrera, who played a confident overweight girl in the 2002 film “Real Women Have Curves,” appears on the cover. Just think, not many other magazines choose curvy celebrities to grace their covers. By doing that Latina Magazine is defying society’s obsession with body image and while giving a voice to bigger girls also showing that girls are beautiful in all shapes and sizes.

Although the media is huge factor it is not the only culprit. Actually, the Latino culture itself is just as considerable.

“I think that the Latino women cook a lot more than any other ethnicity and when you cook a lot you tend to eat a lot, but just the food overall, like we eat a lot of tortillas and a lot of rice. And also in our culture we are taught to be proud of our curves,” Hernandez said.

Culture plays a big role. In some traditional Latino lifestyles, being overweight or obese is not necessarily seen as a bad thing.

In many traditions being heavier set is seen as a sign of affluence and success. Latinos like to eat, and because of the cuisine that composes the Latino diet, they tend to eat more fried foods and less fruit. Consumer statistics from the Latino Nutrition Coalition show that Latinos make twice as many grocery-shopping trips per month among any other ethnic group.

Lack of exercise adds on to the problem. The U.S. Department of Education shows that nationally only about 36 percent of Hispanic girls in high school played sports compared with 52 percent of non-Hispanics. According to The Government Source for Women’s Health, more than half of Mexican-American women do not report being involved in any type of physical activities nor hobbies.

“I don’t really have the time to exercise, I mean, I know I should but I have to go to school and I also work so I just feel tired all the time,” says Alejandra Gonzalez, 20.

Perhaps the main issue that can connect the factors previously stated, are the financial resources from which many Latinos are deprived and therefore, the lack of access to healthcare.

“They don’t have the money to spend on higher quality foods with lower carbs or calories. A lot of Latinos save their money and send it back home so they don’t have the money to buy and eat healthier foods,” said Mary Russell a dietitian at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The Pew Hispanic Center reports that Latinos are the ethnic group with the least medical insurance coverage and that simple fact increases the risk of having this chronic disease present. Perhaps because of the lack of healthcare many may not be able to visit the doctor and might skip regular checkups and so they cannot prevent the problem.

Not only is this issue affecting adult Latinas but also children. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, weight is now the most chronic problem in children and a shocking statistic shows that Latina girls are the second most overweight group of children in the U.S which can potentially increase future health risks.

Russell say that there has been a lot of pressure towards companies like Kellogg’s cereal and Coca-Cola for them to reduce their calories or change nutrition contents because many of their marketing is targeted to the younger audience.

“Kids think a certain cereal is cool or soda is cool and they consume it. Children need to learn in school healthy eating habits, but it has to go both ways, they can’t come home and mom or grandma has different food. It’s a big problem and that’s where community outreach should step in and educate parents too,” adds Russell.

Various social, cultural, and genetic circumstances affect the Latin community and favor it being overweight which can lead to other health problems like Type II diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, hypertension and arthritis. What can we do to not fall victims of obesity or eventually of one of these diseases?

Julia Valerio, a dietitian who works at a weight loss management clinic in Chicago, shares his advice.

“Do more physical activities, watch less TV, go outside and walk,” said Valerio.  “Particularly with children, it all starts really early and if they are overweight growing up it will be difficult to maintain the weight off as they get older. It is important for you to want to be healthy.”

Luz Garcia is a journalism student at Columbia College Chicago.

Maria Cardenas leads a full life-she juggles four different jobs, a serious relationship, social commitments with a multitude of friends and raises six cats-but children are not a part of this picture.

Cardenas, 47, is one of a minority of Latinas who have made the decision to either delay starting a family or not have children altogether. There’s a growing trend of women who are waiting to have children until later in life; however the birthrate for Latinas remains the highest among other ethnic groups.

Cardenas is a second-generation Mexican-American on her father’s side and third-generation on her mother’s. Cardenas parent’s divorced when she was 8, after her mother decided to leave her abusive father.

Cardenas said she felt pressure from her mother to get married and start a family, but her mother’s feelings changed after seeing her sons’ failed marriages.

“My mother stopped pestering me (about having children) when my brother started having kids,” said Cardenas. “And it’s funny because now my mom says, ‘You’re the smart one for never getting married.’”

There are also more and more women having children outside the confines of marriage compared with the previous generations. And with women achieving higher levels of education, there is a correlation with lower levels of fertility.

Second generation Latinas have lower birth rates than foreign-born or even third generation Latinas. The average age women give birth for the first time is 25, which is a record high.

According to the U.S. Census Report, the percentage of women ages 40 to 44 with no children doubled from 10 percent to 20 percent over the past 30 years. In 2006, women in this age group who had children had an average of 1.9 children each. The only group resisting the trend is Latinas, who are averaging 2.3 children by their 40s.

Chicago is her current home, but Cardenas grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism. Her family, which includes her parents, stepmother, brothers half siblings and nieces and nephews, still lives in Ohio.

There was a time in her life when Cardenas thought about having children. She said in her late 20s, she wanted children, but she also wanted the right person in her life. She said she’s a traditionalist in that sense and would want to have children within the context of marriage.

After fibroids were found in her uterus, Cardenas underwent a partial hysterectomy. There was a moment where she grappled with the lost of her reproductive organ and how this would affect her ability to ever have children. She asked her surgeon to save her uterus if she could, but it wasn’t possible.

“I have my ovaries and she took my fallopian tubes and my uterus, and I have no regrets.” Cardenas said.

If she had children, Cardenas said she wouldn’t have been able to have the experiences she’s had including attending a writer’s conference in Maui, spending a year and a half in Arizona, studying martial arts and traveling to London.

Even though Cardenas and her boyfriend of 10 months, Dave, are committed and love one another, she said she isn’t interested in raising a child.

“Maybe next lifetime,” said Cardenas. “The only babies I want to work on are my own writing projects and other creative pursuits.”

WTOP and CBS affiliate in Washington D.C. reporter Patricia Guadalupe said she wasn’t raised in a household where the focus was to get married and have children.

“I grew up in a large family where my father was very clear to his daughters that we have all the opportunities as our brothers or any other men out there,” Guadalupe said. “In fact, as a military and federal government man, he could iron better than our mother and shined our shoes every Sunday night before school so our shoes looked brand new.”

Her mother directly asked if she would get married and have children, and Guadalupe honestly responded she wasn’t interested. Guadalupe’s family extends to her nieces and nephews, and she said she is happy with the choices she has been free to make on her own.

“I feel very fulfilled with all the nieces and nephews I have,” said Guadalupe. “I just chose not to go down that path, and I have no regrets.”

Guadalupe doesn’t see children as a sacrifice and believes it is possible to achieve other goals while raising children. Guadalupe has covered the White House and Congress, and worked in Mexico and Central America, specifically covering conditions in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala in the early 90s after the civil wars.

“I do feel that I could have accomplished everything if I had children because I see some of my friends do it,” said Guadalupe.

Guadalupe questions why women are always asked this question while men often escape such pressures. Men aren’t expected to stay home and raise children, where women still are, said Guadalupe.

“Let’s not look at it as an anomaly when men are involved in their children’s lives; they’re supposed to be,” said Guadalupe. “All too often women become enablers for the type of behavior men get away with of doing nothing or very little in their children’s lives because they are ‘too busy working.’”

Dr. Nayeli Chavez, assistant professor The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, said there is a trend where Latinas are waiting longer to have children. She said the reasons are tied to education, economic and acculturation levels.

“Latinas who go to school tend to wait,” said Chavez. “Second generation Latinas are raised here, and their parents are raised here; so their socio-economic status tends to be higher.”

Chavez, 31, is an accomplished Latina who isn’t married with children, and she said her mother is very understanding but has asked about her plans to marry.

“My mom has asked me, ‘What’s going to happen when I die? Who’s going to take care of you?’” Chavez said.

For Latinos, there isn’t that same expectation to get married early and start a family.

“The gender roles for Latinos and Latinas are very different,” said Chavez. “When men wait, it is viewed more positively-there have more opportunities to date multiple women and be more independent. Latinas have pressure from parents, extended family and the community.”

Her clients have shared the same experiences with her, but those expectations don’t come from a concern, said Chavez.

“There is a sense of fear that there’s no one to protect you,” said Chavez. “There’s still fear that women aren’t going to be as respected, protected and will be alone; they want their daughter to have some one.”

Cardenas shares advice to other women who might be struggling with whether or not to have children.

“If you really do want a child, and the right partner doesn’t come along, then have that child or better yet, adopt a child or foster a child to see if you really want a kid,” said Cardenas. “If you don’t want to have kids, that’s a perfectly valid choice and that’s no one’s choice but yours.

Why shouldn’t you want to accomplish your own dreams and goals?”

Angelica Jimenez is a graduate journalism student at Columbia College Chicago.

According to Cuban-American poet Rita María Martínez, if you attend one of her readings “expecting that every poem is going to have coconuts in it, or mangos, or that every poem is going to be an exile poem then you are going to be disappointed.”

But you will be pleasantly surprised.

This November 18, 2009, Martínez was a visiting writer at the Guild Complex’s  “Palabra Pura,” a bilingual monthly poetry reading in Chicago. Writers, poets, and bibliophiles alike all gathered at the Decima Musa restaurant in Pilsen amidst clanking plates, colorful paper decorations and posters of Don Quixote.  In addition to a delicious dinner, attendees were treated to a diverse open mic reading and a performance by local feature poet, Puerto Rican spoken word artist Luis Tubens.

As the featured poet, Martínez was the last poet to read. Her deliberate voice and center-parted long dark hair gave her demeanor a sense of austerity that contrasted playfully with her poetry. She read mostly from her book “Jane-in-the-Box,” a revisionist romp through the lives and characters of Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre.” In these poems she takes the novel and illuminates its continued relatability by using contemporary pop references and sexually charged allusions. “Cross-Dressing,” meditates on pens, penises, and Freud through Brontë’s  use of a male pseudonym Currer Bell. “Jane Eyre: Heiress, Avon Lady, Plastic Surgery Junkie” got her the most applause and laughter from the audience for her outrageousness.

Although the subjects of her poems may deviate from what is traditionally expected of Latino poetry, Martínez is very proud of her Cuban heritage. She was born and raised in Miami by Cuban immigrant parents.  Neither of them was able to complete their own education and so they encouraged their only child to go to college. She is a graduate of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Florida International University.

Her father left Cuba in 1960 after the Revolution at the age of 17. He came from an affluent background where his father was a businessman and his mother was bilingual and had studied in the U.S. While it was easier for his family to adapt to their new country, it was still what Martínez considers “a rude awakening.” Rather than continue his education, her father had to work. Similarly, Martínez’s mother was pulled out of school in the 8th grade to help her family by sewing. She reached the U.S. in the early 1970s, already in her late 20s, and so had more difficulty with the language. According to Martínez, she still speaks little English and so it is difficult for them to share “books and certain literary things”.

In addition to being an internationally recognized published author, Martínez holds a position as an Academic Services Writing Tutor at Nova Southeastern University and notes on her professional website that she welcomes all ages. Being imprinted with the value of an education early on in life, she is willing to help those in her community overcome academic hurdles to success. She is currently helping her father, whom she credits with her love of language, work towards his GED.

While there weren’t any mangos, coconuts, or tales of exile in the poems Martínez read at Palabra Pura, there were bananas. She opened her reading by sharing her poem “Going Bananas” which describes the different banana trees her father has been successful at growing and the pride he takes in them. It has been published in “Burnt Sugar/ Caña Quemada,” a Cuban and Cuban-American anthology with Spanish versions of the poems. She says that being published in “Burnt Sugar/ Caña Quemada,” gave her the opportunity to have a poetry reading where her mother was able to understand.

Todd Puccio, Martínez’s husband, who is very supportive of her work was at her side in Chicago for the Palabra Pura reading. They first met at an open mic reading at their church.  When asked, Puccio says that what he enjoys most about her poetry is that it is “a terrific mix of literary allusion with lightheartedness.”

Francisco Aragón also met Martínez at a poetry reading. He is the curator for the Palabra Pura series and the director of Letras Latinas at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He and Martínez met a Palm Beach reading in February 2008 for an anthology he edited. He says that he chose Martínez to read for Palabra Pura’s last event of the year because he likes that her work “breaks the stereotypes of what someone might consider ‘Latino Poetry.’”

Like many other writers, Martínez wants to avoid the trap of what she calls “writing the ethnic ticket,” referring to when an author falls back on becoming a poster girl or poster boy for their ethnicity. Brontë used a male pen name to keep her work from being judged according to her gender. But how might a modern writer negotiate issues of race? She confides that she feels that a label like “Latina writer” can be a double edged sword. Some of her poetry deals with being Cuban-American and with her family, but there are also other poems that have nothing to do with her background. “I like Victorian novels and some of my favorite poets are females, but I’m Hispanic…am I supposed to be representing all Hispanic women?

Martínez, who writes about her obsessions, is redefining what it means to be a Latina poet in the United States. She explores shared popular culture in general rather than limiting herself to Latino issues. Currently, she is working on a series of poems inspired by super heroes. Whatever else we might have learned to expect from a “Latina writer” we can be sure that Rita María Martínez is one versatile poet who will not be boxed in.

Jenny Patiño is a student at Columbia College Chicago.