1	Music Cecilia Noël, a rising leading lady of salsa; Irene B and Choco Orta bring their own style; Chayanne talks about life. read more...
2	Film & TV The new adventures of Yasmin and Crash; Oscar Nuñez outside The Office. read more...
3	Books Two top broadcasters share their insights. read more...
4	Ask Julie It’s time to reorganize your finances. read more...
5	Calendar Noteworthy Hispanic events around the country in May. read more...
6	Picture This The first Latina astronaut reaches for the stars. read more...

Having it All

In her latest book, television journalist María Celeste Arraras’ shares her secrets to overcoming obstacles on the road to personal success.

Maria Celeste Arraras is quick to point out she is not a “guru.”
But this Emmy Award-winning journalist—considered one of the most trusted and revered Hispanic on-air talents—certainly has some wisdom to impart.
In her latest book, Make Your Life Prime Time: How to Have It All Without Losing Your Soul, Arraras reflects on some of the most intimate moments of her life, detailing how she managed to overcome obstacles and succeed as a woman, mother and professional.
“I wanted to tell people what worked for me,” says Arraras in a phone interview with Hispanic. “All I’m doing is telling my story. I’m not preaching.”
Indeed, the host and managing editor of Telemundo/NBC’s Al Rojo Vivo, has some riveting personal stories to tell. In her Simon & Schuster page-turner, available in English and Spanish, Arraras shares some 35 life lessons she has collected along her journey. Some of these include: “People are neither good nor bad, just products of circumstance;” “Resentment is a heavy anchor that can weigh you down and drown you;” and “Be gracious when others have harmed you.”
With humor and emotion, Arraras weaves in anecdotes to describe how she handled both trying and triumphant times.
“When you have that glass half-full mentality and don’t look at yourself as the victim, then you’re not,” she says simply.
It could have been easy for Arraras to portray herself the victim, given some of the painful periods she encountered. In her book, she speaks of the physical abuse her infant son suffered from a nanny. She reveals how her ex-husband was unfaithful and how she would later come to accept the “other woman.” She shares how when she was in the throes of her divorce, her personal assistant, who was like her little sister, stole her identity and robbed her of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Throughout your life, you will be confronted over and over with a sad truth: Some of the people you love and trust will disappoint you,” she wrote in one chapter. “There is nothing you can do about it and you can’t build immunity to it. It will hurt every time. Yet you can never let these unfortunate betrayals steal your capacity to open up and believe in others.”
Forgiveness, it is clear, has played an important role throughout her life, empowering and uplifting her.
“Nothing will slow your trip like carrying hate and resentment. They are like heavy stones in your bag, and serve only to slow your pace,” she wrote. “They force you to focus endlessly on the burden you carry, and distract you from seeing the lights of new adventures, new possibilities, of new challenges, of new discoveries. Throw your resentments to the wind. You will find it liberating to travel light, unhindered, and you will reach your destination faster.”
Arraras, 48, also takes the reader behind the camera into the captivating and competitive world of broadcast journalism.
“I think it’s a really good book for people looking for direction professionally,” she says.
Arraras talks about some of the more difficult times she experienced starting out, including when she arrived in New York to serve as the main news anchor at Univision’s local affiliate. “From the moment I arrived in the station’s newsroom, I felt unwelcome,” she wrote.
Her boss would later give her a choice: a buyout or a demotion. Arraras chose the latter, she says, working even harder and distinguishing herself under difficult circumstances.
Years later, when Telemundo and NBC were announcing their partnership and their first venture together, Al Rojo Vivo, Arraras was on stage and saw her former boss among the sea of reporters covering the event. Rather than ignore him, Arraras says she went with her instincts.
“I’m up, he’s down, and yet I made a point to stretch out my hand and shake his,” she says. “Life has a way of rewarding as long as you are coming from an honest, good place.”
The Telemundo/NBC venture, incidentally, would allow Arraras, a native of Puerto Rico, to crossover to the U.S. market, where she has since served as a guest host for NBC’s Today show, in addition to collaborating on Dateline and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Make Your Life Prime Time is Arraras third book. She previously wrote Selena’s Secret, an investigate look at the life and tragic death of Tejana music sensation Selena Quintanilla. Arraras has also wrote a children’s book, The Magic Cane.
It took about a year for Arraras to write Make Your Life Prime Time, her most personal script to date and one that she said “transcends language, gender, nationality and age.” Interestingly, it was her three children—Julian, Vadim and Lara—who inspired her to write the book, she says. She hopes her reflections will “serve as a compass to guide them in the turbulency of life.”
While Arraras has had her share of turbulent experiences, she has also found many great joys. Her “greatest accomplishment,” she says, was adopting her son Vadim from Russia. “Sometimes you do something to help someone and in the process you are helping yourself,” she says of the adoption. “I flowered inside.”
Make Your Life Prime Time also pays homage to Arraras’ parents. She echoes back to her parents’ divorce, learning from her mother’s mistakes and how her father would take her to her early morning swimming lessons. Her dedication to the sport would lead to qualifying for the 1976 Olympics, though Arraras was unable to compete because she contracted mononucleosis.
Perhaps it was those pre-dawn swimming classes, with her father by her side that sparked in Arraras the will to achieve, not only in work but in life. Either way, she says it was her father, Jose Enrique Arraras, an accomplished attorney and politician in Puerto Rico, who instilled in her some valuable lessons, ones that may explain why she is so beloved by her fans.
“He taught me to be genuine and to not make decisions based on ego,” she says. “I’ve always been an open book. I’d rather say things about myself, than have them brought out the wrong way.”

A Nation for All

Journalist Jorge Ramos pens his 10th book, a manifesto detailing the immigrant experience and what the future could hold under the new administration.

By Diana Montané

Some have referred to anchor, journalist and author Jorge Ramos as a Mexican
Anderson Cooper or a Hispanic Peter Jennings, except this consummate broadcaster stands on his own, interviewing both foreign leaders and American presidents with assuredness, ease and aplomb.
“I have, just like every other immigrant, three jobs,” he says. In addition to heading the newscast Noticiero Univision, and the weekly prime-time magazine, he also hosts a Sunday-morning program, Al Punto, an interview show with political figures, filmmakers, writers and intellectuals. “I also do three daily commentaries for Univision Radio, and I write a weekly syndicated column for more than 60 newspapers and the Internet. I also, as you know, write books, and this one is now my 10th.”
The new book, published this month in Spanish and in English by Random House, is titled Tierra de Todos, or in English, A Country for All: An Immigrant Manifesto. Hispanic caught up with Ramos to discuss his book, the political landscape and the future of multi-cultural America.
Hispanic Magazine: Why did you write this book? You are a journalist, not a politician or a statistician.
Jorge Ramos: Because I am an immigrant. Because I have the privilege of having my voice heard every day. And because I feel the enormous responsibility of being the voice of those who cannot speak.

HM: How do you respond to questions like, ‘Why should I back the legalization of more migrant workers when I, or a member of my family, have lost our jobs? Why would I want a foreigner to compete with me?’
JR: Because immigrants make the U.S. a better country. What most people don’t know, and what I want to tell them is, immigrants contribute much more than what they take from the U.S. economy. They pay taxes, they create jobs, they take on the jobs nobody else wants, and they help control inflation. Since they ask for and expect so little by way of compensation, they lower the costs of food and production. A worker who plants and picks tomatoes in Florida, for instance, makes $5 an hour. An American wouldn’t accept that same job for less than $20 or $25.

HM: Do you believe this is true even during this recession?
JR: I haven’t seen any American workers in the fields. I haven’t seen them in Immokalee (the impoverished farming town in Collier County, Florida) planting tomatoes. Have you? And migrant workers are certainly not going to be competing with an engineer or an accountant.

HM: In your book, you argue that immigrants aren’t criminals or terrorists. How do you marry that idea to the reality of the proliferation of Latino gangs in large urban areas?
JR: I am glad you mentioned this, because people are now accusing undocumented immigrants of [being responsible for] each and every social problem in the United States. Every time we see an incidence of crime, by gangs or by international terrorists, we blame immigrants. The gangs aren’t made-up of immigrants. Notice that, as I write in the chapter, “The Invisible,” what the immigrants try to do is go by unnoticed, to become invisible. The last thing they want is to deal with the justice system. And the very last thing that their youth would do is engage in gang activity.
I also want to add that they pay for our Social Security and oftentimes they don’t reap the benefits, that they have more faith in the opportunities available in the United States than many North Americans do. They believe in the value of education for their children to get ahead, they promote cultural diversity. Not to mention that they would be willing to die for this country. Look at the number of immigrants now deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

HM: In your book, you discuss your interview with then-Sen. Barack Obama on May 28, 2008. What exactly was his promise to you about an immigration bill?
JR: During that interview, Barack Obama told me that once he became president he would revise the immigrant reform policies, including raids and the wall along the Mexican border. And then he told me that though he couldn’t guarantee what would happen during his first 100 days of office, [he said he] can guarantee that we will have an immigration bill I can strongly support in his first year.

HM: What are your expectations now in that regard?
JR: I expect that he will keep his word. Early in March he called for two separate meetings with The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and during a town meeting in California in late March, he stated that he expected that immigration reform, including the legalization of millions of undocumented workers, could be openly debated in Congress. President Obama has already kept his word about withdrawing troops from Iraq, as well as on stem-cell research and the economic stimulus plan for the country. Now he has to come through for the Hispanic population.
HM: How significant do you think the Hispanic vote was in this election?
JR: Ten million Hispanic voters went to the polls in this election, and 67 percent voted for Obama, partly because he was in favor of immigration reform.

HM: One of the subjects you discuss in your book is that deportations often separate families. Most parents would agree that families should not be separated, and yet there are some who argue that immigrant should not come to the United States and have children, and also, if they got deported, their children should go back as well.
JR: This is all very simple, why they come here. It’s the law of supply and demand. And I find it very un-American to blame children who are not American for the deeds of their parents. The United States has a long tradition of generosity towards immigrants and children.

HM: In her Vogue interview, Michelle Obama said, “We want entertaining in the White House to feel like America, that we are reminded of all the many facets of our culture. The Latino community, the Asian-American community, the African-American community ... We want to bring the youth in, for them to hear their voices in this.” Do you think the first lady represents a new hope for multiculturalism in this country?
JR: I think that both Barack and Michelle Obama are an extraordinary example for Latino children. And Barack Obama, in particular, is showing that the future of the United States is a future of mixes—of races, languages and ethnicities. What greater mix than that of Obama himself, [with] a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, him born in Hawaii and educated in Indonesia and grew up in Chicago?
It’s significant that there are now more Hispanics than African Americans in the United States, this why I am convinced that the first Hispanic president has already been born. He or she might be in kinder[garten], or texting his girlfriend or her boyfriend, or at the university. Our time for the run for the White House is drawing near.