Wednesday, Sept. 15th

5:00 - 6:00pm

 Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles: The World's First LGBTQ+ Mariachi

FLEX Eligible

Event Description: The world’s first LGBTQ+ mariachi band is composed of a unique and dynamic ensemble, which showcases the musical and folklore traditions of Mexico’s rich culture. This group made history when it created a haven where mariachi musicians who identify as LGBTQ+ can come together and perform traditional Mexican regional music in an otherwise “machista” and discriminating subculture of the mariachi world. Using music as a tool to inspire and empower, the group will perform different songs while providing context to their meaning and explaining how music can be used within the Latinx community to share resilience, break down barriers, and uplift society. 

Tuesday, Sept. 21st

5:00 - 6:00pm

Undocumented and Thriving: Poetry with Yosimar Reyes 

FLEX Eligible

Event Description: In this performance/presentation, Yosimar Reyes uses his writing to take us into the lives of Undocumented immigrants. Using humor and personal anecdotes, Reyes introduces us to communities that struggle but also persevere. These poems are a reminder that our stories are of strength.  

Wednesday, Sept. 22nd

5:00 - 6:30pm

Del Colegio Comunitario al Profesorado, con mi Familia (From the Community College to the Professoriate, with my Family)

Presented by: Dr. Jose Del Real Viramontes

FLEX and Classified Professional Growth Units (CPGU) Eligible

Event Description: As a proud immigrant, first-generation scholar-practitioner, Dr. José Del Real Viramontes will share how he learned to and continues to navigate and negotiate the community college to the professorship with his family’s cariño (love), enseñanzas (teachings), y (and) conocimientos (knowledges), which are part of his cultural and social capitals. José’s talk will also highlight his motivation and purpose for working with Latina/o/x community college students who aspire to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree. José’s talk will conclude by presenting some of the key findings from his research with Latina/o community college transfer students, highlighting how Latina/o community college transfer students use aspects of their cultural and social capitals to navigate and negotiate the community college to the four-year institution process and beyond.  

Thursday, Sept. 23rd

5:00 - 6:00pm

Latinx Student Panel 

FLEX and Classified Professional Growth Units (CPGU) Eligible

Event Description: The purpose of the Latinx Student Panel will be to create a discussion about how students identify themselves according to their community or background and what that means to them. It is the hope of this panel that individuals will be able to learn about the variety of backgrounds and intersectionality among the Latinx community. While many individuals in the Latinx community have things in common, they also have differences that make them unique. The discussion is meant to create a relaxed environment for those present to share thoughts and experiences and to grow as individuals. 

Tuesday, Sept. 28th

5:00 - 6:00pm

Afro-Latinx Beauty & Representation

FLEX and Classified Professional Growth Units (CPGU) Eligible

Event Description: Latinidad in the U.S. is often equated with Eurocentric markers of beauty (being fair-skinned with dark, mostly straight or wavy hair), or being of Mexican heritage. Typically, Latinx people are presented as white-adjacent, which has led to the erasure of anyone who does not fit that narrow mold. But Black Latinxs are literally all over Latin America — the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, the list goes on. Fortunately, we are re living in a time where people from the Afro-Latinx community are not just celebrating that they are Black and proud but they are also creating spaces, brands, and content to address their unique beauty needs. They are also using their platforms to combat the anti-Blackness and internalized racism that still very much exists in our communities. This talk will focus on Afro-Latina entrepreneurs and influencers, their own experiences with anti-Blackness, their relationships with beauty, and how that all intersects and ultimately led to them building their own beauty brands. 

Wednesday, Sept. 29th

5:00 - 6:00 pm

Latinx Professional Panel 

FLEX and Classified Professional Growth Units (CPGU) Eligible

Panelist Biographies

Event Description: In collaboration with Career Services and Career Education, we are inviting a diverse set of panelists who will share their personal experiences navigating their own unique career journey and the professional workspace under a Latinx lens. This professional panel hopes to educate, inspire, and engage those that want to better understand the Latinx experience within the context of the world of work.  

We extend our deepest gratitude to Nancy Medina (Career Counselor) and Shelby McIntyre (Career Education Counselor) for helping make this event possible.

Thursday, Sept. 30th 

5:00 - 6:00pm

Joteria: LGBTQ+ Loteria

Presented by: Antonio Castellanos

FLEX Eligible

Event Description: During this event, I will show you how I teach through art and storytelling to stop homophobia. I will share stories of the impacts that gay and trans people had on Mexico and why we say things like Puñal, Mariposa, and Joto. I will also share about an aztec gay god and the reason why the number 41 is gay in Mexico. You will learn about what led to the creation of my game, Joteria, and what I have learned throughout that process. Participants will also be able to see unpublished Joteria art for my soon coming Second Edition of Joteria!  

Tuesday, Oct. 5th

5:00 - 6:00pm

Latinx Families: Generational Trauma & Storytelling as Resistance

Presented by: Prisca Dorcas 

FLEX and Classified Professional Growth Units (CPGU) Eligible

Event Description: In this talk I tell stories about my own experiences with therapy, the stigmas around therapy, being 1st generation, and the experiences with being from a war-torn country has meant for me and my family. Also, I discuss how colonialism has impacted the ways that machismo functions within my context. Finally, I explore how I have reclaimed cooking and other tasks that I distanced myself from in order to illustrate how we can also carry our ancestors good name with us, while healing from generation trauma. 

I am a storyteller and all my talks carry an element of storytelling. I tell stories to stay connected to my communities. Storytelling is my ancestral inheritance. Storytelling is elevated chisme that serves as warnings, preservation of our history, and lessons to be learned. Storytelling as self-preservation, survival, and crucial herencia from our indigenous roots. 

Wednesday, Oct. 6th 

5:00 - 6:30pm

Central American Migration to the U.S.

Presented by: Dra. Leisy Abrego

FLEX and Classified Professional Growth Units (CPGU) Eligible

Event Description: Central Americans live throughout southern California, but they are not represented in school curriculum or mainstream media. This talk will cover the history and present migration of Central Americans. What propelled their mass exodus in the 1980s and in the present. And why should US society care? 

Thursday, Oct. 7th

5:00 - 6:00pm

Latinx, Latino, Latine, Hispanic, and Queerness in Latinidad

Presented by: Sergio Gonzalez 

FLEX Eligible

Event Description: My experiences as a first-generation, queer, Latinx of Mexican parents raised in a mixed-status home have influenced how I understand, conceptualize, and theorize Jotería (queerness) andLatinidad in education. The term Latinx, for instance, has caused incredible amounts of conflict within our community. Through a co-created plática (conversation), this presentation aims to engage a critically reflective space to dive into queerness and what it means within the Latinx community. 

Wednesday, Oct. 13th

5:00 - 6:30pm

A Conversation on the U.S. Immigration Enforcement System

Presented by: Blanca Ramirez 

FLEX Eligible

Event Description: This event is intended to give students a brief overview of the current U.S. immigration enforcement system and how it is developed. Through a sociological perspective, participants will leave this workshop further understanding how this system is impacting immigrant communities, particularly Latinx immigrant communities. 

Thursday, Oct. 14th

5:00 - 6:00pm

Baile Folklorico

Performance by: Grupo Folklorico de UCLA

FLEX Eligible

Event Description: Baile Folklorico, translated to folkloric dance, brings Mexico’s history to life with each step. From Guanajuato, Michoacan and Chihuahua to Veracruz, Sonora, Yucatán and Jalisco — there is a dance for every state and every town. With every dance, comes a costume — costumes that all represent a story and history — from lace and leather to vibrant fabrics with flowers, butterflies and neon colors. Baile Folklorico represents preserving our folklore, our culture, and our roots, which allows us to pass on our ancestors’ stories for decades.