La Plaza Central

There was an article in Sunday’s Omaha World-Herald about the ethnic press feeling the sting of the recession and drop in ad revenue.  I had read in the past that ethnic newspapers have been doing much better than mainstream newspapers over the last several years, expanding while the big ones were contracting.  They generally have much smaller, but tighter, markets, and it makes sense.  Who wouldn’t want information about the local community in their native language?  The article mentions several ethnic newspapers from larger markets like San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, who have greater immigrant populations.  Some have gone under, and others have gone to online only publication.  I’m sure part of it is the natural ebb and flow of the market, and  there are always those businesses that are just barely solvent.

My favorite quote: “Additionally, many ethnic publications are run like nonprofit organizations that operate on shoestring budgets with a strong commitment to serving their communities.”

Which brings me to the local situation.  I understand that eastern Nebraska is not pequeño Mexico, but I feel like there is sufficient market size for some Hispanic media.  And that’s not to say there is none (oh, the sweet double negative).  But El Perico out of Omaha and Buenos Días Nebraska in Grand Island are about all there is.  I would be glad to link to El Perico‘s website, but I don’t think they have one.  And Buenos Dias‘ amounts to scanned images of the print newspaper.  I’ve heard that just one man runs the whole newspaper, which is quite an accomplishment.  There used to be Hispanos Unidos, but they stopped publication last year.  I have also seen a small magazine floating around El Centro’s office called Mi Gente Latina that just recently started printing.  Good luck to them.

But what I wonder is if there is enough of an online presence in the Latino community in Nebraska to do online publishing in addition to print.  There are several programs out there like Drupal, Joomla or WordPress that greatly simplify online publications, as well as posting ads and collecting revenue.  I want to know if it would be possible to profitably run a Spanish hybrid online/print media outfit in this area.   It could run with a small reporting staff, or even encourage articles, stories, etc. from the Hispanic community at large and split the profit with the author.

I’m rambling now, so I’ll wind it down.  It’s just an idea that has come up in the office on several occasion, and the article prompted me to write about it.  I would be interested to hear what other people in this community think about the idea.

Here‘s a recap of last night’s debate between Dr. Michael Olivas and Dr. Vernon Briggs on immigration from the Journal Star.

Update: The video of the debate is now online here.

This post is a whole seven days late, but I didn’t want to the event to pass by without recognition.  Last Wednesday, we finished our first round of literacy and computer classes at Everett Elementary in coordination with Stephanie Wessels at UNL.  Our thanks go out to the families who participated.  We hope that they benefited in some small way from the experience, and we hope to see many of them again in the second round.  We also want to thank our star volunteers: Jessie Reiss, Jamie Wilkinson, Sarah Brey, Jamie Rubio, Jacob Cammack, Joe Younglove, Kelly Kernen, Paola Plata, and Molly.  Without you guys, we just couldn’t do it.  Thanks, again, and hope to see everyone in the next round.

I can’t believe I left off mentioning it until now, but the third installment of the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is tonight.  The title for this evening’s talk is “Illegal Immigrants: Path to Citizenship?”, and the speakers will be Dr. Michael Olivas and Dr. Vernon Briggs.  The talk, which will be held at the Lied Center, starts at 7:00 p.m. and it’s free and open to the public.  I am pretty sure you can walk up and get tickets until they sell out.

Here’s a synopsis of the talk from the Forum’s website to wet your appetite.

“Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the United States range from 11 million to more than 20 million. Most recommendations for immigration reform center on the issue of a path to citizenship for these people. Opponents say this is amnesty, a strategy which proved ineffective in previous immigration legislation. Supporters say legalization is both a necessity and a moral obligation. In the second annual Wilson Dialogue, Dr. Michael Olivas, William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law at the University of Houston, and Dr. Vernon Briggs, Professor Emeritus in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, will discuss the issue of a path to citizenship.”

For those not in the Lincoln area or who cannot attend tonight, wait a few days and check back on the E.N. Thompson website as they put up podcast videos of every speech.  I’ll probably post a note here when it’s disponible.

Update: Unbeknownst to me they also offer a live stream of the event, which you can watch by going here at 7:00 p.m. and clicking on LIVE STREAM.

Want to know what happens on this blog?  Here’s a visual representation.

Thanks to Wordle for the cloud.

On today’s docket, another article about the impending crisis in Latino education.  We’re familiar with the disproportionately high dropout rates for Latinos, but something I did not know was that only 11 percent attain a bachelor’s degree or better.  So while the graduation rate is around 55-60 percent, only 11 percent go on to finish college.

I think everyone can reasonably agree that children of Latino families need to learn English, and most people who work with these children, myself included, can see that they do learn at a fairly young age.  The issue, as the researcher in this article points out, is that starting with English-only instruction can make it difficult for the child to learn anything.

In Patricia Gándara’s words, “The problem with that [mandated English-only education] is that if I stand here and speak to you in Russian for the next four hours, about five minutes into the conversation you are going to tune out and go get some coffee. So this focus on language as the problem has led us down a pathway away from improving education for Latinos.”

I would be interested to read her work, The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies.

Update: This post may seem to fly in the face of an earlier post about rising Hispanic enrollment in colleges across the country, but the difference is that this one talks of percentages while the old post refers to raw numbers.  So while there are more Latinos in universities today than ever before, the percentage of Latinos in the U.S. finishing college has only gone from 9 percent in 1975 to 11 percent in 2005.

Greetings to each of you!

Many of you participated in the free tango lesson last Saturday afternoon led by Maribel Cruz and me.  The rest of you included in this email are members of the planning committee for Wine! Chocolate! & Tango!  Because we had such  wonderful turn out and knowing that you will all want to continue to learn and be able to take full advantage of the dance opportunity at next year’s Wine! Chocolate! and Tango! Sandra Halpern has announce her next series of Tango Lessons; “An Introduction to Tango.”  Please take a look at the attached flyer.  This series will last four weeks, starting on Wednesday April 1st, at 7:30 PM at Barry’s Bar & Grille located at 9th and Q Streets here in Lincoln.  The fee for the full four weeks is $48 per person.

Sandra is from Buenos Aires, and you saw her dance a spotlight dance with our guest instructor Korey Ireland.  It doesn’t get any more authentic unless you go directly to Argentina!  This is a must for those of you on the planning committee.  You need to be leaders in this movement to ensure the the authenticity of Wine! Chocolate! & Tango!  Besides, you saw how much fun we were having, you know you will have just as much fun with just a little guidance.

Don’t have a partner?  Partners are not manditory.  Of course, if you do have a spouse, partner, or willing friend, we encourage you to bring them.

Still not convinced?  For this group, since you may be a bit apprehensive, Sandra has agreed to permit attending the first class for just $15.  If after that class you decide that you want to continue, then you simply pay the difference to make up the $48 fee.

To pre-register for the class please call Sandra at 402-420-6645 or email her at sanhalpern@gmail.com

The planning committee knows there will be another Wine! Chocolate! and Tango! so it’s best if you start preparing now!

We look forward to seeing you at Barry’s Wednesday April 1st!

Oh there is one other thing, also attached to this post is the current issue of Tango Steps, the newsletter of the Tango Club.  This is free to anyone who will give me their email address.  Since I already have your addresses, just send a reply if you would like to be added to my mailing list.  Tango Steps is published each Sunday (with only a few exceptions).

It was a pleasure to work with all of you in the Tango Class and in the planning meetings.  It will be even more fun as we help you develop you “new” tango skills.

Jerry Berggren

Attachment: Tango Steps

Brent Meier’s promotional video from Saturday night’s big event is ready for the web, and as usual, blog patrons get the first look.  Enjoy!  And gracias go out to Mitchell Lyon for all of his help with the video, and Nebraska Digital for their help in converting it to Flash for streaming on the web.

Photos from Wine! Chocolate! Tango! 2009.  The professional photography of Daisies & Frogs Photography will be coming to the website shortly, but in the meantime readers of the blog can enjoy these shots.

Today was the second meeting of the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) planning committee for the Latino Summit Conference this September in Omaha. I attended by invitation from a friend/colleague and employee of the NDE because we are planning a documentary project that will profile some students who will hopefully attend this conference.  Anyway,  I made another great contact today and we have garnered full interest and support within the NDE. Our list of contacts is a veritable Who’s Who of area agencies, organizations and departments. Let’s hope I can get the grant so El Centro/NDE can produce this doc!

If any of you readers have interest in sharing some knowledge or support or want to ask me about project details, I will gladly lend an ear/email. Hit me up at brentmeier@gmail.com.