In our second episode of Literatura Oral: Literature to Listen to, Rogelio Miñana joins CEO and host Hernán Guaracao to discuss the classic "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes.

This conversation happened to take place on April 22, the 403rd anniversary of Cervantes' death. Rogelio takes us to the "Quixotesco" world of Cervantes by speaking about virtue and the freedom to choose who he wants to be. Listen as he talks about how Miguel de Cervantes allows Don Quixote to build a reality for the other characters.

On May 21st, State Representative Angel Cruz will face off against long-time rival Maria Quiñones-Sánchez in the Democratic primary election for the 7th councilmanic district seat in Philadelphia City Council.

Cruz has served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 2001. He represents District 180, which includes parts of Juniata Park, Fairhill, Harrowgate, and Tioga Park, and overlaps with the 7th councilmanic district.

He has also served as a ward leader in the 7th district since 1998.

We spoke with Representative Cruz regarding some of his recent legislative work in the Pennsylvania House, the upcoming election, and why he believes he is best fit to serve the 7th District in Council.

In the first episode of Literature Oral: Literature to Listen to, AL DÍA hosted Temple University Ph.D. student Mariana Hernandez y Rojas for a conversation with its founder and CEO Hernán Guaracao about Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo.

For Mariana, the book's story allows her to discover new emotions with every read. She discusses this experience along with her views on the story's setting, faceless characters and toying with time conventions. Listen and together with Mariana and Hernán, discover the magic of Rulfo's timeless Mexican classic.

In January of 2019, Giselle Fetterman, a formerly undocumented immigrant from Brazil, became the Second Lady of Pennsylvania. In the time since, Fetterman has used the new platform to advance her work on immigrant rights, poverty, and empowering compassionate leadership.

The Second Lady of Pennsylvania recently visited the AL DÍA newsroom to discuss her work.

In the first year of his administration, District Attorney Larry Krasner has fulfilled several of the campaign promises which gained him the support of nearly 75 percent of Philadelphia voters and swept him into office in 2017.

But how successful have the changes that Krasner has introduced been in reducing the city's out-sized incarceration rate - and what will be the consequences locally and nationally as he continues in his efforts to reform the criminal justice system?

The DA stopped by the AL DÍA newsroom to discuss his first year in office and his new initiative to take on excessive probation and parole.

In 2007, Maria Quiñones-Sanchez became the first ever Latina elected to a District Council seat in Philadelphia. She has represented the 7th District, which covers parts of Fairhill, Kensington, Hunting Park, Feltonville, Frankford, and Juniata Park, since 2008.

Quiñones-Sanchez is up for re-election on May 21st against long-time rival, Angel Cruz.

She recently stopped by the AL DÍA newsroom to discuss her latest legislative efforts and the upcoming election.

The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania will host its annual Latin American Conference (WHALAC) at Huntsman Hall in University City later this month. The 9th edition of WHALAC will be a two-day event (March 29th and 30th) uniting business actors, government representatives and civil society members to share knowledge and strengthen community among Latin American leadership.

WHALAC is organized by a collective of Latin American graduate and undergraduate students from Wharton. Three of those student-leaders, Rafael Krausz, Esteban Gonzalez-Rosell, and Beatriz Kinguti, recently visited the AL DÍA Newsroom to discuss their work and what to expect at this year’s conference.

Check out our conversation and visit www.whalac.com to learn more about WHALAC and purchase tickets to the two-day conference.

The State of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has had a busy two years as the State's top law enforcement official.

Shapiro’s top priority has been dealing with the opioid crisis, he told AL DÍA, and he has made waves suing the Trump administration more than 20 times to date - all successful suits, he likes to note.

Yet, perhaps what the Democratic state representative-turned-Attorney General is best known for is the grand jury report he oversaw on the Catholic Church child sex abuse and cover-up scandal, which implicated 301 “predator priests” who allegedly sexually abused more than 1,000 children in Pennsylvania, going back decades.

His office’s work on the issue influenced the Pope to call a summit last weekend to discuss the Church’s issues on the matter - a step perhaps in the right direction, despite the lack of concrete actions that have resulted from it so far.

Shapiro joined AL DÍA to discuss the Catholic Church, immigration and the opioid crisis, as well as what his political future may look like.

Journalist Eileen Truax was recently invited to Philadelphia by AL DÍA and Temple University as part of the Klein College of Media and Communications Graduate Speaker Series.

In her latest book, We Built the Wall, Truax shifts focus away from the much-discussed physical "wall" proposed by President Trump towards the considerably more real and complex bureaucratic wall already set in place to block asylum seekers from gaining entry into the United States.

With her platform, Latinx Therapy, established in April 2018, Adriana Alejandre wants to transform the way that Latinx mental health professionals can connect with those seeking access to care.

AL DÍA culture editor Emily Neil sat with Alejandre to discuss the personal experiences that led her to starting Latinx Therapy, barriers preventing many Latinx individuals from accessing the mental health care that they need, and the community that she is building to help face these challenges.