E Newsletter

February 2005 E-Newsletter
Editors: Laura Donnelly and Alicia Rascon

IN THIS ISSUE:

Extend Your Holiday Giving to Valentine's Day!
Chispas: East Austin Documentary profiles Latinitas
Latinitas to Learn Como Decir Sus Cuentas
Board Spotlight: Teresa Rabago
Donor of the Month: IBM/Christopher Nay

TEXTEND YOUR HOLIDAY GIVING TO VALENTINE'S DAY!: Help a Latinita get the digital media kit she needs for a semester of Club Latinitas. Sponsor a scholarship stipend for college or fund a week's worth of media technology camp for a Latina youth this summer. Every donation does something at Latinitas and support is easily given by clicking: http://www.active.com/donations/campaign_public.cfm?key=latinitas.

If you are cleaning out the closets for a fresh, new, more orderly new year, Latinitas always needs laptop computers, color printers, ink cartridges, a scanner, a laminator, digital cameras, paper, printing services, postage, pens, notebooks and gift certificates for incentive prizes for the girls.

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CHISPAS: EAST AUSTIN DOCUMENTARY PROFILES LATINITAS: On Dec. 8th at Café Mundi coffee shop in East Austin, students from the East Austin Stories Documentary project screened films profiling neighborhoods and people living east of I35. Amongst the collection was Chispas: A Spark From Within, a short film by UT student filmmaker Nisha Madhani, about Latinitas' outreach programming at Martin Middle School.

"In the film, you can hear how much our girls want to be recognized in the media and how the club makes them feel empowered making their own publications." said Marcela Evans, outreach coordinator.
The film will be available soon on the website: www.eastaustinstories.org.

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LATINITAS TO LEARN COMO DECIR SUS CUENTAS: Oral tradition is one of the most effective methods to maintain or restore a culture for future generations, Latinos not excluded. In an effort to record the stories of first, second and third generation Latinas in Austin, Elida Bonet, Ph.D., a storyteller for 12 years at schools, libraries, festivals and universities will be training the girls of Club Latinitas how to convey the stories of their own families through voice, writing and media.

"My interest is how stories shape us as women in a given society. I think that it is very important to listen to our stories, the stories that have been passed down to us and the ones we pass down and search for the meaning of those stories and how they have shaped us," said Elida. "Latinitas here in the US are listening to two different kind of stories, and I want to see which stories they are listening to, (if) they are creating new stories, what are they leaving behind and what are they adopting."

Having completed her course work for a Ph.D. in anthropology with an emphasis on cultural anthropology, Elida embarks on the Latinitas story-telling project looking for a local application of her studies. She lives in Austin with her husband and two daughters. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Panama, she learned first-hand the relevance of retaining stories.

"I realized how my stories of Panama impacted my daughters," said Elida, "when we visited there, it was the relatives I told stories about, uncles and cousins, who my girls were the most connected with and interested in meeting."

Elida will be training Club Latinitas 7th graders to become expert story-tellers using their own webzines and other digital media. For more information about Elida Bonet go to: www.underthemangotree.com

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BOARD SPOTLIGHT: TERESA RABAGO: Raised in Texas's Rio Grande Valley, Teresa "Terrie" Rabago stays tightly connected to her Mexican roots in equal measure to her devotion to community in Texas. Before joining Latinitas board of directors, Terrie became a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, a licensed realtor and certified a Texas Public Manager, not before a stint of her own as a journalist. Published in Texas Hispanic Magazine and Austin Light Newspaper, Terrie highlighted the stories of Hispanic leaders and events in Austin and, apparently, always had a passion for using media as a means to promote Latino cultural identity and recognition.

Already a mentor to women in a UT Latina sorority during her two-term presidency of the Hispanic Women's Network of Texas's Austin Chapter, Terrie joined Latinitas in early 2003 as acting co-chair of the public relations committee and currently serves as the group's treasurer. With a long resume of experience in business and non-profit volunteering, Terrie brought enthusiasm and maturity to a young, growing board.

Currently, employed with the Realty Executives of Central Texas and the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company, Terrie has a history of entrepreneurial and accounting expertise demonstrated through a variety of state financing forums since the early nineties. But, Terrie is far from all business. Thoughtful and supportive, Terrie is also a mother and, though you would never guess by her youthful vigor, a grandmother. Integral in raising $6,000 for scholarships for an annual presentation hosted by HWNT, Terrie has already begun implementing some of that same gusto for Latinitas recruiting new board members and catalyzing new fund-raising efforts.

She is also just a fun and effervescent woman to be around and lends herself as a friend, mentor or whatever is necessary to promote Latina pride and progress. Terrie's goals for Latinitas include creating forums or Latina girls to overcome social stigmas that are sometimes followed by other challenges for Hispanic youth including teen pregnancy, lacking job skills, dropping out of school and not having a mentor.

We are grateful for her presence!

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DONOR OF THE MONTH: IBM/CHRISTOPHER NAY: Thanks to the artistic commitment of Latinitas volunteer Chris Nay, his employer IBM has graciously donated a new lap top Thinkpad to Latinitas outreach. In addition to the computer donation, IBM will include Latinitas in its end of the year corporate giving for 2004.

Chris, who knew Latinitas before it even existed, was a teacher's assistant in a multimedia journalism class where Latinitas' online interface originated. Following what seemed like hundreds of design questions for Chris, Latinitas was born and though a recent student of web design himself, Chris was integral in making that happen. Since then, Chris has continued to support Latinitas with wonderful illustrations and biting commentary for the Latinitas webzine.

"Chris's art lends the right dose of humor and culture in relaying Latina youth's strife, stresses and struggles." says Laura Donnelly, "he was the first to suggest something to honor potential Latina First Lady Teresa Heinz Kelly." A graduate of UT's masters in journalism program, Chris currently works at IBM in their media communications department working with web animation, design and other tools for digital production. Thank you Chris.

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