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Killing Spanish: Literary Essays on Ambivalent Latin Identity

February 1, 2013 By

Killing Spanish: Literary Essays on Ambivalent U.S. Latino/a Identity

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0230617514/?tag=mypuertorican-20

Killing Spanish Book Image

by Lyn Di Iorio Sandín

Killing Spanish suggests that the doubles, madwomen and other raging characters that populate the pages of contemporary U.S. Latino/a literature allegorize ambivalence about both present American identity and past Caribbean and Latin American origins. The family novels Sandín explores — ranging from work by the Cuban American Cristina García to the island Puerto Rican Rosario Ferré — uncover the split between Americanized protagonists and their families, a split usually resolved through the killing of a character representing origins. Race and class differences, and poverty, cause protagonists in work by the Nuyoricans Piri Thomas, the Dominican American Junot Díaz, and others, to embrace the street as the new Latino home. If the family novels exact the death of “Spanish” in the person of a double character, the urban fiction and poetry project the “mean” street, churning with the productive and destructive energies of ambivalence, as the landscape of the fragmented U.S. Latino/a psyche.

Review

“There is no other work in contemporary U.S. Latino/Latina Studies, known to me, that is comparable to Killing Spanish in scope, in analytical richness and in sheer trans-American thinking; it is actually a cross-genealogical history of U.S. Latino/Latina literature from Piri Thomas to Cristina García and Junot Díaz and shows a passionate mastery of the literature of the Americas.”– José David Saldívar, Class of 1942 Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley“Killing Spanish is an illuminating examination of contemporary US Latino writing. Lyn Di Iorio Sandín combines a comprehensive and revealing cultural study analysis with a compelling literary review of the manner in which allegory, in the works of some of the most significant authors in the growing field of US Latino literature, reveals an often ambivalent and conflictive representation of Latino/a identity. A highly original and timely work.”–Margarite Fernández Olmos, Co-Editor, The Latino Reader: An American Literary Tradition from 1542 to the Present“Lyn Di Iorio Sandin’s Killing Spanish ventures remarkably into uncharted territory, appreciably widening the available scope for studying US Caribbean/Latino literary texts. Drawing on psychoanalytically nuanced literary criticism and contemporary cultural studies, the author identifies allegory as the trope par excellence for scrutinizing the fragmented identities that parade the pages of the novels she examines and in so doing illustrates the value of attending to rhetorical and aesthetic features as critical tools capable of unleashing the cultural and political meaning of Latino literature. She investigates the role of Spanish as a site in relation to which her writers construct notions of family, national origins, and cultural roots, while considering the possible rapport between the allegorical realism of the Latino fiction writers covered in her study and the magical realism of the major Latin American figures one might regard as their literary ancestors. Clearly written and sensitively argued, this study provides a fresh inquiry into the distinct behavior of US Caribbean/Latino literary texts. One the whole we have here a scholarly intervention that, in steering clear of the overused explanatory conventions to which Latino texts are habitually subjected, constitutes an invigorating contribution to the field.”–Silvio Torres-Saillant, Director of the Latino-Latin American Studies Program, Syracuse University
“Lyn Di Iorio Sandin’s Killing Spanish is remarkable for its breadth in identifying eight characteristics of US Latino/a allegory as a lens for an in-depth analysis of seven authors and texts.  In doing so, she also shows the resonance and limitations of Euro-Anglo, Third World, Hemispheric, and minority theories as applied to Latino/a works…[she] frames her collection of essays with the compelling assertion that while both the ambivalence and the fragmented subjectivity it causes remain irrevocable, they become sources not only of vulnerability and struggle, but also of energy, motivation and strength…Ultimately, Di Iorio Sandin seems to do for Latino/a literary critique what she claims these ‘street allegorists’ do for the literature: they unveil layers of fluid identity, never made whole nor fetishized; she emphasizes the literary richness of complex subjectivities….[she] both enlarges and refocuses these spheres of analysis.  She does so by employing psycho-analytical and allergorical approaches and by critically applying post-modern literary and cultural theory to examine the multiple layers involved in ‘killing Spanish’ and in the ambivalent identity that seems to require such violence.”–Latino Studies Journal
“The archive with all its theoretical implications so central in different ways to Gruesz’s and Sanchez Gonzalez’s respective projects, gives way in Lyn Di Iorio Sandin’s dazzling study, Killing Spanish: Literary Essays on U.S. Latino/a Ambivalent Identity, which deals with destabilizing relationships, language, and allegory in contemporary Latino fiction…What we are left with both in Di Iorio Sandin’s exquisite study and the writers she investigates is a Latino complexity whose unapologetic presence imposes itself on the U.S. literary canon.”–The Centro Journal

About the Author

Lyn Di Iorio Sandín is an Assistant Professor of English at the City College of the City University of New York where she teaches courses on Caribbean and U.S. Latino/a Literatures and fiction writing.

 

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Puerto Rican National Pride Certification

February 1, 2013 By

Puerto Rican National Pride Certification: Custom Gag Nationality Family History Genealogy Certificate

by GD Novelty Items

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The Amerindian Taino Heritage of the American BBQ

January 22, 2013 By

Hola amigos: Barbecue or BBQ derives from the word  ”barabicu” or  ”barabicoa”  found in the language of the Taino people of the Caribbean, the Amerindians living in Puerto Rico and the other Great Islands (Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti) who were masters of the direct fire slow method of cooking meats.

The word entered European languages in the Spanish form “barbacoa”. It translates as “sacred fire pit” and the grill or “stick stand with 4 legs for cooking meat with sticks of wood on top”.

 

BBQ or “Barbacoa” Image

 

by Evelyn Santiago

www.mypuertoricangenealogy.com

 

Both the word and cooking technique migrated out of the Caribbean and into other languages and cultures, with the word “barbacoa” moving from Caribbean dialects into Spanish, Portuguese, French, and finally, English (and the word barbecue or barbeque or just BBQ enter the gastronomic culture of the American cuisine).

The Taino people say the word barbecue comes from the Taino language. “Ba” from Baba (Father), “Ra” from Yara (Place) “Bi” from Bibi (Beginning) “Cu” from Guacu (The Sacred Fire) . They explained that, “Taino Barabicoa” means “The stick stand with 4 legs and many sticks of wood on top to place the cooking meat.” And that, “Taino Barabicu” means “the sacred fire pit”.

Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres, the Taino Elder is believed to be the great grandson of the late Taino Chieftain of the district of Jatibonico, an area in Puerto Rico known as Orocobix. He is President of a national Native American non-profit organization called the Taino Inter-TribalCouncil.

Taino Barbacoa Image

The Taino can be reached on the Internet at: www.hartford-hwp.com/taino

According to Chief Guanikeyu, the Timucua, Guacara and Calusa tribes of Florida and the South-eastern United States are also Taino who migrated from the Caribbean with their culture and thier “barbacoa” cooking.

It entered the Spanish dictionary in 1526, and in 1755 Samuel Johnson, the British lexicographer, essayist, and editor included the word “barbecue” in his landmark Dictionary of the English Language. http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_articles/barbecue_history.html

The BBQ was not invented in the USA but it was perfected in the South. There are four types of barbeque in the USA  and they are broken down by the type of sauce use in basting, and as a finish sauce when the barbeque is being served. Those four types are: Vinegar and Pepper, Mustard, Light Tomato and Heavy Tomato. There are many varieties of preparation using dry or wet rub but all of the many sauces used in America generally will fall into one of those four basic groups.

North and South Carolina share three of the four types of barbeque sauce that Americans normally use, but only South Carolina is the home of all four,  it all started there around the middle of the 1700′s. By the 19th century, the culinary technique was well established in the American South.

 

 

 

 

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Puerto Rico Genealogy Resources

January 3, 2013 By
Hola amigos: These “Puerto Rico Genealogy Resources” are  resources and organizations that will get you started tracing your multiple Puerto Rican roots…
“Garita” San Juan, PR Image
Roots from the Taino indians (that came from  the Arahuac Indians from Central and South America); Spain and Portugal (that came from the Visigoth that came from the Peninsular Latins (the Cartago and Ibero-Celtics line and the Latin Romans  line ); the Africans (that came from the Ladins (the Spanish Africans) the Loangos and the Capris; the Americans (that came from the Anglo Saxons, the Baltics and the Nordics… and the immigrants that came  from Canary Islands, France, Germany, Ireland, China, Italy, England, Libano, Venezuela …  and more recently the Cubans, the Dominicans … ES
By Lauren Gamber
Family Tree Magazine
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/Puerto-Rico-Genealogy-Resources#
These resources and organizations will get you started tracing your Puerto Rican roots:
Books
• The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists edited by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and Erin Nevius (Family Tree Books)
• Finding Your Hispanic Roots by George R. Ryskamp (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City by Virginia E. Sánchez Korrol (University of California Press)
• Not of Pure Blood: The Free People of Color and Racial Prejudice in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico by Jay Kinsbruner (Duke University Press)
• The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States by Jorge Duany (University of North Carolina Press)
• Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898 by César J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabe (University of North Carolina Press)
Organizations and Archives
• Florida International University Libraries Latin American and Caribbean Information Center
Green Library 225, University Park Campus, Miami, FL 33199, (305) 348-3142, <lacic.fiu.edu>
• The Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York Old Chelsea Station, Box 474, New York, NY 10113, <www.hispanicgenealogy.com>
• The Hispanic Society of America 613 W. 155th St., New York, NY 10032, (212) 926-2234, <www.hispanicsociety.org>
• Hunter College Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños) 695 Park Ave.,Room E1429, New York, NY 10065, (212) 772-5688, <centropr.org>
• Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña)
Box 9024184, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902, (787) 724-0700, <www.icp.gobierno.pr>
• NARA Northeast Region—New York City201 Varick St., 12th Floor, New York, NY 10014, (866) 840-1752, <archives.gov/northeast/nyc>
• New York State ArchivesCultural Education Center 9C71, Albany, NY 12230, (518) 474-6926, <www.archives.nysed.gov>
• Puerto Rican/Hispanic Genealogical Society
Box 260118, Bellerose, NY 11426, <rootsweb.ancestry.com/~prhgs>
• Puerto Rico Department of Health, Demographic Registry
Box 11854, Fernandez Juncos Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910, (787) 767-9120, <www.salud.gov.pr/Programas/RegistroDemografico>
• Puerto Rico General Archive (Archivo General de Puerto Rico)
Instituto de Cultura, Box 9024184, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902, (787) 725-1060, <www.icp.gobierno.pr/agp>
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Victoria Soto- Newtown Teacher Emerges As Hero After Sandy Hook Shooting

December 17, 2012 By

Hola amigos: Victoria “Vicky” Soto, the Puerto Rican descent 27 year old teacher of  Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conneticut is a hero after the tragic shooting at the elementary school where she worked. She gave her life protecting the little ones on her watch, hiding them in a bathroom and closet of their classroom next to the room where the first killings of the shooter, Adam lanza, took place. The other Puerto Rican victim of the shooting was 6 year old Ana Grace Greene-Márquez, daughter of the american saxophonist Jimmy Greene and granddaughter of Maunabo Mayor, Jorge Márquez. Rest In Peace. ES

 

Victoria Soto Image

 

By: The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/victoria–newtown-tea_n_2311762.html

A 27-year-old teacher of Puerto Rican descent has emerged as a hero in the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Details remain fuzzy, but it appears that Victoria Soto hid her students in a bathroom and closet and died trying to protect them from alleged shooter Adam Lanza, according to several news reports.

“You have a teacher who cared more about her students than herself,” Mayor John Harkins of Soto’s hometown of Stratford, Conn. said, according to the Associated Press. “That speaks volumes to her character, and her commitment and dedication.”

About 300 people gathered for a memorial service Saturday night, according to the Associated Press.

A report from Fox News Latino describes Soto as a “model teacher, daughter, and citizen.”

The young educator lived with her parents, her sisters, and a brother in Stratford, Conn. in a modest Cape Cod-style house. She was single, spent time worshiping at the Lordship Community Church in Stratford and had a soft spot for her pet black Labrador, Roxy.

Her mother, Donna, was a nurse at Bridgeport Hospital for 30 years and her father, Carlos, worked for the Connecticut Department of Transportation as a crane operator. Vicki was special to her father, friends said, and it was his job to identify his child’s body following the shooting.

“She put those children first. That’s all she ever talked about,” her friend Andrea Crowell told the Associated Press. “She wanted to do her best for them, to teach them something new every day.”

Soto’s father is Puerto Rican and her mother is American, according to Puerto Rican daily El Nuevo Día, who spoke to Eliezer Soto, Victoria Soto’s uncle.

On Friday, alleged shooter Adam Lanza reportedly killed his mother Nancy, before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary and shooting 20 children and six adults. Lanza is also believed to have killed himself.

Ana Grace Greene-Marquez, 6
A year ago, 6-year-old Ana Marquez-Greene was reveling in holiday celebrations with her extended family on her first trip to Puerto Rico. This year will be heart-breakingly different.The girl’s grandmother, Elba Marquez, said the family moved to Connecticut just two months ago, drawn from Canada, in part, by Sandy Hook’s sterling reputation. The grandmother’s brother, Jorge Marquez, is mayor of a Puerto Rican town and said the child’s 9-year-old brother also was at the school but escaped safely.

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A Land Rush in Puerto Rico

December 10, 2012 By

Hola amigos: Puerto Rico is seeing a new wave of luxury development as the government implements tax incentives which resulted on a luxury building boom. No property taxes for five years, no closing fees and no capital-gains taxes. With housing incentives set to expire Dec. 31, Puerto Rico is courting high-end home buyers and at the same time sparking a real-estate revival. Wealthy investors flock to Puerto Rico, business is good. ES

 

PR Bahia Beach Resort & Golf Club Image

 

By ALYSSA ABKOWITZ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444450004578002312526189552.htm

Buyers of new homes on the island this year will pay no property taxes for five years. The result: a luxury building boom. Can Puerto Rico recapture its onetime glamour? The Puerto Rican government introduced the aggressive incentives two years ago to boost the island’s flagging housing market. The stimulus seems to be working: New-home sales were up 51% by volume in 2011 and 38% for the first six months of 2012, compared with 2010, when the incentives were enacted, according to the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration.

High on Value in Puerto Rico

[SB10000872396390444592404578030722556982216]
Ritz-Carlton Reserve at Dorado Beach Image

The stimulus means a buyer who purchases a $1 million home will save about $25,500 in closing costs and property taxes. And a homeowner who rents out the property can waive rental-income taxes through 2020.

The incentives apply only to new homes, and the buyer must hold on to the property for a minimum of six months in order to waive capital-gains taxes upon selling. (There are also some incentives for buyers of existing properties.) Currently, the Dec. 31 expiration date targets only buyers of second homes; the incentives will continue for primary-home buyers.

Although the incentives have warmed up the market, asking prices remain 30% below what they were during the market’s peak seven years ago.

The island’s real-estate community is hoping the program will bring Puerto Rico back to its glamour days. In the late 1950s, financier and conservationist Laurance Rockefeller opened a resort west of San Juan that attracted actresses like Ava Gardner and Elizabeth Taylor, and post-World War II presidents like John F. Kennedy.

Today, it remains to be seen whether the commonwealth can reclaim its stylish mystique. That’s because for the past two decades, Puerto Rico has focused on the cruise-ship crowd and only recently found its footing in multimillion-dollar properties, says Ani González Brunet, a broker in San Juan.

 

image

 

Acquamarina, a 47-unit development designed by Enrique Gutiérrez, the architect behind Miami’s Bacardi buildings, is one of the newest offerings in San Juan’s Condado neighborhood. Located on Ashford Avenue, San Juan’s equivalent of Rodeo Drive, the terraced building is walking distance to Cartier, Ferragamo and Budatai, one of the top Latin-fusion restaurants on the island.

When plans were released in 2006, the building’s options sold out quickly. But the real-estate market tanked in 2008, and many Acquamarina buyers pulled out, leaving the property virtually empty when it opened in 2009. The recent tax incentives have spurred sales in the development, as did an exclusive affiliation between its sole seller, Trillion Realty Group, and Christie’s International Real Estate. Today, three units remain, including the $5 million resale of the 8,379-square-foot, three-story penthouse with an elevator, floor-to-ceiling windows and an infinity pool overlooking the ocean.

Competition is sizzling on opposite coasts, where two luxury developers are vying for the same buyers. Built on former coconut plantations, both family-developed properties are marketing their gated communities to eco-friendly buyers, a message that is in sync with recent green initiatives pushed by Gov. Luis Fortuño.

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Ritz-Carlton Reserve Dorado BeachRitz-Carlton Reserve | Condo at West Beach, Dorado Beach, $2.3 million. A 2,200-square-foot, two-bedroom furnished condo on the beach has a an outdoor shower and plunge pool. Owners can borrow local artwork for their walls.

Thirty-five minutes west of San Juan is Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, built by the family-owned Stubbe Organization and the Caribbean Property Group. In addition to a hotel, there are two residential sections: On West Beach, 13 condos have been built, and a second phase of 14 additional condos, priced from $2.5 million, is in progress. On East Beach, there will be 10 single-family villas starting at $4 million. When the development opens in December, homeowners will get to borrow artwork through a partnership with the nonprofit Art Production Fund. There’s also an eco-adventure program in the works that will include snorkeling, hiking and wetland tours. The Ritz-Carlton and the Stubbe Organization declined to elaborate on the project.

On the opposite end of the island, 27 miles from San Juan, sits Bahia Beach Resort & Golf Club, a 483-acre resort on the edge of the El Yunque rain forest. Developers are emphasizing exclusivity and the natural surroundings by keeping 65% of its land undeveloped and capping heights on residences at below tree level. The St. Regis-branded properties at Bahia, developed by Puerto Rico’s Interlink Group, are on a private island with 26 lots, 16 of which are still available. Prices for homes on the island start at $3.5 million. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran and former boxer Oscar De La Hoya have built tropical plantation-style homes here that include infinity pools, travertine floors, lily ponds and coral-stone terraces.

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Bahia’s environmental focus has earned it a certification from Audubon International, meaning the developer takes specific measures to help preserve the environment.
The environmental efforts are what attracted Marie Helene Reinhold, a jewelry-store owner with homes in San Juan and Sun Valley, Idaho, to build a 9,200-square-foot home with her husband on Bahia’s private island. Ms. Reinhold says she enjoys feeding the birds, eating at Fern, chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant on the property, and watching turtles lay eggs on the beach. “I’ve lived in Puerto Rico for 40 years and didn’t know such beauty existed here,” she says.
Puerto Rico’s renaissance has experienced its share of growing pains. Airlines increased the number of flights to the island before new roads had been built, so travel times are longer than expected. High-end developments have round-the-clock security, but the island has seen crime rates rise in recent years, mostly attributed to drug trafficking and an unemployment rate that has been above 13% since December 2008. And while the allure of traveling without a U.S. passport attracts some people, it can be off-putting to others who view Puerto Rico as a destination for less-well-heeled tourists.

But Leticia Brunet González, a principal owner at Trillion Realty Group, likens the island’s recent ascendancy to a prized Gucci bag: “It was put in the drawer while people tried something else. Now they’re taking it back out.”

 

 

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No. 1 Pick Carlos Correa Back at Work in Puerto Rico

November 27, 2012 By

Hola amigos: Number 1 pick Carlos Correa, the top pick in the First-Year Player Draft after graduating  from high school, made his professional baseball debut, and  is back to work for the Astros.

Correa, who became the first Puerto Rican-born player to be drafted No. 1 overall , began playing Thursday for the Carolina Gigantes of the Puerto Rican Winter League. ES

 

 

Carlos Correa MLB Number 1 Pick Image

 

By Brian McTaggart / MLB.com

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121109&content_id=40222604&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

HOUSTON — Coming off a whirlwind summer in which he was the top pick in the First-Year Player Draft, graduated from high school and made his professional baseball debut, Carlos Correa is back to work for the Astros.

Correa, who became the first Puerto Rican-born player to be drafted No. 1 overall in June, began playing Thursday for Cnarolia Gigantes of the Puerto Rican Winter League. Correa hadn’t played since wrapping the season at Rookie League Greeneville at the end of September.

“I will start playing the first day and it all depends on how I develop and my body reacts,” Correa said. “I hope I can play as much as I can.”

Correa, 18, got off to a very slow start when he made his professional debut this year, but rallied to hit .232 with two homers, five stolen bases and nine RBIs in 39 games for the Gulf Coast League Astros. He finished the year with Greeneville of the Appalachian League and hit .371 in 11 games.

“My first season, for me, was great,” he said. “There were a lot of experiences, a lot of adjustments I had to make, but it was still great. I started slow but ended up really well, and I want to keep it going.”

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow was able to sign Correa only three days after he was drafted. He signed for $4.2 million, which was substantially less than the $7.2 million signing bonus prescribed by Major League Baseball.

“I’m excited for him,” Luhnow said of Correa’s venture into winter ball. “I’m hoping to get over there and spend a few days watching.”

The biggest challenge last season for Correa, MLB.com’s No. 2 Astros prospect, was playing every day, something he didn’t do growing up in Puerto Rico.

“If you get tired and stuff, you have to keep doing your best and giving your best all the time,” he said.

It’s yet to be determined where Correa will begin next season, but Luhnow hinted it wouldn’t be at one of the team’s full-season clubs. Correa could certainly wind up there by the end of the year, but he is perhaps headed for Tri-City of the New York-Penn League in 2013.

“I think one of the lessons we learned last year was where we put the prospects matters,” Luhnow said. “Sometimes they aren’t at the level they want to be at, but they’re at the level that’s right for their development at that time.”

There was no better example, Luhnow said, than former first-round pick Delino DeShields Jr. repeating last season at Class A Lexington and putting up the kind of numbers that made him the team’s Minor League Player of the Year.

DeShields, the No. 5 prospect in the Astros system, stole 101 bases in 135 games between Lexington and Class A Advanced Lancaster, an Astros Minor League record. He was the first player in the modern era to steal over 100 bases and hit 10 homers in a Minor League season.

Between Lexington and Lancaster, DeShields hit .287 with 12 homers and a .389 on-base percentage.

Correa hinted he could begin the year at Quad Cities — which is replacing Lexington next year — but Luhnow said that might be too aggressive.

“We’ll put him at the level where he’s going to have the best chance to learn the game the right way,” he said. “We’re not going to hold him back, but he might not be ready for a full season right out of Spring Training.”

The Astros didn’t decide on Correa until the final hour before the Draft, Luhnow said, having been swayed by the shortstop’s May 27 workout at the club’s complex in Kissimmee, Fla., during extended spring camp. Numerous Astros scouts had laid eyes on Correa, but Luhnow got to see him up close and got to know his parents.

Correa was the first shortstop taken No. 1 overall since 2008 (Tim Beckham, Rays), and is just the fourth shortstop taken first overall since 1994. Other notable players who were selected as shortstops with the first overall pick were Shawon Dunston by the Cubs (1982), B.J. Surhoff by the Brewers (’85), Chipper Jones by the Braves (’90), Alex Rodriguez by the Mariners (’93) and Justin Upton by the D-backs (2005).

Brian McTaggart is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Tag’s Lines. Follow @brianmctaggart on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Sepharad in Puerto Rico – Judeo-Spanish Ancestry Study

November 24, 2012 By

Hola amigos: The Sephardic or Sepharad were the Jews from Spain and Portugal who were forced to leave, convert to Christianity or die. Some of them left to other countries including the New World, some stayed and some others died for their faith. Those were the times of the Spanish Inquisition… The question of the study is: What percentage of the Puerto Rican population are of Sephardic descent? Many believe as much as 40% of Puerto Rico is Sephardic Jewish descent from Converso/Crypto Jews (Jews who were forced to change religion but who continued to practice their faith illegally and in secret through the 16th and 17th centuries). In my case, most of my last names are on the list of jewish ancestrysurnames presented here. ES

SEPHARDIC MUSIC IMAGE

 

Genetic Anthropology in Puerto Rico: Judeo-Spanish Ancestry and Phenotypic Variants of Neurogenetic Disorders

 

By Ana Oquendo Pabón

ladoctora@gmail.com , Group Administrator

www.familytreedna.com/public/SepharadPuertoRico/

 

The arrival of the Jewish people to the Iberian Peninsula is thought to date back to the times of the high peak of King Solomon’s glory in Israel and among the nations (1 Kings 10: 21-22). After the discovery of the New World and as a result of the Spanish Inquisition many sephardi converted to Christianity, took Spanish surnames ( i.e. Montes, Ríos, Valle, Fuentes, Arroyo, Martínez, de Jesús, Rivera, Ramírez, Rodríguez, García, Torres, Maldonado), and dispersed towards the Americas (during the Spanish colonization period), among other countries. This study intends to determine what level of Jewish ancestry exists among contemporary Puerto Ricans. (Please note that the clinical DNA testing at the UPR in San Juan is now CLOSED).

A Geographic Project connects individuals who believe their direct line comes from a specific location. The Dual Geographic Projects are for individuals who order an mtDNA or Y-DNA test. Either their direct maternal line (mother’s mother’s mother’s…) or direct paternal line (father’s father’s father’s…) originates from this area.

 

Surnames

Aranda, Arroyo, Bernal, Cabrera, Camacho, Candosa, Candoso, Candozo, Cano, Carambot, Cardona, Cardoza, Cardozo, Carrero, Castillo, Collazo, Colom, Colón, Dávila, de Jesús, de la Candelaria, de León, del Pino, Delgado, Emmanuelli, Feliciano, Ferrer, Fidalgo, Figueroa, Flores, Gonzalez, Hernández, Irrizarry, Jiménez, Laguna, López, Lugo, Martínez, Matos, Medina, Meléndez, Méndez, Menéndez, Menéndez de Valdéz, Mercado, Merced, Miranda, Montes, Morales, Muñiz, Nazario, Nuñez, Ocasio, Oliveras, Ortíz, Pabon, Pabón, Padilla, Padua, Pardo, Pavón, Peña, Pereira, Pérez, Quijano, Quiñones, Quiñonez, Ramírez, Ramos, Reyes, Ríos, Rivera, Robles, Rodríguez, Rodríguez de Matos, Rosado, Saez, Salas, Santiago, Santos, Sepúlveda, Serrano, Suáres, Torres, Trinidad, Valle, Vázquez, Vega, Vélez, Zuazaga

TITLE OF THE STUDY: Genetic Anthropology in Puerto Rico: Judeo-Spanish Ancestry and Phenotypic Variants of Neurogenetic Disorders. Please check out the new project website at: http://prdna.hpcf.upr.edu from which you may download the REQUIRED Informed Consent Form. DESCRIPTION You are being invited to participate in a research study conducted by Dr. Sandra Peña de Ortiz a Professor and Investigator at the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico,http://www.pena-lab.org . The study is about finding out information that will help us to better understand the uniqueness of our people and culture. History tells us that Puerto Ricans are largely the descendants of native Taíno Indians, Europeans (especially Spaniards), and Africans. For this study, we want to uncover the richness of a special heritage from our Iberian ancestors (peoples from Portugal and Spain). Project Background: Puerto Ricans are largely the descendants of native Taíno Indians, Europeans (especially Spaniards), and African slaves, a blend that has produced one of the most multi-cultural and diversified people in the Americas. While many have studied or shown interest in the Taíno and African lineage of Puerto Ricans, the richness of our heritage from our Iberian ancestors has not been examined in depth. In this particular study, our interest is to dive into a question whose answer is likely to unravel many mysteries in our culture, customs and traditions. The question is the following: What percentage of the Puerto Rican population are of Sephardic descent? Sephardic jews were those inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) during the pre- and post-colonization time periods.

The arrival of the Jewish people to the Iberian Peninsula is thought to date back to the times of the high peak of King Solomon’s glory in Israel and among the nations (1 Kings 10: 21-22 “All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold … For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver …”). Tarshish is thought by many to be the ancient Spain. Years later, the prophet Obadiah referred to those living in this region: Obadiah verse 20 declares “…And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad Will possess the cities of the Negev”.

Sepharad is a Hebrew term referring to the Iberian Peninsula, whereas the Negev refers to the southern regions of Israel. (Bible verses are taken from the New American Standard version). Additional Hebrew families are thought to have arrived at the Iberian Península as a result of the Jewish Diaspora (dispersion, exile) precipitated by the destruction of Jerusalem on the hands of the Roman Empire in the year 70 AC.

After the discovery of the New World and as a result of the Spanish Inquisition many sephardi converted to Christianity, took Spanish surnames ( i.e. Montes, Ríos, Peña, Valle, Fuentes, Ortiz, Arroyo, Martínez, de Jesús, Rivera, Ramírez, Rodríguez, García, Torres, Maldonado), and also dispersed towards the Americas (during the Spanish colonization period), among other countries.

Deciphering whether or not Puerto Ricans have Sephardic lineage and the prevalence of such ancestry in the Island will help to better understand a possibly hidden source of richness in our diverse culture and traditions, the nature of our people, important health-related issues, and what is our place in history (past, present, and future).

A Clinical Neurogenetic and Neurocognitive Component: The genetic defect that causes Machado Joseph Disease is thought to have arisen among Sephardic Jewish people of the Iberian Peninsula. The symptoms of Machado Joseph Disease are usually problems with balance (lack of coordination) that can make people need help when walking or running, tremor of the hands or of other parts of the body, double vision, and feeling extremely tired. Memory problems and depression have also been observed in patients with this condition.

With respect to Machado Joseph Disease, Dr. Peña de Ortiz believes that the genetic defect causing this disease is present in some Puerto Ricans of Judeo-Spanish descent, but that because of the unique make up of Puerto Ricans today the disease in the Island is manifested in more subtle ways that could be related to memory problems among the Puerto Rican population.

PARTICIPANT REQUIREMENTS Very Important Note: You are eligible to participate in this research because one or both of your parents is/was Puerto Rican (or at least one of your grandparents) and because you are over 21 years of age. It is important that you know that participation in this study requires that you sign an Informed Consent Form that describes the project in detail, explains the risks (which in this case are minimal) and benefits, details all privacy and confidentiality issues related to the study, and lists your rights as a project participant. Please email Dr. Pena de Ortiz so that she can send you an electronic or hard copy version of the form (by regular mail or fax) and so that she and/or Dr. Oquendo Pabón can interview you, provide orientation, and answer any of your questions.

If you are accepted to participate in this research, you will be asked to join the Sepharad in Puerto Rico study at Family Tree DNA (FTDNA; http://ftdna.com) by purchasing one or various genetic testing kits. Male participants should get the genetic test that detects 25 paternal genetic markers on their Y chromosome and a male maternal ancestry test of mitochondrial DNA (the cost of both tests amounts to approximately $277).

Female participants should get the mitochondrial genetic tests ($129 to $149 in costs). The kits are prepared so that you will be able to collect samples of cells from your inner cheeks that the company will use to extract your genetic material. If you cannot pay via the Internet, Dr. Peña de Ortiz and her collaborator, Dr. Ana Oquendo Pabón, may offer technical and coordination assistance with the company in order that you can make the payment and obtain the test kit.

You will also be invited to visit the laboratory of Dr. Peña de Ortiz (University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus) in order to provide a buccal sample (by brushing you inner cheeks with a Buccal Brush) from which genetic material will also be extracted. These additional tests will be FREE OF CHARGE. In fact, if you cannot pay for the tests mentioned above you can still participate in this component of the study, which is free of charge. If you cannot come to the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, then a free kit will be sent to you by mail for you to resend also by mail.

Finally, we will be asking you to complete a questionnaire that will contain questions including the names, birth/death dates and places of you family members and relatives (living and deceased) and your personal and family medical history. You will have the option of not including your medical history if you so decide. You will also have the option of filling out this questionnaire at Dr. Peña de Ortiz’s laboratory or at home for you to then send it back to Dr. Peña de Ortiz by regular mail.

The participants that can visit Dr. Peña de Ortiz’s laboratory will also have the option of receiving a Cognitive Evaluation Interview that will help determine if you have memory or other general cognitive problems. **IMPORTANT NOTE: All disease-related genetic and cognitive tests are completely optional and are only carried out by Dr. Peña de Ortiz at the University of Puerto Rico. Such tests are unrelated to the testing by FTDNA and are completely free of charge. However, please note that involvement in each aspect of this project, including that of genetic genealogy and anthropology by FTDNA, is key to having the highest success in terms of results and conclusions.

For more information, please read the background section carefully or send an email to Sandra Peña de Ortiz, www.pena-lab.org.

Filed Under: Puerto Rico Roots Tagged With: , , , ,

Lady Gaga Dazzles the Imagination in a Bikini in Puerto Rico

November 9, 2012 By

Hola amigos: Lady Gaga in Puerto Rico lounging at a pool  in a metallic Miller Lite two-piece bikini with gold hoops and a navy bandana. The 26-year-old superstar showing her curves appeared comfortable in her bikini with her friends in Puerto Rico. ES

 

Lady Gaga in Puerto Rico Image

 

by Harold Mandel

http://www.examiner.com/article/lady-gaga-dazzles-the-imagination-a-bikini-puerto-rico

 

There has been so much interest in Lady Gaga showing up by the poolside and at the beach in Puerto Rico in a skimpy bikini that she has been written up by Alyssa Toomey in an article on Nov. 6, 2012 for E Online News:Bikini Shot of the Day: Lady Gaga Flaunts Her Figure in Puerto Rico. Gaga was recently seen during a much deserved vacation lounging at a pool in Puerto Rico in a metallic Miller Lite two-piece bikini that she accessorized with gold hoops and a navy bandana. Although the 26-year-old superstar has been taking some heat lately for having gained some weight, she appeared comfortable in her bikini with her friends in Puerto Rico.

Joyce Chen has also covered this story in an article on Nov. 5, 2012 for the New York Daily News: Lady Gaga shows off fuller bikini body in Puerto Rico. It has been reported that Gaga stripped down to a skin-tight, blue-and-white bikini while she was relaxing on the beach with friends in San Juan, Puerto Rico recently, and she didn’t care who was watching her, even though she has gained some weight recently. Although Gaga has admitted that she gained 30 pounds earlier this year, she appeared to be enjoying herself on the beach in Puerto Rico in a fashionable bikini with her friends DJ White Shadow and Tara Savelo.

View slideshow: Views of Lady Gaga

Gaga, who has a reputation for being eccentric, stopped in Puerto Rico during her ‘Born This Way Ball’ tour. She has commented about the negativity which has surrounded her fuller figure, “I was acutely aware of some photos on the Internet – my mom called me and was like, ‘Did you gain weight?’ Everybody was telling me about it, and I didn’t really care. I thought, ‘Well, I don’t really care if they think I’m fat, because, quite honestly, I did gain about 30 pounds.’” Nevertheless, the general consensus among Gaga fans is that she looks magnificent and is as talented as ever. As for the added weight, well in the best interest of her health perhaps she should get into more healthy eating habits and more exercise.

 

Filed Under: Puerto Rico Roots Tagged With: , , ,

Elections Puerto Rico 2012 Results: Statehood and New Governor

November 7, 2012 By

Hola amigos: Citizens in Puerto Rico, the U.S. island territory cannot vote in the presidential election, but participated in a referendum that could push the territory toward statehood, greater autonomy or independence.

Elections Puerto Rico 2012 Results: Puerto Ricans decided they should change their ties with the United States and their Governor: Statehood won for the first time in history and the new Governor chosen is Alejandro Garcia Padilla, whose Popular Democratic Party favors the status quo. ES

Elections Puerto Rico 2012 Image

 

by Latino Fox news

Based on reporting by the Associated Press

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/11/06/election-2012-puerto-ricans-head-to-poll-to-decide-ties-to-us/#ixzz2BYJQovef

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  As voter across the U.S. head to the polls to pick a new president, Puerto Ricans headed to the polls to decide if they should change their ties with the United States.

Citizens in the U.S. island territory cannot vote in the U.S. presidential election, but many were excited to participate in a referendum that could push the territory toward statehood, greater autonomy or independence.

Car horns blared and party flags waved as voters headed to polling stations, many carrying umbrellas against the blistering tropical sun as temperatures neared 90 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees centigrade).

The two-part referendum first asks voters if they want to change Puerto Rico’s 114-year relationship with the United States. A second question gives voters three alternatives if they do want a change: become the 51st U.S. state, independence, or “sovereign free association,” a designation that would give more autonomy for the territory of 4 million people.

 

SUMMARY

A status of sovereign free association would give Puerto Rico more autonomy and allow U.S. jurisdiction only in certain judicial matters. The details of the relationship would have to be agreed upon by the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments.

 

“Puerto Rico has to be a state. There is no other option,” said 25-year-old Jerome Lefebre, who picked up his grandfather before driving to the polls. “We’re doing OK, but we could do better. We would receive more benefits, a lot more financial help.”

But 42-year-old Ramon López de Azua said he favors the current system, which grants U.S. citizenship but prevents Puerto Ricans from voting for president unless they live in the United States, and gives those on the island only limited representation in Congress.

“Puerto Rico’s problem is not its political status,” he said. “I think that the United States is the best country in the world, but I am Puerto Rican first.”

Both President Barack Obama and rival Mitt Romney have said they supported the referendum, with Obama pledging to respect the will of the people if there is a clear majority. Any change would require approval by the U.S. Congress.

The island also is electing legislators and a governor, with Gov. Luis Fortuño of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party seeking a second term. Fortuño, a Republican, is running against Alejandro Garcia Padilla, whose Popular Democratic Party favors the status quo.

Pro-statehooders say Puerto Rico would benefit from becoming a state because it would receive an additional $20 billion a year in federal funds to boost the local economy and combat crime. The island currently has a higher unemployment rate than any U.S. state at 13.6 percent.

A status of sovereign free association would give Puerto Rico more autonomy and allow U.S. jurisdiction only in certain judicial matters. The details of the relationship would have to be agreed upon by the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments.

Puerto Rico also held non-binding referendums in 1967, 1993 and 1998, with statehood never garnering a clear majority and independence never obtaining more than 5 percent of the vote.

In a recent poll, local newspaper El Nuevo Dia found that a slim majority favored the current political status. On the second question, the preference for statehood topped sovereign free association. Few said they favor independence.

El Nuevo Dia Poll Image

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

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