Saturday, April 14, 2007

Elizabeth Marrero


Marrero
Originally uploaded by Nuevo Latino Life.
is known as Macha

Macha1


Macha1
Originally uploaded by Nuevo Latino Life.

Profile: Elizabeth Marrero
This Drag King is Sinfully Delicious
By Robert Waddell

Actress and comedian Elizabeth Marrero was once described by the New York Times as delicious. They got it wrong: she is sinfully delicious.

In her various performances as the Bronx premiere Drag King, Marrero tackles issues of religion, sexuality, personal growth and personal responsibility. And she is hilarious on her takes on people from the hood trying to make it. Marrero makes her one-person show fresh with hilarity and frivolity to spare every time she brings back and breathes life into characters like Petronelia, who enjoys getting tipping the bottle and who has a heart of gold.

“I keep coming back to these characters because I want to see them grow,” Marrero said. “They're real in my heart and part of my soul, part of the fabric of who I am.”

With great material, Marrero's characters include Petronelia, a woman who is experienced in the ways of the world and like a drink once and a while; the B-boy, named MC DJ Guilly-Guiso-Jugo, with a cell phone fetish; Wakateema Shaquasha de la Rodriguez, a young woman who can be a heartless gold digger who wants much and gives very little.

And finally there's Macha, the super Latino stud who loves women. Marrero always ends each one of her shows with this smooth papi chulo Drag King who dances in a shiny white vanilla ice cream suit.

Marrero bases all of these characters on members of her family. In her shows, she said, the characters have grown and become more than who they started out to be. They have shown wisdom, experience and ambition. In a show, “Santa Macha,” Pertronelia started her own religion.

“I love them all so very much,” Marrero said. “They still exist in me. These people grow and progress. They're getting smarter each time around.”

Directed on many occasions by Arthur Aviles at the Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, Marrero is a wonder woman of heart and soul making her characters come alive without apology or phony pathos. In between costume changes, there’s video of Marrero bringing her characters to the streets of Hunts Point, on the avenue and in the subway.

The idea of being a Drag King shows a character based on her father. The character is based on a love of women giving Marrero an opportunity to explore how she feels about women.

“The most basic is that Macha is a male impersonator,” she said. “Being a Latin lover is just extra.”

Marrero’s characters are dysfunctional but not distant; they are real and never stereotypes. Her words are bullet blazes of comedic talent.

Marrero said her intention is always to get her audiences to laugh. If they are encouraged to think after seeing her perform, then that is an added bonus, she said.

“I don't consciously go in there with a theme or statement,” said Marrero. “I don't make fun of these working class people. This is my experience...Latinos are behind in education and sometimes very loving families can stop us from growth.”

Now, Marrero wants to spread her wings professionally and move up to the next level. She has found a manager, is building a website, and working in Manhattan comedy clubs to gain more exposure.

She joked, “J-Lo left the Bronx so somebody has to take over.”

BAAD, where Marrero has presented many of her shows, is dedicated to free expression and art and is a gay friendly arts space in film, theatre, dance and art. It is a theater that brings quality shows to a community otherwise starving for art and culture. And Marrero learned a long time ago that as soon as you hook an audience with humor, they can be given, not force fed, a message or an idea.

“Now I'm in spread my wings mode,” Marrero said. “I want to go to a theater to present my shows, get discovered and become a star. BAAD will always be with me, but I was feeling a little too comfortable. I need to branch out. Spread it out some more.”

Robert Waddell is a freelance journalist based in the Bronx who contributes his writings to the Puerto Rico Sun.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Flamenco Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rico

By Fernando Cuevas
Flamenco Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rico
This particular beach was rated as one of the top ten in the world by The Travel Channel...

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Community Calendar

Save the Date and Pass the Word…April 19

“The American Dream: Puerto Ricans And Mexicans In New York ”

This documentary examines two migrant experiences, one from the Caribbean and one from Latin America, which comprise an important part of the Hispanic experience in New York . It addresses issues of cultural identity, racism, discrimination, economic misery, legal vs. undocumented workers, and the political disenfranchisement of Mexicans. While the video discusses shared interests between the two communities, it also reveals tensions between the Caribbean and Latin American immigrants.
Directed by Sonia Fritz
2003, color, 30 minutes



“En El Vientre Del Monstro / In The Belly Of The Beast”

In September of 2005, the president of the Bolivarian Society of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias, did what only one other head of state has previously done, visit the South Bronx .



The documentary is a chronicle of President Hugo Chavez' visit to the South Bronx, his interaction with residents, organizers, artists, and entrepreneurs, his country's commitment to using national resources for the improvement of the standard of living in the U.S., including Native Americans.
A documentary in progress, directed by Felix Leo Campos
2007, 30 minutes


Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 7:00PM

At the Julia de Burgos Theater (2nd floor) at The Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center, 1680 Lexington Avenue, El Barrio, NYC (corner of 106th St .)

$7.00 entrance

For information, go to www.galeriacemi.com and/or www.barriocinema.com

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Community Calendar

Latino Studies All Star Lineup to Discuss and Celebrate the Release of None of the Above
Puerto Ricans in the Global Era, a volume edited by NALIP Executive Board member, filmmaker/writer Frances Negrón-Muntaner

This coming April 11, New York University's Latino Studies Program and The Hispanic Scholarship Fund-Latin@ Scholar Chapter will host some of the best minds writing about Latinos to discuss Frances Negrón-Muntaner's latest book, the edited volume None of the Above: Puerto Ricans in the Global Era (Palgrave).

The book is already getting rave reviews. Literary and globalization scholar Bruce Robbins (Columbia University) has called the volume “a totally compelling collection” by “arguably the most brilliant among an impressive cohort of Puerto Rican cultural critics.” For New York University's Arlene Dávila, an anthropologist and key figure in Latino Studies, the book offers “some of the most important and original Puerto Rican studies scholars working -- a must read on Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, and on the working of contemporary nationalism and colonialism more generally."

Based on a series of conferences organized by Negrón-Muntaner from 2000-2004, None of the Above is a state-of-the-art volume about contemporary debates regarding Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, both in the United States and on the Island. The title simultaneously refers to the results of a non-binding 1998 plebiscite held in San Juan to determine the Island's political status, the ambiguities that have characterized Puerto Rican political agency, and the complexities of boricua ethnic, national, and cultural identifications in the global era.

Arnaldo Cruz Malavé, literary scholar and associate director of Latin American Studies at Fordham University, will lead the presentation. Negrón-Muntaner and several of the volume's collaborators, including Christina Duffy Burnett (Columbia University), Juan Flores (New York University), Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel (University of Pennsylvania), and Raquel Z. Rivera (City University of New York) will join him.

Volume editor Negrón-Muntaner is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and scholar. She is the co-editor of Puerto Rican Jam: Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism and author of Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of America Culture. Since 2003, she teaches at Columbia University. For additional information on Negrón-Muntaner's work, see http://www.francesnegronmuntaner.net

The event will be held at New York University's Kimball Hall Lounge, 246 Greene Street, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. A reception will follow.

Contact (Presentation):
Daniel Nieves (646) 307-502
Daniel.nieves@nyu.edu

Contact (Palgrave):
Cheryl Vawdewy
cheryl.vawdrey@palgrave-usa.com

source: NALIP

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

sun15Oct06


sun15Oct06
Originally uploaded by I take a pic a day....

Opinion

Puerto Rico's Rossello: Federal voting rights an unfinished business

H.R. 900, the extremely promising Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007, is the subject of hearings in the House.

Pedro Rossello | Special to the Sentinel
Little by little, over the course of many generations, the American people have achieved a broad consensus on a topic that arguably should never have divided them. Arduously (and entirely too gradually), our body politic has reached the conclusion that second-class citizenship is simply wrong.
For more, go to
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-rico0307apr03,0,6066089.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines

Monday, April 02, 2007

Community Calendar

Art Exhibit - Through April 15
Mi Puerto Rico! Master Painters of the Island 1780-1952
The first major exhibition in the continental United States devoted to Puerto Rico’s three greatest masters: José Campeche, Francisco Oller, and Miguel Pou. 49 Washington Street, Newark, NJ. On the web go to NewarkMuseum.org website.

source: www.galeriacemi.com newsletter

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

53


53
Originally uploaded by IORIcross.
Check out the Puerto Rico Sun group at flickr for a collection of photos of Puerto Rico by IORIcross.
PBS REJECTS LATINO COMMUNITY’S DEMANDS FOR INCLUSION

PBS President Kreger Defends Ken Burn’s Exclusion of Latinos from WWII Documentary

In a March 13th letter to Latino community representatives, Paula Kerger, President and CEO of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), rejected the demand that PBS delay the release of Ken Burns’ 7-part WWII documentary, until it is re-edited to include the Latino experience. “This is unacceptable and an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Latino veterans who served in World War II,” responded Professor Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez of the University of Texas at Austin and one of the leaders of the Defend the Honor Campaign that met with Kerger last week to discuss the issue.
The Ken Burns documentary, which is scheduled to air in late September, has been the target of mounting criticism in the Latino community because of its exclusion of the experience of Latinos. The 14-hour series was six years in the making.
“How is it possible, that in the six years it took to make this film, no one involved thought to ask where are the Latino stories?” asked Gus Chavez, another founder of the Defend the Honor Campaign.
In her reply to the group, Kerger noted that PBS is supporting community outreach and educational initiatives attached to the Burns documentary. That local programming is intended to “bring forth the many stories that are not part of the Ken Burns series.” PBS will consider programs produced by local stations by possible national airing, she said.
But the local programming isn’t enough, the Defend the Honor Campaign organizers said.
“Once again they want to relegate us to being the side attraction, keeping us out of the main act,” explained Marta Garcia, a New York-based founder of the Hispanic group.
Angelo Falcon, another founding member of the Defend The Honor Campaign, noted that the timing of the Burns documentary was particularly troublesome.
“Our demand for inclusion comes at a time when the Latino community is too often under attack as being ‘unwelcomed foreigners,’ despite the fact that the majority of us are U.S. citizens and, in the case of WWII, close to half a million of us served this country,” said Falcon.
Rivas-Rodriguez, who established the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project at the University of Texas at Austin eight years ago, said that the community response to news of the Burns documentary has been visceral.
“All Americans feel a deep, personal, connection to WWII,” she said. “These are our parents, our grandparents, aunts and uncles. We know their contributions and sacrifices. And we are painfully aware of how the have not had the recognition they deserve. It is our duty to right this wrong.”
Various Latino groups and individuals are calling for a boycott of PBS, while others plan to pressure the corporate, foundation and government sponsors of PBS and Ken Burns, said Chavez, a Defend the Honor Campaign organizer out of San Diego, CA.
“We are disappointed that PBS, being a public television network, was not more responsive to our community’s concerns,” said Chavez. “They have not heard the last from us.”


Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project (http://utopia.utexas.edu/explore/latino/)

Gus Chavez is a Latino community development and education advocate based in San Diego.

Marta Garcia is founder and co-chair of the New York Chapter of the National Hispanic Media Coalition

Angelo Falcon is president and founder of the National Institute for Latino Policy, based in New York City

source: press release

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Community Calendar

Tuesday, March 27th @ 6:30 pm SHARP!
ACENTOS FOURTH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
Extended Open Mic Showcase
and Featured Poet Sandra Maria Esteves

Acentos will blow the doors off the place in grand style with a grand pionera poet: Sandra Maria Esteves, whose work is often cited among the most important voices of modern Puerto Rican literature. She is the author of Bluestown Mockingbird Mambo and Yerba Buena, and has received numerous awards and grants, including a NYFA
fellowship.

But a warning to our patrons: last year, the crowd exceeded 150, so if you're down to read with us, then GET THERE ON TIME for the 6:30 pm sign-up. The extended open mic session starts at 7 pm SHARP. No kidding, people. Poets from our series past, present, and future are expected to read, so come down and see what this show is
all about. And as always, don't be afraid to bring that new stuff!

The Bruckner Bar and Grill
1 Bruckner Boulevard (Corner of 3rd Ave), Bronx
6 Train to 138th Street Station
Hosted by Rich Villar
FREE! ($5 Suggested Donation)

Coming from Manhattan: At the 138th Street Station, exit by the last car on the 6. Take the exit to your left, go up the stairs to your right to exit at Lincoln Avenue. Walk down Lincoln to Bruckner Blvd; turn right on Bruckner past the bike shop. The Bruckner Bar & Grill is on the corner.

source: geminipoet

Monday, March 26, 2007

Moonlight Castle


Moonlight Castle
Originally uploaded by quinonesanibal.
San Felipe del Morro
San Juan, Puerto Rico

photo by quinonesanibal

Check out more of his work in the Puerto Rico Sun group at flickr.