In partnership with

Help me grow! Follow In The Hyphen on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok for videos about U.S. Latino culture. If you’d like to go a step further and support my work, check out my Patreon.

Hi {{first_name | friend}},

I went to Becky G’s album release party last week, and I danced “Payaso de Rodeo” next to her, iykyk. That is a humble flex, but I mention it because it was cool for three reasons. 1) I kept up with someone who is decidedly a better dancer. 2) Seeing an beaming with pride as they show you their work is always cool to witness. 3) The album, “Baraja Bendita,” is pretty damn good. I’m feeling CHULA. Iykyk.

Like my mini-docs, my newsletter explores the hyphen between various topics through the lens of Latino culture. In this newsletter, I’m exploring the hyphen between:

- Fernando

For years, Janna Rodriguez has run a child care program on Long Island, New York. But there’s one person she hasn’t always been able to pay: herself.

“I haven't had a salary because I'm focused on ensuring that my program is up and operating,” Rodriguez said. “Who I have to consistently pay are my amazing staff. Because without them, then I would not be able to operate my business.”

She’s one of the child care providers across the country pushing for something that you’ve probably hear of: universal child care.

Earlier this month, more than 1,300 child care providers, parents and allies from 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico gathered in Chicago for what organizers called the first National Childcare Convention. The gathering was organized by Community Change Action, a national advocacy group that works to “build power among low-income people.” The meeting’s goal? To make universal child care one of the defining issues in the 2026 midterms.

So, what exactly would “universal child care” look like?

Rodriguez says it means making child care accessible regardless of how much a family earns, while also paying providers better wages and benefits.

“Every family should have options, first and foremost,” Rodriguez said. “Providers should be early childhood educators. [They] should be compensated for the work that they do.”

In Eastern Washington, Sandra Sanchez runs a licensed in-home child care program serving primarily families who receive state assistance. She says she can work 15- to 16-hour days without overtime. Her program has even expanded its hours to accommodate families working nontraditional shifts, including migrant families.

And paying out of pocket isn’t necessarily an alternative for those families.

Sanchez says private child care for an infant in her area can cost around $1,700 a month. Add another full-time child and a family could be looking at roughly another $1,000 a month.

As it stands, Sanchez says families can't afford to pay much more while providers can't afford to make much less.

Sanchez is also the executive director of Proveedoras Unidas de Eastern Washington, a nonprofit that empowers “early learning providers across rural, bilingual, immigrant, and underserved communities across the region,” according to its website. Sanchez rejects the idea that child care is simply another government expense.

“We bring to the economy. We're not a burden,” Sanchez said. “We are essential because the families, they bring the kids so they can work.”

Rodriguez makes a similar argument for people who might be thinking: Well, I don't have kids. Why should I care about universal child care?

“If you own a business, you need a workforce,” she said. “I'm pretty sure that that workforce needs child care.”

El Salvador TPS recipients in limbo. Following a June Supreme Court ruling, recipients of Temporary Protected Status fear President Donald Trump could move to cancel their protections, as the administration has done for an estimated million-plus people already. El Salvador’s TPS designation is set to expire Sept. 9. FWD.us has an infographic showing which industries would be affected by a sudden loss of Salvadoran TPS workers. They include construction, building and grounds and transportation. [Axios]

A Mexican beauty brand is making history with Sephora. AORA is the first completely plastic-free beauty brand on Sephora.com. The brand wants to prove that sustainability is the future of prestige beauty. You may have already seen AORA out in the wild. It was the official makeup partner of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. Check it out at Sephora here.**

Do you say Disneyland or Disneylandia? You can say Disneylandia for now. The happiest place on Earth teamed up with one of the most Latina brands on the planet, Viva La Bonita, for a limited edition apparel collection named “Donde Empiezan Los Sueños.” It features apparel with bilingual messages and a lot of “Disneylandias.” [Viva La Bonita]

Does your city have an AI radio host? It might after Spanish-language media company Entravision’s latest announcement. The owner of radio and TV stations announced it’s expanding its Los Angeles-based show hosted by Geraldine “GeeGee” Guzman and Coyotec, an AI-generated radio host, to more markets, including McAllen, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Coyotec has a face, too. [See what he looks like here]

I found a party for your emo primos. But they’re going to have to go to Arizona. Described as an emo night for “you and your primos,” Emo Primos will be held in Arizona on Oct. 10 and feature a curated lineup of “talented Latinx emo and alternative artists, alongside cultural experiences.” [Buy tickets here]

What do Irish cumbias sound like? I had one of the most fascinating interviews of my journalism career (that’s 10 years!), and it was with El Irlandés, an Irish guy in Dublin who didn’t speak a lick of Spanish until he fell in love with cumbias and started making his own. This story is part of “A Closer Look,” a new series I’m doing with Latino music and culture outlet Remezcla. [Watch the video]

** Sponsored content

Did you know that in the 1960s New Orleans had the highest population of Hondurans in the U.S. The title was taken by physically larger cities (ahem, New York), but about 30% of Latinos in the Louisiana city are Honduran.

Which is far higher than the 2% we see nationally among the U.S. Latino population.

So why is that? I went to New Orleans to find out. The answer is bananas, and I documented it all in my latest mini-doc. Watch the video (the previous sentence will make sense).

I publish a mini-doc every two weeks on my YouTube channel. Don’t miss the next one! Subscribe here for free.

Right now you’re on the free version of In The Hyphen, which means you’re only getting it every other week. Get it weekly by upgrading to the paid version.

More stories, more reporting, more analysis and more rants. The weekly edition will be available for paying members only.

And I have a limited time offer for you: Sign up for an annual membership, and you’ll get 30% off the normal monthly price. That’s just 87 cents a week!

Your support not only gets you access to the weekly version of this newsletter. It also directly supports my journalism.

Ready to receive the newsletter once a week?

This section is a random musing from the week that is not related to my work as a journalist, usually. 

This week’s musing:

I’m in Hawaii for a few stories right now. It’s my first time here, and in my interviews with residents here, I realize Hawaii is the definition of “melting pot.” The islands have a complicated history but one that’s marked by constant mixing of people. I’ve often thought of the places I’ve lived as melting pots (Chicago, D.C. and Los Angeles), but Hawaii redefines it for me for some reason. I think the fact that it’s surrounded by water with no natural spillover into another state makes the mixing of people feel more pronounced here.