Hispanic Heritage month has already taken off, and events will continue on the Allendale Campus through Oct. 19 to celebrate this segment of Grand Valley State University’s population.

The annual month-long celebration kicked off with a fiesta at the Cook Carillon Clock Tower where music was played, Latino snacks were served and Latino student-based organizations introduced themselves to the community.

Zulema Moret of the Latin American Studies department took on a large role in planning the month of festivities.

Throughout the month, the Life Journeys exhibit featuring Hispanic campus community members will be on display in the Kirkhof Center.

The next event will be “Hollywood and the Mexican Revolution” where film clips from popular movies will be shown and discussion will include “What happens when one country interprets another’s symbols and heroes,” according to the event flyer. Heroes like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa will be discussed.

“Hollywood and the Mexican Revolution” will take place tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. in room 1240 of the Kirkhof center.

One of the main events, a Night of Dancing, will take place Oct. 7 and include both a dance show and a business discussion.

To kick off the night, the Cook Arts Center’s Grupo Tarasco will demonstrate traditional Mexican dances to the guests. Then, attendees will have the chance to try the dances out themselves.

“I think this is very important,” said GVSU professor Carol S?°nchez of the Seidman College of Business.

Following the dancing, S?°nchez will moderate a discussion on business in Mexico where he will engage a panel with experience on doing business in both Mexico and Latin America.

S?°nchez said she will know what questions to ask as she herself worked in South America for 13 years while managing a company.

“I have actually done business in about five different countries in South America,” she said.

S?°nchez said one of the big differences between doing business in the U.S. and in Latin America is the vital importance of creating a close relationship with clients in Latin America.

Although cultivating relationships is a good idea anywhere, S?°nchez said Latin American businesspeople especially want to get to know with whom they are doing business.

“They want you to appreciate their country and their culture,” she said.

The Night of Dancing and Mexican business discussion will be in room 215 of the Eberhard Center, on GVSU’s Pew Campus, from 4 to 5 p.m.

Following the Night of Dance will be the professionals of color lecture, which will feature Cuban-American Pulitzer Prize-winner Achy Obejas, on Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. in room 2263 of the Kirkhof Center.

The journalist, writer and poet’s speech is called “Identity and Dislocation.”

Latino author Junot Diaz named Obejas “one of the Caribbean’s most important writers.” She has written about Al-Queda prisoners in Cuba’s Guant?°namo Bay, the AIDS epidemic and much more in the Chicago Tribune. Obejas also writes in the Washington Post about Latin music.

To close out Hispanic Heritage Month, Care Santos will give a Spanish-language presentation, which will be translated to English for non-Spanish speakers.

“La lectura y la escritura, u oficios de seducción y emoción” will concentrate on reading and writing to children and adolescents.

To learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month events and for a full calendar, visit www.gvsu.edu/oma.

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