Dance

New Company ‘Dances Organically’ onto the Urban Stage
By Robert Waddell

In the last year dancer Marcia Parilla has performed in garden and in open air fountains finding a connection between natural movement and nature. She allowed a friend to videotape her and she came up with the idea for her own dance company, “Danza Organica.” Today, Parilla, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, brings modern to the most basic, the pastoral setting. In nature, she said, is where movement was perfected, Native Americans and Africans all danced outside.

“While dancing outside,” said Parrilla, “I found it to be a very centering experience and all of my senses were activated and I found a lot of beautiful true movement.”

With a recent performance in June and another one in August in New York City, Parilla’s ten-member dance company brings Martha Graham-type of interpretations to an organic natural setting.

“The work that we do is from the inside out,” she said. “We let go of preconceived notions of how we’re supposed to be and I like to say that we ‘deconstruct in order to reconstruct’ and then the true movement comes out of that.”

Parilla has a dancer’s robust posture. She rejects currents stands of beauty, opting for a fresh, open luster. For a dancer, how one stands silent is as important as how one moves. Parilla is grace personified with natural hair, little make-up and no dieting.

“The way that I move is not salsa or samba dancing so there is getting rid of what your supposed to be in order for the true movement come out,” she said.

It may seem unstructured, she said, but it comes from the dancer’s interpretation of nature and their environment. Parrilla’s efforts can be compared to Bronx choreographer Arthur Aviles’ invention of swift flow. Things may seem improvised but in fact the dances are well-organized works of art.

“I still train, but I’m in the process,” she said. “I’m very careful about implementing the things that I know that I’m trained in. It’s kind of a way for dancers to discover within themselves with a deep connection to their environment.”

Parrilla stills works to put her company together with 10 dancers from Puerto Rico, Iran, Thailand and the United States. She’s looking for more male dancers.

“I wanted to have a cast of dancers that are from different cultures from around the world. I want us to reach out to as many people as possible,” she said.

Parrilla said that the term “natural environment” was tricky especially as applied to her dance. She’s looking for dance movements that arise in connection with nature but she said that the environment changes. The environment could be buildings. One's environment can serve as a pallet or a backdrop for dancers to draw movement and ideas for performance.

The company’s first performance was in early June in New York City. Parrilla said that dancing outside was liberating. In a studio, there are bars, mirrors, wooden floors.

She held auditions and chose performers. The first performances will be inside but inspired by the organic world.

Parrilla stimulates her dancer’s curiosity to learn, explore, challenge themselves and create from the world around them. For example, if some dancer were to create a dance around the ideas of the Plaza de Mayo, then those ideas would show respect to the historical value to the mothers of Argentina, she said.

“We work with elements like humanity, the environment, political and social issues as well as sharing our dancing ability,” she said.

Parrilla provokes her dancers to create sequences out of movement, classic dance, body weight, space, negative space and their imaginations. The world around them becomes their canvas and the ink in which to actualize formed structured dances. The dances have direction but during the creation of those dances, improvisation is used and molded into formalized dance structures.

“This comes from all of the dancer’s energy so that they can all feel a part of this new creation,” said Parrilla. “Dance to me is a reflection of society. If I were doing a dance about Argentina, I would incorporate the tango and if in Puerto Rico, the plena. Those things need to be there because we have to keep our ancestry present.”

Marsha Parrilla and her company “Danza Organica” will be performing in lower Manhattan at Far Space in August.

Robert Waddell is a Bronx-based freelance writer and a contributing writer to Puerto Rico Sun.

Featured story

New York Daily News
Flight? What flight?
Back in 1958 when the first Puerto Rican Day Parade set off up Fifth
Ave., Boricuas were without question the dominant Latino group in New
York City. And they would remain so for decades to come.
For more, go to
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2007/06/07/2007-06-07_flight_what_flight-1.html?ref=rss

IMG_1078

IMG_1078
Originally uploaded by clarisel.

Community Calendar

Bronx Week kicks off June 16 and runs until June 24.

Among the activities is:

Arts & Culture Day on June 21
BronxNet TV's Music & Film Screening Gala
Live Latin music, festivities, and the screening of a powerful documentary on the history and culture of Puerto Ricans in the Bronx.

LOCATION: Centro Cultural Rincon Criollo, 157th Street & Brook Avenue
TIME: 12pm - 7pm
ADMISSION: FREE
INFO: 718-960-1181, www.bronxnet.org

For more events, go to www.bronxweekevents.com.

Que Viva Puerto Rico

Here's an e-zine article written (with photos) by Eliud Martinez (also known as DeLares) about the "Puerto Rican Day Parade, Remixed" exhibit reception in Manhattan:
http://www.nowpublic.com/american_ethnic_parades_as_forms_of_cultural_performance
For photos depicting the parade, go to:
"Puerto Rican Day Parade, Remixed" FLICKR group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/393849@N23/

Film

¡Pálante, Siempre Pálante!
The Young Lords
Friday, June 8, 6:30 pm
The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street
Free with Museum Admission

By Iris Morales (1996). Followed by a panel discussion with the director. The story of the Young Lords, the Puerto Rican civil-rights organization formed in the early 1970s, which occupies a unique place in New York's history.

RSVP AT (718) 681-6000,Ext. 102 or education@bronxmuseum.org

a veces nadie viene a verme

a veces nadie viene a verme
Originally uploaded by javier.izquierdo.

Postcard from San Juan

Postcard from San Juan
Originally uploaded by dM.nyc.

Featured story

23 from Puerto Rico graduate as city police
By Nicole Fuller
(Baltimore) Sun reporter
Originally published June 2, 2007
They left behind their homes near the beach. Their young children. The ease of speaking in the language of their homeland. Twenty-three men and women left behind their lives in Puerto Rico for the chance to work as police officers in a city many had never heard of - Baltimore.

Yesterday, a class of graduates of the city's police academy - the first with a large group of Puerto Ricans since the department led a recruitment effort on the island last year - received their diplomas in a ceremony that not only acknowledged their service, but celebrated their diversity.

For more, www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.ci.graduation02jun02,0,1637634.story?track=rss

Puerto Rican Day Parade "RMIX" Exhibit

Puerto Rican Day Parade "RMIX" Exhibit
Originally uploaded by DeLares (Eliud Martinez).

Celebrate a Virtual Puerto Rican Day Parade

All rights reserved.

The "Puerto Rican Day Parade, Remix on FLICKR" group www.flickr.com/groups/393849@N23/ is a companion to a live art exhibit titled: "Puerto Rican Day Parade, Remix" which is scheduled to open Wednesday, 6 June 2007 at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center located on 107 Suffolk Street, New York NY 10002 (212) 260-4080 This group exhibit is being co-curated by art historian Dr. Yasmin Ramirez, and artist Luis Carle who is the Director of OPART, Inc., the arts organization that is presenting this exhibit.

In the spirit of the "real-time" exhibit in NYC, this online virtual "Puerto Rican Day Parade, Remix on FLICKR" represents an historical first. Not counting "live video-streaming" of actual parades, this may be the very first "virtual" Puerto RIcan Day Parade, ever!

Welcome to the future....you're there! This cyber parade offers an alternative venue for articulating our cultural symbols and icons while celebrating the political, emotional and spiritual meaning that these symbols authentically bring forth in us.


For those of you who are nearby but unable to attend, or are part of the “Rican” Diaspora in far flung parts around the globe, this group invites you to participate by commenting and posting images of past and or future Puerto Rican Day Parades (PRDP). Those of you who will be attending PRDPs in your geographical area, please submit your images to this group and tell us how it was for you!

These images can be straightforward, reality based, whimsical or fantasies of alternative reality parades. Your sincerity, good humor and respect for diverse opinions will earn you extra participant points.

Though we are united in our ethnic pride, it is understood that within this unity there is also diversity. That having been said, there will be no ideological or artistic litmus test applied here though we ask you to use your best judgment based on your own personal sense of excellence and good taste. The idea is to have fun, think, laugh and celebrate our “Puertoriqueñidad”, not just among ourselves, but the world.

IMG_0872

IMG_0872
Originally uploaded by bajounpalmar.

Bronx Puerto Rican Parade

Community Calendar

Pregones Theater ends 27th Season with THE BEEP,
a new musical play featuring works by Pedro Pietri

New York – Pregones Theater closes its 27th theatrical season with the world premiere of THE BEEP, a Latino musical theater revue with texts by pioneering Puerto Rican writers Pedro Pietri, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Manuel Méndez Ballester, Jesús Colón, and others.
From the island’s mountains to New York’s barrios, the play gives life to a tapestry of Puerto Rican characters that leave messages from one generation of migrants to the next. Their stories are drawn from award-winning texts including Pietri’s legendary Puerto Rican Obituary and Out of Order/Telephone Booth poems, Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing, winner of a PEN/Martha Albrand Special Citation, Méndez’s classic Don Goyito, and Colón’s The Way It Was. Their words are matched to a rich musical score that resonates with the sounds of our barrios, past and present. THE BEEP is both specific and universal, and the harmonized voices of a bright ensemble of actors and musicians are sure to captivate all audiences.
THE BEEP is directed by Rosalba Rolón with music by Desmar Guevara. Production design is by Harry Nadal (sets, costumes) and Jason Sturm (lighting). Starring Varín Ayala, Rosal Colón, Sol Marina Crespo, Elise Hernández, Omar Pérez, and musicians Waldo Chávez, Roberto Rosario, Desmar Guevara and guest artist José Rivera from Los Pleneros de la 21.
Suitable for the entire family, performances are in English and Spanish, with dual language supertitles translations. The show runs until June 3rd.

The performance calendar for THE BEEP is:

Thursday, May 31, 7:30 p.m.

Fridays, May 25, June 1, 7:30 p.m.

Saturdays, May 26, June 2, 7:30 p.m.

Sundays, May 27, June 3, 3 p.m.

Shows are at the new Pregones Theater, 575 Walton Avenue between 149th and 150th sreets, just south of Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx. To purchase tickets, get directions, or get additional information including special weekday group matinees, please call 718-585-1202 or visit Pregones Theater online at www.pregones.org.

source: Pregones

Featured story

65th U.S. Army Regiment is remembered
Puerto Rican unit in Korean War

By Priyanka Dayal TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER— Scanning the faded black-and-white prints sitting on the table, Myles E. Geer, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, paused and pointed to a photo of one soldier.
“He was killed,” he said.
Mr. Geer scanned the photos again. “But we had fun, too,” he said, pointing to two men wrestling with a football near a leafy tree.
Mr. Geer served in the Puerto Rican 65th U.S. Army Infantry Regiment, an all-volunteer unit that was among the biggest, best trained and most successful regiments to fight in the Korean War.
For more, go to www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/NEWS/705240692.

Community Calendar

Sunday, May 27
Loisaida Street Festival
Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C) from 5th to 12th Streets

Bassist Joe Falcón and poet Bobby Gonzalez will be mc'ing an Open Mic.
All poets, musicians and performance artists are welcome to join in

Place: "Avenue C Cafe"
5th Street and Avenue C
(near Adela's Restaurant)
Time: 2 - 8 pm

For information, call 212-477 5993 or visit www.5ccc.com

Artist Opportunity

Greetings,
We are just over a week away from the beginning of the fifth annual Uptown Arts Stroll.

The Stroll Guides (which double as posters) will be inserted in the Manhattan Times this Friday. Additionally, there will be 25,000 or so that need to be distributed around town. Please volunteer to pick up a handful to hang up in your favorite businesses and street corners. We also need volunteers to distribute them at rush hour on the local subway stations. The guides are at the Manhattan Times office (5000 Broadway, entrance on W. 212th Street under the blue Manhattan Times banner).

“Visions of Northern Manhattan”
The group show of artwork by us about us will be hung at Alianza Dominicana on Fri., June 1. The exhibit will open during the day of Stroll activities on June 2 and remain open throughout the two weeks, serving as the Stroll’s central headquarters. Alianza is at 2410 Amsterdam Ave. near W. 180th St.

Artists who live in Northern Manhattan are invited to submit one (1) piece to the show that illustrates or conveys some aspect of life in Northern Manhattan. Please email me at wahiarts@yahoo.com if you plan to participate. I need the following info:
Your name:
Your phone, email, Website:
Title of work:
Price (15% of sales will go toward production costs) or “Not for Sale (NFS)”:
Medium:
100-word artist statement:

Work should be dropped off at the Manhattan Times office during normal business hours on weekdays (5000 Broadway, entrance on W. 212th Street under the blue Manhattan Times banner) before Wed. May 30. (Or email me if you need to make other arrangements.) Work will be available to be picked up at Alianza beginning on Mon., June 18 during normal business hours. 212-740-1960 for additional info.

The following artists have made firm commitments to exhibit in “Visions of Northern Manhattan”: Stephen Beveridge, Sheryl Zacharia, Alexander Percy, Brian Skinner, Amy Ponce, Evelyn Fernandez, Demostina, Mike Fitelson. The more the merrier.

Amsterdam Avenue Sidewalk Art Fair
Another activity on Sat., June 2 will be an art fare. We are renting 30 tables from 1-6pm. Tables are free to artists (first come, first served). Please email me if you would like a table to display your artwork. Show up with your work by noon on Sat., June 2 and find Demostina by Quisqueya Playground on Amsterdam near W. 180th St. You are responsible for returning your table to the playground by 6:30pm.

The following artists have made firm commitments to reserve a table:
Casa Duarte (6 tables), Greta Herron, Dawn Chase, Stone Hubbard. The more the merrier.

Have a great Stroll.
Mike Fitelson

source: wahiarts

'Our Women, Our Struggles'

Filmmaker
Originally uploaded by prsuncom.

Documentary filmmaker Melissa Zoe Montero speaks about her new project.

Film

Filmmaker Explores 'Our Women, Our Struggles' for P.R.'s Independence
By Robert Waddell

Filmmaker and reporter Melissa Zoe Montero comes to history with a fresh eye where many of her subjects are still alive. She has seen close up the power of Puerto Rican women who have fought to be free. Her latest film project, “Our Women, Our Struggle,” depicts the trajectory of the independence movement and the struggles of some of its most dedicated women.

Montero also documents how the United States worked hard to suppress, silence and surveill the independence movement. She concentrates on historical Puerto Rican women because, in Montero’s view, women have been a powerful liberating force in the struggle for Puerto Rico’s freedom. There is more women warrior than post-feminism here, but Montero brings a clear sense of her subject while being sensitive to the complexity of Puerto Rico’s unique and rich history.

“This is an hour-long documentary on Puerto Rican revolutionary women specifically Dona Isabellita Rosado, Dona Lolita Lebron and Dylcia Pagan and we’ll also be including different historians, writer, professors,” Montero said.

The time periods that all three women lived through will be discussed and analyzed in Montero’s documentary. She wants to put the women and the history into perspective.

“I know that there are so many women,” Montero said, “but Dona Isabellita is one of the women still alive and it was key to speak to her since there isn’t much video on her. It’s time for someone to document her.”

Of course in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence, Lolita Lebron is key and for more recent history, Pagan represents New York Puerto Ricans, but there’s a continuity of history and of the island to the mainland.

“I wanted to connect the island born with New York born Puerto Ricans,” said Montero who grew up in Long Island City, Queens and attended Hofstra University.

Fortunate for Montero’s project is that her historical subjects are still alive. There’s also a connection between the filmmaker and her subjects.

“These women are my mothers and my grandmothers and sisters,” she said. “As a young boricua woman, I’m also half Ecuadorian, sitting there researching. I wanted answers. And the more I met people, the more intrigued I was,” she said.

Montero wanted history to come alive because she found there were several films on Puerto Rican history and the independence movement. She cites Rosie Perez’s independent film “Yo Soy Boricua Pa Que Lo Sepas,” but Montero wants to speak about the movement and the roles of the women. Montero also wants to concentrate on the theme of the surveillance of these women and the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Before George W. Bush’s anti-terrorist domestic surveillance programs, she said, the Puerto Rican independence movement could have historically been used as a testing ground for intelligence, counter intelligence and the watching of American citizens.

“It connects to what happens today in the U.S,” Montero said. “Puerto Rico has always been under surveillance so FBI surveillance is nothing new but this can connect to average Americans and the Patriot Act. It’s like Puerto Rico was a guinea pig for a lot of things.”

Montero is obviously not an objective observer or documentarian because her political ideas align with the women in her film. However, she is careful that no history or idea be lost in the translation from interviewee to film. She wants to be as truthful to her subjects, actual events and history as possible even though her politics bend in the direction of the independentistas. She also believes that she is filling that deep gap from public schools where students are not taught Puerto Rican history.

She states that her film will pick up the historical and educational slack by showing, “details of certain stories, specific feelings that were felt and talking with writers and telling of what hasn’t been seen or heard before.”

Without a doubt Montero will include the influence of nationalist Don Pedro Albizu Campos, but she is especially concentrating on women’s contributions to the cause of Puerto Rican independence in the already 20 plus hours that she has shot. Montero will have her documentary completed in the next year, but still looks for necessary funding, the biggest challenge of putting this film together.

Montero looks into the commitment and sacrifice of these political women and sees heroes bent on making Puerto Rico better for themselves, their families and for all Puerto Ricans. As she speaks, Montero is visibly moved and inspired by the subjects of the film who serve as role models and heroes for her life.

“When you have a child,” said Montero, “there’s a different connection than a man. When you’re separated from your child and don’t get to raise him or your children die while you’re in prison, can be torture for those women…These women are courageous because they sacrificed their child for the cause.”

To support Melissa Zoe Montero’s film “Our Women, Our Struggle,” interested parties can donate money for her film project to Women Make Movies.com and can visit Montero’s website at www.ourwomenourstruggle.com.

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

Featured story

Living wage becomes Md. law
Apology for slavery, ground rent bills among 205 signed
By Andrew A. Green
Sun reporter
Originally published May 9, 2007
Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a first-in-the-nation "living wage" law yesterday, setting a higher minimum wage for those employed by state contractors and putting Maryland in the forefront of a national debate over government's role in fighting poverty.

"What this bill simply says is, 'If you're working on a contract funded by the people of Maryland, we are going to treat you in a fair and just way so you can put food on the table for your family after a day's work,'" O'Malley said.

The living wage bill was one of 205 measures the governor signed into law yesterday, including a formal apology for Maryland's role in slavery - the second such action in the nation - and a series of seven laws designed to end the seizure of homes over unpaid ground rent. A Sun investigation last year found that some Baltimore residents had lost their homes over initial debts of as little as $24.
For more, go to
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.governor09may09,0,937378.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Roberto Clemente Plaza in the Boogie Down

Felicidades. The plaza at 149th and Third Avenue (the Hub) in the Bronx is now also known as Roberto Clemente Plaza. The new street sign went up yesterday in honor of the legendary Puerto Rican baseball player and humanitarian.

IMG_5151

IMG_5151
Originally uploaded by clarisel.

The Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade '06

Community Calendar

The Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade

Come out and celebrate Puerto Rican Pride!

Parade will take place at 1 p.m., Sunday, May 20
Along the Grand Concourse Starting at 176th Street and Ending at 167th St

For more information, please call: (718) 792-8797

source: www.ilovethebronx.com

Community Calendar

50 Years of the Puerto Rican Parade
A Pictorial Celebration

A photography exhibit depicting the most memorable moments in the half-century history of NYC's largest ethnic parade. Taken by some of the city's photographers, the pictures convey a resounding message: Puerto Rican Pride.

May 10-May 18
Reception: May 10, 5-8 p.m.
Atrium Gallery
Hostos Community College
450 Grand Concourse, the Bronx

Information: 718 518-4455
www.hostos.cuny.edu/culture&arts

Community Calendar

East Harlem bassist Joe Falcon will perform musical accompaniment at "WORD - From the Barrio" Open Mic tonight. He is the leader of the Latin/Jazz combo Coco Rico.

WORDS - From the Barrio
Open Mic Every Monday
hosted by Bobby Gonzalez
produced by Jaime "Maestro" Emeric
at
CARLITO'S CAFE Y GALERIA
1701 Lexington Ave. (bet. 106th & 107th Street)
Tel: 212-534-7168
Time: 7 - 11 PM

Suggested Donation: $5
No one turned away.
http://www.carlitosny.com/
http://www.bobbygonzalez.com/

Patty Dukes

Patty Dukes
Originally uploaded by Nuevo Latino Life.

'I Love My Money'

'I Love My Money'
Originally uploaded by Nuevo Latino Life.

Featured artist

Patty Dukes Puts Up Her Dukes for Art

By Robert Waddell
A strong Latina poet and self-described "hip-hop head," Patty Dukes remembers she put up her dukes to get where she is today.

Patty Dukes, whose real name is Patricia Marte, recalled a fist smashed into her right arm, shocking her with bone rattling pain. Feeling stunned and frustrated, she left El Puente in Brooklyn, but she then bumped into Lemmon, the guy who had just hit her, outside on the street. She came up behind him and smashed him on the head with a fist.

According to Dukes, he said, “‘Who do you think you are Patty? Put up your Dukes.’”

And, the name stuck. Patricia Marte became Patty Dukes. That was 10 years ago.

Dukes said she later learned that Lemmon, a poet who became her mentor, hit her as a way of getting her out of her shy shell and it worked.

While in high school, Dukes recalls meeting poets like Lemmon, who would win a Tony Award for Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, the group Universes, La Bruja and Mariposa.

Although she felt as an outsider, she discovered she also was a poet, an emcee, a hip-hop fanatic and an actress.

Recently, Dukes showcased her poetry at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York City with a lineup of Latina poets that included La Bruja and Mariposa. She has also performed at SOBs. She’s now working on a CD and will appear in Danny Hoch’s latest play “Til the Break of Dawn.”

Dukes was born to Dominican parents in Puerto Rico and was raised near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. She attended Hunter College and now works as a poet in schools.

Dukes represents the mix of Dominican and New York cultures as well as the hip-hop and poetry scene. She offers a whirlwind of sexy intellectualism, hip hop savvy and spoken word awakening.

She credits poets like Reg E. Gaines and Piri Thomas for their inspiration. One of Dukes’s poems harkens to a Gaines poem about someone getting killed for their sneakers. The poem is socially and politically relevant.

“The poem was written for the 80s; those issues are still going on today,” Dukes said. “As far as consumerism and keeping up with the Joneses, the products may have changed...I had to tell this story with a more modern twist. This is my re-mix.”

Dukes sees a strong connection between poetry and hip-hop.

“I’ve taken a lot of risks,” Dukes said. “I didn’t realize that being an artist you could be sustainable...An MC moves the crowd, a rapper is someone who can rhyme. A lyricist is someone who can rhyme but put some heavy lyrical content….at the end of the day to be a good lyricist you have to be a poet.”

Poetry has had to go beyond the academic setting...poetry needed to be infused with hip hop-isms, she said.

“I need that performance element and that mixture of poetry and the content of words,” Dukes said. “I need to get their eye contact; I need to feel what they’re saying…I want to feel you and I want you to move me and by nature that is hip-hop.”

One experience that helped Dukes understand that she was part of the hip-hop poetry and theater movement was when she wrote a play about women in prison and presented it to her professor and class. She said they just didn’t get it. They didn’t understand the nature of Dukes' words and where her ideas were coming from.

That inspired her to go on the road, perform and become a hip-hop dramatist.

Although painful, Dukes is grateful for that punch in the arm that Lemmon gave her years ago because it helped bring her out of her shell and gave her a nickname that has stuck.

“You have to find where you connect to the world,” Dukes said. “If you don’t find that first connection, you’re not going to open up.”

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

Community Calendar

BRONXNET & Hostos Center for Arts & Culture
Invite you to a free sneak preview screening of a docu-concert

Featuring the BOMPLENAZO FEELING BOMBA Y PLENA
(Puerto Rican coastal folk music and dance rooted in African Culture)

*Wednesday, May 2, 6 p.m.
at Hostos' Repertoire Theater
450 Grand Concourse, Bronx

*COME EXPERIENCE THE VIBRANT SONG, DANCE AND DRUMS OF AN ART FORM THAT TELLS THE STORIES OF PEOPLE IN THEIR COMMUNITIES THROUGH PERFORMANCE*

Admission with free ticket

*Info & tickets: 718-518-4455*

source: Bronxnet

Community Calendar

The National Institute for Latino Policy
invites you to a roundtable

The State of Puerto Rican
Politics in New York City

A Conversation based on
José Ramón Sánchez' new book, Boricua Power:
A Political History of Puerto Ricans in the United States

Tuesday, May 15, 2007
6:15pm
NYUWagner
The Puck Building
2nd Floor Conference Room
295 Lafayette Street (and Houston Street), New York, NY 10012-9604
(B,D,F,V to Broadway-Lafayette, N,R,W to Prince Street, 6 to Bleecker Street)

Roundtable Participants
Alicia Cardona
Author, Rambling on Random Thoughts and New York Puerto Rican Women Achievers

Arlene Davila
Professor, Anthropology, Social and Cultural Analysis (American Studies),
New York University: author, Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos and the
Neoliberal City; Latinos, Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People; and Sponsored
Identities: Cultural Politics in Puerto Rico

David Diaz
Distinguished Lecturer in Media & Politics, City College (CUNY); formerly
senior correspondent and anchor on WCBS and WNBC-TV

José A. García
Senior Research and Policy Associate, Demos: A Network for Ideas
and Action; and author, East Coast Latino Voting Rights Act Reauthorization Manual

Mickey Melendez
Author, We Took the Streets: Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords

Councilmember Melissa Mark Viverito
Democrat representing District 8

Joseph Wiscovitch
President, Wiscovitch Associates

José Ramón Sánchez
Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of Urban Studies,
Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus

Moderator
Angelo Falcón
President and Co-Founder, National Institute for Latino Policy; and
author, Atlas of Stateside Puerto Ricans, and co-editor, Boricuas in Gotham:
Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York City

Co-sponsored by the
Women of Color Policy Network at NYUWagner

RSVP with 212-334-5722 or wlamour@nlcatp. org


Boricua Power: A Political History of Puerto Ricans in the United States,
by José Ramón Sánchez (New York: New York University Press, 2007)

www.nyupress .org/books/ Boricua_Power- products_ id-4973.html

Film

Watch trailer of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony in "El Cantante."

www.movies.yahoo.com/feature/elcantante.html

Featured story

P.R. statehood debate gathers force
By Jeff Patch

The District of Columbia may be a step closer to statehood as the House voted last week to give D.C. a voting member in the House, but another battle over statehood -- one that has lingered for more than a century -- is emerging.

Capitol Hill is debating two proposals to determine the status of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean island that has been part of the United States since 1898. Although obscure, the issue could certainly affect perceptions among Puerto Rican voters, who represent a significant segment of the Hispanic vote.

For more, go to
www.politico.com/news/stories/0407/3680.html

Community Calendar

MACHETERO
Thursday, May 3rd

Taller Boricua, GaleriaCemi.com and Sery Colon present
BarrioCinema with the upcoming film screening…

MACHETERO

Post 9/11 definitions, ideas and notions of terrorism are challenged in this highly controversial and experimental film. Machetero is an allegorical narrative that follows French journalist Jean Dumont played by Isaach de Bankolé (The Keeper, Ghost Dog, Coffee and Cigarettes, Manderlay) to a New York prison where he interviews Pedro Taino a so called "Puerto Rican Terrorist" played by Not4Prophet (lead singer of the Puerto Punk band RICANSTRUCTION). Pedro is a self-described Machetero fighting to free Puerto Rico from the yoke of United States colonialism. He is obsessed with freedom, freedom for his country, his people and for himself. Jean questions Pedro about his decisions to use violence as a means to achieve that freedom. As Jean and Pedro speak, another story unfolds. A ghetto youth played by Kelvin Fernandez (in his first starring role) grows up in the ghetto streets and crosses paths with Pedro. Pedro sees potential in the ghetto youth and reawakens a revolutionary spirit instilled in from childhood by a mentor in Puerto Rico played by former Puerto Rican Prisoner of War Dylcia Pagan (who did 20 years in US prisons). Pedro tries to provide the means for the ghetto youth to grow into the next generation of Machetero.
The film is structured around songs from the album, “Liberation Day” written and performed by RICANSTRUCTION. The songs are interwoven into the film as a narrative voice. RICANSTRUCTION also provides an original improvised score that moves from hardcore be-bop punk to layered haunting and abstract Afro-Rican rhythms.

MACHETERO
was written, edited and directed by Vagabond.

Thursday, May 3, 2007 @ 7:00PM
Julia de Burgos Theater at 1680 Lexington Ave., at 106th St., NYC
For more info go to www.barriocinema.com

'She's Like the Wind'

Puerto Rico Sun received a courtesy copy of Lumidee's new CD. She teamed up with Tony Sunshine to sing one of my favorite songs from back in the day: "She's Like the Wind" from the "Dirty Dancing" days. Lumidee, a Puerto Rican R&B rapper and singer, gives this old song her special touch, making it her own.

Here is an article "Spanglish Magazine" recently did on Lumidee.

http://www.spanglishmagazine.com/lumidee.html

Buena suerte.

Community Calendar

Havana Film Festival @ Centro
April 24, 5 pm
Ida K. Lang Recital Hall -Hunter College- North 4th Floor, NYC

Film: "Ladrones y Mentirosos"
Producer Poli Marichal will be present for Q & A moderated by Prof. Joelle Gonzalez-Laguer, (Film Department, Hunter College )

For more information on the Havana Film Festival: www.hffny.com

source: Centro

Featured story

Community still divided by island, mainland origins

Judy Wang
Staff Reporter
With her red hair and freckles, Elise Brau ’08 surprises many Yalies when she tells them she is Puerto Rican.
“I look like an American kid,” she said.
Hailing from San Juan, Brau is one member of the small group of Puerto Rican Yalies who grew up on the island.
Students and alumni who attended last week’s 35th anniversary celebrations for Despierta Boricua, the Puerto Rican undergraduate student organization, used the occasion to reflect on the significant growth in size and diversity in their community since the first Puerto Rican students arrived on campus in the middle of the 20th century, students said.
While several current members and alumni of DB said differences within the Puerto Rican community are often embraced as ways to spark dialogue about culture, others said the differences can divide groups within the larger community. But many said the past 35 years have seen efforts to bridge the Yale and New Haven Puerto Rican communities and to spread the message of Latino unity.


Coming to Yale

For more, go to Yale Daily News
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20823

20070304-IMG_7349.jpg

20070304-IMG_7349.jpg
Originally uploaded by markwolgemuth.

Photo by markwolgemuth who says this is a "rural farm not too far from Arecibo."

Featured story

San Juan struggles to save historic wall
Built from 1539 to 1641, structure is symbol of pride for Puerto Rico

By Ray Quintanilla
Chicago Tribune
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico · The network of thick sandstone walls surrounding the second oldest city in the Americas has withstood the bombardment of warships from England, Holland and, most recently, the United States during the Spanish American War.
But the structure, called La Muralla in Spanish, is no match for its latest enemy: erosion, neglect and the push of development into the oldest section of San Juan.
For more, go to
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-aprwall16apr16,0,3949768.story?track=rss

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.

Flamenco Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rico

Flamenco Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rico
Originally uploaded by Fernando Cuevas.

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Poet Jose Angel Figueroa

JoseAngelF
Originally uploaded by Nuevo Latino Life.