I am a Native American man. The term Hispanic is a discriminatory word that denies and tries to hide, erase our true racial and cultural heritages. I speak Spanish and English, those languages don’t define my ancestry, culture, race. Carlos in DC blog: carlosqc.blogspot.com .

The majority of American couples – an estimated 70% – live together before marriage. Whether couples cohabitate to save money or test their relationship, cohabitating does lead to marriage. According to a 2010 study by the government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 51% of cohabitating couples get married within 3 years and 67% within 5 years. The study also showed that couples who live together – contrary to previous studies – are just as likely to stay married as couples who don’t live together. It’s being “twogether” that seems to matter. And when two becomes three or more, more women are having babies at home. Again according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of women having babies outside of hospitals is less than 1%. However, of that 1% there’s been a 3.5% increase in home births between 2003-2004 and 2005-2006. In 2003-2004 there were 46,371 and in 2005-2006 there were 49,438. Because home births had been declining since 1990, the rise is primarily attributed to women who’ve had children born in hospitals. Home births are a reaction against their hospital experience. Home births seem to be a new “homeland security”. For health security sleep experts recommend 7-8 hours of sleep nightly; but according to the National Sleep Foundation, 25% of Americans don’t get enough sleep because of their work schedules. On workdays Asians and Whites get about 7 hours of sleep, Hispanics get about 6.5 and Blacks about 6. On weekends everyone seems to sleep an hour longer except Hispanics, who sleep about 1.5 hours longer. As for what’s keeping people awake, it’s money concerns for Blacks, Hispanics and Whites – 20%, while Asians worry more about relationships – 12%. I guess this proves there’s some order in sleep disorders. One of the money concerns keeping Americans awake must be saving enough for retirement. The Employees Benefit Research Institute surveyed 1,153 workers and retirees age 25 and older. According to the survey, 54% had saved less than $25,000. Workers who’d saved less than $10,000 increased from 39% in 2009 to 43% in 2010 and those who’d saved less than $1,000 increased from 20% to 27%. In 2009 75% of workers had saved something for retirement. In 2010 it was only 69%. Finally, only 16% of workers felt confident they could save enough for a comfortable retirement. That mean 84% need to acquire a “saving grace”.

Tennessee’s Latino population is growing rapidly — now the sixth-fastest in the nation. Hispanic and American women are learning from each other in one Tennessee community.