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I am a latino and I really like Colombians, but this is a pathetic piece of pandering. At her personal level it is a nice story of course, but there are hundred
by cambalache 6y ago
I am a latino and I really like Colombians, but this is a pathetic piece of pandering. At her personal level it is a nice story of course, but there are hundreds of thousands of cases like that. So she lived in Colombia, in what it was more probably than not a middle-class family (money to study in a exclusive and rare HS offering the IB and money to be sent to the US to live with family).She worked while getting a title at a community college (wow, unheard of) later got her BS, made her career at NASA and now she is a middle manager there.And that is now supposed to be some sort of incredible accomplishment for a "latina" woman. Talk about condescension, and setting the bar low.This is like the 6th different article I have seen about her in the last 2 weeks,so either some people is using her to "celebrate diversity" or she has a PR working efficiently to prop-up a future endeavor.
- systemvoltage 6y agoLet's put all the D&I bullshit aside. Someone, immigrating from a country, with so little money, working hard, going through the process of building rapport, reputation and delivering results, to attain a title of Director, taking up new responsibilities is inspiring to me. Really, it feels great in the heart. NASA PR is one thing - they gotta do what they gotta do, but if you see past all that, its nice to hear the story of someone from Columbia, perhaps going back home and telling their families that they work for NASA. Can you imagine the pride their loved ones feel? I feel your frustration with the publicity, PR machine, etc though.
- wernercd 6y agoPride is fine... pandering and focusing on everything that divides us isn't.
- Swizec 6y ago> Can you imagine the pride their loved ones feel? As a fellow immigrant, they do! Unfortunately it can also come with a lot of sour grapes. “Heck yeah you’re going to USA!!” from your friends soon changes to “Bah USA, I bet it sucks anyway”
- melling 6y agoThat would be Colombia, not Columbia. I’ve spent some time there. Bogota feels like NYC. Medellin is a gem. Cartagena, Zona Cafetera, ... When Americans talk about places like Colombia, it sounds like some dirt poor place. There is a healthy middle class Colombia is a great place where many Americans are retiring.
- f430 6y agolots of beautiful young women too like thiland
- systemvoltage 6y ago> Someone immigrating from a country with so little money I meant she had little money, not the country – $300 to be precise according to the article. Bad grammar on my part including spelling.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- judge2020 6y agoBut it feels like the news is trying to imply she got out of the slums to work in the great public sector of America, which feeds the premonition of "not USA or Europe or top 10 population country" = low-standard-of-living third world country.
- systemvoltage 6y agoImmigration doesn't imply anything about either countries. This is your interpretation.
- judge2020 6y agoMy interpretation about these articles' implied messaging, not her immigration.
- graycat 6y agoxx
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- kevml 6y agoCool. Good job, dude. Not everything in life is about you and not everyone’s struggles are the same.
- dang 6y agoPlease don't cross into personal attack. graycat has an interesting history, and it's not good to be an asshole to fellow community members, even if you find a comment somehow inappropriate. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- the_resistence 6y agoClap, clap, clap...Uplifting
- gnzoidberg 6y ago100% agree. I've met her and I like her. She wants to enjoy her 15 minutes which is understandable, but it's over the top. It's par for these times.
- sebmellen 6y agoIt’s surprising to me how many people (especially in the US) fail to realize that many South/Central American countries have significant middle- and upper-class populations.
- young_unixer 6y agoWe hace middle and upper class relative to our own levels of income. A person with a median income in the US probably lives much better than a person with a median income in Bolivia, yet they're both middle class relative to their own countries.
- sebmellen 6y agoWell, yes and no. You’re right everything is relative, but I think US media often gives off the impression of South/Latin America as a completely poverty-stricken landmass that people can’t wait to escape from so they come by foot or boat from Honduras or Cuba or Venezuela or Ecuador or Nicaragua or something. Also, I know people who own large properties in Colombia and a friend of mine owns a 500 cattle ranch in Bolivia (called La Pradera)... These folks are very well off, even by international and US standards. There is significant wealth in South America if you look in the right places. And many parts of Colombia are very metropolitan and modern, which has come as a surprise to people I know in the US/Europe.
- starpilot 6y agoColombia
- mc32 6y agoUltimately both commemorate Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo and/or Christophorus Columbus respectively).
- sebmellen 6y agoHey, thank you for the note. I just bought an iPhone and the autocorrect turns lowercase “colombia” into “columbia.” It does the opposite for cased versions of both words (Columbia -> Colombia). Either way, both spellings come from the same person (Christopher Columbus/Cristoforo Colombo).
- spoonjim 6y agoCome on. Many people, like myself, have come from vastly greater privilege and accomplished vastly less than her.
- Galaxity 6y ago"and now she is a middle manager there" Wow, really need to throw some (what you think are) insults in there huh?
- wolfretcrap 6y agoThis article claims only $300 as if that's the only value that this women posses. Society views women differently and often credit them with some innate value which can't easily be explained in context of men.
- nrb 6y ago“Came to America with $x dollars in their pocket” is a common trope among many other immigrant stories like this, Arnold Schwarzenegger is another story that often begins this way.
- Rapzid 6y ago> but this is a pathetic piece of pandering The site is "goodnewsnetwork.org".. This is consensual pandering.
- wnevets 6y agoEvery time there is a story like this on the frontpage of HN the top comment is usually something like this one. Should we stop celebrating people's accomplishments unless their name is Elon Musk?
- hourislate 6y agoHer story is not unique. Millions of Immigrants have come to America and achieved great success. The country was built on Immigration. Some of the poorest and most desperate people (orphans, kids from slums, etc) have climbed to the very pinnacle of their industries. But never the less this story is another example of someone who was able to do what may have seemed impossible at some point in her life.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- KorematsuFred 6y ago> I have seen about her in the last 2 weeks,so either some people is using her to "celebrate diversity" or she has a PR working efficiently to prop-up a future endeavor. I think celebrating diversity for the sake of diversity is stupid and the piece is probably PR for NASA. But let me highlight that these sort of stories play a very very big role in many remote parts of the world (I come from one). The fact that someone owns a car, a house and has plenty of food on table can also be an inspirational story for many and I am not exaggerating. I remember in my school when teacher asked us what our ambitions were our answers were "getting a job". One girl said she wants to be a "graduate" and the whole class laughed thinking she thinks too much of herself. So let us not downplay her achievement as "middle manager", I hope her story inspires more Colombians and let us hope that it also helps us think better of Colombia as a country and its people.
- nrb 6y agoSorry to be glib, but who the hell cares? If the article is to believed, she worked her way up here in the states and in some part hard work and dedication led to a job that she’s passionate about that’s doing things that are inspiring to the US and really a decent chunk of humans worldwide. It’s not like the article is claiming that this one success story means all of our gender and inequality problems are solved.