¿Qué Pasa, Midwest?

Non-Latinos are not the only ones confused about why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated. I’m from the Dominican Republic, and I have to admit that I didn’t know for a long time that this celebration was not the Mexican Independence Day I was misled by the celebraciones en Estados Unidos about este festejo.

It was a great season! Listen to our top five episodes and a sneak peek of next season in our last episodio. Share with us the topics you want us to cover next and recommend our podcast to a friend.

Duolingo schools no son nada nuevo. There are many of them around the country, focusing on many different languages, and they’re certainly not new in the state of Indiana. En Fort Wayne, Lindley Elementary ha tenido un programa similar al de Parkview,  por más de veinte años. De afuera, la escuela primaria Parkview en Valparaiso, Indiana, looks like any other school in Northern Indiana. Teachers g...

After an abusive childhood in Mexico, Amy's grandfather started telling people he was Italian. He says, “nothing good comes out of Mexico. Nothing." His identity is his business, but Amy knows she's not Italian. As a mixed race Latina with no cultural connection to Mexico, she struggles to express her racial and ethnic identity.  Para algunos, she's not close enough to Mexico to claim it, for othe...

In this episode, our host Paola Marizán shares with co-producer Mareea Thomas how moving from her home country at age 6 made her feel displaced, how domestic violence lead her and su mama to be refugees and how now that she's older tiene que encarar and deal with depression; which is a taboo topic in the Latino communidad because it can be viewed as a sign of weakness.

An Immigration Center proposed to be built in Elkhart, Indiana, a city big on agriculture, mainly built on manufacturing and close to big areas with large Latino populations, represented a clear threat to Latinos in the area. Many protests halted the proposed center from coming along but people are still nervous about the possible outcome. ¿Qué Pasa, Midwest? contributor Barbara Anguiano talks to...

In this episodio we’re going to go back in Cuban history. Last year, Cuba announced that next month, en Marzo del 2018, they will have elections to choose new members of the National Assembly. See this is historico because after that the new parliament will choose the country’s next president. Raul Castro or the Castro’s for that matter will no longer be in power after six decades of dictatorship....

A look at how Latino art and culture has influenced the Midwest and how it's celebrated where it's people may not feel welcomed.

Para despedir el año, ¿Qué Pasa, Midwest? programmer Mareea Thomas and host Paola Marizán shared their favorite songs of 2017 and some of what's coming up next for the podcast. 

Amalia got caught by border patrol and in a split second she had to make the decision --  give her baby to the coyote and hope he’ll get the infant safe to her relatives in the U.S. or to take her four-month-old back home, to El Salvador. San Salvador is ranked as one of the top murder capitals of the world - one of the reasons why Amalia was fleeing the city she loved. In this episodio, we talk a...

Celebrating Christmas as a Latino, today means that celebrations pour over borders and become part of our own traditions. Is not just about celebrating a native tradición but celebrating the traditions we took from our neighboring countries. In this episode, WNYC journalist Sophia Paliza Carre  and host Paola Marizán talk about their Christmas in Perú and the Dominican Republic and about the fusio...

Imagine establishing a life in a foreign country that then becomes home - mi casa- even more than where you come from. That’s how twenty one year old Laura Ayala feels. See, Laura can navigate the city of Cincinnati easier than she can travel through the roads of Bogota, Colombia because she moved from Colombia when she was just four. . Cuando estaba cerca de graduarse de High School, empezó su bu...

Finding the ingredients to feel close to home is always a hassle. Here's my journey finding achiote for my Puertorican Sofrito in the Midwest, how that becomes part of my identity and why Latino-owned businesses it matters. 

En este episodio, exploramos lo que significa identidad -we talk to Lydia about being Mexican and African American in the Midwest - dealing with the issues of Inmigración and racial profiling - and about the threats her undocumented father received after Trump’s election.

In the first three months President Trump was in office, an average of over 5,000 immigrants a month were arrested and nearly 200,000 families were approved for Parole in Place, according to Homeland Security. Before 2013, members of the U.S. armed forces with undocumented families could leave for training or to fight in other countries and return a una casa vacía, to a deported family. En este ep...

The Aztecs made Pulque by fermenting the nectar of a cactus plant, llamada Magüey. The drink of the gods is at least 2000 years old and is seen as a cultural resistance to today’s political divide by those from the native land of Pulque. We wanted to know why is this drink becoming a catch in North America's heartland because no hace mucho you could only try Pulque in places like New York, Califor...