Category Archives: Viva!

Singer/ Songwriter/ Folklorist Translate this page | Irka Mateoled

Irka Mateo is a Dominican cultural treasure. Irka’s roots are as an indigenous Taino woman. She sings and writes songs inspired in the Taino/Afro/European folk of her native Dominican Republic while incorporating the wider influences of her multicultural background. Her trailblazing work includes prolific output as an artist and folklorist. Her love for the Dominican peasant population, bearers of the most ancient culture, led her to travel ten years in the rural areas of her country documenting more that thirteen genres of folk musical traditions and Taino culture. Her extensive field research of Dominican folk music was recognized by the Grammy Foundation and brought to life in her critically acclaimed record, Anacaona. As a singer/songwriter she has created her original music inspired in the Dominican folklore and has played with her band in  venues and festivals around the Americas. Her current work, including the single “Vamo a Goza,” showcases the contagious accordion music from the Dominican Republic and Latin America. With an amazing voice, colorful songs, and outstanding performance, Irka Mateo fills the dance floors with her joyful music.

via Singer/ Songwriter/ Folklorist Translate this page | Irka Mateoled.

MRSA epidemic increases antibiotic resistance

Health professionals recently reported that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is the form of Staphylococcus aureus that is antibiotic resistant and widespread throughout healthcare facilities in the U.S., livestock, communities and environments, is increasing the severity of antibiotic-resistant illnesses.

The current rates of MRSA invasive infections have decreased in healthcare facilities, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that it is because the CDC has tracked only invasive MRSA infections. This means that the true rates of MRSA infections are significantly under-reported. Additionally, community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) infection rates are neither tracked nor reported and are rising.

A 2013 USA Today investigation showed that the 80,500 invasive MRSA cases reported by the CDC in 2011 vastly underrepresented the diseases; approximately six times (460,000) as many hospitalizations actually involve MRSA. In 2011, approximately 23,000 people died from MRSA.

CA-MRSA infections have steadily risen. More than 50 percent of skin infections within the U.S. are caused by MRSA. There has not been surveillance or reporting of CA-MRSA, and MRSA continues to be an epidemic.

“The ongoing MRSA epidemic is fueling antibiotic resistance globally as antibiotics are used indiscriminately in humans and in livestock,” Jeanine Thomas, founder of MRSA Survivors Network, said. “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a current and dangerous public health crisis.”

9 Iconic Photographs from African American History

These iconic photographs below were selected from the book Through the African American Lens by TIME magazine. Many of the images in the book are taken by famous photographers such as Spider Martin, Gordon Parks, Ernest C. Withers, Wayne F. Miller, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, serve as a view into the dynamic history of Americans of African descent.

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Photographer Zack Brown shooting dapper men in Harlem, ca. 1937. (Eliot Elisofon—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin)

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Elks Parade, Harlem, 1938. (Jack Manning—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Estate of Jack Manning)

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African American Jewish Congregation in Harlem, children studying, 1940. (Alexander Alland—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Alexander Alland Jr.)

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An afternoon game at Table 2, from the series The Way of Life of the Northern Negro, 1946-1948. (Wayne F. Miller—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Wayne F. Miller)

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Ernie Banks, Larry Doby, Matty Brescia, Jackie Robinson, Martin’s Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee, 1953. (Ernest C. Withers—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Ernest C. Withers Trust)

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vintage everyday: 10 Incredible Essential Products Made by Women During the First World War

Women pit brow workers of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company, 1918. These women sorted coal and moved heavy tubs on the surface of a coal mine – work that was dirty and physically demanding. Jobs like these had been done by working class women before the war and continued to be important in wartime.

via vintage everyday: 10 Incredible Essential Products Made by Women During the First World War.

Why My Son Needs Feminism

Media Diversified

by Jendella Benson

Photographed by Jendella Photographed by Jendella

Once upon a time I seriously considered not having children. “Why bring an innocent life into this world of tragedy and pain?” I reasoned. Now, as a mother-to-be, the thought of what this world has to offer my child still scares me, and yet the thought of what my child has to offer this world fills me with hope. I also wonder what I have to offer and what the culmination of my life experiences so far – I’m only in my mid-twenties – can bring to bear on raising another human being.

As someone who identifies as a black feminist, I’ve always had no doubt in my mind how I’d raise my daughter, should I have her, and much of this is put into practice as I interact with my many younger female relatives. But what about my son? Now that I’m 99%…

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