Mexico

In ZORA. More on Medium.

Madeleine Wattenbarger

·Mar 12, 2020

Left to right: Jaqueline Malagón (Sonido La Dama), Mari Aco (La China de Otumba), Javita Perez (Sonido Fiesta Bacana), Marisol Mendoza Gomez and Viridiana Fuentes (Sonido Cataleya). Mendoza founded Musas Sonideras in 2017 to bring together the small population of women playing music in Mexico’s sonidero scene. Photos: Alicia Vera

Meet the Women Smashing Mexico’s Male-Dominated DJ Scene

Musas Sonideras may not be as well-known as their male counterparts, but they are making waves with fans and skeptics alike

Marisol Mendoza takes to the DJ booth in a personalized black-and-purple windbreaker. Her name, embroidered in bright block letters, adorns the right arm, and the left arm displays the flags of Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Cuba — three of the most iconic producers of tropical music. The back of Mendoza’s jacket flashes with several other embroidered logos, the most eye-catching a yellow-lined silhouette of a woman holding a microphone above bright pink letters featuring the name of the all-female music collective that Mendoza founded and runs: Musas Sonideras.

Mendoza is representing Musas Sonideras tonight along with another woman known as…

Mexican Women Journalists Are Suffering a National Mental Health Crisis

The machismo attitude within the media, combined with the lack of protection, leads to neglect toward their well-being

A woman with writing on her face that reads ‘no to silence’ looks at the camera during a demonstration in Mexico. — A woman with writing on her face that reads ‘no to silence’ looks at the camera during a demonstration to end violence against journalists in Mexico. Photo: Miguel Tovar/Getty Images

In the summer of 2017, Melva Frutos, Inés García, and Miriam Ramírez attended a holistic security workshop for female journalists in a rustic hacienda along the outskirts of Oaxaca City in southern Mexico. Surrounded by picturesque gardens and century-old trees, they shared their reporting experiences as if they’d known each other before and expressed diverse “sensations” they’ve been experiencing for the past years. “Symptoms” was not a word they used. Rather anxiety, mistrust, hypervigilance, isolation, insomnia, depression, and emotional detachment were new additions to their lives to which they simply had to conform. …

Their Handiwork Helps Families Locate Their Missing

The women of Torreón, Mexico make tortillas to help fund their search for their loved ones

The trick is to roll the dough into round balls that all weigh the same. It’s only the fourth day since the tortillería opened in the city of Torreón in northern Mexico, but Viviana Hernández and Guadalupe Castellano have already found the secret to making the perfect, round tortillas de harina.

Making tortillas de harina with a machine is not the same as making them by hand. Our abuelas, their hands glowing from the lard, flattened the testales (the small dough balls) with a wooden roller, and threw them on the comal. We little ones would ask to flip them…