Monday, September 28, 2009

Chivas puts Latin flavor for MLS

Chivas USA represents the latin flavor in MLS
By Justin Rodriguez, ESPNsoccernet, September 26, 2009

Like so many other soccer-crazed kids in Guadalajara, Julio Ramos grew up rooting for the famed first division club CD Guadalajara.

His father introduced him to Guadalajara before he could walk, taught him to love Chivas, and young Julio's allegiance came with perks. Ramos' dad was a maintenance worker for Guadalajara and often brought Julio to practice to mingle and kick the ball around with his idols.

Two decades later, Ramos' three sons are receiving their Chivas baptism north of the border. Julio rooted for de la Torre, Ledesma and Madero back in the 1980s. His boys, Julio, 9, Jair, 5, and Jonathan, 2, emulate Thornton, Talley and Galindo.

Don't get the wrong idea, their dad will be buried a CD Guadalajara fan. However, he loves Chivas USA as much as the sacred El Rebano Sagrado.

"I will not lie, I didn't love them the first day," says Ramos, 29, now living in Pacoima, Calif. "It took some time, but now I love Chivas USA. I'm not lying. It reminds me of the Guadalajara culture and I'm passing it down to my kids. That's what it's all about. It feels good to take them to the stadium and for them to feel what I feel."

And, of course, it doesn't feel any better than this. Hispanic Heritage Month wraps up on Oct. 15 -- an extra source of pride for Chivas USA's mainly Latino fan base. Even if the club does nothing official to celebrate the event.

However, that's not a Chivas diss. You see, here in SoCal, Chivas celebrates its Hispanic roots year-round: From the heat of the MLS playoff race to quiet offseason days.

Being here, going to a game when Chivas USA is rocking The Home Depot Center, almost has the feel of a Mexican first division game. Fans chant and sing all game long, banging on drums, urging the Goats on. They come from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala. Americans, white, black, Asian, whatever, are welcome to join the party. Many supporters are like Julio Ramos.

HHM 2009
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with ESPN.com.

They were bred on CD Guadalajara, and still root for the club with a record 11 Primera Division championships. However, these days, most of them root for Guadalajara's offshoot just as hard. A rarity in the rabid world of soccer fandom.

"I couldn't imagine playing for another team with the type of fans we have," says Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein, his mother, Laurie, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico. "Obviously, I think it's great. The fans understand the sport, they understand soccer, they are very passionate about the sport. In turn, that reflects upon the team. I think we all appreciate the way they cheer for us, the way they stand behind us."

Like two years ago in the SuperClasico. Chivas USA versus the rival L.A. Galaxy. It was Chivas USA's home game at The Home Depot Center.

Bornstein took to the pitch with the Chivas fans going wild. Then he saw it. Fans behind one of the goals began unfurling a huge Chivas USA flag.

Bornstein watched in amazement as the flag kept getting bigger and bigger until, finally, it filled the entire section.

"It was the coolest thing I've ever seen," Bornstein says. "That's something that happened because who the fans are and it's still in my memory. I couldn't believe looking at it when I took a corner kick. It's what I think of when I think of our fans."

And Ramos wants you to know this: Sure, there are plenty of passionate Galaxy fans who flock to The Home Depot Center when David Beckham is bending it. But it isn't the same as when he's banging his bass drums with the rest of Union Ultras -- a Chivas USA fan group.

"It's very simple, they are fake fans," Ramos says. "Not all of them, but a lot of them don't have a clue about soccer. They just come in to take pictures of David Beckham. They don't bring the passion that Chivas USA brings for 90 minutes."

Chivas USA, founded in August of 2004, has a unique relationship with its Hispanic fans because of its link to CD Guadalajara. Chivas USA is Guadalajara's sister club and is the only entirely Mexican-owned team in major professional sports in the U.S. The American outfit's uniform has the same vertical red-and-white stripes of Guadalajara -- donned along with blue shorts and socks.

Just about everyone in the club -- from the players to media relations and front-office staff -- speak at least a little Spanish. First-year Chivas USA defender Mariano Trujillo was bred as a player in Mexico in the Pumas' system. He went on to play 13 years in the Primera Division, including eight with Puma's top club.

No, nothing will ever match the intensity, the color, the flair of a Pumas game at Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City, where the team plays its home games. Still, Trujillo thinks Chivas USA is on to something. Those celebrations on steamy nights in Carson, Calif., feel a lot like home -- Trujillo playing the game he loves in front of so many of his people.

"It's been amazing for me," Trujillo says. "To have a lot of Hispanic people around the team and to have an Hispanic name. As a Mexican, it feels good to be a part of this. I love the atmosphere."

Justin Rodriguez covers USL, NCAA and youth soccer for ESPNsoccernet. He is the soccer writer for the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., and can be reached at rodriguezespn@yahoo.com.

'Othello' features Latino lead

Lengthy, high-concept 'Othello' falters off-B'way
By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, Associated Press

NEW YORK — Funny thing about director Peter Sellars' lengthy version of "Othello," now on view at New York University's Skirball Center.

His imagination outraces the ability of his actors, including the usually eminently watchable Philip Seymour Hoffman, a performer of uncommon intelligence.

That means the play, clocking in at a posterior-numbing four hours, is quite an ordeal, despite occasional bursts of inventiveness. It's high-concept time with ideas rather than Shakespeare's language or character ruling the day. But clever can take you only so far.

This is a modern-dress "Othello" with several of the characters in crisp military outfits, while others parade in more ordinary street clothes. They often yap conspiratorially into cell phones or stand in front of microphones as if they were delivering the latest news bulletin at a press conference.

It's chilly, to say the least, but then so is the minimal scenery, with Gregor Holzinger's high-tech designs dominated by banks of television screens including a section that serves as a bed.

The bed gets a workout throughout the evening. It's the playground where Othello, portrayed by John Ortiz, and his wife, Desdemona, a sexy Jessica Chastain, often writhe in various stages of undress while the action swirls around them.

Often to one side stands Iago, Othello's ensign and supposed good friend. Theirs is a bromance gone sour — or worse. And Hoffman's Iago lets you know his intentions the minute he steps on stage. His villain is a petulant screamer from the get-go. Arms folded across his chest, this Iago is more overtly psychotic than usual. And he doesn't change throughout the play.

Hoffman's portrait stands in contrast to Ortiz's surprisingly bland Othello, who doesn't seem to raise much of a ruckus, even when he suspects his wife of infidelity. The actor delivers his lines without much feeling, his low-watt outrage overshadowed by Hoffman's high-decibel rantings.

Chastain's Desdemona looks sensational even if her wrongly accused wife also suffers from a one-note delivery. But then, that sameness is a common affliction of the rest of the cast, too.

Sellars hasn't condensed the play, but he has conflated the characters with eight actors taking on all the roles. And he's given the production a post-racial sheen, celebrating diversity rather than having the Moor stand out because of his blackness. His Othello is Latino rather than black, but three of the other cast members are black, with two more Latino and two white.

Sellars' intentions are adventurous, but the actors let him down and never tap into the play's innate tragedy. If a production is going to last four hours, it needs to dazzle with more than a director's novel, idiosyncratic musings.

The revival is a joint venture of the LAByrinth Theater Company, which is run by Hoffman and Ortiz, and the Public Theater. It runs through Oct. 4. Bring a pillow.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Latino news now in English

Want Latino News in English? Go to 'Exclusiva'
English-speaking Latinos are getting their news from "Exclusiva."
Diversity Inc.

"Exclusiva," a news program on ABC News Now, is presenting stories on the Latino community that you would be hard-pressed to find on other network shows. That's because "Exclusiva" is the only show dedicated to providing English news on the Latino diaspora.

The brainchild of David Puente, who is the show's creator, anchor and producer, "Exclusiva" reaches ABC viewers through ABC News Now, a 24-hour news and information network available to nearly 34 million users across cable, broadband and mobile services.

"Millions of Hispanics are coming up English-dominant and they want to hear in English what's going on in Mexico [and other Latin American countries], whether it's movies or natural disasters," says Puente.

"Exclusiva" features stories about pet massacres in Puerto Rico, the deadly 7.7 magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile, or Mexican and Caribbean undocumented people moving from the United States to Canada.

Puente, an ABC News veteran who was once a producer on "20/20," told the story of hundreds of Mexican and Caribbean undocumented people, who have lived and had children in the United States, moving to Canada. They move for fear that they'll be sent back to their home countries by the United States' beefed-up policing of undocumented workers.

Canada's Windsor city is seeing its city services for these people, many of whom now are homeless, reported "Exclusiva." In Canada, undocumented people are claiming refugee status, said Ronna Warsh of Windsor Social Services.

These people include Yanick Samedi, an undocumented worker from Haiti, who has lived in the United States for 15 years. Samedi has four U.S.-born children and moved to Windsor, Canada, with her children to claim refugee status. Windsor housed the Samedis in a local hotel, "Exclusiva" reported.

The in-flow of undocumented people in Windsor caused the local Salavation Army to prepare extra beds in the gym. For some Windsorians, who rely on the nation's public services, the influx is a problem.

"A Canadian sleeping on the floor and a Mexican with mattresses, with blankets and stuff, and the Mexicans get to sleep up in the palace up in beds and play their ghetto music. It's not right," "Exclusiva" reported a Canadian man as saying.

"I wanted to provide this kind of information from ABC News to people like me," says Puente.

Puente got the idea to create "Exclusiva" while he was a producer on "20/20." ABC News Now was looking for new content, so he pitched his idea. Originally from Newark, N.J., Puente remembers being a kid and rarely hearing news about the Latino community. He remembers an evening when Barbara Walters interviewed Fidel Castro.

"I remember the buzz in my Hispanic community about what Castro was going to say," says Puente. "Fidel Castro was almost the Saddam Hussein of the 1970s. For me, it was important because someone important was paying attention to the Hispanic world. It was top-rated news we couldn't get on Univision."

That interview influenced Puente to become a television news reporter. When ABC News Now said it wanted new content, he realized he had an opportunity to create a new product that would engage English-speaking Latinos.

"Whether it's politics, or Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony talking about their new film, or whether it's Vincente Fox [Mexico's former president] talking about corruption charges, a lot of young Hispanics are feeling there's someone telling me in English what my mom and dad are talking about in Spanish," says Puente.

"Exclusiva," like the Latino consumer, is poised to become a force in the way the public consumes news. Podcasts are one way people can view "Exclusiva" reports, and of English-speaking Latinos, 70.9 percent use mobile content, compared with 47.9 percent of the rest of the U.S. market, according to M-Metrics.

English-speaking Latinos are also more likely to get their news through a mobile browser, 18.8 percent compared with 9.6 percent of all subscribers, reported M-Metrics. "This pattern of above-average, active, engaged usage of mobile content is present in almost all activities, from ringtone purchases, photo messaging and trading video to frequently using mobile phones to access a wide array of news," reported M-Metrics.

ABCNews.com, which also features "Exclusiva," is seeing an increase in traffic, although numbers directly linked to "Exclusiva" viewership were not available. ABCnews.com increased unique visitors by 21 percent, to 15.7 million in October 2007, versus the same time last year. It also received 150.8 million page views, up 19 percent from the previous month and 9 percent year-over-year, reported ABC.

Puente sees that "Exclusiva" is developing market awareness among young, upwardly mobile English-speaking Latinos.

"One of the big segments [of viewers] that e-mails me are students at universities," says Puente, who attributes that to the unique coverage "Exclusiva" has. "It's the only program of its type at any of the U.S. networks. We're the only one covering this part of the world in this way, in English. From the e-mails I've been getting … I think we're getting younger Hispanics and people who are interested in international news.'"

Senator helps launch Hispanic history project

Udall helps launch Hispanic history project
PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, today helped launch a new initiative to preserve the stories and experiences of Hispanic Americans through the StoryCorps Historias oral history project – which will visit several New Mexico cities over the next year.

Udall, a member of the Senate Democratic Hispanic Task Force, joined members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and others on Capitol Hill for StoryCorps Historias’ official launch. StoryCorps Historias will record the stories of nearly 1,000 Hispanics and Latinos over the next year through visits to 10 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. New Mexico stops are planned for Albuquerque, Taos and Alamosa.

Udall, a longtime fan of the StoryCorps project, originally broached the idea of a Hispanic- and Latino-focused initiative several years ago while a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. At the time, Udall and fellow members of a House subcommittee were hearing an update by StoryCorps on a separate project focusing on the stories of African Americans, called the Griot Initiative. Udall encouraged StoryCorps representatives to explore a similar project for Hispanic Americans.

“I am so pleased to see that idea come to fruition with today’s announcement of StoryCorps Historias,” Udall said. “As Senator from a state where almost 45 percent of residents are of Hispanic descent, I know firsthand how important the lives and experiences of Hispanics are in telling America’s story.”

StoryCorps was founded in 2003 with a mission to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening. In partnership with National Public Radio and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, StoryCorps has recorded more than 27,000 interviews with over 50,000 participants from across the nation to date.

"Since StoryCorps first started its work in 2003, the aim has been to create a growing portrait of who we are as a nation. At 50+ million strong, Hispanics represent 15 percent of the U.S. population and are the fastest-growing segment, which is why it is so important that we record and preserve their stories,” said StoryCorps Founder and President Dave Isay.

For more information on StoryCorps Historias: http://www.storycorpshistorias.org

Brand promotions target Hispanics

Hispanic TV Summit: Promotions Execs Build Brand Awareness Through Experiential Marketing
By David Tanklefsky -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/24/2009

Promotions executives have found experiential marketing and events-based promotional campaigns to be a strong builder of brand awareness among Hispanic consumers, panelists said at the Hispanic Television Summit in New York on Sept. 24.

“Cox understands that we Hispanics are much more community-centered,” said Renata Franco, marketing segmentation manager at Cox Communications. “Events do really well for us.”

While community events may not immediately translate into customers for MSOs or their partnering sponsors, they allow brands to interact face-to-face with members of the community and serve as product showcases, Franco said. Cox employs bilingual brand ambassadors at their events to personally speak with those attending.

“Our number one objective is to connect with our audience emotionally,” said Telemundo Station Group President Ronald J. Gordon. The broadcast group recently launched a tour that took the stars of popular telenovela Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso on two promotional runs to four different markets. “The results were fantastic,” Gordon said, citing increased ratings in the markets the stars visited.

Matt Grim, director of marketing for Fox Sports en Espanol, said that bringing in high-cost talent to events often isn’t worth the price that talent costs. He said events with lower-cost giveaways and gifts often drew crowds of the same size. Like Gordon and Franco, he spoke of leveraging his brand’s assets to build community in the Hispanic market. Fox Sports en Espanol set up a scholarship for the male and female Latino Athlete Student of the Year in New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles. The network engaged distributors by getting local advertisers through the local cable system to sponsor the promotion and then co-branded it with Time Warner Cable.

“Sports itself is experiential,” said Robyn Remick, VP of affiliate marketing for ESPN. “[Viewers] are experiencing it in real time. It is part of their life experience.”

Remick believes promotions targeting a large and diverse audience are a consistent game of trial and error. “You begin with a plan A, when you finally get to plan D, you get it right.”

Remick, an industry veteran of more than 25 years, believes successful campaigns often hinge on an understanding of Hispanic culture in local markets. For example, a Caribbean baseball themed-promotional campaign might draw interest in New York but perhaps not as much in Los Angeles, she said. By the same token, a Mexican soccer-themed campaign likely would play better in Los Angeles than New York.

“It’s about digging deeper to find where the cultural relevance is,” Remick said.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Hispanic telenovela to feature 2010 census storyline

Telenovela to Feature 2010 Census Storyline
By Tina Irgang, FOXNews.com, September 22, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The devil knows best -- and he's about to share his knowledge on the 2010 Census.

NBC's Spanish-language affiliate Telemundo will incorporate a storyline on the upcoming decennial census into its most popular telenovela, "Mas Sabe El Diablo."

The storyline is set to begin in about 10 days, and will last until the series' projected end in November. This marks the first time the census has ever been written into a telenovela, although these Spanish-language soap operas often deal with pertinent social and political issues, Telemundo President Don Browne said Tuesday at a news conference to announce the script addition.

The storyline's purpose is to tackle misunderstandings and educate viewers, Browne said, "in a way that communicates the importance and the simplicity and the safety of the census, in their own words, with characters that they know and love."

Robert Groves, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, said fears in the Latino community that census data might be used to identify illegal immigrants are groundless.

"The president could call me right now and demand your census data, and I wouldn't be able to give it to him," he said.

Participating in the census can have long-term benefits for the Latino community, Groves said.

"A lot of movement of taxpayer money back to local communities that need support is based on the census," he said. "Over $400 billion a year is indexed to census counts."

In the upcoming storyline, actress Michelle Vargas portrays Perla Beltran, who is hired as a worker for the 2010 census.

"The federal law protects the information that's shared during the census. And it's easy. You answer those questions in less than 10 minutes," she said at the news conference.

Earlier this year, some Latino groups had called for a boycott of the census in protest of current immigration laws.

Telemundo's efforts are designed to counter those boycott calls and convey the benefits of the census, Browne said.

"We are going through incredibly fundamental demographic changes in our country," he said. "That's what the census is designed to manifest, so the more accurate it is, the better it manifests the true reality of who we are."

Maryland has traditionally been home to a large immigrant population, including an estimated 300,000 Hispanics, according to the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The state's Hispanic community was disturbed when, in April 2008, Frederick County began to participate in a program that allows local police to enforce federal immigration laws. Maryland's immigrant community criticized the move, fearing arrests based on racial profiling would be the result.

Gigi Guzman, chairwoman of the Maryland Hispanic Career Council, said the telenovela plan has the potential to educate viewers about the census using familiar characters and situations.

"If it helps to alleviate the community's misunderstandings and fears about the census, I think it's a really beneficial thing, and I applaud their efforts."

Capital News Service contributed to this report.

Hispanic leaders highlighted in podcast series

MillerCoors Launches 2009 Lideres Featuring New Podcast Series
PRESS RELEASE

CHICAGO, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), MillerCoors launched today its 2009 Lideres program, which celebrates and fosters leadership in the Hispanic community. Each year, the program recognizes stand out Hispanic leaders, as well as the important work and contributions they are making in their communities.


"Through Lideres, MillerCoors hopes to inspire the next generation of Hispanic leaders, while showcasing those who are taking on leadership roles within their community," said Javier Soler, Regional Vice President & General Manager, MillerCoors.

This year, in addition to highlighting notable Hispanic leaders, MillerCoors is launching a new Lideres podcast series on MillerCoorsLideres.com. The company asked past Lideres to share their experiences related to leadership and personal and professional development which will be available for download from the website providing a more interactive leadership development tool for visitors.

The Lideres podcast series will offer a variety of topics with high profile national Hispanic leaders, including:

* Community Service and Volunteerism - Betty and Roberto Cordova, known as "Team Cordova," are husband and wife educators based in Greeley, Colorado, who are actively involved in local organizations, including their local League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) chapter. In a time when the country has a renewed commitment to community service, these veteran volunteers will share tips on how volunteering can help you hone your leadership skills while still making a difference in your community.
* Role of Social Media in Professional Development - Octavio Hinojosa is the executive director of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI), an organization dedicated to advancing Americans of Hispanic and Portuguese descent. In response to today's demand for social media networks like Facebook and Linked-in, Hinojosa will share the top ways social media also serves as a networking tool to further leadership development.
* Interview and Job Seeking Tips - Carlos Orta is the executive director of the Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility (HACR), an advocacy organization that advances the inclusion of Hispanics in Corporate America. For people looking to break through today's tough job market, Orta will share his top eight interview do's and don'ts.

Team Cordova, Hinojosa and Orta were recognized as Lideres in 2008 and 2007 by MillerCoors.

The Lideres podcast series will feature three additional Lideres sharing their insight on leadership topics in November. In addition, information and resources related to these leadership topics are available on www.MillerCoorsLideres.com.

Launched in 2006, Lideres provides visibility and resources to dozens of current and emerging leaders within the Hispanic community. In 2007, Lideres partnered with the Gallup Organization to host the Lideres Training Workshop series in six cities across the country. Nearly 500 individuals from 21 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico participated in these trainings.

In 2008, MillerCoors highlighted 12 Lideres through a national print advertising campaign. The hard work of these leaders has encouraged the next generation of leaders to improve their business skills, expand their networks and become leaders in their own right. Since 2006, Lideres has spotlighted nearly 60 Hispanic business, political and community leaders through a national advertising print campaign in major publications.

Advertising on Hispanic TV

Hispanic TV Summit: Don Francisco Touts “Three-Screen Approach”
By Joel Topcik -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/23/2009

In a keynote speech kicking off the 7th annual Hispanic Television Summit in New York City, legendary broadcaster Don Francisco urged advertisers and programmers to find the right “marketing mix” to reach Hispanic media consumers. And he stressed the need for the growing Hispanic media sector to adapt to new technologies and emerging platforms.

“I’m convinced that the proper combination [of platforms] will allow us to engage the consumer,” said Francisco, the creator and host of Univision’s variety juggernaut Sábado Gigante, at the B&C/Multichannel News event at New York’s Marriott Marquis.

Francisco, whose real name is Mario Kreutzberger, recounted how “creative and effective advertising,” particularly product integration, helped make his globally distributed show the longest-running variety show in TV history.

“Integration was for us the most important thing,” he said, pointing to the show’s famous audience sing-alongs to ad jingles as a way “make the audience part of the advertiser’s message.”

However, Francisco cautioned that integration and placement can’t be disruptive or out of place within a program. “Some marketers forget that advertising still needs to be entertaining,” he said. “It should be done in a way that the viewer is barely aware that they are watching an advertisement.”

Francisco marveled how much the Hispanic market—which accounted for $5 billion in ad spending in 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence estimates—has evolved since Sábado Gigante relocated from his native Chile to the U.S. in 1986, and began its run on Univision.

While many advertisers initially didn’t recognize the importance of communicating to Hispanic audiences in their own language, Francisco commended Procter & Gamble for understanding the show’s credo: “Separated by distance; united by one language.”

Now, he said, the challenge is stay current with new media and adopt a “three-screen approach” to reach consumers via TV, the Web and mobile video.

Referring to the show’s use of Skype to interact with viewers on-screen and its segments featuring viewer-submitted videos, Francisco said, “I attribute our success to our ability to adapt to our audiences and to changing technology.”

Francisco reminisced about his first trip to New York nearly 50 years ago and his first encounter with a television set. “It was love at first sight,” he said. And after 47 years as host of Sábado Gigante, Francisco still believes TV will remain the dominant medium “as long as people need to communicate.”

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Hispanic exhibit highlights Peruvian migration

Exhibit spotlights Peruvian migration to the Garden State
THE STAR-LEDGER, September 20, 2009

It was a commercial for a Peruvian telephone company on Spanish-language television that underscored to Guillermo Callegari that his adopted home state -- New Jersey -- was the world hub for his fellow expatriates.

"The commercial showed a person speaking to someone on the phone. It featured a call between Paterson and Peru," said Callegari, 78, who settled in Paterson in 1962.

"It delighted me to no end when I saw that commercial. The company wanted to promote their service between Peru and the United States, and they realized that Paterson and New Jersey were the places to zero in on."

In a nod to New Jersey's Peruvian-American community, the third-largest in the United States, the Newark Public Library is spotlighting the ethnic group in its celebration this year of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The library is offering an exhibit that features dozens of items about Peruvian migration to New Jersey, as well as a variety of objects -- including Peruvian crafts, literature and photos -- relating to the history and culture of Peru.

The exhibit, called "A Journey from Ancient Times: Peruvians in New Jersey," will be on view until Dec. 31.

"About nine years ago, we decided to dedicate our Hispanic Heritage Month celebration every other year to a particular nationality," said the exhibit's curator, Ingrid Betancourt. "We found that the public was not aware of the rich diversity within the Latino community. To many people, Latinos were basically Puerto Ricans or Mexicans, and Latino food was just tacos."

So Betancourt and others affiliated with the library decided to focus on a chosen ethnic group's native country, as well as the story of what brought that group to New Jersey and the evolution of their community here.

For many Peruvians, it was the textile work that then abounded in Paterson that first attracted them in the 1950s and 1960s, said Roberto Bustamante, a Rutherford resident who helped acquire items for the exhibit.

"Textile work was big in Peru ... so many people already had the knowledge of how to do the job," he said.

TV exec wants to empower Hispanic viewers

Univision chief a mission to empower Hispanic viewers
BY LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Sun Times, September 19, 2009

MIAMI -- When Cesar Conde walks into a room, his youthful looks and earnest countenance have at times led people to confuse the trim executive with an intern.

But such confusion is increasingly rare. The 35-year-old was tapped last month to head Univision Networks, the most prominent holding of Univision Communications Inc. -- the nation's largest Spanish-language media empire.

Its signature network regularly ranks fifth among all broadcast and cable networks, English or Spanish.

Conde, who takes over Oct. 1, is the Miami-born son of Peruvian and Cuban immigrants who came to the U.S. "with absolutely nothing except for the spare change and the clothes they had on their back," according to their son. He is also a Harvard graduate with an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, embodying not only the immigrant dream but also the network's future -- including second- and third-generation Hispanics drawn to the network because of cultural, as well as language ties.

It is his Gen X ability to move from talk of political empowerment to market statistics to the company's latest reality TV offerings that makes Conde such a force in shaping the future of one of the nation's fastest growing networks.

Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin L. Powell, whom Conde served as a White House Fellow from 2002 to 2003, said he quickly noticed something special about the young businessman.

"It was clear to me that he had great potential," Powell said in an e-mail to yhe Associated Press. "I believe a person's early accomplishments are an important signal of their future success, and Cesar has had many of them.

"His sense of purpose and maturity allow him to lead by bringing out the best in those around him despite his young age."

Univision, and Spanish-language media in general, have long embraced advocacy journalism, providing a "we're on your side" ethos for its audience, but Conde is part of a new leadership looking to expand the tradition.

"Our goal is to inform, entertain and empower the Hispanic community," Conde said recently from his new Miami offices. "But it's that third one, of empowerment, that I feel can really solidify our unique connection with our audience."

With the support of Univision CEO Joe Uva, Conde pushed for the first Sunday morning news talk show, "Al Punto" or "To the Point." He also backed the nation's first Spanish-media presidential candidate debate.

"We wanted to ensure that the Hispanic electorate was able to hear their voices on Election Day," explained Conde. "Both Democrat and Republican candidates spoke directly to the Hispanic community about issues of importance to the Hispanic community. They weren't speaking about the Hispanic community. It's a subtle but important difference."

Conde also was instrumental in Univision's "Ya es hora [Now is the time]" citizenship campaign along with National Association of Hispanic Elected and Appointed Officials and other groups. He is now helping to coordinate the second phase of the campaign to ensure Hispanics are counted in the 2010 census.

Besides the signature Univision network, Conde also oversees the company's cable channel Galavision, and its smaller network, TeleFutura. Uva, who has been a mentor to Conde, said it was his leadership abilities, his analytical skills and that uncanny maturity that made him ideal for the job.

Popular Latino journalist alleges being ousted because he's gay

Ousted Florida Anchorman Charles Perez Speaks Out
Rob Kuznia--HispanicBusiness.com, Sept. 21, 2009

For two decades, Charles Perez has been one of television's most high-profile Hispanic journalists. In the 1990s he hosted a nationally syndicated talk show in his own name. He has been the face of television news in large Hispanic markets, such as Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

Mr. Perez has built a career explaining the news stories of the day and chronicling the lives of public figures, but now he's telling a different, more personal story: His own.

Perez is locked in a high-profile public dispute with WPLG-ABC, the South Florida station where he worked up until this summer. In a situation that has drawn national media attention, the station terminated Perez in August. Executives claim it was because of budget cuts.

Mr. Perez, however, alleges the termination was for a different reason. He is openly gay. MORE….

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Latino students learn salsa dancing

Students learn Salsa dancing during Latino Heritage Month
Sam Bohne, dennews.com, 9/18/09

Students shuffled into the basement of the Newman Center to partake in iSalsa2 lessons Thursday night.

This event is being held as part of Latino Heritage Month, which spans from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

"It's a beautiful way to celebrate Latino heritage," said Doris Nordin, a Newman Center campus minister.

The Newman Center has hosted iSalsa2 lessons for the past three years.

The iSalsa2 is an organization from Champaign-Urbana that is soon to become an official University of Illinois salsa team.

Instructors, Olivia Niziolek and "Mambo Italiano," organized students into a circle to begin the lesson. Students were then instructed to pick a partner and introduce themselves.

Throughout the lesson Italiano would demonstrate a dance step, tell the students to switch partners, and restart the music as the students repeated the steps that he had taught.

"You're not going to be married tonight, you're just going to be dancing for five to 10 minutes," Italiano said, trying to lighten the mood as students introduced themselves to new dance partners.

After the first move had been taught, Italiano and Niziolek danced around the circle, stopping to help students with their steps.

Partway through the lesson, Italiano pulled Jeff Kranz, a junior physics and engineering major, into the middle of the circle to show his dance moves to the class.

Kranz has only had experience dancing in high school and with his family and friends.

Along with Eastern students, students from a local high school also came to dance.

David Smith, a Spanish teacher from Lawrenceville High School, brought a group of his students to iSalsa2 to introduce them to the Spanish culture.

Smith has been bringing his Spanish students to iSalsa2 for the last three years.

After about an hour and a half of dancing, a handful of students remained in the church basement, learning a few more dance steps.

The lesson ended after Niziolek gave the girls a few pointers on what to work on for the next lesson of iSalsa.

Taylor McLain, a freshman kinesiology and sports studies major, plans on returning next week.

"I love to Salsa!" McLain said.

The iSalsa2 lessons will be held in the Newman Center basement at 7 p.m. Thursday, where students will learn more Merengue and Salsa dances.

Another lesson will be held Oct. 1, which will focus on Batchata and more advanced Salsa dances.

Sam Bohne can be reached at 581-7942 or
DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.

Hispanics receive entertainment awards

John Leguizamo, Penelope Cruz win ALMA Awards
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — "Nothing Like the Holidays" had a merry time at the ALMA Awards.

The ensemble family drama starring John Leguizamo, Debra Messing and Freddy Rodriguez won three awards at Thursday's ceremony, which recognized achievements by Hispanic artists in film, television and music over the past year. Leguizamo, screenwriter Rick Najera and director Alfredo De Villa were each awarded trophies for their work in the film category.

Penelope Cruz won the film actress award for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" while "Twilight" makeup artist Jeanne Van Phue and hair stylist Mary Ann Valdes picked up awards for their behind-the-scenes work. David Archuleta and Pitbull won prizes in the music category during the ceremony at UCLA's Royce Hall. The show is scheduled to be televised Friday by ABC.

Honorees in the TV category included Benjamin Bratt from A&E's "The Cleaner" as drama actor, Lauren Velez from Showtime's "Dexter" as drama actress, Oscar Nunez from NBC's "The Office" as comedy actor, Selena Gomez from Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place" as comedy actress and Latino Public Broadcasting in the documentary category.

Oscar De La Hoya received the Special Achievement in Sports Television award while Salma Hayek was given the Anthony Quinn Award for Industry Excellence. Rita Moreno presented a tribute to the late Ricardo Montalban. ALMA Awards creator Raul Yzaguirre was awarded the first-ever PepsiCo Adelante Award for his lifetime of service to the Latino community.

The ALMA Awards were created in 1995 by the National Council of La Raza, a national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, as part of its effort to promote diverse and fair portrayals of Latinos in the media. ALMA stands for American Latino Media Arts and means "soul" in Spanish. George Lopez and Eva Longoria Parker hosted this year's ceremony.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Latino ball players featured in TV special

TV special to focus on Royals' Latinos
Spotlight comes during Hispanic Heritage Month
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com, 09/15/09

DETROIT -- More than one-third of the Royals' current roster, 13 of 35 either active or disabled players, were born in Latin American countries.

So it's a logical step for FOX Sports Kansas City to have a pregame special centering on the Royals' Hispanic players. The "Royals Live" or "Los Reales en Vivo" program will be aired at 5:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday prior to the Royals-Tigers game.

"It was nice to be able to sit and talk to these guys about their lives and backgrounds," said host Joel Goldberg. "That sometimes gets lost in the shuffle because we tend to gravitate toward the American guys. It's nice to put the spotlight on the Latino guys."

In addition to the 13 Latin-born players, the Royals' group includes U.S.-born David DeJesus and Mike Aviles, whose families are from Puerto Rico. Other representation comes from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba and Panama.

DeJesus is the spokesman for the Guadalupe Center in Kansas City, the longest-continually operated Latino organization in the country, which will be featured in the piece. General manager Dayton Moore will talk about the Royals' Dominican Academy, and Royals Hall of Famers Paul Splittorff and Frank White will discuss their favorite Latino teammates.

The show comes during Hispanic Heritage Month.

WIN TICKETS TO SEE THE SPACE THRILLER "PANDORUM"

MOVIE TICKET GIVEAWAY

Be the first to email us at latinojournal@gmail.com and win tickets to the movie screening of “PANDORUM” a space thriller starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster. All movie screenings are scheduled for September 24th at 8 p.m. in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, and Chicago.

About the Movie
Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It’s pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the ship. They can’t remember anything: Who are they? What is their mission?

With Lt. Payton (Quaid) staying behind to guide him via radio transmitter, Cpl. Bower (Foster) ventures deep into the ship and begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft’s shocking, deadly secrets are revealed…and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined.

This movie ticket giveaway will end Monday, September 21, 2009. To win, all you need to do is be the first to email us at latinojournal@gmail.com. Don’t delay so you can enjoy this space thriller on September 24.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Latino record shop closes its doors in city

Ritmo Latino Closes Its Doors
By ALISSA FIGUEROA, sfgate.com

They squinted into the emptied space at Mission and 20th streets and wondered aloud what had happened to the record store where they had passed many an afternoon.

The neon sign still screams RITMO LATINO, but inside on Saturday only a few boxes remained.

"It's really unfortunate," said Jorge Bermeo in Spanish. He'd headed to the store around midday to use the money transferring service the store provided; though he planned, like usual, to stick around an extra 10 or 15 minutes to listen at one of the store's music stations.

"It was a way to pass the time," said Bermeo wistfully about the store that had become a fixture for many. It closed on Tuesday, after 19 years in business. Read more here.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

PBS celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

PBS Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15-October 15, 2009, and Beyond
La Prensa San Diego Entertainment Sep 11, 2009

Carlos Santana is one of the artists featured in LATIN MUSIC USA, airing Mondays, October 12-19 on PBS.

Hispanic Heritage Month 2009 (September 15-October 15) is coming up, and PBS is celebrating with a great lineup of programs that entertain while examining the history, heritage and cultural contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans.

A highlight of PBS’ Hispanic Heritage Month programming is LATIN MUSIC USA. From Latin jazz and mambo to salsa, Tejano, Chicano rock, Latin pop and reggaeton, the four-hour series tells the story of the rise of new American music forged from powerful Latin roots and reveals the often overlooked influence of Latin music on jazz, hip hop, rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll — and on all of American culture.

It’s a fresh take on America’s musical history, reaching across time and across musical genres to embrace the exciting hybrid sounds created by Latinos, musical fusions that have deeply enriched popular music in the U.S. over more than five decades. Jimmy Smits narrates. LATIN MUSIC USA airs Mondays, October 12-19, 9-11 p.m. ET on PBS, and also airs on V-me, the national Spanish TV network, on Tuesdays, October 13-20, 10 p.m.-12 a.m. ET.

Other highlights include GREAT PERFORMANCES “Los Angeles Philharmonic Opening Gala With Gustavo Dudamel” and fascinating documentaries, including a look at Argentina’s troubled past (INDEPENDENT LENS “Our Disappeared/Nuestros Desaparecidos”).

PBS’ celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month extends beyond the broadcast and onto pbs.org. PBS’ video player (pbs.org/video) — where viewers can watch hours of free PBS programming online and on their own time — features an extensive lineup of programs honoring and exploring Latino culture in “Nuestras Historias | Our Stories,” a special Hispanic Heritage Month collection that will feature LATIN MUSIC USA, POV “Ella Es el Matador,” the short-film series “Latinos in 60 Seconds” and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE “Roberto Clemente,” among others. The collection launches September 10 at www.pbs.org/nuestras historias.

SPRING VALLEY LIBRARY TO HOST ANNUAL FIESTA

The Spring Valley Branch of the San Diego County Library, 836 Kempton Street, will host its fourth annual fiesta in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on Saturday, September 19, from noon – 3 p.m. The fiesta will feature a visit by best selling author Victor Villaseñor and guest speaker Lucky “Two Tears” Morales. Another highlight of the event will be a low rider car exhibit from Amigos Car Club, artwork on display by Salvador Barajas, along with entertainment, a community information fair, refreshments, children’s activities, prizes, and much more. The event is free of charge and the public is invited.

Nationally known best selling author Victor Villaseñor will speak about his life and works, which include the popular Rain of Gold, Burro Genius and Crazy Loco Love. His books will be available for sale and autographs. Lucky “Two Tears” Morales is a community activist who promotes peace among Chicano gangs. Every Sunday for the past decade, he can be seen walking with a Mexican flag through some of southeast San Diego’s toughest neighborhoods in order to educate gang members in dealing with their differences in a less violent way. Well-known local artist Salvador Barajas was a main contributor to the Chicano Park murals. One of his colorful murals fills an exterior wall of the Spring Valley Library.

The Montgomery Middle School Mariachi troupe and the Ballet Folklorico Aqetzalli de Lemon Grove will perform, along with the REC*resent Hip Hop Dance Group from the local Teen Center. A DJ will also provide music.

The event will be held inside the library and in its parking lot. For more information call (619) 463-3006.

Latino evangelicals targeted by Jews as allies

Jews reach out to Latino evangelicals seeking allies
By Lilly Fowler, Religion News Service, September 11, 2009

LOS ANGELES—Early on a weekday morning, dozens of Latino evangelical leaders stream into a large church on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Greeting one another in Spanish, they sip coffee and share pastries until they are informed that class is about to begin.

The first course of the day? Hebrew.

They are here as part of a program sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, a global organization that supports Jewish life and promotes pluralism, to teach Latino evangelical leaders about Judaism.

“We started this course three years ago to tear down this wall and construct a bridge,” said Randall Brown, director of interreligious and Israel affairs for the American Jewish Committee’s Los Angeles chapter, as a group of professionally dressed Latino leaders applauded.

“Who wants to go to the Holy Land?” Brown asked the room full of students. The majority raised their hands.

Brown says his course—“The Essence of Judaism”—breaks down misconceptions evangelical Latinos may have about Jews and builds ties between the two communities. Although the Los Angeles chapter is the only one to offer such a program so far, the organization hopes to expand the course to other places, including New York, Miami and Atlanta.

“They are thirsty for more knowledge of the Hebraic roots of their faith so that they can become better religious leaders,” Brown said.

While Jews have made inroads among evangelicals on Israel, their outreach to Latinos is part of a new push on a rapidly growing group.

Teaching Latino evangelicals about Jewish history may be a key to securing Israel’s political future, according to demographic trends.

Evangelicals are the second largest religious group among Latinos, after Catholics, comprising nearly 15 percent of the population, and even many Latino Catholics are converting to evangelicalism, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Hispanic Center.

As of 2007, there were more than 45 million Hispanics in the U.S. and by 2050, they will comprise 29 percent of the U.S. population, Pew predicts.

And many Latinos view world politics through the lens of their faith.
Hispanic evangelical leaders gather to learn about Judaism at a class in Los Angeles hosted by the American Jewish Committee. Scholars say the rising numbers of Latino evangelicals and their views on Israel are destined to become a factor in Midddle East politics. (PHOTO/RNS/Lilly Fowler)

“The roles Latinos play in U.S. politics and public affairs are deeply influenced by the distinctive characteristics of their religious faith,” the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life wrote in a 2007 reporton Latinos and American religion. “Most Latinos see religion as a moral compass to guide their own political thinking, and they expect the same of their political leaders.”

Brown expects more than 100 Latino evangelicals to participate in the program this year, meeting every month to learn Hebrew, study Jewish history and learn about its culture. For some, the nearly yearlong course will culminate in a trip to Israel.

For others, the highlight of the program will come in a few weeks when they gather with local Jews to celebrate Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that celebrates the biblical account of Israelites wandering through the desert for 40 years and dwelling in huts.

Although for many Latinos the Sukkot celebration will mark the first time they step into a Jewish temple, Brown said he knows firsthand Latino evangelicals’ zeal for the Holy Land.

Brown says he first noticed the connection Latino evangelicals had to Israel when he visited their churches. Many hung Israeli flags outside of their buildings and incorporated Hebrew in the names of their congregations.

Evangelical Latinos, Brown said, are “enamored with Jewish culture.”

Gaston Espinosa, a professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College, said the affinity Latino evangelicals feel for Israel can be explained by their reverence of the Bible and its prescription for the apocalypse.

“It’s just part of their spirituality,” Espinosa said. “The Jewish people are part of God’s economy.”

Many evangelicals—including Latinos—view the Jews’ habitation of Israel as the fulfillment of a plan God outlined in the Bible and a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus.

Combining biblical prophecy with practical politics, in recent years American evangelicals have become some of Israel’s staunchest supporters and a group to be reckoned with. Scholars say Latino evangelicals’ role in Middle East politics is likely to grow for some time to come given their growing numbers and religious zeal.

Espinosa sees the American Jewish Committee’s program as a way to reach out to two powerful voting blocs—evangelicals and Latinos.

Latino actor is cast in new Tyler Perry flick

$400 million movie producer casts Latino actor in newest flick
By Shari Logan, New York Post, September 11, 2009

Tyler Perry’s “I Can Do Bad All by Myself” hits theatres today and this time around Latino heartthrob Adam Rodriguez of “CSI: Miami” has a leading role opposite Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson (April). In the movie, Rodriguez plays Sandino, a down on his luck Colombian immigrant that moves into April’s basement until he can find a job. While living with April, he gives her the one thing that she’s been missing most of her life—real love. Rodriquez spoke to TEMPO Espresso about the movie and his next move in Hollywood.

Tyler Perry is known for bringing the laughs and a message, what can Sandino’s character teach audiences?

I would say …here’s a guy that has an accent, isn’t from this country, has no family, no home, and doesn’t really have a job or a future. Seemingly this guy has his life more together than anybody else that would’ve judged him. And he understands what’s important about life: to give love freely. And when you give that love freely, you give others a chance to be their best selves and to love others around them.

Taraji said something today and it was “without love you are not living” and that’s the truth. People that want to hold on to the bad things that happened in their lives and expect that that should determine who you are for the rest of your life. Well, then you’re wasting your time. You gotta have hope, you gotta have faith, you gotta believe.

I think part of the message too is that the people it’s hard to love, are the ones you need to love harder. April was one of those people and I don’t think Sandino was going to quit.

How did the relationship with Tyler Perry start?

I met him in LA for a meeting. His agent [Charles King] is an old friend of mine and Tyler asked King about young Latino leading men that he should be aware of. So he [King] put my name in the hat.

When you first heard that your name was put out there to Tyler Perry, how did you feel about being able to work with him?

I was excited to see what Tyler’s process was. Here is a guy who is so prolific, so successful starting from the ground up. Once I did get a glimpse of it I was blown away.

I was inspired as well. It made me want to work harder, reinforced some things that I already knew like go your own path, do what you have to do, do what you believe in regardless of what other people think. That’s what you have to do to make a change in anything. And he’s definitely making a change in the way Hollywood makes movies.

What was it like it on the set?

Non stop laughs. We had a fun from the minute we all got in the room together to the minute we turned the lights off and wrapped the movie.

Do you remember anything specifically that was funny?

It was the first day on the set and I had essentially just met Taraji. We had a scene where she gets some bad news and I’m consoling her. At the end of the scene we were just in the moment and we started kissing. It wasn’t scripted. And Tyler decided to play a joke on us and let it keep going and going. It was like a Big Red commercial.

What’s next for you?

I’ll be in New York doing "Ugly Betty." So I’m going to get a chance to do some comedy. I’m doing seven episodes and I’m finishing up “CSI: Miami.” I have seven episodes left.

So, no more “CSI Miami”?

After this year, that’s it?

Sunday, September 6, 2009

No Hispanics in Professional Tennis

Hispanic-American void in tennis troubling
BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN, Miami Herald

NEW YORK -- As you sit on your sofa and watch Miami native Mary Joe Fernandez on the ESPN set during the U.S. Open this Labor Day weekend, ask yourself the following question: Why are there no Hispanic-Americans in professional tennis?

And when we say none, we mean none.

The American players' surnames are Williams, Roddick, Blake, Querrey, Isner, Oudin, even a Ram and a Levine. But no names that end in ``z,'' nobody who could converse with Rafael Nadal or Juan Martin del Potro in their native tongue.

What makes that question even more baffling is that tennis is very popular in Latin America. The U.S. Open field includes 10 players from Argentina, three from Chile, one from Colombia, two from Ecuador, one from Paraguay and one from Uruguay. There are plenty of Spanish-speaking role models to choose from.

Hispanics make up a large percentage of the fans who show up at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne every year. ``Chi-Chi-Chi! Le-Le-Le!'' chant the Chileans. And the stadium rocks every time an Argentine plays.

So, where are the Hispanic-American players?

The U.S. Tennis Association is doing a wonderful thing Saturday night. It is honoring the 60th anniversary of the late Pancho Gonzalez's back-to-back U.S. Championships with an on-court tribute that includes Hispanic dignitaries such as former tennis great Pancho Segura and actors Benjamin Bratt and Jimmy Smits.

Gonzalez, a Mexican-American who was self-taught, is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game. His career spanned four decades. He was the No. 1 player in the world in 1949, reached No. 6 in 1969, and in 1972, just shy of his 44th birthday, he became the oldest man to win a title when he won in Des Moines, Iowa.

``Pancho Gonzalez was a trailblazer, not only in tennis, but across the greater American cultural landscape,'' said Bratt. ``He was a role model for a generation of Hispanic-Americans, and this tribute will rightly call attention to his important and lasting legacy.''

USTA IS LACKING

The tribute will also call attention to the fact that the USTA is sorely lacking in Hispanic talent. Wouldn't it be nice if there were at least one current Hispanic-American player who could be part of the tribute? The Hispanic population in the United States is 46.9 million, making it the largest ethnic minority in this country. And not a single player represented on the WTA or ATP Tour.

Why not?

``I wish I had the answer to that question,'' said Patrick McEnroe, the USTA director of player development and an ESPN analyst. ``We need to do a much better job of reaching out to Hispanic-Americans. Tennis is hugely popular in South America and Spain, Rafa [Nadal] is an international star, and yet, Spanish-speaking kids here are not choosing our sport.

``We should have huge numbers of Hispanic kids playing tennis in places like Miami, Southern California, New York and Chicago, and we don't. Those kids are playing soccer and other sports. My guess is it's an economic issue, and a cultural issue. We are doing much better with African-Americans and Asian-Americans. I see lots of those kids playing at our regional centers, but very few Hispanics.''

Fernandez, who is of Cuban and Spanish heritage, also lamented the lack of Hispanics.

``I thought during the [Gabriela] Sabatini era that a lot of Hispanic girls here would pick up the game, but it didn't happen,'' she said. ``I don't have the answer. I can tell you that the USTA is doing more grass-roots programs in Hispanic neighborhoods. I have done some in Miami and Cleveland, and that should help expose those kids to tennis.''

McEnroe's Player Development program hired Jose Higueras as its director of coaching, and also brought Hugo Armando and Andres Pedrosa in to coach at the Boca Raton training center.

FINDING THE TALENT

``We are just now really making an effort to reach out and infiltrate the Hispanic neighborhoods to get some of those kids in our talent pool,'' said Higueras. ``The public parks are there, so it's more a matter of getting coaches and motivation for those kids. The Latino spirit is great for tennis. There have been great Spanish-speaking players over the years, like Pancho Gonzalez, and somewhere out there, there are little kids in this country with talent and desire, but we haven't done a good job of finding them.''

Higueras said his goal is to introduce the sport to underprivileged kids, identify the ones who have great aptitude and desire, and immerse them into the USTA player development program. ``I hope within four or five years to see more diversity among our players in juniors and the pros,'' he said. ``And I believe we'll get there.''

He said there's an eighth-grade kid in Southern California making some noise. Won some national tournaments in the 12s. His name is Ernesto Escobedo. He's Mexican-American. It's a start. Pancho would be proud.

Six Flags hosts Festival Latino

Six Flags hosts Festival Latino
Times-Herald, 09/05/2009

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom hosts Festival Latino from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Sunday.

Presented by T-Mobile, Fanta Toronja and La Raza, this annual two-day "fiesta" is parkwide with live music and entertainment including salsa, cumbia and mariachi, and traditional Mexican, South American and Caribbean fare.

Festival Latino is free with park admission or a Season Pass. Bring in a can of Fanta for discounted general admission price of $29.99.

Scheduled performances by Banda MS, Julio Chaires, Los Buitres, Los Creadores del Pasito Duranguense, Hechizeros Band and Arranque de Tierra Caliente. VIP concert seating is available with special in-park purchase of Fanta product.

Festival Latino is free with park admission or a Season Pass. Bring in a can of Fanta for discounted general admission price of $29.99.

Increas in Hispanic TVs

Nielsen Charts Increase In Hispanic TV Homes
by Wayne Friedman, Media Post

The number of Hispanic TV homes continues to outpace the market overall.

The Nielsen Co. says Hispanic TV homes showed a 2.3% increase for the 2009-2010 TV season, to 12.95 million. Nielsen's overall projections are that the entire U.S. TV home population will grow 0.3% to 114.9 million, up from 114.5 million in the previous year.

African-American TV homes will be 14.0 million, a 0.3% rise over the season before. Asian TV homes will be at 4.78 million, a 0.8% gain.

In terms of total viewers, there will be a similar rise among all TV homes. Hispanic TV viewers will climb 2.4% to 44.3 million; African-American viewers will be at 37.5 million, a 1.3% gain; and Asian TV viewers will stay the same versus a year ago, at 14.5 million.

The two biggest Hispanic markets continue to be Los Angeles and New York: Los Angeles now with 1.87 million Hispanic homes and New York with 1.25 million. LA grew about 14,000 homes and New York about 9,000 homes year-to-year. The next-biggest market -- Miami-Fort Lauderdale -- is around half of New York's numbers, at 666,230 homes.

Overall, Nielsen projects that total TV viewers in the U.S. will increase slightly to 292 million for the 2009-2010 season.

As has been previously released, the biggest changes in regard to local markets come in Southern cities. New Orleans is growing a big 5.2% from a year ago to 633,930 TV homes, as residents continue to return after Hurricane Katrina. At the same time, Nielsen says four Florida markets are down -- Tampa, Miami, Fort Myers and Tallahassee -- partly the result of declines in domestic migration.

New York -- the biggest U.S market -- added more homes than any market: 59,710, to land at 7.49 million.

Hispanic Evangelical group grows

Assemblies of God joins Hispanic evangelical group
Church Executive, September 04, 2009

The nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination, the Assemblies of God, recently joined America’s largest Hispanic Christian organization, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Dr. Jesse Miranda, CEO of NHCLC, called the new partnership “a natural fit” because the Assemblies of God already has the largest Hispanic membership out of all the denominations that have fully joined the association.

Also, he pointed to the predictions of Pew Research and Dr. Gaston Espinosa, a Latino evangelical expert, that the growth of the Pentecostal Hispanic community within the larger American evangelical community will transform the national religious landscape.

"With the recent launch of the National Hispanic Pentecostal Congress, in addition to this historic membership/partnership agreement with The General Council of the Assemblies of God, we are demonstrating our commitment to serve a vibrant and powerful emerging community,” commented the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of NHCLC.

Rodriguez, who is an ordained Assemblies of God minister, added, “The relationship between the Assemblies of God and Hispanics can be traced to the early 20th Century when AG missionaries began an outreach to Hispanics in America and abroad resulting in the Pentecostal explosion both domestically and abroad.”

In addition to the membership, the Assemblies of God General Superintendent Dr. George Wood will join the NHCLC Board of Advisors.

NHCLC CEO Dr. Jesse Miranda and the group’s Board Chairman Dr. Gilbert Velez are also Assemblies of God ministers.

NHCLC is made up of 25,434 member churches and represents about 16 million Hispanic Christians. It seeks to serve as the voice of Hispanic evangelicals in the United States.

Jennifer Riley, Christian Post Reporter

Latino journalist's book highlights Hispanics

Geraldo on Hispanics’ new era of prosperity
Award-winning journalist chronicles Hispanics’ evolving role, cultural impact
Today, Sept . 1, 2009

In his new book “The Great Progression: How Hispanics Will Lead America to a New Era of Prosperity,” award-winning journalist Geraldo Rivera details the evolving role of Hispanics in shaping every facet of American culture. Read an excerpt on how the Hispanic community has socially, economically and politically impacted our future.

Introduction
For the first time in modern world history a powerful nation is changing complexion right before the eyes of its citizens. In real time it is possible to watch America become more culturally diverse, its face physically darker. The United States has vastly more Latinos than it did just a relatively few years ago, and their numbers are increasing at an explosive rate, on average almost four thousand per day.

This book is about what that dramatic trend means for the country.
Story continues below Å´advertisement | your ad here

Aided by the vast oceans that separate the United States from the planet’s densest population centers, and by America’s early instincts toward isolation, for most of the twentieth century our nation managed to exclude most Asians, Africans, and Latinos. With passionate vigilance and a largely race-based immigration policy, the country remained overwhelmingly white and Anglo for the first two and a half centuries of its existence.

The relaxation of that restrictive policy in the 1960s civil rights era resulted in a tsunami of Latino migration, which, when coupled with an explosive domestic birth rate, inflated the U.S. Hispanic population to a size almost ten times bigger than it was just fifty years ago, in both absolute and relative terms. In 1950, there were 5 million Latinos. Today, there are more than 46 million. And the recent downturn in illegal immigration due to the lack of good construction jobs in our faltering economy will only marginally slow the pace. During that half-century, Asian and African-American populations also increased, but by not nearly as impressive a rate as that of Hispanics.

A library of scary books and an almost infinite galaxy of anti-immigration opinion pieces warn of how the inexorably increasing numbers of Latinos in the United States are or will soon be overwhelming the existing social order and making America a fundamentally different nation from the one contemplated by the fifty-six signatories of the Declaration of Independence, who were all white Anglos (and only one of whom, Charles Carroll of Maryland, was even Catholic, a then still exotic religion in the thirteen original colonies).

By fundamentally different, I mean a nation other than the industrious, God-fearing, ethical, family-valued, disciplined, self-governing and moral New World colossus the Founding Fathers contemplated. Those fears are widespread, and whether you think them justified or overblown, it is undeniable that the phenomenal Latino population surge in the United States since those revolutionary days is stunning and irreversible.

The percentage of Latinos in the United States population stands at 15.4 percent, which in April 2009 amounted to about 46.7 million people, if not yet strong, getting stronger politically, culturally and economically. Despite the dramatic decrease, even reversal, in recent immigration caused by the collapsing U.S. economy, by the time you read this that 46.7 million figure will already be an understatement of a rapidly expanding demographic, which grew more than 3 percent in the single year between July 2006 and July 2007, and more than doubled just since 1990. Hispanics for the first time outnumber non-Hispanic whites in Dallas, Texas. They are 37 percent of the population of Houston and over 28 percent of the population of Chicago, Illinois.

Similarly, when the Census Bureau announced in March 2009 that New York City had reached a record 8,363,710 people, the bureau revealed that 28 percent were Hispanic, 2,341,839, up 27,000 between July 2007 and July 2008, and most of them native-born. The Latino populations of New York City (2.3 million) and Los Angeles (1.86 million) both outnumber the entire population of Barcelona, Spain, which has just 1.6 million residents. As Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, a professor of globalization and education at New York University, said when the population of the United States hit the breathtaking 300 million mark on October 17, 2006, that 300 millionth American was probably born in Los Angeles and was probably the daughter of Mexicans. “Probably, her name is Maria .... She is the future of America. She is a child of an immigrant. She is a U.S. citizen like you and me.”

In political terms, what makes that historic 15.4 percent statistic even more impressive is that it is comprised mostly of native-born Hispanics, citizens born in the U.S.A., not immigrants either legal or illegal. That is the most potentially profound political development since the silent majority.

As Rosario Dawson reminded us during the Inaugural Gala, as an ethnic group, Latinos are already second in size behind only non-Hispanic American whites. And the percentage of Hispanics is growing by twice their rate and almost that much faster than American blacks whom they supplanted as the nation’s largest minority, far ahead of the date predicted by the social scientists of the 1960s. CONTINUED…