Chicana/o Studies at Cal State Northridge will be taking close to sixty Latinos and Asians students to Tucson later this month. It will be our third trip as a group within a year. Friends keep saying, “That is a big responsibility; you have paid your dues; why don’t you slow down and enjoy life?”  In other words, take it easy, and let the young people clean up our mess.

The most significant aspect of January’s jobs report is political. The fact that America’s labor market continues to improve is good news for the White House. But as a practical matter the improvement is less significant for the American work force.

For the past six years or so I have heard constant threats from Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne (Canada) and Superintendent of Schools John Huppenthal (Indiana) that they were going to ban, destroy and wipe out Mexican American Studies, as well as Occupied America.

When the great Muhammad Ali was asked how many sit ups he did, he responded,  “I don’t count my sit-ups, I only start counting when it starts hurting, that is when I start counting, because then it really counts, that’s what makes you a champion.”

Recently, Vice-President Biden came to Ohio in support of President Obama’s efforts to make college tuition more affordable. Mr. Biden’s visit was reported in the January 13, 2012 issue of The Columbus Dispatch, in an article written by Joe Vardon, and headlined “Biden hits hot-button subject: college costs”.

Currently, I am putting together a book that includes my non-scholarly pieces that I have written since the mid-1980s, which I call “My Journey Out of Purgatory.” My basic method is synthesizing history based on a timeline. I line up my documents, showing cause and effect.  The study takes on meaning in the context of Tucson.  

My political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places. Biden becomes Secretary of State.

Bucks County’s Pennsbury School District has hit rough fiscal times, and is facing revenue shortfalls as a result of the recession. The district cut its budget by $3 million this year and dipped into savings for a additional $3.1 million.

Today Ben Bernanke added his voice to those who are worried about Europe’s debt crisis.

But why exactly should America be so concerned?

One of the most ridiculous comparisons that the pundits have recently made is comparing the Occupy Wall Street movement to the tea party stampede.

With the protests on Wall Street continuing, historians are being called on to provide perspective on the development and related matters.

Cash donations rose in 2010, but big companies expect a flat year ahead, a Chronicle survey finds

About a year ago, several of the nation’s biggest banks were caught in scandal over “robo-signing” — approving foreclosures without verifying basic information about the loan and fabricating documents to present to courts.

The number of Americans who volunteer dropped slightly in 2010, according to a federal report released today.

The Rocky Mountain Foco of the National Association for Chicana/o Studies (NACCS) had scheduled a conference for the weekend of November 4, with organizers projecting about five hundred scholars, community activists and students attending; however, preparations fell through because of housing problems.   

When James Buchanan Duke signed his name to the document that would create the Duke Endowment in 1924, the tobacco and hydroelectric-power tycoon gave clear instructions that are still followed nearly 90 years later.

A hunger strike started by prisoners at Pelican Bay to protest appalling conditions has spread across California as inmates at 13 prisons joined in solidarity. The number of inmates refusing food hit a peak of 6,600, and is now estimated at 1,700.

An extensive new research study provides compelling evidence that lighter skin color is strongly associated with receiving a lighter prison sentence.

“We have never had that kind of outpouring of support in terms of in-kind donations,” Ms. Roccanti says. “It’s just changed the way we ask for things and changed the way people respond.”

"Despite record unemployment, seven million people work in the U.S. illegally," said Congressman Lamar Smith, Chair of the Congressional Judiciary Committee in a statement accompanying the E-Verify Bill when it was filed last month.