Thinking about the events of last week and NAWD/NAWW — National Adjunct Walkout Day and Week — I have become introspective. Aren’t we supposed to keep on going in our struggle, daily?
Ana Maria Fores Tamayo articles
Ana Maria Fores Tamayo is ABD in Comparative Literature from New York University, though she presently lives in Texas. She never completed her Ph.D. because motherhood got in the way: tenure and parenting do not mix. Thus she switched fields and worked in academic publishing for many years. She missed academia, however, and decided to return, only to find the Ivory Tower inhospitable to most educators. It did not take her long to take up their cause, beginning a petition for adjunct faculty, now with over 10,000 signatures. This grew into a Facebook forum for like-minded individuals to connect and organize. The past few years, Fores Tamayo expanded her work to reach out to those rendered invisible. She is trying to raise awareness of these marginalized peoples in order to erase borders. Her labor naturally grew from her work with students: DREAMers, undocumented students, and eventually asylum seekers from Mexico and Central America. Although this is heart-wrenching work, it is at the same time quite satisfying, being able to help others one to one. Working with diverse populations too, she is trying to make sure the disenfranchised become strong and have their voices heard. Her work can be seen in the Dallas/Fort Worth Refugee Support Network.
The Boys Behind the Ayotzinapa Symbol
I went to DC when Peña Nieto was here and it seemed quite the farce. What have we come to when our government condones the actions of a corrupt regime?
Dear Pope Francis: Help the DREAMers
Dear Pope Francis, last year I wrote you. I repeat another letter this year, with the hope that you will answer me, not me necessarily, but all DREAMers
The Seeds of Ayotzinapa Spread
As academics, we think too much. We are paralyzed and thus afraid to think, to act. As Americans, we have forgotten what civil disobedience really means. We can learn a lot from the normalistas, the students in Ayotzinapa.
Parents of Mexican 43 Discuss Ferguson in Video Meetup
This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to watch and listen to the Ayotzinapa students as well as the parents of the 43. Folks from the University of St. Louis as well as Latinos en Accion, from St. Louis, will be present in the video conference call
Rediscovering a Letter to Pope Francis on Behalf of Adjunct Justice
English translation of 2013 letter to Pope Francis (in Spanish) about adjunct academic labor in the US and asking for social justice in Catholic Universities. It is the one year anniversary of this letter about Mary Margaret Vojtko’s death as a Duquesne University adjunct.
Helping with the Refugee Crisis at the Border: A Photo Essay
Think, how bad can things be that a woman leaves her country, not even speaking Spanish —never mind English— because she fears for her life? How can anyone say that she wants to leave her homeland, to come to a country where she does not understand and is not understood?
Anti-Immigration Murrieta Nasties Battle Besos, Not Borders
When anti-immigration Murrieta militants realized we were at the front of the capitol building, they strutted over to cause trouble. The baldie started to yell, shoving a bullhorn right into our faces; at the same time, he would roar, “don’t touch me; don’t touch me.” He was going berserk.
McAllen’s Sacred Heart Leads Efforts Helping Refugee Families
As adjunct activists, we need to remember our collective truth — our nakedness with all its biting candor yet its accurate honesty — and realize that on this earth, we are all in this together: adjunct, dreamer, undocumented — children & parents alike — workers, labor & all unions.
Border Crisis: Where Are Our Tears?
We have been reading much about the border crisis, and though I campaign mostly for adjunct faculty, as I always say, everything is related. We are all in this together. As we can see, we are all disenfranchised. So are the children escaping from their homelands.