community news blurbs

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA KIDS COUNT PUERTO RICO PROJECT TO RELEASE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE DATA BOOK ON CHILDREN IN PUERTO RICO

San Juan --  The National Council of La Raza KIDS COUNT Puerto Rico Project will release the 2004 KIDS COUNT Puerto Rico Data Book, which presents data on the major population, health, and socioeconomic characteristics of the child population, for the island as a whole, at a news conference Aug. 2 in Guaynabo.
The report presents a mixed picture of the status of children and youth in Puerto Rico. In terms of positive trends, the 2004 KIDS COUNT Puerto Rico Data Book shows that the number of low birth weight babies and the rate of infant and child mortality declined from 1990 to 2000. In addition, the number of births to teenagers, while still high and concentrated in specific municipalities, has also dropped, both for adolescents 15 to 17 years old and for girls under 15 years old.
But the book also highlights several worrisome indicators: child and youth homicide in Puerto Rico is alarming; during the last decade Puerto Rico lost more than 1,500 youth to homicide and 93% of these were males. Moreover, the proportion of children born to and living with only one parent increased from 1990 to 2000. The data book concludes with several recommendations and points to challenges and opportunities for policy-makers, the private sector, and nonprofit and community-based organizations to improve the lives of children in Puerto Rico.
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Puerto Rico Self-Determination has a New Forum

Washington, DC--(HISPANIC PR WIRE – US Newswire)--July 26, 2004--The Citizens’ Educational Foundation – US (CEF), is pleased to announce the launching of a new initiative that provides another forum for the discussion of Puerto Rico Self-Determination: http://www.LetPuertoRicoDecide.org. As the name implies, the new website can be found at: http://www.letpuertoricodecide.org. “Our goal with “Let Puerto Rico Decide.org”, is to provide the public with an action-oriented site that would permit them to learn about the issue of Puerto Rico self determination and then be able to actually do something about it,” said CEF Executive Director, Jose E. Aponte. Mr. Aponte also added that, “With this website, the public will not only be able to support Puerto Rican self-determination by contacting their members of Congress, as well as President Bush and the campaign of Senator Kerry, but they will also be able to remain active on this issue by participating in the new CEF web log called Blog Puerto Rico.” “Blog Puerto Rico is our effort to take part in this new media wave that has already had, and will continue to have, a significant impact on the candidates and the overall electoral process. Blog Puerto Rico will introduce an ongoing discussion about the unfinished business of American democracy represented by the issue of Puerto Rico’s unresolved political status dilemma,” Aponte said. This year, for the first time, Bloggers will actually be given press credentials in both party conventions. For those who wish to conduct additional research on the issue of Puerto Rico self-determination, CEF still has its original website http://www.cefus.net, where the status issue is discussed in greater detail and the public has access to a growing number of resources and materials. The Citizens’ Educational Foundation-US is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that promotes the right of the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico to a process of Self-Determination.

puertoricosun directory

I have created a directory of resources on interesting sites to visit for information about boricuas.

Check out the "Puerto Rico Sun" directory: www.10minuteflash.com/sites/25139

Clarisel

In honor of 9/11 Victims
SCORCHED EARTH
By Fernando A. Zapater

It keeps creeping upon me
As an invisible tower of hatred
You perceive it through your senses
Where you feel the fire burn unto your soul
I despise you suicide victims
For you are the perpetrators
Of your own invincible weaknesses
How can I avenge your threat of killing me?
Life is a destiny, it is also a tyranny
With being alive, and all its serendipity
When things happened and the culprit vanished
Where do I unleash my anger?
Darkness of night was afraid of my tongue of fire
The sun was scared of the burning hatred of my desires
Tell me earth where do I unleash my anger
The one that burns my life with hateful anxieties
For every time I fall, I push you down as I get up
I’m only a human that stumbled once upon,
One more time
Mother earth where do I unleash my anger
Brother sun, sister moon, tell me siblings where I do
Tell me mother I wish not to scorch your face
Please tell me soon, my next breath might be combustion.

Copyrighted 2002 Fernando A. Zapater
Fernando A. Zapater contributes his poetry to puertoricosun.com. He is from Ponce.

Poetry: The Absconded Rose

THE ABSCONDED ROSE
By FERNANDO A. ZAPATER

THE ANGELS SENT ME THIS ROSE
BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO PLEASE ME
BUT A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE
WHEN IT HAS NO MEANING
 
BUT THE ANGELS SENT ME THIS ROSE
SO IT DOES HAVE A MEANING
THERE IS AN ANGEL SOMEWHERE
FLUTTERING HER WINGS LOVINGLY
AS SHE WATCHES OVER ME
 
I SENSE HER PRESENCE
FLUTTERING HER WINGS LOVINGLY
WATCHING HER ROSE BLOOMING
WHEN THE ROSE PETALS OPENED
I FELT THE BLOWING KISS

HER PERFUME SURROUNDED THE AREA
AND SUNSHINE CAME FORTH BRIGHT
THERE'S A SUDDEN BURST OF LIGHT
MY HEART JUMPED INTO IT
THEN I DISCOVERED MYSELF
IN THE HEART OF THE ROSE ABSCONDED.

c FERNANDO A. ZAPATER
Zapater contributes his poetry to puertoricosun.com. He is from Ponce.

Drop of Love

Poetry
 
DROP OF LOVE
By FERNANDO A. ZAPATER

DROP OF LOVE
THAT NIBBLES DOWN YOUR BREAST
YOU ARE THE MOTHER WHO FEEDS
THE INFANT BABY WITH HER MILK
ALLOW US TO WORSHIP THOU

YOU ARE TO BECOME ANOTHER
ANOTHER ONE AMONGST MANY
A MOTHER WHO FEEDS HER CHILD
WITH HER LOVE, BREAST AND HONESTY

WHEN A FEATHER CARESSED YOU
IT CAME FROM VERY HIGH ABOVE
SUCH TENDER LOVE POSSESSED
THE GLORY OF YOUR MOTHERHOOD

BUT YOUR DROP OF LOVE WOMAN
MOTHER WOMAN GIRL CHILD YOU
WAS WHITE AND GLISTENING GOLD
SURRENDERED IN LOVE WE TRUST

YOUR DROP OF LOVE WOMAN
YOUR MOST SWEETEST SELF
COMES FROM CLOSE TO YOUR HEART
YOUR LOVE JUST POURS ITSELF.
 
Fernando A. Zapater contributes his poetry to puertoricosun.com. He is from Ponce, P.R.