The First Latina US Military Pilot

     With her 3 year-old daughter and husband at her side, 26 year-old Olga Custodio told the military sergeant, “You can write down anything you want on that form, but I’m going to be a pilot, a pilot or a pilot.”

     She then became the first Latina to complete U.S. Air Force military pilot training. Custodio served for 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.  She then became the first Latina commercial airline captain.  She flew for American Airlines. She has flown for 11,000 hours and still enjoys flying.  “Everything I did was for me and my family. I was not out to prove anything. I didn’t even know I was the first anything.” 
    Her advice to young Latinas: “I tell them that this is what I love to do. I assure the girls that women do indeed fly jets.  But most importantly, I tell them they must each find for themselves what they love to do. My mantra is ‘Querer es poder.’  I believe everyone has the potential to do it. They just have to believe in themselves enough to actually do it.”

 By Graciela Tiscareño-Sato Fox News

“I’ll have another” wins Kentucky Derby

   The horse was ridden by 25 year-old Venezuelan Mario Gutierrez.

 "He's an amazing horse. I kept telling everybody, from the first time I met him, I knew he was the one. I knew he was good," Gutierrez said. “even if they allowed me to pick from the whole rest of the field, I would have stayed with him, 100 percent, no doubt about it."

Arizona Sheriff Investigated by Feds

    

     An Arizona police officer followed a Latina woman home.  She pulled into her driveway and got out of her car.  The officer demanded she sit on the hood of her car.  She refused.  She had no idea what she did wrong.  The officer grabbed her arms, pulled them behind her back and slammed her stomach-first into the vehicle three times.  She was 5 months pregnant.  He ticketed her with failure to produce identification.  She is a US citizen.  She was stopped because she is a Latina in Maricopa County, Arizona.

     Maricopa County police officers entered a house where there were “coyotes” and undocumented immigrants.  They arrested them.  Then they noticed the house across from it was also occupied by Latinos.  They entered it, searched it, and tied the hands of a Latino man and his 12 year-old-son and made them sit on the sidewalk with the coyotes in front of all their neighbors.  The father and son were legal permanent US residents.  They had committed no crime and the police had no warrant to enter their house.

     These civil rights complaints and others came from the US Department of Justice which is investigating Arizona Sheriff Joseph Arpaio. Arpaio, who comes from Springfield Massachusetts, is an elected official supervising the Maricopa Police and prisons.  In the past, he was investigated for misspending $99.5 million of taxpayer money, election campaign violations, and using police investigations to intimidate his political adversaries.  This year, he started an unofficial “Cold Case Posse” that claims President Obama faked his birth certificate.  Arpaio is a supporter of SB 1070, which is an Arizona law that allows police officers more power to stop anyone who looks Latino.  The US Supreme Court is in the process of deciding if SB 1070 is constitutional.  President Obama is against SB 1070.   

    While the Maricopa police force under Arpaio has been arresting Latinos where they work, where they live, and where they drive, the violent crime rate in the county has increased.  The Department of Justice says they have not adequately responded to reports of sexual violence. Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice wrote this legal complaint:

    “The police are supposed to protect and serve our communities, not divide them. At its core, this is an abuse of power case involving a sheriff and sheriff's office that disregarded the Constitution, ignored sound police practices, comprised public safety, and did not hesitate to retaliate against perceived critics. Constitutional policing and effective policing go hand-in-hand. Our complaint alleges that the defendants' actions were neither constitutional nor effective.”

Jose Duarte Massachusetts’ Top Chef

     As a boy, Jose Duarte went to the markets in Lima, Peru with his grandmother and shopped for ingredients that his grandfather used for cooking.  Then, young Duarte’s family moved to Acarigua, Venezuela. There was a big Italian community in Acarigua and Duarte grew up with a love of Italian food.  He went to a University in Caracas and then came to the US to get better at speaking English and to learn how to become a master chef.

        In 2000, after many years of studying and working, Duarte opened Taranta restaurant in Boston’s North End. 

       “I love food and always had a strong interest in ethnic cuisine, especially food that is associated with culture and history,” Duarte explains.  “I spent pretty much my whole life in the restaurant and hospitality industry and have traveled the world. My wife is from Boston and an opportunity came up for me to start a business here and the rest is history!”  

     

      Chef Duarte's menu is a combination of southern Italian and Peruvian cooking such as:

Cassava root gnocchi with chica de jora green lamb ragu with spicy shaved parmesan cheese.

Macadamia crusted Atlantic salmon fillet over herbed risotto cake.

Peruvian asparagus and a pisco-sicilian blood orange with an organic Incan golden berries sauce.

Guava and ricotta mini cannolis with pistachio brittle.

     

      In 2011, he became the first Latino to be named Chef of the Year by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.  The international Zagat Guide book named Taranta as one of the five best Peruvian restaurants in the United States.  Jose Duarte was also voted one of the top 100 most influential Latinos in Massachusetts. 

-Sources: Chefs.com, Financefoodie.com

Healthy Pupusas Recipe

1 lb. chicken breast, ground
1 Tablespoon lite vegetable oil
1/2 lb. lowfat mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium green pepper, seeded, minced
1 small tomato, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups instant corn flour (masa harina)
6 cups water

    Sauté chicken in oil over low heat until it turns white. Stir chicken constantly to keep it from sticking.. Add onion, garlic, green pepper, and tomato. Cook chicken mixture completely. Cool in refrigerator. When chicken mixture has cooled, mix in cheese

    Place flour in large mixing bowl and stir in enough water to make stiff, tortilla-like dough..  Divide dough into 24 portions. Roll dough into balls and flatten each into 1/2–inch thick circle. Put spoonful of chicken mixture in middle of each circle of dough and bring edges to center. Flatten ball of dough again until it is 1/2–inch thick.

    In very hot iron pan, cook pupusas on each side until golden brown. Serve hot.

Source: MomsWhoThink.com

Latino Moms Could Decide 2012 Election

     “Latina moms are to the 2012 election what Soccer moms were in 2008: potential king-makers,” said Mamiverse Founder and CEO Rene Alegria. “Latina moms hold great influence over…a Latino home. Connecting with them has never been more important.”

     According to 2010 US Census figures, one out of every four babies born in the US is Latino. When Mamiverse asked 1,000 Latina moms what issue facing the Latino community was the most important for the President and Congress to work on, there was much agreement. 49% of all respondents identified the economy and jobs, 32% said immigration and the Dream Act, 24% identified education and schools. 

      The Dream Act, is a way to make it easier for undocumented young people who serve in the military or go to college to become citizens.  Mamiverse discovered 71% of Latino moms want to vote for a candidate who is for the Dream Act, compared with only 7% who want a candidate who is against the Dream Act.

Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto, ImpreMedia

Should you read to your children in Spanish?

   Will reading to children in Spanish confuse them and make it harder for them to read in English?  The answer is no.  While it is important for them to learn English, research shows that children who are read to in Spanish will have an easier time learning to read in English than children who are not read to at all.  Read books to your child on a daily basis, talk about the stories, play rhyming games, and teach them new words.  A love of reading and words is a valuable gift to children in all languages.

Source: Colorín Colorado

Latina Super Model fights for Mothers

     A woman dies from childbirth complications every 90 seconds. Pregnancy is also the leading killer of women ages 15-19 in poor countries all over the world.

     "Once I learned the global statistics, I had to do what I could to help to improve maternal health and reduce preventable maternal deaths," Christy Turlington Burns explains.

        She was a world famous American fashion model with a Salvadoran mother. But Christy Turlington Burns is more than a pretty face on the cover of a fashion magazine.  In the 1990’s she became an activist and joined the Salvadoran American Humanitarian Foundation.  After her own difficult pregnancy, she became an advocate for maternal health and worked for CARE.  She went back to college to get a Master’s Degree in Public Health.  She started an organization called “Every Mother Counts” and spent two years making a documentary movie called “No Woman, No Cry”.  The movie shows how women suffer giving birth in poor conditions in Guatemala, Tanzania, and Bangladesh.

    Christy Turlington Burns travels between the world of the rich and famous and the poor and powerless working for change that will save mother’s lives. 

Source: Women’s health site Empowher.