Parent Issue: Ann Arbor News, April 6, 1980 “Celia, working at University of Michigan, to support minority student retention and success”.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, inspires us even 60 years later.  It certainly continues to inspire me and many others. He said: “It is a dream…deeply rooted in the American dream… that all men are created equal.”  How is this manifested?

This is the time to evaluate our lives and make plans for the future. The past is gone and is not coming back. This is a good time to start looking at where we want to go and delineate how we are going to get

I am calling this a “reflection” in the sense of being in front of a mirror. This mirror is reflecting to you the mystery of how Christmas was celebrated in my household when I was a child.

My dear Ned passed away last year and this will be my second Holiday Season without him, without his love and support.  I can’t say it’s been easy, rather it’s been rocky, with twists and turns, with ups and downs.

I am a recent widow. It’s been a year and four months since Ned, my beloved husband, passed away. That means that counting on the love of a man with whom I spent 35 years of my life is forever gone.  You could say that we had worked out the kinks in our relationship – something that can only done with time spent together.

I am used to speaking about “we” as in Ned and me.  It’s a custom that goes back several decades.  So, “we”, Ned’s spirit wherever it may be, and I thank you very much for being here today. When Ned and I got married, I

My husband says that there are more rocking chairs in Nicaragua, than people, a most necessary piece of furniture in a country with two types of weather – hot and hotter. Their open backs made of wicker or wooden slats allow the heat to escape

My mother came to Findlay from Los Angeles for my graduation.  She looked so pretty with her hair styled up.  She wore a very nice navy blue suit and gloves, dressed beautifully because this was a very proud day for her.  So many hopes and

As I had shared in prior Blogs, 1966 was a momentous year for me and the turn to a new life in the United States.  My mother and I arrived in Pittsburgh for my week long training in American culture at Chatham College attended by

To help me during recovery, I hired a health aid, Rosa, recommended to me by a Sutter Healthcare social worker that was providing services to my husband.   She was quite a good find.  I recommend to everyone to make sure that they have the necessary

By now you know that I am a senior citizen.  While I have reminisced about my childhood in Nicaragua, the intentional parenting of which I was the beneficiary and my college days, today I will share with you my experiences getting old. It is a

Mother and Mrs. Magoon When mother and I arrived in Findlay, I was only 18.  My main concerns were learning from my studies as well as from experiencing a different culture and a foreign environment.  So many things were new and interesting: living in a

Welcoming tea by Findlay community You have read in prior blogs that I was enrolled in a 2 week acculturation program for foreign students at Chatham College in Pittsburgh. When that was over, mother and I left for Findlay. What an adventure it all was.

April 14, 1914 – August 5, 1997 In Spanish speaking countries, our full, legal names include both of our parents’ surnames – the father’s lineage comes first and it is the most important one.  In my father’s case, that would be Barberena as he was

In Nicaragua, people tell stories to each other while rocking in the ever present rocking chairs.  This is our way of expressing ourselves, making connections and entertaining visitors.  So, I’ll proceed to tell you a story about my formal schooling which started at an early

Neighbors would tell my mother to be careful with her in-laws as they were a difficult clan to contend with.  Mother already knew. Now that I have been married for 35 years, I know that in-laws can make your life sweeter or treacherous. I also

I have written how my mother lost her parents at an early age. She also died young.  As I examine her life, she learned from the struggle of living through the challenging hand that was dealt to her. Following me, she immigrated to the United

You never know where life will take you.  When I was growing up as a Catholic girl I never thought that I would marry and later divorce.  Marriage was supposed to be forever.  However, that was not true for me, painful as it was in

According to my father, a Nicaraguan historian, Granada, the city of my birth, is the oldest city in the Americas, founded in the first quarter of the 1,500’s.  Family folklore has it that I was born at 6:00 a.m. in my mother’s home.  Early that

If we could choose our parents, would we choose the same? It’s hard to say.  Our parents are imperfect human beings as we all are.  However, would I like myself if I were very different? The product or another set of parents? Who knows!  I