News and Hispanic Cultures

As our name suggests, La Voz is a magazine about current events and Hispanic cultures in the Hudson Valley. This month, we bring you just that.

In his column Our Artists, Professor Camilo Rojas presents an interview with Argentine artist Graciela Cassel, known for her immersive installations and works on paper. She is also the co-creator of the television program TransBorder Art, Conversations with Artists, and currently focuses her art on water-related themes.

The Opinion section is an open space for readers who are members of the Hudson Valley’s Spanish-speaking communities to share their views on topics that concern them. This time, microbiology professor Dr. Mónica Trujillo reflects on the impact of cuts to science and education, after losing her research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

For the Current Events section, Nohan Meza, general coordinator of La Voz, interviews Jamel Guerra, secretary of the Unity Group of the organization Drogadictos Anónimos (DA). In 1982, several mothers who had lost hope due to their children’s addiction asked the then-leader of Alcoholics Anonymous in Mexico: Why aren't there recovery options for drug addicts like those offered to alcoholics? That question sparked the founding of DA, whose program is based on support therapy, mutual help, and self-help. DA now also operates in Florida, Colorado, and New York, with a peer-run recovery residence in Sullivan County.

Also in Current Events, I report on how elected officials, organizations, and individuals are protecting the rights of immigrants in the Hudson Valley. On my radio program La Voz con Mariel Fiori, I spoke with Steve Noble, mayor of the city of Kingston, which, like several others in the region, is a welcoming and inclusive city, regardless of immigration status. What does this declaration mean in 2025? I also spoke with the first Hispanic sheriff in New York State, Puerto Rican Juan Figueroa, of Ulster County. Members of nonprofit organizations such as the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement and the New York Immigration Coalition explained best practices for verifying ICE presence. And individuals involved in recently formed community groups like Ulster Rapid Response and Latinos Unidos of Orange County shared how neighbors are organizing to care for one another. In We Are Not Alone, I summarize the key points of these conversations.

In this month’s Resource section, Bard College student María Herrera writes about education in the beauty arts in the Hudson Valley, based on interviews with the director and students of a cosmetology and aesthetics school, fields that, it seems, offer solid job prospects. What other resources would you like to learn about in La Voz? You can write to me at [email protected] with your questions and ideas.

Another Bard College student, Málaga-born musician Marcos Castilla Jiménez, contributes to the American Dream section with a profile of guitarist, composer, producer, teacher, and entrepreneur Dan García, who came from Spain and settled in Beacon, New York. Do you know other immigrants in our region living their version of the American dream who should appear in La Voz? Tell me why by emailing [email protected].

In the Healthy Living section, Menopause Coaching Specialist Ivette O’Sullivan wonders if she overstretched her right hip during yoga practice. In her column The Power of Love, holistic psychologist Dora Inés Grosso García writes about the importance of planting the seeds of emotional health from an early age.

In the Traditions and Customs section, Francine Russo writes for Knowable magazine (with permission for Spanish-language reproduction in La Voz) about how silence in romantic relationships can help renew and strengthen the bond. The July resource guide offers a variety of community events and activities, most of them free.

And of course, the theme of the July magazine cover: La Guelaguetza of Poughkeepsie 2025, which, as student and La Voz contributor Andrés Pérez Rangel writes, is an act of cultural resistance in the Hudson Valley. Now a true local tradition, La Guelaguetza, the Oaxacan festival of color and flavor, returns to Waryas Park on Sunday, August 3, rain or shine.

I hope you enjoy this issue of La Voz as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Come and read!

Mariel Fiori
 Director

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