EVENTS
Women and the Vote: 100 Years and Counting
Friday, Aug 28 @ 12pm
On Zoom, No RSVP
AADS Chair, Cherise Smith, In Conversation with Artist Michael Ray Charles
Wednesday, Sep 2 @ 7pm
On Zoom, RSVP
Poetry Reading by ire'ne lara silva
Monday, Sep 21 @ 4pm
On Zoom, RSVP
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Here we go!
Are y'all ready for the weirdest semester of our lives?
Hello, it's me again, the nameless, faceless entity that composes your favorite academic newsletter. (It's not actually a secret; you can pretty easily find out who I am, but let's just go with the mystery.) Wouldn't it be nice if I didn't have to think so hard about what on earth I can say after the summer we've all had? I wish I could just write, "While y'all were tanning on the beach, we were in the office hard at work haha grumble grumble." But we've all had a pretty rough go of it, some of us more than others, no doubt.
As research, I revisited the first newsletter of the 2019-2020 school year, hoping to emphasize my point by comparing last year's optimism to this year's distinct lack of it, but it turns out, these first newsletters have a dour history:
"If I could turn this entire newsletter into an opening musical number about how classes have started again and this is going to be the best year ever, god help me, I would. But it wouldn't be sincere. No, because until humane treatment is instituted along the border and asylum-seeking families are treated with the compassion and dignity that they deserve, it most certainly will not be the best year ever. But, we can try our very best to make it a productive year that moves the needle, even just a little bit."
Yikes. I guess it's just not our way to give you a jolly welcome back letter when the world is on fire. But don't get me wrong--as strange and dismaying as everything is, things are looking up now that we're all "back" again. The summers get so dreary for us when students aren't around, so being able to see you, even virtually, and talk to you, even through email, is a significant improvement. I guess if there's any hopefulness we can find in these strange times, it's that whatever the semester has in store for us, we'll manage to get through it together, staff, faculty and students. Thank goodness we have each other.
Until next week,
Your Latino Studies Familia
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Goodbye and Good Luck!
This One Definitely Makes the Top 5 Breakups List
Well folks, just in case 2020 hasn't thrown you for enough loops, we're here to tell you that your beloved Academic Advisor, Natasha Saldaña, has pulled a classic "It's not you, it's me" and announced her departure for the iSchool, or UT's School of Information, effective September 7. In her new position there, she'll be helping build their new undergraduate program and blah blah we've sworn to her that we won't find her new office window and stand outside it with a boombox over our heads...only because everyone's working remotely, but once we're back on campus...
You can learn more about the iSchool here, but I'm not gonna lie, this feels a lot like sharing the poetry blog of that girl who stole my boyfriend in college.
But in all seriousness, it will be difficult for so many of us to imagine this department without her. For over thirteen years, she has shown the utmost devotion to our students and put this devotion to work by spearheading initiatives that will benefit our students long after she goes. You may not know all the behind-the-scenes impact she's had on signature events like Bienvenida or Celebracíon, or the fact that she was integral in the development and naming of initiatives like the Sam Z. Coronado Poster Scholarship and the Gloria Anzaldúa Student Lounge, or that her work and creative energy are what made student resources like La Tiendita and Latinx Voices possible and keep them thriving today. Departments are run by lots of people, but some, more than others, must carry the emotional weight of what this place means to so many students. After more than a decade, Natasha never forgot why she did this work or who she did it for. It's what made her such an important figure in the academic lives of our students and why we know it'll be hard for them to say goodbye.
So, as we bid Natasha farewell and good luck, we invite current and former students and colleagues to reach out and let her know what she has meant to you. ¡Te aventaste!
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Supermarket Sweep!
Or like, pretend it is while you're shopping for La Tiendita donations....
Now that the semester is under way and the last of our HEB, Walmart and Target e-gift cards have been distributed, we've restocked our physical pantry for student use this semester. What's more, we have officially partnered with our friends in Black Studies to share this resource with both Latino Studies and Black Studies students--a natural development seeing as we're neighbors!
But now we need your help collecting donations! We're organizing a little drive-thru grocery drop-off to help keep the pantry fully stocked. On Sunday, September 13, between 11am-1pm, you can drive by the Gordon White Building and drop off your donations. We're always in need of non-perishable food items (ramen and mac & cheese fly off the shelves), cleaning products (laundry detergent, dish soap, etc.), toiletries, and anything else you can remember needing when you were in college!
For questions about the pantry or the drop-off procedure, email us at latinostudies@austin.utexas.edu.
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Yes, we're everywhere now.
Our latest attempt to keep up with the times. Frankly, it's exhausting.
It was inevitable, wasn't it? First, we landed on your Facebook feed; then, we followed you on Instagram. We infiltrated your Spotify next. And now? Well, now we're blowing up your Podcast subscriptions with LatinXperts, the official podcast of Latino Studies, which we launched over the summer, in case you missed it.
I know it seems like we're stalking you (because we are), but it's hard to give you the programming content you've come to expect of us when we can't see each other in person! So this is the next best thing. And guess what? We're not just chasing the newest thing--we're calling upon some technology of old for our upcoming program schedule. More details to come. In the meantime....
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