NEWS & UPDATES

SCREENINGS– recent

October 29, 2022

 

 

Saginaw Art Museum – Dia de Los Muertos

We are deeply honored to have been selected to help the Museum kick off its 3rd Annual Dia de Los Muertos celebration with a special screening of Michoacán to Michigan!  The showing here in Saginaw has special significance as Saginaw is where Martina and Valeriano first came to Michigan from Mexico.

On Saturday our cousin Ed Fraga (honoring his dad, in Uncle Martin’s fedora), Michael Fraga, his wife Cathy and sister Nancy and me (Ralph Valdez), were all on hand for the presentation at the Saginaw Art Museum of our family documentary film “Michoacán to Michigan” – the story of our dear grandparents journey – and the Q&A. after.
We had a very good crowd – they even had to bring in extra chairs – and our film was very well received!
More photos will be forthcoming as we were so busy sharing our stories and hearing from others at the Q&A – and grateful that our families were well represented, and our story was so appreciated and inspired such good conversations after the screening.  And due to more interest in seeing the film, the Museum screened M to M the following weekend as well.
This came about when our wonderful family filmmaker and historian, cousin Len Radjewski, reached out a while back to the Saginaw Art Museum about showing our family story.
After COVID restrictions lifted they invited him to show it for their Dia de Los Muertas celebration but Len had previous longstanding plans to be in Mexico at this time, so he asked a few of us cousins to attend on his behalf.
Here’s a link to the museum’s info on our documentary:

Sunday, November 6

National Autonomous University of Mexico at Morelia (UNAM)

Thanks to the efforts of our cousins Laura Solís Chávez and José Mendoza Lara we are privileged to be screening Michoacán to Michigan at this prestigious institution as part of the University’s Fiesta del Libro y la Rosa Michoacán!  In addition, we will also be presenting Uncle Dan’s narrative Michoacán to Michigan “An Immigrant’s Journey”.  It is especially significant and meaningful that we will be showing Martina and Valeriano’s story in the Estado de Michoacán. We will be part of a panel to discuss the film, our family’s story and have a Q & A with the audience.  

Please click on the link below to see the official invitation to present at this special event…

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO

EVENTS

Thursday, October 20

LLEAD Conference 2022

We have been invited to participate in this statewide conference in Okemos, MI (muchas gracias, Juan Marinez!).  We are looking forward to sharing our Abuelos’ and family’s story as well as making connections with Latina/o members and organizations from around the state.  To learn more about LLEAD and the work it is doing, CLICK HERE

NEWS

M to M LLC/Michoacán to Michigan is now a proud member of Business Alianzas.  Business Alianzas is a community of small business owners, emergent entrepreneurs, and organizations collaborating to connect and forge professional partnerships. Alianzas members will integrate into a robust referral network to ensure that you have equitable access to bilingual resources and opportunities to grow your business. We believe that collaboration, business-to-business relationships, and networking create a synergy for economic growth in our community. 

SCREENINGS – past

Tuesday, October 11

6:00 pm

Flushing High School Spanish Club

We had a very nice turnout at Flushing HS for the 1st annual Hispanic/Latino Heritage celebration for the Flushing community. Besides giving us the opportunity to present our film Michoacán to Michigan, Spanish teachers Susan Stockton and Annie Macbeth put together a very nice, comprehensive program about the significance of the contributions of the Hispanic/Latino community. A special highlight (by coincidence due to Susan’s connection with (El Ballet Folklórico Estudiantil & Mariachi) our own family members, Cadence and Callum Dolan (Courtney & Tim’s children, Mike & Cathy’s grandchildren) and the great great grandchildren of Martina and Valeriano performed! So fitting as Flushing is close to Saginaw and the other areas where our family started the Michigan part of their story. Muchas gracias to all who worked to make this special event happen!