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VIBRAS


Por Amor a Dios
FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 4 Issue Olivia Saenz wrestled with a paradox that gnawed at her conscience. "Las cosas de Dios no se venden." God's things aren't for sale. The pandemic had dismantled her husband's employment, and she harbored dreams of launching a spiritual boutique. But commercializing devotion felt like desecration. But her hands ached to create. To string together beads and craft something beautiful from wood and wire. She prayed for clarity, for permission

Maria Salinas
6 days ago3 min read


Fighting Cancer Alone but Together
FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 4 Issue Cancer treatment happens in rooms full of people. Family members rotate shifts in hospital chairs. Friends organize meal trains and fundraisers. Husbands hold hands during chemotherapy infusions. Children draw pictures taped to refrigerators. The love is real, the support invaluable, but the fight itself belongs to one person alone. No one else can endure the nausea. No one else can tolerate the radiation burning through the skin. No one

Maria Salinas
6 days ago7 min read


The New Chuck E. Cheese Has Chlorine
2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 3 Issue In the ’80s, a birthday meant a sheet cake from H-E-B, a gallon of Kool-Aid, and a fight for the only picnic table with shade at the park. Parents sat sweating through polyester while candles melted faster than frosting. Then came the ’90s, when Peter Piper Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese promised cool air and crowd control—if you didn’t mind sharing the space with four other kids and a mechanical rat. By the 2000s, someone got smart. They

Maria Salinas
Mar 23 min read


Mercy Coffee and Tea turns faith into a family business.
2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 3 Issue Mercy Coffee and Tea Shop sits across from the Roma Post Office, where caffeine meets conviction. Opened in February 2025 by Roma native Synthia García, the shop has become a sanctuary for locals who want more than a quick drive-thru latte. It’s Roma’s answer to corporate coffee. Located at 1735 East Grant Street, Mercy Coffee and Tea Shop offers faith, flavor, and friendliness. Synthia didn’t start with espresso shots or frothy art.

Maria Salinas
Mar 23 min read


The Hands That Built Tako Hut
2026 FRONTeras Magazine 1st Quarter Issue Elodia "Lolita" Briones never imagined her life as something to be narrated. Her days have accumulated quietly, shaped by labor and obligation, while building a life she's proud of. Before anyone knew her food, they knew her personality. A woman of God with short hair, her chest always covered by a delantal, who raised three children inside a rhythm defined by responsibility. Lolita came from General Zuazua, in the northeastern Mexica

Maria Salinas
Feb 183 min read


We Are Not Friends With Our Kids—And That's the Point
Michelle Obama said something on a recent episode of her "IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson" podcast that made people squirm in their seats. "We are not friends with our kids." The June 2025 episode, which featured psychologist Jonathan Haidt discussing social media's impact on children, sparked the kind of discomfort that was immediate and predictable. Parents rushed to defend their close relationships with their children, insisting they could be both authority figure

Maria Salinas
Feb 163 min read


Life Skills, Not Gender Roles
At some point, usually somewhere between a sink full of dishes and a boy being praised for "helping" his mother, we taught our sons a quiet lie. We told them that cooking and cleaning were favors. Optional. Charitable. Something you do when a woman is busy, tired, or unavailable. We wrapped basic survival skills in politeness and called it good parenting. And then we acted surprised when grown men didn't know how to feed themselves, keep a home, or understand why their partne

Janie Flores-Alvarez
Feb 163 min read


Getting Them There on Time and in Tune
FRONTeras Magazine Vol.1 No.1 Issue @Santitos @salinasmariasantos Copyright © 2025 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Sharing the original posts or links from FRONTeras on social media is allowed and appreciated.

Maria Salinas
Feb 51 min read


In the 956, We Improve Sabor With Mor Sabor
FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 1 Issue

Maria Salinas
Feb 51 min read


Let's Salsa-Makes Everything Taste Intentional
FRONTeras Magazine Vol.1 No.1 Issue

Maria Salinas
Feb 51 min read


Meet Dr. Nicholas Cantu, A 24-Year-Old Dentist from Rio Grande City
FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 2 Issue

Martie Vela
Feb 12 min read


How One Starr County Mom Built a Business with Wood, Tools, and Imagination
FRONTeras Magazine 2025 Vol.1 No.1 Issue Before the balloon arches and neon signs. Before the Instagram-worthy backdrops and glittering marquee letters. Before you could only rent a prop by booking an entire salon, Brenda Elicerio knew that setup wasn't practical. With a tape measure in one hand and a dream in the other, she launched her own event prop rental business. La Madrina officially launched in 2018. Exactly one month later, the first gig came in: someone needed props

Maria Salinas
Feb 12 min read


Godspell-A Borderland Gin with Soul
FRONTeras Magazine 2025 Vol.1 No.1 Issue

Maria Salinas
Feb 13 min read


Memoir of the Iconic San Marcos Blanket
As Texas braces for arctic weather to blanket the entire state, Texans prepare with bottled water, shelf-stable food, and fuel for their generators. Seemingly, Latino families prepare for the cold weather with comfort food like arroz con leche, hot chocolate, conchas and marranitos, but winter wouldn't be winter without the iconic San Marcos. A what? A San Marcos is a blanket, not to exaggerate or be biased, that rivals your abuelita's warm embrace. A San Marcos is a family v

Maria Salinas
Feb 13 min read


La Bata-The Original Victoria's Secret
You know the one. The flowered nightgown your abuela wore, long enough to sweep the floor, high-necked, long-sleeved, probably with tiny pockets that held nothing but lint and power. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't sexy. And somehow, it was everything. And those batas got results. The vata doesn’t seduce—it commands. It’s a uniform for women who build lives, raise hell, and don’t try to impress no one. Cuenta la leyenda que with one single vata, a woman could secure ten kids, a p

Maria Salinas
Feb 13 min read


Mental Illness Has Become a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card
Kanye West has issued a very public apology. In a recent Vanity Fair interview, the artist formerly known as Ye addressed skepticism surrounding his apology letter, insisting the gesture stems from genuine emotional distress rather than commercial strategy. "This, for me, as evidenced by the letter, isn't about reviving my commerciality," West stated. "This is because these remorseful feelings were so heavy on my heart and weighing on my spirit." The statement raises an uncom

Maria Salinas
Jan 313 min read


The Last Year of Puro 956
The Rio Grande Valley is running out of digits, and the cultural implications cut deeper than logistics. The 956 area code, synonymous with Valley identity since its 1997 assignment, will exhaust its available number combinations by early 2027, according to the North American Numbering Plan Administration. State regulators plan to announce a new overlay code sometime in 2026, forcing the region into a telecommunications identity crisis that residents never requested. The mech

Maria Salinas
Jan 303 min read


Built Like a Home, Run Like a Business
At Dr. Daria Milton’s clinics, care starts with the staff—not just the patients. On Friday morning, the phones go quiet. Calls are transferred, screens light up, and 47 employees across four South Texas offices—Rio Grande City, Escobares, Zapata, and the posh Pediatric Care Center Corporate Office—log into Zoom for an in-house training. Lili Ojeda, the Administrative Director, is what happens when you mix tough love with just a sprinkle of casual Friday. She has a pleasant BR

Maria Salinas
Jan 285 min read


The Taylor Swift-Blake Lively Text Exchange Proves Even Toxic Friends Deserve Your Loyalty
The internet exploded when Taylor Swift and Blake Lively's private text messages surfaced in court documents, but everyone focused on the wrong scandal. Forget Justin Baldoni. The real revelation is watching two best friends navigate the brutal reality that sometimes your ride-or-die is also kind of a nightmare, and you love her anyway. Blake Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during filming of "It Ends With Us" and claimed he orchestrated a smear campaign. Baldoni c

Maria Salinas
Jan 253 min read


The Friends Who Don't Deserve a Spot on Your Circle
Not all friendships are created equal. Some people will bleed you dry and act shocked when you finally cut them loose. Start with the emotional dumpers. You know the type. They show up, unload their entire psychological inventory like you're a storage unit, then bounce feeling refreshed while you're left processing their unresolved trauma. Venting and genuine emotional processing are different sports. One is screaming into the void for temporary relief. The other requires sit

Maria Salinas
Jan 213 min read
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