By Ardent Brownfield
Every September, the cool wind carries more than just the promise of autumn—it carries whispers of ancestry, memory, and celebration, rising like a chorus of unseen voices. Hispanic Heritage Month, spanning from September 15th to October 15th, is a time of reflection and celebration of the many ways in which Hispanic and Latinx voices have shaped our literature, art, science, politics, cuisine, and music. It is a time when centuries of song, story, and struggle resurface: the profound poetry of Pablo Neruda, the labyrinthine visions of Gabriel García Márquez, the rhythms of salsa, mariachi, and reggaetón pulsing like heartbeats beneath the earth. And it is a time to remember how essential and inextricable Hispanic and Latinx culture is in the tapestry of our shared world—where heritage is the fabric woven from countless voices, each one essential to the whole. What we honor this month is not ornamental but foundational—threads that once pulled, thin the fabric that holds us together.
And what is heritage if not language itself—that which embroiders us to the past and carries us forward? Spanish carries within it echoes of conquistadors and poets, lullabies and laments, sacred texts and revolutionary manifestos. This month and always, the library offers resources for learning and deepening your relationship to the Spanish language, a chance to step into the continuum of voices that stretch across time and borders. Each new speaker strengthens the bridge and with it the perspectives that help us understand one another and come together as a community.
Keeping in the spirit of community, Chattanooga State cordially invites you to attend our campus Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on Monday, September 15 at 11:00 AM in the Main Campus Amphitheater. It will be an event of feasting, prizes, and traditional Mexican folk art, all woven into an event that invites us to learn, connect, and celebrate side by side. To attend is to participate in a living tradition, one that honors the past even as it invites us into community. And it is in community that we learn that when the circle widens, our tables grow richer. So bring your friends, classmates, and colleagues to mark the start of a month dedicated to honoring the voices and traditions that continue to inspire and enchant.
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Looking for book recommendations to mark the season? Explore these incredible works by Hispanic and Latinx authors as they probe the dark depths of horror and humanity, reminding us that the stories we keep are as vital as the voices that tell them.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
Monstrilio by Gerardo Samano Cordova
Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros
