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US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Visits Puerto Rico

May 10, 2013 By
Hola amigos: “US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Visits Puerto Rico On Book Tour.” Sotomayor, 58, in her book “My Beloved World” tells the story of her rise from a tenement in which English was rarely spoken to her entry into service as a federal judge in 1992. She grew up so poor in the South Bronx that her family never even had a bank account but was admitted to Princeton University and Yale Law School on her race to success.  Miss Sotomayor:  I Salute You, ES
Sonia Sotomayor “My Beloved World”  Book Image
By Danica Coto
Associated Press
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor visited Puerto Rico to present her new memoir on Tuesday, drawing hundreds of fans in her parents’ homeland.

 

The visit by the first Latina Supreme Court justice was an unscheduled stop on her book tour.

 

Sotomayor greeted a large crowd of students and teachers Tuesday morning as she entered the Law School of the University of Puerto Rico, where she spoke about her memoir, “My Beloved World.” The book gives a personal account of her rise from an impoverished New York City tenement to becoming a federal judge in 1992.

 

Before talking about her book, Sotomayor moved her chair to the edge of the stage to be closer to the audience, which applauded her gesture. During the two-hour discussion with Puerto Rican writer Mayra Santos-Febres, Sotomayor said it was important that her readers get to know and understand Puerto Rico.

 

“I wanted to introduce them to our culture,” she said. “That’s a theme I had to include in every page of the book.”

 

The self-described “Nuyorican,” or Puerto Rican from New York, later met with the general public at the Plaza Las Americas mall, where she signed copies of the book.

 

As she strode onstage in a bright orange jacket, Sotomayor waved to the crowd below and smiled. “It’s important to be here, because this is the place of the people,” she said in Spanish as the crowd cheered and held cameras aloft to take pictures and videos.

 

First in line to meet her was Karlos Rijos, a 67-year-old retired business owner from San Juan who arrived at 6 a.m. and waited seven hours for Sotomayor to arrive.
“I admire women who rise a lot higher than many men,” he said. “She rose up from nothing. You have to admire that.”

 

Event organizers warned that Sotomayor would not be taking pictures with her fans, but the justice made an exception when 11-year-old Annette Margaret Laureano was ushered first onstage. She had convinced her father to drive from the northeast coast of Fajardo to the capital of San Juan so she could meet the justice.

 

Laureano adjusted her bangs and gave her father a nervous smile before she walked onstage to receive a hug, a kiss and encouraging words from Sotomayor.

 

“That she’s a judge, Hispanic and a woman gives me a lot of hope,” Laureano said. “I’ve always wanted to be a judge, but she has further inspired me … She overcame a lot of things.”

 

Several people in the crowd said they identified with Sotomayor because they, too, were born to Puerto Rican parents and grew up in housing projects in New York’s borough of the Bronx. Among them was Ramon Zapata, 61, who now lives in Puerto Rico and owns a remodeling company.

 

“She has been an inspiration to me and to my two daughters,” Zapata said. “I literally fell from my chair when I heard they had appointed a Puerto Rican, from the Bronx no less, to the Supreme Court.”

 

Before Sotomayor began signing books, she introduced her mother, Celina, to the crowd, prompting someone to yell, “Congratulations on producing such a success!” Celina Sotomayor smiled as her daughter also thanked her and her grandmother for their support.

“This book was written by all of you,” Sotomayor said, thanking grandparents in the crowd, some of whom were then hugged by their nieces or nephews.

 

Jose Antonio Rodriguez Sotomayor, 86, smiled as he heard those words. In his right hand, he clutched a cane, and in his left, a sepia-colored picture showing a relative of Sonia Sotomayor that they have in common. He was later introduced to Sonia Sotomayor’s mother, who he had not previously met.
“She saw the picture and was so happy,” Rodriguez said.

 

Sonia Sotomayor’s mother, a nurse, is from San German, a rural town near the southwest coast. Her father, who died when she was 9, was from San Juan. Many of Sotomayor’s relatives, including Rodriguez, live around the island’s northwest coast.

 

Sotomayor previously visited Puerto Rico in May 2012 and in December 2009, shortly after being named justice.

 

On Tuesday, Sotomayor said that many people have told her they visited Puerto Rico for the first time after reading her book.
“You should make me Puerto Rico’s tourism minister,” she joked.

 

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30 Years and Counting: Puerto Rican Literary Studies

April 6, 2013 By

Hola amigos: Today I bring you: “30 Years and Counting: Commemorating an Event That Broke Ground In Puerto Rican Literary Studies”. The keynote speaker will be Magali Garcia Ramis, who was my professor of  journalism at the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Public Communication. This year’s program will examine some of the new frontiers and new debates in Puerto Rican literary and cultural productions. ES

Keynote speaker Magali Garci­a Ramis Image

 

 

by Rutgers

The State University Of  New Jersey

http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/newark-2013/30-years-and-countin-20130403

 

A daylong public conference at Rutgers University, Newark, will celebrate the literary contributions of Puerto Rican authors while commemorating a 1983 program that broke new ground in its presentation of Puerto Rican literature.

“Re-visiting Images and Identities: Thirty Years of Puerto Rican Literature” will be held Friday, April 12, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., in the Paul Robeson Campus Center, Multipurpose Room, 350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark.  The free program is open to the public.

 

The Rutgers-Newark Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies and the Department of  Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies, Rutgers-New Brunswick, are offering the program to mark the 30th anniversary of the conference “Images  and Identities: the Puerto Rican in Literature,” held at Rutgers-Newark in April 1983.

 

“This was a historic conference for Puerto Rican cultural and literary studies, thanks to its proposal to combine native Puerto Rican cultural and literary accomplishments with Puerto Rican literature written in the U.S.,” states Dr. Asela Rodriguez de Laguna, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at Rutgers in Newark. Laguna showcased most of the projects and authors from the 1983 conference in her anthology Imágenes e Identidades (1986) and its English version, Images and Identities: The Puerto Rican in Two World Contexts (1987).

 

This year’s program will examine some of the new frontiers and new debates in Puerto Rican literary and cultural productions, and how Puerto Rican studies have been redefined by collaborations with Caribbean, Latino, African and American studies.  A concurrent exhibit at the John Cotton Dana Library will look at “Voices from the Island and the Diaspora: Puerto Rican Authors and Literary Critics in 1983.”

 

Keynote speakers are Magali García Ramis, author and emerita professor, journalism and communications, University of Puerto Rico, and Ana Celia Zentella, emerita professor, ethnic studies, University of California at San Diego.

 

Other speakers are:

  • Aravind Adyanthaya, stage director, performer, playwright, educator and director of Casa Cruz de la Luna Theater, San Germán, Puerto Rico
  • Pedro Cabiya, novelist, expert in film theory and the founder, designer and director of the Centro de Lenguas y Culturas Modernas at the Universidad Iberoamericana,  Dominican Republic
  • Mariposa María Teresa Fernández, poet, performer  and activist with the National Urban League, New York City
  • Marisel Moreno, assistant professor, romance languages and literatures, University of Notre Dame
  • Urayoán Noel, assistant professor, English, State University of New York, Albany.
  • Rubén Ríos Ávila, professor, comparative literature, University of Puerto Rico and a visiting professor at New York University

 

For more information, please contact:  Asela R. Laguna, Rutgers-Newark, arlaguna@andromeda.rutgers.edu, or Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel, Rutgers-New Brunswick, yolamsm@rci.rutgers.edu .

 

In addition to the R-N Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies and the Department of  Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies , R-NB, other sponsors are  the Office of the Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, R-N; Critical Caribbean Studies, Committee to Advance our Common Purposes; Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Public Partnerships in the Arts & Humanities; Office of the Chancellor, R-N; Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, R-N;  Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience, R-N; Center for Latin American Studies (R-NB), Center for Latino Arts and Culture (R-NB), Dept. of Women’s and Gender Studies (R-N), and the Graduate Program of American Studies (R-N).

 

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World’s Super Top Model it’s Puerto Rican Joan Smalls

April 2, 2013 By
Hola amigos: Today I bring you “World’s top model it’s Puerto Rican Joan Smalls-Rodriguez” from the Island’s town of Hatillo. The top fashion model, 25, is better known by her stage name Joan Smalls. She is a frequent model for Vogue and was featured alongside Bruno Mars in it’s June 2011 edition. She has appeared in campaigns for Gucci, Lacoste, Gap, H&M, Givenchy, Roberto Cavalli, Giambattista Valli, Chanel, Calvin Klein, and  all the others and she is the first Latina face ever of  Estée Lauder.  ES
Joan Smalls Vogue Image
Model Joan Smalls parents are of different ethnicities and nationalities. Her father, Eric Rodriguez, is of African and Irish ancestry, and her mother Betzaida, born in Puerto Rico, is of Spanish, Taino Indian and South Asian (Indian) heritage.
Eric & Betzaida Rodriguez Image
FAMOUS

YOU might not know her name but you’ll definitely recognise the body.

Puerto Rican Joan Smalls is the No1 model in the WORLD, according to the rankings of industry standard-setters Models.com.

News Group Newspapers Ltd Joan Smalls Image

Body of work … Joan Smalls in Victoria’s Secret garb

The leggy Latino, 25, is a Victoria’s Secret Angel and has fronted campaigns for everyone from Stella McCartney to Versace since hitting the catwalks four years ago.

Smalls featured in at least 13 runway shows during the last fashion week and is in high demand with the world’s leading designers, photographers and magazine editors.

But while the appeal of models such as bushy-browed Cara Delevingne and gap-toothed Lara Stone lie in their unique, iconic looks, Joan’s success is in her       adaptable catwalk beauty.

Her long legs, special pout and natural looks have made for an already successful modelling career that, thanks to this ranking, looks set to skyrocket.

This week the New Icons range for H&M — which Joan fronts alongside Daphne Groeneveld, Lindsey Wixson and Liu Wen — went on sale.

It’s not just fashion lines Joan is inspiring. In 2011 she broke beauty industry standards to become the first ever Latina face of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder.

And while Brits Cara and Kate Moss might fill column inches with their party lifestyles and celeb pals, Joan keeps a low profile.

Face of beauty … Joan Smalls is first Latina to front Estee Lauder

 

There’s no rock star boyfriend or drug and sex scandals — though she is dating ex-model Bernard Smith.

Instead Joan, who signed with Elite Model Management in New York in 2007, was drawn to the industry for the financial security, hoping a model’s salary could mean a better life for her and her family.

Born in Hatillo, Puerto Rico, as Joan Smalls Rodriguez, the model claims African, Spanish, Taíno Indian and Irish heritage.

The youngest of three sisters, she grew up on a fruit farm surrounded by farmyard pets, but her interests lay elsewhere.

She recalls: “As a child I would pretend I was a beauty pageant contestant with my sisters but I never thought I would be a model.”

By age 13 she was entering local modelling competitions but lost every one she entered.

She said later: “I was told I was too tall, too thin and too dark.”

After watching an episode of TV series E! True Hollywood Story, the teenage Joan decided to try her luck as a model in New York.

She convinced her traditionalist father to fund her trip to the US for castings with one condition — that she get a college education.

Joan did this, finishing a psychology degree in two years instead of four, and at 19 moved to the Big Apple permanently.

For three years she did everything from company catalogue work to appearing in Ricky Martin’s music video for It’s Alright in 2008.

The same year she walked for designers Sass & Bide and Diane Von Furstenberg at the spring/summer shows in New York.

But it was after leaving Elite and signing with IMG, the agency that also represents supermodels Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, that a determined Joan got her breakthrough.

Designer Riccardo Tisci picked her to walk exclusively for the Givenchy spring 2010 couture show. She says: “He saw my potential and it changed people’s perspective.”

Her career has soared since, working with top fashion photographers Patrick Demarchelier, Terry Richardson and Mario Testino. Italian Vogue’s March 2012 issue had “Haute Mess” Joan on the cover — the first black model to front the magazine in four years.

In January this year she appeared on Vogue Brazil’s “Black Issue” in all black, wearing a bit of oxblood on her lips and nail tips.

But it hasn’t all been plain sailing.

Earlier this year she came under fire for a fashion shoot in US Vogue staged by Annie Leibovitz.

Joan and fellow models Chanel Iman, Karlie Kloss and Arizona Muse posed alongside members of the National Guards’ and other New York first response teams.

The spread was quickly slammed for putting a glamorous spin on natural disaster Hurricane Sandy. But the scandal did little to dent her industry credibility.

She has rung in the New Year with covers of Vogue Turkey, Japan and Russia.

Despite her success she still hasn’t featured on Anna Wintour’s US Vogue and dreams of fronting a campaign for Burberry, whose current faces include Cara, Edie Campbell and Romeo Beckham.

Joan says: “I’d love to be an honorary Brit so I could front a Burberry campaign.

“But I know Christopher Bailey [Burberry's chief creative officer] only ever picks British models to do campaigns. I want to be adopted!”

In the meantime she will have to settle for featuring in the lyrics on the song Christian Dior Denim Flow, by rapper Kanye West, who names her as his favourite model.

Refreshingly, Joan still has her feet firmly on the ground, too. She is involved in the charity Project Sunshine, which provides free educational, recreational and social programmes to medically-challenged children and families.

She has also remained a doting daughter, buying a car for her dad from her first-earned dollars and a new kitchen for her mum.

On the Models.com top ranking Joan says: “It feels amazing being number one.

“I’m extremely flattered, honoured and just blessed.

“It just cements that all my hard work paid off — not having a life, travelling on your birthday, not having holidays, all that actually pays off.”

And if her hectic catwalk and shoot schedule wasn’t enough, Joan also co-hosts the newly revived MTV show House Of Style with fellow supermodel Karlie Kloss.

With a net worth now in the millions, one thing is for sure — Smalls has hit the big-time.

 

By SASKIA QUIRKE, Fashion Editor

THIS Puerto Rican beauty is one of the hardest-working models in fashion.

While our own Cara is in high demand here, the top 50 rankings on Models.com are based on the number of bookings by photographers, brands and magazines across the globe in a year.

Smalls’ success is not just down to her work ethic.

Her classic beauty and willowy frame give her global appeal over those editorial models with distinctive looks.

Joan Smalls is in vogue – and everything else.

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What Race Is Bruno Mars?

March 9, 2013 By

Hola amigos: Today I bring you: What race is Bruno Mars? This article explains the multiculturalism of his roots: American, Puerto Rican, Phillipines, Ukranian, Hawaiian, Jewish, Hungarian… ES

 

Bruno Mars next to one of his grandfathers Image 

 

 

By Megan Smolenyalc

Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smolenyak-smolenyak/what-race-is-bruno-mars_b_2116984.html

Which of the following describes the heritage of Peter Gene Hernandez, better known as Bruno Mars?

  • Ukrainian
  • American
  • Filipino
  • Hispanic
  • Jewish
  • Hawaiian
  • Puerto Rican
  • European
  • Hungarian
  • Asian
  • Spanish

The correct answer is all of the above. So riddle me this: What race is Bruno Mars?

Many have long said that race is an artificial construct, and as a genealogist who’s been playing with family trees for most of my life and with DNA for more than a decade, I wholeheartedly agree. While the recent presidential election has certainly increased awareness of diversity in America, the more multicultural trees I research and genetic ancestries I explore, the more apparent I think the growing “melangification” of all this diversity will gradually become to everyone.

Folks like myself who are 100-percenters or half-and-halves with roots in only one or two places are rapidly becoming quaint, and families like Bruno’s (the Obamas also come to mind) are slightly ahead of the curve. If you were to come back 100 years from now, I have no doubt that you’d find a lot more family trees of the Cloud Atlas variety with branches extending to every corner of the globe. But for now, let’s linger on Bruno’s for a bit. Here are a few things you didn’t know about his roots:

  • He is typically described as being Hawaiian-born to a father of Puerto Rican heritage and a mother from the Philippines. This is all true. His parents are indeed Boricua and Filipina. But his ancestral pool also happens to be one-quarter Jewish hailing from Hungary and Ukraine (which perhaps makes the “dancing juice/Jews” aspect of this viral Marry You video even more fitting).

 

  • In the U.S., Hawaii, New York, California, Nevada, Puerto Rico and Texas all hold a piece of his family’s past.

 

 

  • Bruno’s Ukrainian immigrant ancestor, a one-time Hebrew teacher, entered America not through Ellis Island, but through the port of Galveston, Texas as part of the Galveston Movement. His future bride, however, was of Ellis Island stock.

 

 

  • This same ancestor was once banned from ever becoming a citizen, but after modifying his name (please see the Ellis Island chapter of Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing if you still believe that old myth about names being changed by immigration officials) and waiting about 20 years, he was finally naturalized.

 

2012-11-12-brunomarsggggpssmolenyak2.jpg
 

  • As seen in this photo, continental blending in Bruno’s family began a long time ago. This shows a pair of his great-great-grandparents – the father born in Spain and the mother in the Philippines – with two of their daughters around the 1890s. About a decade after her husband passed away, Bruno’s great-great-grandmother remarried to a Chinese gentleman 19 years her junior, introducing yet another country into the family mix.

 

2012-11-12-1858baptismspainbrunomarssmolenyak.jpg
 

  • When it comes to Spain, it’s Segovia – I’m talking to you, Nava de la Asunción and Fuentepelayo! – that gets the bragging rights.

 

Were Bruno Mars to go on a world tour for the release of Unorthodox Jukebox, there would likely be unsuspecting cousins in the audiences in Madrid, New York, Kiev, San Juan, Manila and Budapest. So tell me: Which box do you think Bruno Mars ticked on the 2010 census?

 

Unorthodox Jukebox

Bruno Mars

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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

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PR Pride Certification Image

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History of Puerto Rico – First Part Chapter 22 – R A Van Middeldyk

December 21, 2012 By

Hola amigos: today I bring you CHAPTER XXII,BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO _(continued)_–INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN INSURGENTS 1797-1829 from the book History of Puerto Rico – First Part, Chapter 22 – by R A Van Middeldyk .In San Juan provisions were scarce, and the influx of immigrants from la Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), where a bloody civil war raged, didn’t help. English attacks on different points of the coast continued keeping the inhabitants in fear. While the people of Puerto Rico were loyal to Spain ( trying to preserve their island with their sacrifices of life and property), the other colonies, feeling rich and important, were breaking the bonds with the mother country and their loyals were comming… ES

The Garita, SanCristobal Fort Image

 

by R A Van Middeldyk

CHAPTER XXII

BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO _(continued)_–INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN
INSURGENTS

1797-1829

The raising of the siege of San Juan by Abercrombie did not raise at
the same time the blockade of the island. Communication with the
metropolis were cut off, and the remittances from Mexico which, under
the appellation of “situados,” constituted the only means of carrying
on the Government, were suspended.[45] In San Juan the garrison was
kept on half pay, provisions were scarce, and the influx of immigrants
from la Espanola, where a bloody civil war raged at the time,
increased the consumption and the price. The militia corps was
disbanded to prevent serious injury to the island’s agricultural
interests, although English attacks on different points of the coast
continued, and kept the inhabitants in a state of constant fear and
alarm.

In December, 1797, an English three-decker and a frigate menaced
Aguadilla, but an attempt at landing  was repulsed. Another attempt to
land was made at Guayanilla with the same result, and in June, 1801,
Guayanilla was again attacked. This time an English frigate sent
several launches full of men ashore, but they were beaten off by the
people, who, armed only with lances and machetes, pursued them into
the water, “swimming or wading up to their necks,” says Mr. Neuman.[46]

From 1801 to 1808 England’s navy and English privateers pursued both
French and Spanish ships with dogged pertinacity. In August, 1803,
British privateers boarded and captured a French frigate in the port
of Salinas in this island. Four Spanish homeward-bound frigates fell
into their hands about the same time. Another English frigate captured
a French privateer in what is now the port of Ponce (November 12,
1804) and rescued a British craft which the privateer had captured.
Even the negroes of Haiti armed seven privateers under British
auspices and preyed upon the French and Spanish merchant ships in
these Antilles.

Governor Castro, during the whole of his period of service, had vainly
importuned the home Government for money and arms and ships to defend
this island against the ceaseless attacks of the English. When he
handed over the command to his successor, Field-Marshal Toribio
Montes, in 1804, the treasury was empty. He himself had long ceased to
draw his salary, and the money necessary to attend to the most
pressing needs for the defense was obtained by contributions from the
inhabitants.

While the people of Puerto Rico were thus giving proofs of their
loyalty to Spain, and sacrificing their lives and property to preserve
their poverty-stricken island to the Spanish crown, the other
colonies, rich and important, were breaking the bonds that united them
to the mother country.

The example of the English colonies had long since awakened among the
more enlightened class of creoles on the continent a desire for
emancipation, which the events in France on the one hand, and the
ill-advised, often cruel measures adopted by the Spanish authorities
to quench that aspiration, on the other hand, had only served to make
irresistible. But Puerto Rico did not aspire to emancipation. It never
had been a colony, there was no creole class, and the only indigenous
population–the “jibaros,” the mixed descendants of Indians, negroes,
and Spaniards–were too poor, too illiterate, too ignorant of
everything concerning the outside world to look with anything but
suspicion upon the invitations of the insurgents of Colombia and
Venezuela to join them or imitate their example. They, nor the great
majority of the masses whom Bolivar, San Martin, Hidalgo, and others
liberated from an oppressive yoke, cared little for the rights of man.
When the Colombian insurgents landed on the coast of Puerto Rico, to
encourage and assist the people to shake off a yoke which did not gall
them, they were looked upon by the natives as freebooters of another
class who came to plunder them.

On the 20th of December, 1819, an insurgent brigantine and a sloop
attempted a landing at Aguadilla. They were beaten back by a Spanish
sergeant at the head of a detachment of twenty men, while a Mr.
Domeneck with his servants attended to the artillery in Fort San
Carlos, constructed during Castro’s administration. In February, 1825,
some insurgent ships landed fifty marines at night near Point
Boriquen, where the lighthouse now is. They captured the fort by
surprise and dismounted the guns, but the people of Aguadilla replaced
them on their carriages the next day and offered such energetic
resistance to the landing parties that they had to retreat.

Another landing was effected at Patillas in November, 1829. This port
was opened to commerce by royal decree December 30, 1821. There were
several small trading craft in the port at the time of the attack.
They fell a prey to the invaders; but when they landed they were met
by the armed inhabitants, and after a sharp fight, in which the
Colombians had 8 men killed, they reembarked.

* * * * *

The beginning of the nineteenth century found Spain deprived of all
that beautiful island world which Columbus had laid at the foot of the
throne of Ferdinand and Isabel four centuries ago, of all but a part
of the “Espanola,” since called Santo Domingo, and of the two
Antilles. Before the first quarter of the century had passed all the
continental colonies had broken the bonds that united them to the
mother country, and before the twentieth century the last vestiges of
the most extensive and the richest colonial empire ever possessed by
any nation refused further allegiance, as the logical result of four
centuries of political, religious, and financial myopia.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 45: They ceased altogether in 1810, as a result of the
revolution in Mexico.]

[Footnote 46: Benefactores and Hombres Illustres de Puerto Rico, p.
289.]

 

General View of San Juan Harbor 1927 Image

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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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Evelina Antonetty:Remembering a Neighborhood Activist

December 15, 2012 By

Hola amigos: I read this quote and motivated me to find out more: “Boricuas are the invisible people even among the politically and culturally conscious. Our island’s history cannot be found in Latin American history courses. The journey of our diaspora is barely mentioned in most Latina/o Studies programs. When our youth are taught about social justice and civil rights they just learn about MLK Jr. and never hear about Jesús Colón or Evelina Antonetty López. It’s time for a return to unapologetically Puerto Rican Studies Departments at universities and a call for such programs at the K-12 level.”— Behold, The Boricua

 

Evelina Antonetty Image

By Paul Benedetto

It was 1974, and a group of South Bronx residents were looking for someone to fill a vacant seat on the state Assembly. The pick from the community was nearly unanimous: It would be Evelina Antonetty, surely.

But public office was of no interest to the forty-something activist. Instead, she told her supporters to get behind a young man named José Serrano.

Serrano, now the representative of New York’s 16th Congressional District, went on to win that Assembly seat, was later elected to Congress and—influenced by the woman who had helped him years earlier—funneled millions of federal dollars toward rebuilding the South Bronx. He has never forgotten the way Antonetty changed his life.

“When she said it, it was a done deal,” Serrano said. “She was always interested in promoting younger people. She saw something in me.”

An activist, community organizer, and a mother, Evelina Antonetty was, above all, a driving force behind some of the changes that have reshaped the South Bronx.

On July 6th, almost 30 years after a heart attack cut her life short, the woman everyone called ‘Titi’, or ‘Auntie,’ was honored by the community she fought for, with the renaming of Prospect Avenue and 156th Street as “Dra. Evelina Antonetty Way.”

“Everybody called her that, because whenever she saw a need for anything, she tried to help,” said her daughter, Anita. “I’ve had people tell me if it wasn’t for her, they wouldn’t have gotten their start in this country.”

Antonetty, born Evelina Cruz, grew up in the small city of Salinas in the south of Puerto Rico, in the 1920s. She was the oldest of three children, born to a single mother. She came to the U.S. around the age of 10, alone, on a boat trip that took weeks. She arrived at South Street Seaport, where her aunt Vincenta came to meet her.

“The desperation there must have been, to send your child alone on a boat,” Anita Antonetty said. “This was during the depression.”

Growing up in East Harlem during the Depression, Evelina saw firsthand how the tough economic times affected New Yorkers. She worked for Congressman Vito Marcantonio and labor leader Jesús Colón while in her teens, getting her first taste of community activism.

In the early 1940s, Evelina moved to the South Bronx, where she went to work for District 65 of the United Auto Workers, helping prepare people without jobs for the workforce.

“She was a conduit in that position, helping people to get started in the United States,” Anita Antonetty said.

When she settled down with her second husband Donato Antonetty in 1955 on Jackson Ave, she chose to stay home to raise her three children. But she was still Titi to people from the neighborhood who stopped by regularly for help and advice.

When Anita started school in 1962, Evelina joined PS 5’s parents association, where she began the work that later led her to form United Bronx Parents.

Antonetty fought for school issues big and small for her new organization, from the quality of lunches to decentralization, pushing always for increased community involvement.

Perhaps her biggest impact came from her fight for bilingual education. Dr. Vicky Gholson, a former United Bronx Parents board member, says the scale of Antonetty’s work was massive.

“To just say she was a community organizer in the South Bronx is erroneous,” Gholson said. “She was the spirit and the force behind bilingual education in the United States, to put it simply. It would not have happened in the quick form and fashion that it did if it were not for her energy and her organizing.”

Gholson is also Harlem’s first Ph.D. in Communications, an honor she says is due in no small part to Evelina.

She isn’t the only one Antonetty helped inspire to lofty goals. Federico Perez, the director of special projects and events in Rep. Serrano’s office, met Antonetty when he was 27. He was applying to Bronx Community College, but says he was being denied because of discrimination.

So Antonetty stepped in: She pushed him to persist, and pressured the administration to let him in. He was eventually accepted, went on to earn a Masters Degree in Education, taught for 23 years and became a member of the City Council.

“She was my mentor and teacher,” Perez said.

Toward the end of her life, the struggle continued. In 1984, the year of her death, Ronald Reagan was running for his second term. She organized voter registration, inspired people to vote, and worked on Reverend Jesse Jackson’s campaign.

Twenty-seven years after her death, Antonetty’s legacy lives on, through the United Bronx Parents and other community organizations that use her work as a model.

Now it also lives on on a South Bronx street corner, where children looking up at the street sign can ask their parents who she is, and maybe learn a little about the woman called Titi.

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Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho Dies at 50

November 24, 2012 By
Hector Camacho Dies At 50
Hector “Macho” Camacho was removed from life support and declared dead on Saturday, November 24th, 2012, four days after being shot. He was 50 years old.

 

Hector Macho Camacho Image

 

by The Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hector “Macho” Camacho was a brash fighter with a mean jab and an aggressive style, launching himself furiously against some of the biggest names in boxing. And his bad-boy persona was not entirely an act, with a history of legal scrapes that began in his teens and continued throughout his life.

The man who once starred at the pinnacle of boxing, winning several world titles, died Saturday after being ambushed in a parking lot back in the Puerto Rican town of Bayamon where he was born. Packets of cocaine were found in the car in which he was shot.

Camacho, 50, left behind a reputation for flamboyance — leading fans in cheers of “It’s Macho time!” before fights — and for fearsome skills as one of the top fighters of his generation.

 

Hector Camacho

Holly Stein/Getty ImagesHector Camacho, trading blows with Eric Podolak in 1993, fought some of the biggest stars spanning two eras, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Roberto Duran.

 

“He excited boxing fans around the world with his inimitable style,” promoter Don King told The Associated Press.

Camacho fought professionally for three decades, from his humble debut against David Brown at New York’s Felt Forum in 1980 to an equally forgettable swansong against Saul Duran in Kissimmee, Florida, in 2010.

In between, he fought some of the biggest stars spanning two eras, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Roberto Duran.

“Hector was a fighter who brought a lot of excitement to boxing,” said Ed Brophy, executive director of International the Boxing Hall of Fame. “He was a good champion. Roberto Duran is kind of in a class of his own, but Hector surely was an exciting fighter that gave his all to the sport.”

Camacho’s family moved to New York when he was young and he grew up in Spanish Harlem, which at the time was rife with crime. Camacho landed in jail as a teenager before turning to boxing, which for many kids in his neighborhood provided an outlet for their aggression.

“This is something I’ve done all my life, you know?” Camacho told The Associated Press after a workout in 2010. “A couple years back, when I was doing it, I was still enjoying it. The competition, to see myself perform. I know I’m at the age that some people can’t do this no more.”

Former featherweight champion Juan Laporte, a friend since childhood, described Camacho as “like a little brother who was always getting into trouble,” but otherwise combined a friendly nature with a powerful jab.

“He’s a good human being, a good hearted person,” Laporte said as he waited with other friends and members of the boxer’s family outside the hospital in San Juan after the shooting. “A lot of people think of him as a cocky person but that was his motto … Inside he was just a kid looking for something.”

Laporte lamented that Camacho never found a mentor to guide him outside the boxing ring.

“The people around him didn’t have the guts or strength to lead him in the right direction,” Laporte said. “There was no one strong enough to put a hand on his shoulder and tell him how to do it.”

George Lozada, a longtime friend from New York who flew to Puerto Rico on Saturday, recalled that just hours after he was released from prison after serving a murder sentence, he received a call from Camacho, who was waiting outside his apartment in a black Porsche.

“He said, ‘Come down, I’m taking you shopping,’ ” Lozada said, wiping away tears.

“Because of him, man, I got what I got today,” he said, pointing to pictures on his smartphone of his 6-year-old daughter. “Because of Hector, I stopped the drug scene … He’s helped so many people.”

“Drug, alcohol and other problems trailed Camacho himself after the prime of his boxing career. He was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison for the burglary of a computer store in Mississippi. While arresting him on the burglary charge in January 2005, police also found the drug ecstasy.

A judge eventually suspended all but one year of the sentence and gave Camacho probation. He wound up serving two weeks in jail, though, after violating that probation.

Camacho’s former wife, Amy, obtained a restraining order against him in 1998, alleging he threatened her and one of their children. The couple, who had two children at the time, later divorced.

He divided his time between Puerto Rico and Florida in recent years, appearing on Spanish-language television as well as on a reality show called “Es Macho Time!” on YouTube.

Inside the boxing ring, Camacho flourished. He won three Golden Gloves titles as an amateur, and after turning pro, he quickly became a contender with an all-action style reminiscent of other Puerto Rican fighters.

Long promoted by King, Camacho won his first world title by beating Rafael Limon in a super-featherweight bout in Puerto Rico on Aug. 7, 1983. He moved up in weight two years later to capture a lightweight title by defeating Jose Luis Ramirez, and successfully defended the belt against fellow countryman Edwin Rosario.

The Rosario fight, in which the victorious Camacho still took a savage beating, persuaded him to scale back his ultra-aggressive style in favor of a more cerebral, defensive approach.

The change in style was a big reason that Camacho, at the time 38-0, lost a close split decision to Greg Haugen at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas in 1991.

Camacho won the rematch to set up his signature fight against Mexico’s Julio Cesar Chavez, this time at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Camacho was roundly criticized for his lack of action, and the Mexican champion won a lopsided unanimous decision to retain the lightweight title.

“Even though people say I beat him easily, it wasn’t that way,” Chavez told Mexico’s ESPN-Radio Formula this week. “He was a very fast fighter, he faced everything and it was very hard for me.”

“He revolutionized boxing,” Chavez said. “It’s a shame he got mixed up in so many problems.”

After that loss, Camacho became the name opponent for other rising contenders, rather than the headliner fighting for his own glory.

He lost a unanimous decision to another young Puerto Rican fighter, Trinidad, and was soundly defeated by De La Hoya. In 1997, Camacho ended Leonard’s final comeback with a fifth-round knockout. It was Camacho’s last big victory even though he boxed for another decade.

The fighter’s last title bout came in 1997 against welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, who won by unanimous decision. Camacho’s last fight was his defeat by Saul Duran in May 2010. He had a career record of 79-6-3.

Doctors pronounced Camacho dead on Saturday after he was removed from life support at his family’s direction. He never regained consciousness after at least at least one gunman crept up to the car in a darkened parking lot and opened fire.

No arrests have been made, and authorities have not revealed many details beyond the facts that police found cocaine in the car and that the boxer and his friend, who was killed at the scene, had no idea the attack was coming. “Apparently, this was a surprise,” said Alex Diaz, a police spokesman.

Survivors include his mother; three sisters, Raquel, Estrella and Ester; a brother, Felix; and four sons, Hector Jr., Taylor, Christian and Justin.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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Puerto Rico Votes on Status: A Primer on Independence

October 31, 2012 By

Hola amigos:  ”PR Votes on Status: A Primer on Independence”, explains in detail one of the  3 options (Independence, Sovereign Commonwealth and Statehood) of the next Plebiscite on status, the option of independence. Even if it’s not your option, the article is well written and you will understand much better the possible actions and reactions and will help with your critical thinking approach to developing and understanding the topic.  The author words are: “while independence will probably not garner enough votes to win (based on how independence has 4 – 5% of the vote in previous referendums), it remains to be seen how it could ultimately make people in Congress wary of accepting a tropical Quebec if statehood wins”. ES

Puerto Rican Flag Image

 

by Jean Vidal

http://politic365.com/2012/10/08/puerto-rico-votes-on-status-a-primer-on-independence/

 

As Puerto Ricans get close to Election Day, voters will face three non-territorial (read: colonial) options regarding their political relationship with the United States. These options are: Independence, Sovereign Commonwealth and Statehood. The current status, “commonwealth” is a territorial status since it falls under the U.S. Constitution’s territorial clause, as was recently confirmed by the Congressional Research Service. This article will explain, in greater detail, the option of independence.

Puerto Rico has always maintained an independence movement, perhaps much to the envy of Alaska and Todd Palin. During the first half of the 20th century, the independence movement was a forced to be reckoned with, although falling short of being a majority in the Island. During the second half of the 20th century, the independence movement was reduced to single digits by a combination of factors, including but not limited to: (1) The growth of a larger middle class; (2) Intense persecution of Independence supporters by the Federal government under the infamous COINTELPRO program; (3) A likewise intense persecution of supporters by the state government under the “Carpetas” program; and (4) The movement of independence supporters to the Popular Democratic Party as a means to an end to stop statehood. This is by no means an exhaustive list of factors, but they are the main four factors that have shrunk the Independence movement into a single digit constituency. That said, and recognizing that the majority of voters would not select it over statehood or any version of the Commonwealth status, it has always remained a staple in our politics.

If voters were to choose Independence, the newly elected sovereignty would not happen overnight. Puerto Rico would petition, and Congress would consider, a multi-year transition plan in which Puerto Rico would move towards independence from the U.S., including but not limited to: (1) Transferring or apportioning social security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans benefits contributions/entitlements that have already been paid for; (2) Determining the rights or manner of naturalization for Boricuas born in an Independent Puerto Rico when both parents are U.S. Citizens; (3) Military relations and alliances and (4) Determining the role of the existing U.S. District Court under an independent Puerto Rico, since federal jurisdiction would cease to exist.

As far as citizenship goes, Puerto Ricans who currently have U.S. Citizenship cannot be stripped of said citizenship merely because of Puerto Rico’s newly found status. However, people born under the new republic would not be entitled to automatic citizenship. The US may, at its prerogative, provide a quicker path towards citizenship for Puerto Ricans born in the Island to U.S. Citizens, but that by no means is a guarantee. The potential loss of citizenship has always been a hard pill to swallow for Puerto Ricans, but those who support independence recognize that it is a benefit that cannot exist in an independent Puerto Rico.

On the budget, Puerto Rico currently spends close to 4 dollars in federal funds for every 1 dollar it generates stateside. While significant portions of those funds are entitlements, a greater portion is not. An independent Puerto Rico would need to find a manner to make up the shortfall within the transition time, which is ultimately agreed to by Congress.  By the same token, Puerto Rico has nearly half of its population living under or near poverty levels, receiving some type of government assistance (mostly federally funded). Thus, it is quite possible Puerto Rico would experience a significant population transfer of U.S. Citizens to the mainland, given worries and anxieties of their benefits in the Island versus those on the mainland.

However, proponents of independence claim that said option is the only one that guarantees freedom from judicial and legal decisions from other nations (the U.S.) that bind Puerto Rico in ways contrary to Puerto Rico’s self-interest. They argue that Puerto Rico would benefit from greater economic freedom by being able to trade with other nations, free itself from the shackles of the Jones Act, and do away with over burdening federal regulation.

Finally, while independence will probably not garner enough votes to win (based on how independence has 4 – 5% of the vote in previous referendums), it remains to be seen how it could ultimately make people in Congress wary of accepting a tropical Quebec if statehood wins. On November 6th, if Puerto Ricans finally vote against the colonial situation, we may begin to find out.

 

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