“West Texas Miracle” Producing Future Latino Leaders

“West Texas Miracle” Producing Future Latino Leaders

Mary Mata March 9, 2012

There is a Catholic high school for boys from the borderland that has produced wave upon wave of scholars, entrepreneurs, and leaders for the last nine decades.  Cathedral High School’s legacy […]

Why Are Hipsters Infatuated With Poverty, And Other Complaints

Mary Mata March 8, 2012

I know enough has been written about hipsters, but please humor me, for I had not had the opportunity to chime in. What exactly is a hipster? The definition seems […]

Latinos With Tattoos Seek To Represent Their Culture

Mary Mata March 7, 2012

David Tomás Martinez remembers getting his first tattoo when he was 18 years old; it said San Diego in old English script.  Over the years he kept adding more scripts, […]

One Young Latino Hopes To Change Houston For The Better

Mary Mata February 23, 2012

By Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez Joseph Carlos Madden, 28, is running for a seat in the Texas legislature. Originally from Houston, he already directs the Legislative Study Group and is the […]

Army Pursues Latinos To Push Them Into Sciences

Mary Mata October 27, 2011

An interesting story comes from the Army this week, which is apparently trying to push Latinos in its ranks into the sciences, or STEM, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They […]

What Separates Latino Hipsters From The Rest?

Mary Mata October 25, 2011

Austin, Texas — First off, you may be asking yourself, “What is a hipster?” The answer is the type of difficult one that accompanies trying to distill cultural movements. But, […]

The Rise & Fall Of East LA’s Best Unknown Band, The Mexicats

Mary Mata September 14, 2011

Sometimes the stars that burn the brightest, also burn the fastest. Such was not the case with The Mexicats, a band some friends and I started back in the 1990s. […]

My Life As The Mexican Jack Kerouac

Mary Mata August 31, 2011

When I was in high school, I had an unquenchable thirst for the road. I had read books by Jack London, Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson that had romanticized […]

How East LA’s Bodie Street Lost Its Name

Mary Mata August 24, 2011

I grew up in a street filled with kids with little or no inhibitions. There were about six or seven of us, which by today’s standards would be a gang, but […]

Culture On A T-Shirt & Other Ways Latinos Assimilate

Mary Mata August 4, 2011

This just in: new arrivals in the U.S. are not generally welcomed with open arms.  Benjamin Franklin initially opposed German immigrants, because of fears that they would not assimilate.  (He used […]