How The Queen of Tejano Music Inspired Me to Learn Spanish
Amigxs we need your help! Please take two minutes to fill out this quick survey about Pero Make It Newsy so we can give our readers the best curated newsletter.
Hola amigxs,
It’s Wednesday and we have a brand new issue of Pero Make It Newsy for you! This week, Maria Elena remembers Selena in a personal essay where she writes about how she built up the courage to learn Spanish again thanks to the Queen of Tejano Music. We’ve also got a new book selection you should read and a fresh column from our puppy columnist, Princess Party Time.
Vamonos!
Selena Helped Me Gain The Confidence to Learn How to Speak Spanish 🇵🇷
By Maria Elena Perez
Selena learned to speak Spanish and embraced her Mexican culture for her fans, so why couldn’t I learn to speak Spanish and learn about my Puerto Rican culture for myself?
Read Maria Elena’s full personal essay here.
Women In The News 📰
Women Saw Job Gains in March, But More Is Needed to Rebound to Pre-Covid Levels: An astounding 492,000 women re-entered the workforce last month. While that’s great news, experts are warning that we need to see another 15 consecutive months of that type of growth to return to pre-pandemic employment levels. Clair Ewing-Nelson from the National Women’s Law Center told The Lily that unemployment rates remain disproportionately higher for Black and Latina women –– 8.5 and 7.3 percent, respectively, compared to women as a whole (5.7 percent).
Learn more about the issues stopping women from re-entering the workforce here.
GOP Wants to Label Parents Who Approve Their Trans Children’s Gender-Affirming Care ‘Child Abusers’: This week, a group of Texas lawmakers held a hearing for Senate Bill 1646, a bill that aims to define gender-affirming care as illegal. The bill, which is sponsored by 12 Republicans, would prohibit trans children from receiving drugs, hormones or medical procedures to assist in their transitions. Under the bill, parents who consent to gender-affirming care or doctors who perform sex-change surgeries would be labeled child abusers.
Read about this latest attack on trans rights here.
Gretchen Sierra Zorita Tapped By Biden to Advocate for U.S. Colonies: Equally American board of directors member Gretchen Sierra-Zorita was appointed as the deputy director of Puerto Rico and the Territories in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House. To serve in this new position, Sierra Zorita will step down from the board of Equally American, nonprofit president Neil Weare said in a statement. Sierra Zorita and Weare spoke with us last year on the voter suppression experienced by U.S. citizens living in the colonies.
Read about Sierra Zorita’s new appointment here and listen to her interview on America the Voiceless here.
Causes That Matter 🤝
Many of you may have noticed that we've included a number of charities we hope you’ll consider supporting in the past few newsletters. We now hope to make this a permanent part of our weekly newsletters to shine a light on some important causes.
This week, we want to share the work of Holistic Heaux, who is coordinating aid for Daunte Wright’s son and girlfriend. Daunte was tragically killed by Brooklyn Center Police in Minnesota on Sunday during a traffic stop.
You Should Read This 📚
Find Trevor Noah on Goodreads | Pick up “Born a Crime” from the Strand Bookstore
Princess Party Time’s Paw-nderings 🐶
Henlo hoomans! Princess Party Time here, and I am sad to report that I am currently grounded.
My paw-rents discovered that I ate my Mama’s dinner last night. They didn’t actually catch me in the act, but they saw that I was hiding in the armchair and noticed Mama’s dinner was gone! Technically, it wasn’t all my fault. How could you expect me to resist a homemade quesadilla with sour cream and salsa? My paw-rents said I am grounded until “further notice,” so please send treats and your kind thoughts. Thank you for thinkin’ of me during this heckin hard time.
Thank you so much for reading! If you’d like to send us questions, suggestions or just say hello, you can email us at peromakeitnewsy@gmail.com.
- Maria Elena and Nikki
P.S. Don’t forget to share Pero Make It Newsy with all your amigxs, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!