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Fall 2024

Latinas

Woman singing in mariachi band with musicians behind her
Fall 2024

Bringing joy and mariachi to WSU

Washington State University seniors Natalie Valdez and Daniela Alpire went to high school and played mariachi music together in Wenatchee, Washington.

At WSU, they missed the music and the camaraderie associated with being in a mariachi band, so the pair formed one of Washington State University’s newest musical groups: Mariachi Leones del Monte—loosely translated by its members as Cougar Mariachi.  

Now, the distinct sound of mariachi—an infectious blend of singing, trumpets, violins, and various guitars—brings joy and danceable tunes to the WSU Pullman campus.  

 

 

Read more in “Celebrating joy and growth,” Fall 2024 issue of Washington State Magazine. 

Blanca Blanco WSU interview session
Summer 2022

Q&A with Blanca Blanco

Actress and model Blanca Blanco (’03 Psych.) recently released Breaking the Mold, a memoir she wrote during the pandemic lockdown.

And, at the end of April, Blanco was the keynote speaker at La Alianza de WSU Alumni Weekend and Gala in Pullman.

Here, she talks about growing up in Chelan, breaking into the TV and movie industry, escaping the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and more…

 

You were born in California, moved to Mexico at a young age, then returned to the US, arriving in Washington state at age 9. What are some of your earliest memories of growing up in Chelan? It was … » More …

Summer 2009

In from the fields

A dozen preschoolers puff into plastic wands, shrieking as soap bubbles kite across the classroom. Sylvia Guzman, 29, sits cross-legged on the floor, next to a poster showing ways to calm down (put hand on tummy, take deep breaths). She reads aloud in Spanish: “There are three amigos.” She points to the book. The children flock around. She turns the page. “Four armadillos. How many armadillos? Let’s count them.” They count together—“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro”—as one boy stomps errant bubbles. “Look. Five cows,” she says. “What does a cow say?” Everyone moos in unison.

Guzman, a Distance Degree Program student at Washington State University, has … » More …

Winter 2004

Chicana Leadership: The Frontiers Reader

This collection of inspired and thoughtful articles, originally published in Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies from 1980 to 1999, examines not only Chicana leadership, but also Chicana activism, history, and identity. According to the primary editor, Yolanda Flores Niemann, chair, Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University, Chicanas are virtually invisible to U.S. society and oftentimes even to their own communities. Nevertheless, from leading boycotts, challenging injustice, and shaping the creative and performing arts to carving out sexual, cultural, political, and national identities in public and not-so-public ways, Chicanas are ubiquitous.

The problem is that we do not see Chicanas’ work, their … » More …