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| vii Acknowledgments I want to take this moment to thank Larry Gross for showing me how to ask good questions, engage in methodical analysis, and always speak with clarity and passion. It was his belief in me that provided the opportunity to work with New York University Press, and for that I will always be grateful to him. My deep thanks also go to Antonia Darder and Pat Gill. I would have held on to the manuscript for years before showing it to publishers without their strong encouragement and generous early feedback on the manuscript. I thank them for helping me push the book out the door. However, I would not have had the space or time to complete this book without key institutional support from the University of Illinois’ Program for Research in the Humanities, which provided me with a fellowship and course release time; the University of Illinois’ Research Board, which provided me with research assistance funds; and the Latina/Latino Studies Program and Institute of Communications Research, which provided me with course release time and research assistance funds. For their publishing and scholarly support, I am also indebted to Linda Steiner, former editor of Critical Studies in Media Communication; Suzanne Oboler, editor of Latino Studies; Félix Gutiérrez, special editor of Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism; and Myra Mendible, editor of From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture (UT Press). The publication of earlier drafts of chapter 1 and chapter 3 in these outlets gave me the confidence to continue the project and provided me with significant feedback and provocative ideas about how to transform the publications for inclusion in this book. Numerous colleagues read various chapters at different stages of their development. Paul Allatson, Eileen Diaz McConnell, Aisha Durham, Steve Hocker, Brett Kaplan, and Richard T. Rodríguez, your input was invaluable. As colleagues and friends, Paul, Eileen, Steve, Ricky, your warmth and friendship is doubly special. Mil gracias y abrazos. Emily Parks, then assistant editor at NYU Press, patiently guided me through the early stages of the project and reviews, and the excellent edito- viii | Acknowledgments rial team of Ciara McLaughlin and Eric Zinner worked to ensure the book’s successful completion. Your gentle prodding worked. I thank the team at NYU Press and the excellent selection of anonymous outside reviewers who pushed me to write a more compelling and accessible book. On a more personal note, moving from the big city to Champaign, Illinois, can make it a lonely, isolating Midwestern college town in which to live and work. Colleagues Fiona Ngo, Mimi Nguyen, and David Coyoca transformed it into an imagined urban oasis filled with culinary delights, smart conversation , and sophisticated humor. My longtime BFF Michelle Kinsman never let me forget my Philadelphia girl. Thank you for making it a more exciting, pleasurable, and bearable place to live and work throughout the past seven years. Con ázucar y sabor, gracias. This particular book was shaped by my intellectual engagement with two mujeres especial, Lisa Cacho and Angharad Valdivia. Anghy’s scholarly footprints are all over this book. She is one of the pioneers of the Latino/o Communication Studies field, and my project literally would not exist without her unwavering commitment to feminist scholars of color. Many years ago she paid it forward to me as an awed Penn State undergraduate who did not know that graduate school existed. I hope this book pays it forward to other mujers de color striving to find their voice. As she has done for so many of her colleagues, Lisa generously read through various drafts of this book, sharing her insights and providing me with key theoretical guidance. Our “check-in” meetings kept me on track and showed me the importance of rewarding myself for good work. During the most difficult moments of personal and intellectual frustration with the book, however, my conversations with Lisa about ethnic and race studies, citizenship, and body politics provided a comfortable space to think, work, and nourish myself. Anghy and Lisa, gracias for believing in this book—even when I did not. That said, this book would not exist in its current form without the efforts of Kevin Dolan. Throughout the six years he worked as my research assistant on this project, he remained intellectually engaged with the book. Ever the excellent journalist, Kevin forced me to unpack my words and write with clarity, and he tracked down every single reference and media citation...

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