This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Latina Mom Bloggers and JCPenney. However, all opinions expressed are my own. Thanksgiving has always been a very important holiday in our family. Although it is a holiday that we adopted here in the United States, it has become a special day for family bonding. Since I was a child, we would all get together at my grandmother's house and spend time with one another being thankful for all of the blessings that were bestowed upon our family that year. The food that we shared and the unity that we felt made it one of the most important days of the year and I have carried those feelings into adulthood. Nowadays, my siblings and I carry on the Thanksgiving traditions that we learned as kids. Every year, we get together with our own children and we break bread together. The best part is that we still prepare a lot of the dishes that our grandmother used to make all of those years ago. One of the recipes that she was most well … [Read more...]
Celebrate The Real Spirit Of The Holidays! #JCPenneyLatino #RealLatinoHolidays @JCpenney #Ad
What Does It Mean To Be A Latina Of Today? @Orgullosa #OrgullosaHeritage #HHM
This is part of a sponsored campaign with P&G and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own. Being a Latina of today means many things to different Latinas. We all juggle diverse roles as mothers, businesswomen, professionals, wives, and daughters. The one common foundation that we all have is our desire to have the best of both worlds by embracing our Latina heritage and culture and taking advantage of the opportunities that being American has afforded us too. For me personally, being a Latina of today means that I have bridged the gap between the traditions of my Latin ancestors and the modern roles and opportunities that Latinas are able to experience in the United States. It means that I can have it all, a family, a career, a business, and a relationship without having to compromise any one of these roles. Also, it allows me to be a strong and independent woman who is not afraid to balance it all and be successful while doing it! … [Read more...]
Celebrate The History Of Latino Americans! @FordEspanol @PBS #LatinosPBS #LatinosFord
This is part of a compensated campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Ford. However, all opinions expressed are my own. Last week, I shared a very special experience with my two sons who are ages seven and ten. We sat down as a family and watched the second episode in the PBS series Latino Americans which kicked off our official celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to spend quality time as a family and to reflect on the many contributions that Latinos have made over the last 500 years. This episode focused on the struggles that Latinos encountered during the World War II years and years that followed the war. Although many Latinos proudly served this country and defended it during the war, they were still discriminated against and had to fight for civil rights during this time. We also learned about how Latinos from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba came to the United States looking for better opportunities for their … [Read more...]
Check Out My Interview Of David Soren, Director Of Turbo! #TurboMovie
*This post was written by me on behalf of 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation. All opinions are 100% mine. This past week I had the pleasure of interviewing David Soren, the Director/Screenwriter of Turbo the movie. Before our interview, I did a little background research on his accomplishments and I was very impressed to find out that he directed "Merry Madagascar" the first animated holiday television special starring the beloved quartet of Central Park Zoo animals from Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape to Africa. Seeing as how this is one of my sons' favorite animated films, I knew that I was in for a real treat being able to speak to him about what inspired him to create these films. Soren joined DreamWorks Animation after graduating from Sheridan College, located near his hometown of Toronto, Canada. His latest project, Turbo, raced into theaters on July 17th in 3D. It features the story of a snail named Turbo who aspires to win the Indy 500 despite the … [Read more...]
Shining A Light On Heart of Haiti
As an educator, I believe that it is my responsibility to impart the concept of empathy to my students. It is important that they understand that their actions and contributions to society can have a profound impact on the circumstances of others. As a result, every holiday we work together to decorate holiday greeting cards for our servicemen and servicewomen who are serving our country overseas. By participating in this program, they learn the importance of giving back to their community. Macy's Heart of Haiti initiative is also aimed at making a difference and giving something back to the community. It does so by providing sustainable income to Haitian artisans whose lives, and those of their families, have been completely devastated by the 2010 earthquake. It has already led to the employment of 750 artists in Haiti thereby providing financial benefits for an estimated 8,500 people throughout the country. Heart of Haiti is a "trade not aid" program geared at … [Read more...]
Plaza Familia is Dedicated to Supporting Bilingual Families!
It is with great excitement that I introduce you to the new blog and print magazine dedicated to bilingual families. I will be contributing a weekly post from the middle school educator perspective along with some of your favorite bilingual bloggers, writers, and educators. The purpose of Plaza Familia is to educate the Hispanic community living in the United States on the resources that are available in order to empower them to advocate on their children's behalf academically. We find that informed parents make better decisions about how to support their children within a scholastic environment. Although the blog and magazine are geared towards the Latin community, the information that is being shared can be useful to all parents. All of us who are lending our expertise to the project are parents and educators who are thoroughly invested in seeing children succeed and bridging the gap between the community and the local school. We would greatly … [Read more...]
Let’s Talk About Race
A few days ago, I was speaking to someone on Twitter who shared with me that a close friend of hers had referred to her daughter using a racial epitaph. Her daughter is biracial and her friend made the comment in jest and thought it was really funny and witty. I would rather not repeat the comment that she made, however, I think that it is important that you see exactly what she said so you can understand why it is so shocking. This "friend" actually referred to her daughter as a "nigglet." I'm sure you are as appalled as I was when I first read that she had the nerve to say this. I can connect to this, unfortunately. My husband has brown skin as he is of Cuban and Jamaican descent. My children are light skinned and have light eyes like me. We are raising our boys not to see skin color but it is really hard when people in society are so ignorant and biased. There have been many times when strangers have made comments about how surprised they were that my … [Read more...]
