Astro Jose to Tweet During Discovery Mission

Inspiring story of a Mexican-American astronaut scheduled to launch with the Discovery crew this week. He'll be tweeting bilingually at @Astro_Jose

If you want to get the latest developments about the launch of the space shuttle Discovery and the adventures of its crew, specifically Jose Hernandez, the California-born son of Mexican immigrants and now a national hero here in Mexico, you can sign up to follow Hernandez's Twitter feed.

Hernandez is already posting updates on the micro-blogging site about his preparations for take-off and developments concerning the delayed launch of the space shuttle in both English and Spanish.

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Vaya Con Dios, Tim

Sad news, indeed. Latino blogger/journalist Tim Chavez has passed away.

Tim Chavez, former columnist for the Tennessean, died last night at 6:15 p.m after a long bout with leukemia. He wrote about finding out that his illness returned in a blog posting on May 10th:

I never believed my leukemia would be over. The only lesson God wanted me to learn was to appreciate the moments of extra living he gave me, along with the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the 24/7 dedication of my heroic wife. She fought everyone from insurance companies to doctors for me. But I forgot too much of her heroics, which is to my great shame.

With my leukemia back, the moments become more precious. What book would one write at this stage of such a story? What should the world know? What feelings should rise to the surface to make the reader remember the moral?

Utilizing media contacts and his blog Political Salsa, Tim was responsible for getting the story of Juana de la Paz' torture out into the public eye. You'll recall that she was shackled during the birth of her child and then prevented from breastfeeding by ICE agents. His empassioned corazón was howling for justice at the time, which was my first interaction with his work. Tim, you'll be missed.

Vaya con Dios, hermano

Powerful Latinas to Interview Mamita Mala

Blog'miga Maegan "Mamita Mala", co-founder of VivirLatino.com and Associate Editor at The Sanctuary, will be interviewed tomorrow as part of the Powerful Latinas series.

>> What kinds of writing does she enjoy the most and what has she learned from the different kinds of writing she’s done?

La Mala is a member of SPEAK! Radical Women of Color Media Collective, that recently put out a CD and accompanying ‘zine and curriculum on women of color issues and activism.

La Mamita Mala is also a poet and spoken word artist, spitting her malaventuras as a radical ‘Rican living in the mami’hood in the Latino Cultural Festival and El Encuentro de Poetas en NY.

>> I’ll be asking Maegan about her poetry, and maybe she’ll even share some of her spoken word with us!

PowerfulLatinas.com

The interview will be held at 8PM Eastern tomorrow - April 29th
¡Felicidades, Mamita!

Welcome Back VivirLatino.com

VivirLatino.com was taken out yesterday by an unknown source, pero nuestras amigas han vuelto hoy. Good to see things back alive over there. If the attack turns out to be something nefarious, I hope the pendejos left enough fingerprints to be identified and prosecuted.

'Ask A Chola' Meets Her Blogger Compadres

This was hilarious - Ask a Chola is not at this conference but chronicled her experience at Bloggers Lounge at a techie gathering

Fiesta at the UMX Blog

Blog 'Mano Nezua gave me a key to The Unapologetic Mexican, so come over and get ready to practice your washing machine moves to the cumbia beat. I'll be there during the weekends along with a whole other bunch of bandit@s.