FEATURE EVENT: LECTURE BY REYNA GRANDE
Arts Center, Callahan Theater
Award-winning author of "The Distance Between Us," Reyna Grande, will share her story about life before and after illegally immigrating from Mexico to the United States.
Born in Mexico and raised by her grandparents after her parents left to find work in the U.S., at nine years old, Reyna enters the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant to live with her father. Filled with hope, she quickly realizes that life in the U.S. is far from perfect. Her father isn’t the man she dreamed about all those years ago in Mexico. His big dreams for his children are what gets them across the border, but his alcoholism and rage undermine all his hard work and good intentions. Reyna finds solace from a violent home in books and writing, inspired by the Latina voices she reads. After an explosive altercation, Reyna breaks away, going on to become the first person in her family to obtain higher education, earning a college degree and then an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.
At a time when immigration politics are at a boiling point in the U.S., Reyna Grande is an important public voice for Mexican Americans and immigrants of every origin. The Distance Between Us has the power to change minds and hearts.
Caminos Sagrados/ Sacred Paths: Immaterial Heritage of Spain
Exhibit open August 27 - September 27
Located in Casa Hispana
A photographic project by David Cantillo & Pablo Vidal. With incredible beauty, the project documents the little-known annual pilgrimage from the village of Culla to San Juan de Peñagolosa and the shrine of the Virgin of La Estrella in Castellón, Spain, a route passing through twenty-five beautiful miles of plains, hills, and mountain paths around Easter each year. Spirituality, traditions, gender roles, hierarchy, culture, history, politics, economics seen through the faithful lens of a camera. The medieval times right at the footsteps of the 21st Century!
Student Roundtable: "Latinx Identities and Representations"
Casa Hispana
Latinx are on track to become the largest minority majority in the United States in 2044. Hispanics are described by the U.S. Census Bureau as “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. "What does it mean to be Latinx at Nazareth? Facilitated by Professor Isabel Cordova, a panel of Nazareth Latinx students will share their experiences.
Solidarity and Social Justice: Stories from the U.S./Mexican Border, Puerto Rico & Guatemala
Tuesday, October 2 ~ 12:10 PM -1:00 PM
Linehan Chapel
Join student participants from the Center for Spirituality Spring Break Retreat to El Paso, TX and Juarez, Mexico along with local community partners to discuss the immigration crisis and learn how you can advocate for those who do not have a voice. The panel will feature Fr. Robert Mosher, director of the Columban Mission Center, El Paso, TX, and Michael Fernandez, co-founder and executive director of Caras Con Causa, who will share the current economic and political crisis that is affecting local communities in Puerto Rico.
Lecture and Celebration of the Canonization of Oscar Romero
Sunday, October 14
Lecture by Dr. Damian Zynda, Romero scholar and author
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM, GAC 38
Mass of Celebration for Saint Oscar Romero
7:00 PM Linehan Chapel, Fr. Jesus Flores, presiding
ALL ARE WELCOME
On Sunday, October 14, Pope Francis will canonize Óscar Romero making him a Roman Catholic Saint. While Romero was the Archbishop of San Salvador he spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture. On March 24, 1980, Romero was assassinated while offering Mass. In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 24 as the "International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims" in recognition of the role of Archbishop Romero in defense of human rights. The Center for Spirituality will show the film Romero on Sunday, October 7 at 3:00 PM in GAC 38.
Miyela Riascos: Colombia and U.S. relations and immigration
Medaille
Riascos is a Colombian ethno-educator and anthropologist who works with various social organizations and victims' groups in the area of territorial and human rights, peace and environmental education, and community organizing. She had to flee her territory 17 years ago due to the threat of armed paramilitary groups in the rural areas near Buenaventura (Anchicayá River) and knows the situation of internally displaced persons in Buenaventura from personal experience.
Miyela is an organizer of the Buenaventura Committee for the Civil Strike to Live in Peace and Dignity. She is also a spokeswoman representative in the negotiations that were achieved with the Colombian government regarding equitable distribution of the state's health care resources.
Miyela is also the co-founder of the ARIBI Socio-Environmental Foundation which supports the organizing processes of local Afro-Colombian communities dedicated to the implementation of sustainable development.
About LatinX Heritage Month
Although the terms “Latino” and “Latina” have been around for decades, Latinx is a relatively new—and, some may argue, modern—interpretation of those identifiers. Latinx is gender-neutral, which means it’s an identifier that moves beyond gender binaries of male (Latino) and female (Latina). Latinx is inclusive of the intersecting gender and ethnic identities of Latin American descendants.