Latest news with #Vroman'sBookstore
USA Today
05-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Activist Cristina Jiménez talks new book and why 'the migration story is about love'
Activist Cristina Jiménez talks new book and why 'the migration story is about love' PASADENA, CA − Cristina Jiménez, an author and co-founder of United We Dream, the largest immigration youth-led organization in the U.S., did not expect her memoir to be published under the Trump administration. "I didn't plan for the book to be released under these conditions," the award-winning community organizer said during a sold-out book signing event June 2 at Pasadena's historic Vroman's Bookstore. "Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change" (St. Martin's Press, pp. 320, out now) is more than a memoir, "it's about the story of many undocumented and courageous people," Jiménez said, and an invitation for readers to organize and dream of a more just place for all. "I had dreamed of a better world and for this book to be in a different context, but here we are," Jiménez said, sounding determined. "I think about this book as an organizing tool, as a story and as a way for us to come together to remember that we do have power." INTERVIEW: Cristina Jiménez Moreta helped get DACA, now she helps young immigrants find their voice Jiménez's parents brought her to New York from Ecuador when she was 13, she said. When she was in the 11th grade in New York City's Queens borough and ready to apply for college, she found out that due to her undocumented status, the road to higher education would look different than that of her peers. Although Jiménez recalls feeling defeated then, she said her mother, who was proudly in attendance at her daughter's book event, was the one who told her not to back down and fight for the necessary resources to pursue her educational goals. Those small but significant seeds of courage and community have led her to this moment. "Community is what's going to give us the energy, ideas and strategies for what we need to do to move us forward," she added. That, and love. MUST READS: 13 books to break down the immigration debate amid Trump's return to power Why love is at the center of 'Dreaming of Home' During the Q&A, led by actress Francia Raisa, Jiménez opened up about the effects of migration, how climate change plays a role in people seeking a new place to call home, and why love is at the heart of her new memoir. "So much of the migration story is the story about love, and we barely think about immigrants and our conversations about immigrants as stories of love," she said. USA TODAY's The Essentials: 'How I Met Your Father' star Francia Raísa talks Selena Gomez friendship, comfort food essentials Jiménez said she wanted to shed light "on the fact that love is at the center of the courageous act of leaving everything behind for your loved ones. "Love is at the center when immigrant communities are doing the best and struggling to accomplish dreams, to lift each other up, to do better for their families. And when I think about my parents and many of the parents that had to leave everything behind to come here and take on great risk, I think it was love at the center of their courage and their ability to make that scary decision." 'Why do we even have such a thing as migration?' Jiménez asked attendees to examine their thoughts and preconceptions around immigration. "What I also wanted to do with this book is to really pull the curtain and let the reader have an opportunity to understand why do we even have such a thing as migration and people being forced out?" she said in response to a question from Francia about the impact of climate change on migration patterns. "So much of what we, as migrants and as immigrants, get from the media and from everything we hear is that somehow we are bad − that we are criminals because we migrated to seek a better life, to seek safety," she said. "I wanted to really talk about what's underneath migration: unjust laws, violence, corruption and increasingly more and more now, climate change." More: The U.S. already has millions of climate refugees. Helene and Milton could make it worse. She added: "If you care about our democracy, if you care about climate change, if you care about having a world that we all can share, you have to deal with immigration." Cristina Jiménez immigration advocacy work knows no bounds In 2020, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, USA TODAY named Jiménez one of its Women of the Century for her work in helping establish Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and inspiring young immigrants to find their voice. Jiménez cofounded United We Dream, which became the country's largest immigrant-youth-led network with 400,000 members across 100 local groups and 28 states. More: Paola Ramos explores the effects of Trumpism on the Latino vote in her book 'Defectors' The group pressured then-President Barack Obama to protect young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. In 2012, his administration created DACA, which allowed these young immigrants to obtain work permits, get driver's licenses, and go to college. The organization helped change public perception of undocumented youth. Contributing: Nicole Carroll, USA TODAY
Japan Today
24-05-2025
- Science
- Japan Today
The U.S. towns that took on 'forever chemical' giants -- and won
Mariah Blake, author of "They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals" speaks at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California By Issam AHMED No corner of Earth is untouched. From Tibet to Antarctica, so-called "forever chemicals" have seeped into the blood of nearly every living creature. Tainting food, water and wildlife, these toxic substances have been linked to ailments ranging from birth defects to rare cancers. Yet if it weren't for the efforts of residents in two heavily impacted American towns, the world might still be in the dark. In the new book "They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Chemicals," investigative journalist Mariah Blake recounts how people in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Hoosick Falls, New York, blew the whistle on the industrial giants that poisoned them -- and, in the process, forced the world to reckon with per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. "We're talking about a class of chemicals that doesn't break down in the environment," Blake tells AFP, calling it the "worst contamination crisis in human history." First developed in the 1930s, PFAS are prized for their strength, heat resistance, and water- and grease-repelling powers. Built on the carbon-fluoride bond -- the strongest in chemistry -- they persist like radioactive waste and accumulate in our bodies, hence the "forever" nickname. Blake's research traces their history, from accidental discovery by a DuPont chemist to modern usage in cookware, clothing, and cosmetics. They might have remained a curiosity if Manhattan Project scientists hadn't needed a coating that could withstand atomic-bomb chemistry, helping companies produce them at scale. Corporate malfeasance Industry knew the risks early. Internal tests showed plant workers suffered chemical burns and respiratory distress. Crops withered and livestock died near manufacturing sites. So how did they get away with it? Blake tracks the roots to the 1920s, when reports emerged that leaded gasoline caused psychosis and death among factory workers. In response, an industry-backed scientist advanced a now-infamous doctrine: chemicals should be presumed safe until proven harmful. This "Kehoe principle" incentivized corporations to manufacture doubt around health risks -- a big reason it took until last year for the U.S. to finalize a ban on asbestos. DuPont's own studies warned that Teflon had no place on cookware. But after a French engineer coated his wife's muffin tins with it, a Parisian craze took off -- and an American entrepreneur sold the idea back to DuPont. Soon nonstick pans were flying off shelves, thanks in part to a regulatory gap: PFAS, along with thousands of other chemicals, were "grandfathered" into the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act and required no further testing. Massive litigation The cover-up began to unravel in the 1990s in Parkersburg, where DuPont had for decades been dumping Teflon waste into pits and the Ohio River. The town reaped economic benefits, but female plant workers were having babies with birth defects, a cattle farmer downstream was losing his herd, and residents developed rare cancers. Blake tells the story through "accidental activists." One is Michael Hickey, a preppy insurance underwriter with no interest in politics or the environment. After cancer took his father and friends, he started testing Hoosick Falls's water. Another is Emily Marpe, "a teen mom with a high school education" who saved to buy her family's dream house in upstate New York, only to learn the water flowing from the taps was fouled with PFAS that now coursed through their blood in massive levels. "She knew the science inside out," says Blake, "and became an incredibly articulate advocate." Years of litigation yielded hundreds of millions in settlements and forced DuPont and 3M to phase out two notorious PFAS. But the companies pivoted to substitutes like GenX -- later shown to be just as toxic. Still, Blake argues the tide is turning. France has banned PFAS in many consumer goods, the EU is considering a ban, and in the US, states are moving to restrict PFAS in sludge fertilizer and food packaging. Liabilities linked to the chemicals are driving major retailers from McDonald's to REI to pledge PFAS-free products. Her optimism is tempered by the political climate. Just this week, the Trump administration announced the rollback of federal drinking water standards for four next-generation PFAS chemicals. But she believes the momentum is real. "Ordinary citizens who set out to protect their families and communities have really created this dramatic change," she says. "It's like climate change -- it feels intractable, but here's a case where people have made major headway." © 2025 AFP
