Cepeda 2008-2020 column archive

Non-trans military members say to let transgender people defend our country

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- As our country continues to reckon with changing norms of gender and sexual identity, it's becoming more common to find people who think that transgender men and women should be able to serve in the military. Perhaps more importantly, trans people now also have the voices of hundreds of heterosexual, lesbian, gay and bisexual service members who would welcome them into their military ranks. This is according to a first-of-its-kind study funded by the Department of Defense, which examined survey data from 486 non-trans, verified active-duty service members across the four major branches... Read more →

Sotomayor's comments get overblown in media because she's a woman of color

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Supreme Court justices do their best to both remain apolitical in public and to get along with each other in private. Steering clear of partisanship helps maintain the independence of the court, and keeping the peace is important because their lifetime appointments effectively make them a family. This is why Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in the case of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security v. Cook County, Illinois, was supposedly so exceptional. The case entails the Trump administration's so-called public charge rule, which will prohibit legal immigrants from obtaining green cards if the... Read more →

Hispandering to the "Latino Vote" 2020 edition

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Ahead of last Wednesday's Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced herself to a group of Latino workers in the city's Culinary Union by recalling that she was assigned the name "Elena" in her fourth-grade Spanish class. I rolled my eyes so far back into my head that I gave myself a headache. And then I pitied Klobuchar. She clearly has no one in her circle of campaign workers who could explain to her that Hispanic people -- potential voters, no less -- are human beings, first. Just like Irish,... Read more →

What ever happened to Black History Month?

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- We're more than halfway through February -- what happened to Black History Month? Is it that impeachment hearings, coronavirus and caucus debacles just overshadowed everything else? Maybe, but Black History Month just seems to suffer from a celebration deficit. Think about it: Hispanic Heritage Month brings to mind women joyfully twirling their multicolored folkloric dresses, the many flags of Latin America and images of people dancing or playing instruments. One of my Facebook friends felt the same way and encapsulated the shortfall thusly: "If y'all celebrated Black History Month like you do Pride... Read more →

Let kindergarteners play to learn instead of learning to be still at a desk

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Public education is a study in competing inequities that parody each other while leaving the neediest behind. For every group of students at an under-resourced school that finally gets laptops, there is a group of concerned parents at a high-performing school that opts out their kids from screen-fatiguing, web-based apps in the classroom. Show me a school where the students are encouraged to pursue their own interests and design their own curriculum, and I'll show you 100 other schools where the classes are heavily scheduled and scripted down to the minute, making the... Read more →

Do we have the courage to pray for our political opponents

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Most Sundays at our church, "Pastor Leslie" begins service with a welcoming prayer asking for strength to "love our neighbors, (BEG ITAL)all(END ITAL) our neighbors." This week, she decided to dump her planned sermon to let the congregation share their ideas about what responsibilities people of faith hold in these times. "In these times" was deliberately vague. But I was heartened that in addition to naming political polarization and amnesia about the suffering of the poor and homeless amid news of our "booming economy," several members of the nearly all-white congregation despaired about... Read more →

Battling Trump's SOTU misrepresentations of immigrants

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- At this point, it feels futile to even try to use facts to debunk the half-truths and outright lies President Trump presented during his State of the Union address. When it comes to partisanship, sociologists have found that even facts are not enough to sway people from their political beliefs. Banging people over the head with real, authoritative information can result in them accepting the facts, but they find or create rationales to fit those facts into their preferred worldviews. Also problematic are the truths that partisans believe but don't want to accept.... Read more →

Shakira and JLo put on a melting pot masterpiece

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Amid the frenzy of reactions to Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's Super Bowl half-time show, I saw several people on social media wondering who could possibly have clutched their pearls about, arguably, the most athletic performance of the night. Guilty as charged. This was the first year I didn't watch the broadcast with my parents and sons, and I was so grateful, because I would have been incredibly uncomfortable and embarrassed sitting next to them during the butt shaking, twerking, pole dancing and crotch thrusting. But, that's just me. Growing up in a Hispanic... Read more →

Ada Calhoun's “Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis” gives a lift

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO — I don’t feel well. I’m in a lot of pain. Yes, present tense. No matter when you read this, whether it’s next week or next month, I will surely be in pain, because that’s how it’s been for the past 20 months. Right now, it’s a headache, a patch of sore skin on my left arm that feels like bad sunburn (it really isn’t) and tingly throbbing on my upper back. But tomorrow, sharp discomfort may be radiating from my right leg down to my ankle. Alternately, it could all be in my... Read more →

The discussion around 'American Dirt' must stick to the issue of exclusion of Latinos in publishing industry

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- There's a literary war going on over a new book about migrants in crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. "American Dirt," by Jeanine Cummins, elicited ferocious fuss and combating reviews even before its release last week. Writing in The New York Times, staff critic Parul Sehgal said: "There are so many instances and varieties of awkward syntax I developed a taxonomy. There is subtext announced at booming volume. There are the strained similes. ... There are perplexing bird analogies. ... Then there are the real masterpieces, where the writing grows so lumpy and strange... Read more →

It's FAFSA time - please reach out and help any first gens in your life

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- It's the time of year when adults in higher education start waking up in the morning with persistent thoughts of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). "Fill out your FAFSA" is a winter tradition that affects nearly all adults with kids who will start or continue their college studies in the fall. The dreaded form must be filled out in order to qualify for financial aid to attend college -- both federal loans and grants, and, in some states, scholarships and other forms of cash assistance. Did I say "affects"? I... Read more →

King's 'I Have A Dream" speech always worth coming back to

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- When I was in college, my roommate and I would together drive the six hours to our southern Illinois campus the day before the spring semester started. Our tradition was that, while my friend took a turn driving, I would read aloud Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, which was printed in our local newspaper annually on the Monday commemorating the activist. That was a quarter of a century ago -- before our first black president seemed to have made good on the promise of an America that could see... Read more →

Immigrants have deep faith in the American justice system than

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- For many years, well before Donald Trump was elected, immigration hawks complained about the practice of so-called "catch and release." These observers just couldn't understand how migrants who were caught living illegally in the country, or attempting to enter, weren't just bounced back to their country of origin right away instead of being given an opportunity to "disappear into the shadows." But that's not how it works. Research has long shown that the vast majority of migrants who have been released into the U.S. show up for their court cases in front of... Read more →

Young people (and older ones, too) just can't spot fake news

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- My son, his best friend, Dave, and I were chatting over a pizza last weekend when Dave dropped some (absolutely incorrect) information: The elderly are forgoing nursing homes for cruise ships, because the room and board cost about the same, plus you get entertainment and travel. Again -- this is not a real phenomenon. A few healthy, affluent retirees have spent a few years this way, but the cruise ship industry is in no way prepared to offer extended care for masses of frail elderly adults with complex medical conditions like chronic diseases... Read more →

Julian Castro bows out and VP slot a non-starter

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- A fellow journalist friend recently posted photos of Julián Castro from last summer, showing the former presidential candidate in the wee hours of the morning after a long day on the campaign trail in Michigan. There Castro was: still crisp in his suit, sitting ever-so-properly while chowing on a famed Coney Dog. Oh Julián ... he never stood a chance. He's the super polite, clean-cut, high-achieving guy you'd be proud to bring home to your Mexican mom and dad. But, ultimately, he was the kind of guy undervalued by an electorate looking for... Read more →

Fun audiobooks to start 2020 with

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Ugh -- I know I'm such a downer all the time. So much policy, so many research reports and data-data-data about the most powerless people in society. Then every New Year, I tell about how to be kinder, smarter, more active and less dependent on your digital devices -- all wonderful life goals that require time and energy. But who has both? People often ask me when I sleep. Sleep? Ha, I wish. A life consumed with reading, writing, battling anxiety and depression, taking care of dogs, cats, a spouse and a partner;... Read more →

Family dinners cannot overcome the effects of living in poverty

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- For many, this week will be chock-full of family dinners, making it a perfect time to talk about why they're great for bringing people together -- but not a silver bullet for ensuring children's academic success. Family dinners are the stuff of legend. Throughout history, countless brilliant minds have credited their enhanced intellectual development to the act of sitting down for dinner with parents, siblings and extended family. As these stories go, gathering for a communal meal allowed the successful person to learn about everything from household happenings and their parents' work concerns... Read more →

No need to fret about pronouns -- just be nice and call people what they want

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- For the uninitiated, it will come as a bit of a surprise that the familiar pronoun "they" has been named Merriam-Webster's word of the year. No longer just another form of "them," which we use to refer to two or more people, "they" has been crowned the official nonbinary pronoun of the English language. Basically, it's the word you'd use if you were to come upon a person -- oh, let's say ... me -- and they sort of looked female, but they were dressed kind of like a guy (let's say a... Read more →

Must-read (but depressing) books with a social justice bent

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- I read so many books in 2019 that I had a miserably hard time trying to decide which ones to include in my "favorites" list this year. Usually, I present a roster of books that are diverse, but not specifically about diversity -- books that blur our differences while sharpening the issues that affect us all, regardless of our race, ethnicity or gender. This year, the issues are as sharp as knives, and the books I'm suggesting could fit in the self-improvement category because they're more educational than entertaining. In fact, most of... Read more →

Is the new NAFTA just as bad as the old NAFTA?

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- The newly signed U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has one claim to fame: It's bipartisan legislation that was passed while the president is facing impeachment. Aside from that, the tepid legislation's biggest historical accomplishment might only be not getting constantly referred to as "NAFTA 2.0" -- if, in fact, it can get away from its dastardly predecessor. There are things to like in the new USMCA trade deal. But they could be overshadowed by not-so-great unintended consequences. For instance, theoretically, the new pact will result in more car and truck parts being manufactured in North... Read more →

Refugees have a right to look for asylum in the U.S.

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- The beauty of being human is that you can hold two seemingly opposite positions in your heart at the same time. Our fragmented, partisan society -- in the era of cable news and social media -- isn't good at portraying this reality, especially when it comes to religious or political issues. But people who pursue a spiritual practice know that you can be a lover of Jesus Christ or God and hold political views that are usually ascribed to the secular left. You wouldn't know it, though, based on some ultra-loud reactions to... Read more →

Harvard shuts out its Latina superstar professor from tenure

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- In May 2018, 26 female professors signed an open letter to the media asking that coverage of a celebrated Latino author's #MeToo scandal be treated with restraint and fairness. They did so not because they doubted the veracity of the allegations, but because his characterization as a sexual predator would add to the degrading and stigmatizing stereotypes of Hispanic men and women. It was a controversial but important message that sparked discussion about how to react when one of the leading lights of a historically marginalized and underrepresented group gets in trouble and... Read more →

What did first generation college students say about their first semester of college?

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- There are a few key milestones in the first semester of a college freshman's life: the first few days away, especially if they're on a far-off campus; the first big paper to write; the first big exam. Teary calls home or anguished texts may come in the night, along with family and friends' reassurances that all will be well. Then there's the Thanksgiving breakdown. If it comes, this one is bad. The student who left to great fanfare for a near-magical life journey at their dream school returns home to a hero's welcome... Read more →

New DHS report says mistreatment of immigrants due to IT and was predicted

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Words alone can't convey the disgust and outrage I feel over the Trump administration's cruel and careless treatment of migrants and refugees at the border. In the spring of 2018, President Trump asked his top immigration and homeland security officials to end the so-called "catch and release" practice. He did this even though the overwhelming majority of people released into the country after being caught at the border are eager to return to immigration courts to have their cases heard. At the same time, the president instructed the U.S. attorney general to direct... Read more →

Make giving thanks personal

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- We are surrounded by grief, fear and strife, yet for about a week or so each year, we're scolded for not being thankful enough. Sadly, gratitude has become yet another corporatized platitude designed to tug the heartstrings and open the wallet. The command to show appreciation can be purchased on pillows, mugs, mouse pads and candle holders in what Vox calls "'bridesmaid font' ... bouncy, hyper-feminine scripts." Trust me, you've seen it a million times; just Google the phrase "give thanks" and you'll see what I mean. "Self-care," the hipper, more commercially appealing... Read more →

The Latinx vote requires money investments, now

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- The mainstream media has two settings when it comes to Latino voters: "The Sleeping Giant will determine the next president!" and "A confounding mystery endures: Latino voters don't turn out to vote, but why?!" A primer: There is no such thing as a "Latino community." Latino voters are diverse -- from many different countries and cultures. And complex -- with different views toward immigration, depending on where they're from (remember that all Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth and Cubans have enjoyed special rules for entering the U.S. and obtaining legal status... Read more →

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Steel yourself -- the book "Border Wars: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration" is infuriating, heart-wrenching reading. New York Times reporters Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear set up their book's narrative by cataloging the administration's disjointed efforts to fulfill contradictory campaign promises. President Trump wants to make a "deal" on immigration but can't because of the nativist desires of his closest advisers and his base for tougher immigration restrictions and enforcement. According to the authors, Trump "feels" for the so-called Dreamers -- whom his handlers insisted he re-brand as "DACA recipients" because... Read more →

Reading officially goes from "leisure" to "independent"

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Parents are constantly told that reading to their children will instill vital communication skills and that modeling engaged reading will set their kids on a course to becoming bookworms. Not always. It doesn't matter how much you adore books, how many hours you spend enjoying the 998th read-aloud of "Go, Dog. Go!" or how many tomes fill your bookshelves as a testament to your insatiable reading addiction -- your kids could still turn out like mine did. Both my sons hate reading. Hate it. With a passion. Actually, it turns out they hated... Read more →

What the red MAGA hat means to people of color

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- A recent column in which I asked readers to do some introspection about their own racial beliefs spurred many infuriated emails. Some people took offense at my implication that a white person who feels strongly that his or her race is being discriminated against might be likelier, among other things, to wear a MAGA hat. Why is it so difficult to imagine that wearing a very specific hat could signal alignment with someone who has done so much to divide the country -- and who, by the way, has belittled, demonized or mocked... Read more →

Hispanic immigrants do as well as those from European countries

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Though some people proudly think of America as a nation of immigrants, many forget that the pilgrims on the Mayflower were immigrants, too. And, of course, waves of immigrants have been arriving on the shores of the United States for so long that social science has more than a century of hard, statistical data about them. The factoid I like to trot out every time immigrants are erroneously tied to crime is that they are more law-abiding than native-born U.S. residents. That has been the case for at least 100 years. Shortly after... Read more →

People of color need Americans to become anti-racists

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- A recent Pew Research Center survey on perceived discrimination in America seems to confirm what some already believe is gospel: There is a disturbing and gaping divide between Republicans and Democrats on race. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents agreed that there is "a lot/some" discrimination against blacks and "little/no" discrimination against whites, while only 23% of Republicans felt this way. In fact, 16% of people who identified as Republican or Republican-leaning said that whites experience "a lot" of discrimination, and another 39% felt they experience "some." Sigh. And, also, ugh!... Read more →

Language is nothing to be afraid of

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Take enough undergraduate psychology courses and you'll internalize a simple precept: Your perception is your reality. For instance, if you go around terrified that people with skin slightly browner than yours are coming into the U.S. to rob your land of its apple pie and baseball, you're going to worry about whether America speaks more than one language at home. I got an email the other day from a nativist think tank with the subject line: "More than one in five U.S. residents does not speak English at home." "Oh no!" you might... Read more →

Don't slam math - even babies can do it

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- "I hate math!" As a fourth-grade math teacher, I hear this at least once daily. It's like a dagger to the heart every single time. I have been hearing this even more since math instruction has moved away from first instilling the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (to some detriment, I believe) toward "problem solving" and abstracted versions of the simple equations that older generations practiced. Long before the mantra of problem solving became gospel in education, it fed into the concept of what a 21st century "leader" should be able... Read more →

The horrors at the border continue

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Lest we forget, inhumanity and injustice continue unabated at the U.S.-Mexico border. The topic of these horrors seems to have been left for dead because of the focus on a potential presidential impeachment, the 2020 election and, well, life. It is human nature to attempt to go on even in the face of widespread suffering. All over the country, people are getting excited for Halloween -- even those children who are scarred from having been separated from their parents at the border, and kids who are in this country illegally and endure teasing... Read more →

Start talking about racism if you really want to confront and end it

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- A few weeks ago, I got into what became a heated argument with one of my young students, who was indignant that her teacher flat-out refused to share an important cultural, political and social fact. The topic was a term that will never pass my lips: the N-word. "But what does it mean?" pleaded the student, the lone white girl in a 99% Latino classroom. And she was not trying to push my buttons, be defiant or stop our classroom lesson. We had been discussing the inarguable fact of slavery's impact on the... Read more →

White fragility leads to a Latina author's book being burned

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- After a recent reading of Robin J. DiAngelo's urgently needed book "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism," I vowed to wait for a clear-cut example of white fragility before writing about it. My wait lasted all of two weeks. That's when white students at Georgia Southern University burned the books of a different author who discussed the dangers of white privilege. The crux of DiAngelo's book is that discussing white racism is threatening to white people, because the topic has typically been broached in terms of... Read more →

Parent teacher conferences reveal public school's white privilege

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- It's parent-teacher conference time at schools across the land and I'm here to share the two unfortunate rules of thumb that teachers like myself understand about this exercise. First, mostly it's the stronger students' parents who'll show up. They're a joy, but you really need to see the parents of the kids who are struggling. Second, teachers too often dispense advice that only those with college educations and middle-class lifestyles could hope to follow through on. Think about it: Teachers almost always ask parents to read with their children, overlooking the fact that,... Read more →

All White people should read 'My Time Among the Whites'

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- When you grow up surrounded by white people, you become, in many important ways, white. Your neighbors next door, your teachers at school -- everyone from the person behind the counter at the bakery to the mail carrier. If they're white and they treat you with respect and affection, part of you becomes white, too. This is my story, but it's definitely not what happened to Jennine Capó Crucet, author of the newly released book "My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education." Capó Crucet's story reminded me of the context... Read more →

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- In 2011, a Kansas state lawmaker suggested shooting unlawfully present immigrants from helicopters, the way the state controlled its feral hog population. He was building on a long history of politicians and other officials who have dehumanized undocumented immigrants, especially those at the border. In fact, in 1911, the federal Dillingham Immigration Commission stated: "We should exercise at least as much care in admitting human beings [to the United States] as we exercise in relation to animals or insect pests or disease germs." This is why it came as no shock to learn... Read more →

I used to hate Barbie, but I'm excited about Mattel's non-binary dolls

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- When I was a kid, I hated Barbie. I mean I hated her. But Christmas 1980, I found "Western Barbie" under my tree. This was long before I knew the terms "race," "ethnicity" or "identity," and long before learning about the groundbreaking research that Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark did in the 1940s, when they found that black children internalized white supremacy and preferred Barbies to black dolls. Unwrapping Barbie was a blow. The dreaded doll came from my favorite uncle, the one who seemed to understand that I liked playing with his... Read more →

How white privilege derails dual language programs

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Dual-language programs have recently become more common in public schools. In most of them, half the students are non-native Spanish speakers and the other half are non-native English speakers. They each get 50% of their instruction in English and the other in Spanish. Initially I thought this method could be powerful in communities with influxes of Spanish-speaking students. In addition to creating students who are fluent in more than one language, successful programs tend to have been driven by passionate and enlightened community members and parents, not via dictate from a school board.... Read more →

We cannot continue to normalize hate

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- In a 2016 blog post on the word "normalization," the Merriam-Webster dictionary website described how Donald Trump's candidacy made routine what used to be outlier behavior and language. "The 'normalization of hate,' then, is not the removal of extreme and hateful rhetoric or views to fit the mode of modern discourse, but instead the redefinition of modern discourse to allow those extreme views to be considered normal," the post observed. More recently, a report underwritten by the immigrant-advocacy group Define American found that the reality-distortion field of the Trump administration has spread beyond... Read more →

Why public school lunches are a feminist issue

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- You'd be surprised how many books have been written about school lunches. I feel like I've read them all -- usually during my short teacher's lunchtime, cowering over a pastel-green plastic tray upon which some form of cold, semi-gelatinous institutional slop was assembled to look like food. Last week I was primed for a conversation with Jennifer Gaddis, the author of "The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools." I had just eaten a lukewarm cheeseburger (the cheese was totally unmelted) and then moved on... Read more →

Backlash against Castro highlights the double standard people of color are held to

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- As I was chatting with the young man ringing up my purchases at a big-box store last week, he forgot to scan the microwave in my cart. I told him that although I would love his mega corporation to give me a free appliance, I'd be paying on this day. We shared a chuckle. Moments later, the greeter stopped me at the exit and asked to check my receipt. My husband, who is white, said to me, "What are the chances that the greeter would have checked your receipt the one time you... Read more →

Democrats need to court Latinos now ahead of 20202

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- It might seem obvious that the angst and fear President Trump has stirred up with his thinly veiled verbal assaults on people of color will translate into votes for a Democrat -- anyone but Trump -- but it's just not a slam dunk. While 62% of U.S. Hispanics say they are certain to vote for a Democratic candidate, a still stunning 22% of Hispanic registered voters surveyed at the beginning of September approved of Trump's job performance, according to a Latino Decisions poll. Nearly the same percentage said that if they had to... Read more →

College shouldn't be the only path to success - on Paul Tough's new book

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- All of the books by best-selling author Paul Tough have been meaningful to me -- I'm a teacher, and there's nothing an educator loves more than books that offer up a clear, concise answer to the question of how to best help children succeed. But his latest book is personal. Tough was in the process of researching his now-released "The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us" when we first talked a couple of years ago about the fact that neither of my sons -- both children of the first... Read more →

Along with school supplies, teachers bring to their classrooms plenty of hope and courage

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- Contact paper. Plastic boxes for crayons. Damage-free picture hangers ... If you're a teacher, this list looks very familiar. Poster frames. Dry-erase markers. Blank self-adhesive labels ... These are the kinds of items that don't always make it onto the standard school-supply lists, but we buy them at the start of the school year so that the students streaming into our classrooms for the first day of school can feel welcome and at home. Safe. Fluffy pillows. Comfy blankets. A few extra granola bars or pretzels for the extra hungry ... For some... Read more →

Detroit's 'renaissance' masks its pervasive poverty

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO - Detroit, which was settled by French colonists back in 1701, is sometimes called the "Paris of the Midwest." But while few would see many similarities between Paris and Detroit today, there is one that's consistently overlooked: Like Paris, Detroit has what some locals call an "island of opulence" at its center - namely in the downtown and midtown areas surrounding the Fox Theatre, the new hockey arena and, soon, where Quicken Loans will boast the city's tallest skyscraper. These pockets of gentrification mask the stark reality that, outside the glittering downtown, an increasing... Read more →

The crippling legacy of gender stereotypes

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA CHICAGO -- As a lifelong lover of the ballet -- and as a child of immigrant parents who could not afford to start me in classes when I was little -- there was no question that my own kids would be enrolled in dance training as soon as they hit preschool. When my son was 4, the movie "Billy Elliot" had already come out, telling the story of an English coal miner's son who, at age 11, battles masculine disapproval to study ballet. The heartwarming film hardened my spine against skeptical family members who wondered... Read more →

Donald Trump hates children

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA WASHINGTON -- Does Donald Trump hate immigrant children? That's not hyperbole. Is there any other way to interpret his administration's efforts to wreck these children's lives starting at the moment of conception? Let's begin with the newly enacted public charge rule, which -- if pending lawsuits don't prevail -- will penalize legal immigrants who accessed federal benefits such as Medicaid, food stamps or housing assistance by making them ineligible for green cards and eventual citizenship. This means that women pregnant with soon-to-be U.S. citizens will have to choose between getting help for themselves or going... Read more →