From around the web and asambleas de pueblo.

The diasporas I know and see, like all suffering diasporas living in the United States of today and most always, have their hearts divided into parts. Every case is different of course, in Puerto Rico’s case the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship have coined a well-etched impasse of heads or tales. Each side drilled from layers of fractured prisms. Someone I love and respect reminds me constantly in conversation that the careless toss is called, gaslighted. 

So much has been kept from us, the people of Puerto Rico. Piecing it together will require asambleas de pueblo and all our love and valor. I see what is happening in Puerto Rico today and it gives me hope that we will get to have a chance to learn our lost past and see ourselves anew. But, against what is happening in this country today, I wonder about everything and, I sometimes think that it might just be us that will need to leave. From over here, what I have come to learn is that as whole la diaspora has been instrumental in keeping Puerto Rican history and culture alive. The many pioneers that paid the way for a better way for others are mostly unsung heroes in Puerto Rico and here in the mainland. The poets, the writers, historians, dramaturges, actors, musicians, dancers, and institution makers have done so much for the history and preservation of Puerto Rico it is something.

For today’s times, there is also Tere Martínez and her Roots and Action project-beautiful and impressive. Please visit the site and learn about the work. They are “building community,” that’s in one of Tere’s moving and beautifully written blogs. Roots and Action add itself to works that aspire to be as whole, encompassing, and empowering as ASPIRA was when it first opened its doors. 

On Wednesday, August 21 the Roots and Action team, Tere Martinez, Barbara Vlahides, Janio Marrero, and Sarah Hoiland are having a fundraiser event at M1-5 Lounge down in Walker St. from 5 to 8 pm. Tere, Sarah, and I are connected through Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College (Hostos). EVITE: Roots and Action Happy Hour Fundraiser for Puerto Rico

What I wrote about Tere Martínez and Hostos back in April of 2017, before María, when we recorded for the Hostos Oral Collective stands today.

S.

July 2019 from across the net

PART II-Daughters and Sons

(A Sea of Tears and a Revolution | Part One: Citizen)  | Dedicated to artists, asylum seekers all across the globe, and Puerto Rico

 Daughters and sons of la diaspora come in all forms. It is perhaps reason number one I love New York City. The place where we, “the others,” from all corners of the world and types of backgrounds, have a chance to meet as equals. I really appreciate that, the essence of the lesson.

 On June 4, 2019 | Democracy Now! featured Damning Canadian Inquiry Calls the Murder and Disappearance of Indigenous Women & Girls Genocide. The words of First Nations jurist in British Columbia, serving as Chief Commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Marion Buller apply also to the entire Northern, Central, Southern, American Continent.

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/4/murders_of_indigenous_women_in_canada

 “…The genocide that has occurred in Canada has been over generations of people—generations of human rights and indigenous rights violations; deliberate underfunding of services and programs to indigenous people; forcibly removing children from their families, children being removed and never being seen again by their own families, by their own communities; forced sterilization of women and girls. The list goes on. But from our perspective and from the legal definition, genocide can be over a long period of time of deliberate state action, that looks different from what we commonly think of as genocide. But it is genocide, legally, nonetheless.” 

 The admittance of genocide and the call-to-action for reparations for women and girls by the Canadian government resonated with me. 

 Lately, a lot has been written about violence against women in Puerto Rico and the women leading the fight. Since the chat, the people now know the aftermath of Hurricane María is a certifiable matter of crimes against humanity of holocaust proportions. 

 I thought about Edwin Miranda’s words, I saw the future it’s so wonderful, there are no Puerto Ricans.

 If it's true for Canada, then same awful truths and precepts as in the United States of conquest, genocide, rape, slavery, empire building, torture, subjugation, building upon sadness the road ahead for more by exploitation apply to us, la (s) diaspora (s). 

 “And so it has come to pass, it is indeed where we hang, this very premise falls on all of us to look at. It reflects the worst type of shine, the one we have never wanted to look at and the one that might just bring us down, the one where brother to brother kills himself and the one where the mighty nation kills us all out of fear from being disappeared.”

James Baldwin

I've been reading a lot, listening to a lot of radio, and watching a lot of videos from and about Puerto Rico. I picked up some stuff for your reference:

Alvin R Couto de Jesus | FB

Apoyemos a que se los 78 municipios de Puerto Rico logren convocar asambleas de pueblo. | Let's support Puerto Rico and in achieving town assemblies in all 78 municipalities.

This guy is something and posting really interesting commentary. You can follow his feed if you are on FB.

AUGUST 9, 2019 | WNYC On the Media
In Puerto Rico, What Comes Next?

By Alana Casanova-Burgess

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/puerto-rico-what-comes-next?fbclid=IwAR3x8AYXLI3A9tJ9OqmgEKjCquWfzKx3Wgk9gN6A3srqkq1o32kr2MMvyTw

This is a great piece that captures the past month beautifully-really beautifully.

AUGUST 9, 2019 | Shondaland

Meet the Women Leading Puerto Rico's Feminist Revolution

By Sandra Guzmán

https://www.shondaland.com/live/a28653844/puerto-rico-protests-feminist-revolution/?fbclid=IwAR05-GFH1o5WGYPPn6FS2l_yia7BXnDZiS93rPim7tzfzE-S2g32AyTXUnw

I'm biased about Sandra because she's one of my closest sisters. She's fierce, a truthteller, and she's been busy writing some really important pieces. They are all included in this list.

9 DE AGOSTO DE 2019 | El País

La trama feminista y queer en Puerto Rico

Por Luci Cavallero y Verónica Gago

https://www.pagina12.com.ar/210857-la-trama-feminista-y-queer-en-puerto-rico?fbclid=IwAR0GwVAoig6Uk1qZVkLPOHsjJ_OaEX9OuRzYNWwP6zmB9HZ26QZzeMHjeEU

Watch all three of Karla Claudio Betancourt’s shorts. Tremendo artículo.

8 DE AGOSTO DE 2019 | WALO HD

La Kakistocracia PNP vs. #WanditaLaMala

Nación Chancleta

Very good and important show to listen. In Spanish. Walo is brilliant. He has the dark humor truthteller shtick down in true Puerto Rican slang-Class A. This particular show is a must-listen. You can follow him on FB, YouTube, iHeartRadio.

AUGUST 7, 2019 | Dissent Magazine

Puerto Rico Remade

By Frances Negrón-Muntaner

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/puerto-rico-remade

Frances is another fierce mind and a sister. She is amazing. Balanced, tempered, a soul of profound understanding.

AUGUST 6, 2019 | NBC THINK

Toni Morrison was America's conscience, one that's needed more than ever

By Sandra Guzman

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/toni-morrison-was-america-s-conscience-one-s-needed-more-ncna1039766?fbclid=IwAR2dlIZONiWuB_rXv4sgdXZA2rYyB5HvQOKCFzqV5i7JYLqe2RiIOTbnIIE

6 DE AGOSTO DE 2019 | CNN Español

Este Otro Puerto Rico Parte I

Por Silverio Pérez

https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2019/08/05/este-otro-puerto-rico-primera-parte/?fbclid=IwAR1iOp6PFhJOyW9lO57qSyyQnavg4HoEt1abrWFdYQAgvS3rRRjX2NAHosw

6 DE AGOSTO DE 2019 | CNN Español

Este otro Puerto Rico (Segunda Parte)

Por Silverio Pérez

https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2019/08/05/este-otro-puerto-rico-segunda-parte-opinion-silverio-perez/

Silverio Peréz is a genius and a national glory-a Class-A wordsmith. Follow him on FB. These two stories are important.

AUGUST 5, 2019 | Bustle

Women & Femmes Leading The Puerto Rico Protests On Their "Permanent Revolution"

By Raquel Reichard

https://www.bustle.com/p/women-femmes-leading-the-puerto-rico-protests-on-their-permanent-revolution-18544005

A MUST READ. A BEAUTY.

AUGUST 5, 2019 | LatinoUSA

Puerto Rico Is A Presidential Issue That Must Be Addressed

By SANDRA GUZMÁN

https://www.latinousa.org/2019/08/05/prdebates/

AUGUST 5, 2019 | NYT

The Puerto Rico Governor Started 3 Days Ago. But His Future Is Already in Doubt.

By Edmy Ayala and Patricia Mazzei

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/us/puerto-rico-governor.html?fbclid=IwAR3naQt2VGzfQPw-xCQB3UyrorD8p4V0WQ4O0WJxgurbsl6fKp1KOmLVD8I

The New York Times has covered really nicely. This is one of them pieces I liked. Other follow down below.

AUGUST 5, 2019 | WNYC The Takeaway Host Tanzina Vega

The Political Future of Puerto Rico

with guests Michael Deibert and Yarimar Bonilla

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/political-future-puerto-rico

AUGUST 3, 2019 | Truthout

Rejecting Politics of Fear, Marginalized Puerto Ricans Led the Uprising

By Oscar Oliver-Didier

https://truthout.org/articles/rejecting-politics-of-fear-marginalized-puerto-ricans-led-the-uprising/

AUGUST 3, 2019 | NYT

After Protests, Will Real Change Come to Puerto Rico?

By Frances Robles and Patricia Mazzei

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/us/puerto-rico-future.html

AUGUST 2, 2019 | LatinoUSA - podcast

Why Ricky Resigned

https://www.latinousa.org/2019/08/02/whyrickyresigned/

AUGUST 2, 2019 | MTV

Meet the Women Who Toppled Puerto Rico’s Governor

By Yarimar Bonilla

http://www.mtv.com/news/3133648/women-puerto-rico-governor-rossello/?fb_ref=fbshare_web&fbclid=IwAR2gYxe9D8TLs4QxYWCxe_zlxAap_EJPSfokZY70EOCp1E0A4tojQ3aZTM8

AGOSTO 2, 2019 | 80Grados

Verano 2019: balances y perspectivas

Por Rafael Bernabe y Manuel Rodríguez Banchs

https://www.80grados.net/verano-2019-balances-y-perspectivas/

JULY 31, 2019 | WNYC The Takeaway Host Tanzina Vega

How the Political Crisis in Puerto Rico is Unifying the Puerto Rican Diaspora

with guests Caridad De La Luz, Andrew Padilla, and Samy Nemir Olivares

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/political-crisis-puerto-rico-unifying-puerto-rican-diaspora

Thank you for Tanzina Vega, that's all I have to say.

JULY 30, 2019 | The Hill

After Rosselló, Puerto Rico needs democracy — not a 'recovery czar’

By Ariadna M. Godreau-Aubert

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/455344-after-rossello-puerto-rico-needs-democracy-not-a-recovery-czar

JULY 29, 2019 | Washington Post

What’s next for Puerto Rico? A reckoning with its colonial status.

By Julio Ricardo Varela

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/29/whats-next-puerto-rico-reckoning-with-its-colonial-status/

JULY 27, 2019 | NYT 

Did Puerto Rican Police Go Too Far During Protests? What the Video Shows.

By Evan Hill and Ainara Tiefenthäler

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/us/puerto-rico-violence-protests.html?fbclid=IwAR0eiyRsPLvdW1BDNZ3meUDDhUbVmZHrBMcOpKWhOUbxfISH5gqB4BgF-l8

JULY 26, 2019 | NYT

By Charo Henríquez

Cantar, bucear, perrear y rezar: las protestas creativas en Puerto Rico

https://www.nytimes.com/es/2019/07/26/protestas-creativas-puerto-rico/?fbclid=IwAR1vChu42vi1eYexZ-it1cM0VLx5fzFkghzyLdl5WxQKlpaOltq_xWvcxkI

JULY 25, 2019 | WNYC The Takeaway Host Tanzina Vega

'The People Have Spoken': Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Resigns

with guests David Begnaud, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Bianca Padró Ocasio

JULY 23, 2019 | BBC

Massive protests held in Puerto Rico after governor refuses to step down

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49075683?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cg41ylwvw3gt/puerto-rico&link_location=live-reporting-story

+

https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cg41ylwvw3gt/puerto-rico 

(BCC’s full list of stories on the island)

JULY 20, 2019 | CNN

Women in Puerto Rico know all too well why Rossello must resign

By Sandra Guzman

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/20/opinions/women-in-puerto-rico-know-why-rossello-must-resign-guzman/index.html

JULY 19, 2019 | Counterpunch

It Was Never Just About the Chat: Ruminations on a Puerto Rican Revolution.

by MIGUEL A. CRUZ-DÍAZ

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/19/it-was-never-just-about-the-chat-ruminations-on-a-puerto-rican-revolution/

Backstory: https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/22/the-takeover-of-puerto-rico/

Miguel is super witty and nails the description of some very fine and important points.

JULY 18, 2019 | NYT

Puerto Ricans in Protests Say They’ve Had Enough

By Patricia Mazzei and Frances Robles

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/us/puerto-rico-rossello-governor-protests.html

JULY  18, 2019 | Reuters

More Puerto Rico protests planned as governor resists calls to resign

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-puertorico-idUSKCN1UD31Z

JULY 13, 2019 | Mother Jones

As Puerto Rico’s Governor Steps Down, a Protest Organizer Is Determined to Not Let “The People’s Fire Burn Out.”

By Justine Agrelo

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/as-puerto-ricos-governor-steps-down-a-protest-organizer-is-determined-to-not-let-the-peoples-fire-burn-out/

JULIO 28, 2019 | 80 Grados

Por José Nicolás Medina Fuentes

Congreso del pueblo y asamblea constitucional convocada desde la sociedad civil

https://www.80grados.net/congreso-del-pueblo-y-asamblea-constitucional-convocada-desde-la-sociedad-civil/?fbclid=IwAR1ijNYaiKzO-DlRCZmUnG73SrmuI_5rGIsgmUse19yzCBGW7P-ZJ5C1RBo

80Grados is fierce. I love this piece so much. Una belleza. It captures some essential sentiments that should be talked about more. Some commentators point out they missed including the freedom fighters from el PIP and previous eras, but nonetheless, the piece offers some important anchors. And it is beautifully written in Spanish.

Dedicated to artists, asylum seekers all across the globe, and to Puerto Rico.

__________________________________________________________________________

Part One

I’m a New York based puertorriqueña since 1990. This here little story, in parts, is about being Puerto Rican here since then, a bit about the Bronx and Eugenio María de Hostos Community College (Hostos), another bit about the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York City, Hurricane María, the evacuees, about force, artists, the future, and love. 

I remember September 20, 2017 as the date when all of Puerto Rico shook in terror - Puerto Rico is an 8 million people nation, three million in the island and 5 million across the world. The birds eye perspective of the approaching storm ignited a harrowing anguish deep inside me because I knew it would be a defeat. 

It was a sinking feeling that things had changed forever. Because everything changed after Hurricane María, everything. 

As I write these words a revolution is happening in Puerto Rico over years and centuries of tears. A history so subjugated it almost forgot itself. And alas, a form of poetic justice came to pass. Everything we knew was not right was not right. Signs for moral compass read that all Debauchery is simple truth and proof of criminality.  

synonymous of the noun, debauchery: dissoluteness · degeneracy · corruption · vice · turpitude · depravity · loucheness · rakishness · libertinism · immodesty · indecency · perversion · shamelessness · iniquity · wickedness · sinfulness · sinning · impropriety · lack of morals · lack of principles · immorality · impurity · unchastity · lasciviousness · salaciousness · lechery · lecherousness · lewdness · bawdiness · lust · lustfulness · libidinousness · licentiousness · promiscuity · wantonness · abandonment · abandon · profligacy · decadence · immoderateness · intemperance · lack of restraint · indulgence · self-indulgence · pleasure-seeking · hedonism · sybaritism · voluptuousness · concupiscence · lubricity · salacity

Hollow is the pain of the lonely heart. 

On the afternoon of September 20, 2017, I went home from work to watch the news. After the hurricane my house became a command center for connecting people and dispatching as much information coming my way as I could. My parents were in Puerto Rico and my Dad suffered the shingles through Hurricane Irma and María. To keep it simple, it was dramatic. My mother and aunt traveled to New York City six-weeks after the storm. On their first day in the mainland, mom had to go the hospital. Thus, began a hot hospital run for my sister and I for the next year and half. Culminating with mom’s open heart surgery in March of 2019, she had her martial valve replaced and eased of an aneurysm in her aorta. That alone, knocked us out spiritually, physically, and financially.

That first month after the hurricane was critical. It was taking a lot to get help, and puertorriqueños outside watched in desperation how it quickly disintegrated and it became evident that a rescue effort seemed to be assailed. 

In my eyes, credit to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz for her SOS. One of the greatest gestures of courage to come at the right time for a true calamity.

From where I stood, I saw how todos los puertorriqueños up here either became champions or picked up other champions from politicians, to activists, and volunteers. I have never seen such a show of force and love for the homeland. The public denouncement from the Puerto Rican community in the mainland was instant and, it mobilized itself to help not only the island but also the displaced families from Puerto Rico, especially in places like Florida, New York City, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia. For, as the news of the aftermath rescue mission breakdown spread, (that we now know was criminally negligent), the inevitable news of puertorriqueños leaving for the United States began to unfold.

I was very cognizant that what was happening in the New York City was happening all over but, New York City is my doorstep. I know that here, it took local community leadership, elected officials, advocates, activists, foundations, volunteers, and academics to clamor for a justified way to face and manage the crisis of a new wave of Puerto Rican migrants who were destitute. Many families that I later met, came here without any knowledge of where they were coming to and what they would face. It broke my heart. And yet, they decided to stay in a city facing a serious housing crisis. Fueling gentrifying high-rent trends stressing out predominantly disenfranchised communities of color already struggling to stay afloat, are also making it an equal challenge for people with the privilege of language, education, and an honorable job.

Roughly, from October of 2017 to January of 2018 New York City had a slew of organizations and leaders mobilized in supporting and standing up for displaced families from Hurricane María: New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS), Catholic Charities, New York Police Department (NYPD) New York Fire Department (NYFD), The Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo, The Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Public Advocate and NY Attorney General Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Diaspora x PuertoRico, Union Community Health Center (UCHC), Urban Health Plan (UHP), Department of the Aging, Acacia Network, and so many people came forward for the displaced families. All the leagues understood that the displaced families needed us, “la diaspora.”

What a big little phrase, la diaspora. For how long has it been a diaspora? Where does it come from? Who becomes it? How do we become it? Who decides? How does it live outside of Puerto Rico? Can it be unraveled? These are important questions. 

Immersed in news these past few weeks here are some of the voices I love:

Bonita Radio - Carmen Enid goes on early in the a.m., check website for streaming details.

Walt HD - Streams after work hours, 6ish time.

Jay Fonseca - Post various times throughout the day-usually early morning, noon, and at night.

Anibal Acevedo Vilá - everyday from 8 to 10 a.m. Radio Isla 1320.

David Begnaud - Posts throughout the day or breaking news.

 Now…I am no historian, but I have read, seen, and been told a bit. I’ll tell and share in my order. The following are some voice of la diaspora. 

Read here (SOS), listen here (Elba Cabrera part I of II), and listen here (Pete Miranda Part I of II).

Sol

“After María” description.

(First shared on private list serve on April 21, 2019) CODAS are becoming my thing. I’m in a new rhythm for sure. Go back to my last share, CODA XV for reference. I’m swimming new waves, and I don’t want to exploit myself, as I know how to do. Ja! I will be around but will come in-and-out with less rigidity on Sundays. I’m gonna' take it easy and steady and change some things. I don’t want to get dark on the state of the world on Easter Sunday, so I leave with a follow up on After María.

Playing in Shorts: No Short Cuts at TFF After Maria premieres next Sunday, April 28, 2019. Visit the page for times and screenings.

Nadia Hallgren, Lauren Cioffi and I met in a natural way. I’m still piecing my words on what the year 2018 delivered. I can honestly say I wanted so much for this story to be told. Several hurdles later the chance just came to be. And, this is just a peek of a much larger tentacle circumstance. For now, I’m grateful for living the experience with Nadia and Cioffi. Grateful too for the “community organizer” credit. And, thankful for Glenda, Kenia, and Sheila. They remain brave here in the City.

Jesus Lives.

Sol

By Chaliana

(First published Sunday, March 31, 2019) My schedule and usual rhythm and flow are off since the year began pretty much because my mother has been struggling with her health. I don’t want to get into the details of it all but it’s serious enough and things are different. The curveball has thrown me off a bit, though I appreciate that it’s giving me time to reflect. And, I thought back to mom’s in-and-out of hospital track since Hurricane María and it’s been about 10 times, a couple of stays for over a month each. I wonder...that brings me to, “After Maria.”

“After Maria” is a short doc by the amazing Nadia Hallgren that will premiere at Tribeca Film Festival on April 28. Here her IG post: Excited to announce my new documentary short @tribecafilmfestival 🇵🇷After Maria 🇵🇷 world premiere on 4/28! Watch what happens when 3 Puerto Rican mothers who are forced to leave the island after hurricane Maria meet in a FEMA hotel in the Bronx. They bond like family and seek stability in their new life as forces try to pull them apart. Produced by @lacioffi Executive producer @rogerrosswilliams edited by @helekearns @jarthster consulting editor @jeantsien @salacuse

I can’t succinctly explain it all, but 2018 was an adventure and the making of this documentary was very much a part of it. So much happened after Maria it’s hard to capture it all, but this work is a tiny peek into what happened after the hurricane to displaced families in New York. Many of them still displaced and living under the NYC Department of Homeless Services temporary shelter housing. Stay tuned for more, because more is coming for “After Maria.”

My last share, CODA XIV the fallen men, was dark and about the future of the University of Puerto Rico. One of the articles I shared was a fiction piece meant to be a worst-case-scenario essay. The worst case scenario is that if the Middle States Commission on Higher Education “flunks” the UPR, then things can turn. I read more and more and see this whole UPR debacle as one of those institutions that could or just might eventually erode. Being that the UPR is an integral part of the livelihood of the island, it is worth any one’s time to read about what is going on. But, the fact remains that between La Junta’s draconian cuts, political pundits, and poor administration, the future of the university is indeed uncertain, and that is a terribly sad thing.

The world as a whole is drowning because of so much ignorance. There’s money for war but not much else…and it shows.

Free Chelsea Manning

Free Papa Renty

Be good to people,
Sol

University of Puerto Rico, photographer unknown from Humanidades UPRRP.

(First shared via private list serve on Sunday, March 10, 2019.) Andrew Bacevich, was a guest on Democracy Now early this week. Look him up if you don’t know him. During his interview, he ended up describing how we, the people of the U.S. don’t care. It was something in his tenor and his delivery, subtle, and though hurtful, it is a truth, and his concern over our inhumane ways is the central crux of his writings. That same day, 7 March, Mr. David Brooks’(no less!) op-ed piece “The Case for Reparations” appeared in The Times. I was indeed taken aback, as I never expected Mr. Brooks to offer such an acknowledgment. The consequences of our worst mistakes are in our backyard sinking in our soil and growing roots. It’s a mad-house of gigantic and catastrophic proportions out there. Other recent alarming reads, news of the closing of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in April 2019 - a few of the Spanish language articles I read, METRO PR, El Nuevo Dia, 80 Grados. To say that this imminent closure is barbaric is an understatement. In a nutshell, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education did not approve accreditation of the UPR. That decision made it easy for the fiscal control board to make and share their determinations on the future of the country’s only higher education public university system.

This week, in particular, I can’t shake away that we are being led and drowned by fallen men. I’m looking for clearings to stay the course and I remembered Mr. Fernando Ferrer’s share for Episode 54. What I wrote about him then, still stands. So unassuming, un hombre sencillo, his time was also being drowned and he to a chance and made a difference. This UPR thing and the fallen men somehow connects to Hostos Community College for me, its history and its reason for being. He has something to say about all that, his life does. And, because it is Women’s History Month I share all three programs of the women Presidents of Hostos Community College - Flora Mancuso, Isaura Santiago Santiago (part I of II) and Dolores Fernández (Part I of II). Without education, you kill a place slowly, the cruelest way to die.

Sol

(First shared via private email 2-24-19) The Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) helped Puerto Rican musicians after Hurricane María since as soon as it happened.

When and how the Jazz Foundation of America and the Baryshnikov Art Center (BAC) partnered, I don't know, but they did and, Alexa Rivera was selected for the BAC artist residency program (fall of 2018). I wrote a little bit about her a few weeks back when the year began - pianist, composer, bandleader, songwriter, and vocalist. Lovely.

I came into the picture through Joseph Petrucelli of JFA. He gave me the opportunity to write about Alexa for "BAC Stories," check it out. That's it today. Live long and prosper, Sol

BAC Stories: https://bacnyc.org/explore/bac-stories/story/bac-story-alexa-rivera

BAC Story by Soldanela Rivera

Alexa Rivera

January 31, 2019

During the dark and silent nights following the merciless Hurricane María, Alexa Rivera sat down at her piano chair and played. Studying music and playing the piano has been part of her life since childhood.

She comes from a family line of artist players and performers of música jíbara, the Puerto Rican counterpart of American bluegrass and folk music; immersion in folk music and rigorous musical discipline, lovingly imposed on her, did her right. When she was most alone, and the island of Puerto Rico was most alone, the piano did not forsake her. Something about the way time stretched and the sounds of the land echoed compelled her. Out in the streets, she felt an unspoken language of brotherhood, and in the still of the night, HIHEAL was born. It is where Alexa delivers as composer, lyricist, vocalist, and player.

The calm after the storm hung heavy in Puerto Rico, and artists suffered tremendously. There was no work and little connectivity for most everyone. And there, where quiet reigned, Alexa journeyed and visualized a musical healing cycle anchored in the image of a tree with roots, trunk, branches, and lush foliage. The musical compositions Over Me and Under Me frame HIHEAL. The musical story moves clockwise with the melodic tune and lyrics of Jíbaro Anciano (Ancient Folk), the heartbeat of this album, dedicated to her grandfather. She writes down jíbaro anciano in the one o’clock position in the picture of the tree describing the musical journey of HIHEAL. Her grandfather represents her first memory of how she learned to love Puerto Rico, her homeland. 

Alexa offers three reasonings about the project’s title. A play on words with the word “hi,” as in a greeting, and inspired by the word “high,” as in altitude. The word “heal” represents recovery. HIHEAL is about healing from a place above the practical world, a space of few words, a space for sound. HIHEAL also references the high heel of a woman’s shoe. Her femininity is cradling her creativity. She is so beautiful her looks may belie her talent and her deep sound. Deep cannot be faked; it is either a part of you or it is not. And Alexa has it. That spark that ignites when she is high in her musings. With her, nothing is gratuitous. There is always a backstory, and the backstory has a backstory, and she feeds them and integrates those mind and heart occurrences into her present sound.

On the second day of her residency at BAC in the Jerome Robbins Theater, Alexa welcomed me with a live concert with sound so vast and deep it brought tears to my eyes. Though very much a musician, Alexa is also a poet and a young weaver of dreams. Her commitment to music is pinned to universal notions of the battle of the self between darkness and light. She has given herself utterly to that notion and has broken free from thinking she has no voice, from feeling trapped within her expressive turf, and has proven yet again that no amount of modern life can substitute for the purity of the piano.

There’s a tune titled If You Want To, and another, Asymmetric, and Here and Now, and Kiss Your Nightmares. Alexa plays horror with love. Her live piano concerto to me ended with Over Me. Her musicality crystallizes maturity, exuding strength from the core melody as she stretched its sounds with her damper's touch. 

On this second day of rehearsal she waits for Matt Geraghty (bass) and Ruben Coca (drums). Geraghty talks through some pointers and begins playing before Alexa plays the keys. She waits for the right time and comes in seamlessly on his cords, and it's magical. Geraghty’s entrance is Jeff Beck-like: unapologetic, spatial, expansive, directional. The Jerome Robbins Theater fills to the brim with the high and low chords of improvised classical piano and rock bass tones so steady nothing falls into discord. Vibrations stay together and the drums pace it all forward. Here in New York City, Alexa's HIHEAL reaches a high performing rehearsal trance dedicated to the present. There is purpose in playing each cycle of the album to its maximum. She and Matt are part of a collective that performs for global unity, creativity, and freedom. Artistically, creatively, and personally, Alexa stands at that intersection with her collaborations and explorations. Whoever she brings together meets humanity through music, where music carries them to weaving chords, understanding, patience, and trust. That’s how you HIHEAL; playing to play, to listen, to accept each other as artists, to fall for a melody that thrusts a sound, so you never forget it, because it belongs to the present, until the very end.

Visit Alexa's Residency Page

Soldanela Rivera has been a professional dancer, actress, choreographer, television host, production coordinator, teaching artist, project captain, documentary researcher, tour manager; a music, theater, and film publicist, a music concert and theater producer, an adjunct lecturer, and a director of communications for a community college in the South Bronx. She has worked in community centers, educational institutions, historic concert halls, museums, parks, prisons, stadiums, sound stages, and large and small theaters. She is a host and producer of the podcast Notes From A Native Daughter (NFAND), a weekly series of raw conversations about arts, culture, and society with figures from the Pan-American experience.

www.bacnyc.org

www.jazzfoundation.org

www.jibaroanciano.com

www.justplay.com

I say this past week was a great week for education in New York City and the nation with the announcement that Félix “Felo” V. Matos Rodríguez had been appointed the new Chancellor of The City University of New York. Holy Moly!

The first Hispanic to lead the system. His fan base, which includes me, basically exploded FB with congratulations. My contribution, letting him know he’s now officially a national treasure - a Puerto Rican one I mean...ja! a bit of a joke but not.

But, I’m bringing it back to Hostos Community College because he was the College’s President from 2009 to 2014. And, I am indebted to him for taking a chance on me and giving me the opportunity to work in the field of education. A track I couldn’t have ever foreseen for me when I started out in life. But a track I have come to love and respect deeply in these past 8-years. Throughout the many weeks of these NFAND Sundays, I’ve been on-and-off sharing about my job a bit, presenting voices from the institution that prove how education transforms lives - the beauty of learning in its most sincere and powerful sense.

The time is apropos to share as re-post Chancellor-designate Matos Rodríguez’s talk on Hostos and education. I had the privilege of interviewing him along with the rest of the past Hostos’ presidents for the 50th Anniversary Oral Collective, and it was an amazing experience. One that leaves me with few words, really. Hostos Community College is a very special place with a still under-told story, that shouldn’t be.

You can catch one little bit of that history from the CUNY Chancellor-designate himself right here on Soundcloud.

But, beyond Felo’s Hostos story, his trajectory as an educator and administrator is graced. He delivers with poise, humor, vision, underplayed tenacity, and I can tell you that he does that and more but with humanity. And that is the word.

His appointment is simply an important moment for the field of education.

Amen.

Sol

Hostos Oral Collective on SoundCloud

Alex Rodríguez

Alex Rodriguez, producer and emcee:

This conversation was recorded between Howard Jordan (professor, activist, journalist, and lawyer) and Alex Rodríguez a couple of years ago. Jordan was and continues to be the Chair of the Behavioral & Social Sciences Department at Hostos Community College and Alex was enrolled in the Sound Engineering program. Today, Alex works at the Hostos Sound Studio and the rhythm of this share is as real as it comes. A South Bronx native, Alex is lyricist, an emcee, producer, and a full artist at heart. 

Jordan asks and each time Alex goes at it with sincere aplomb and a whole hearted explanation. He fills the gaps with context and personal history and makes his surroundings palpable with word. I’ve been thinking of him for several weeks, his cadence, the hoarseness/softness speed of his voice, and the crux of it-the why of the spoken word, its power and confusion, resonance and displacement, history and the story, tales of souls left heartless and beloved by others. The rest is ignorance and here’s a voice.

Sol

Here CODA XII: Gallery of photos | Book week in Puerto Rico.

There’s something about sincere closeness, familial love, and streets you know that simply linger. 

Sit, breathe, and wait a bit. Take your thoughts and imagine yourself abruptly being taken by the ankles as you become a pendulum swinging side-to-side with force. You surrender to the sway. It begins to slow down until the swinging comes to a full soft stop. You drop to a body of water. When you come up for air some of those people and streets, the closeness, are out there and its safe again. That was Puerto Rico last week.

A bounty of grace and love.

The Future - Daily Wallpaper, ILTWMT. CC search and license.

I’ve been thinking about the future — nothing light. But I’ve been thinking...

About the wind when sea levels begin to rise after the artic finishes melting. I’ve been thinking about the whales and asking myself could they truly become extinct. I’ve been thinking about the expensive bombs that are getting built for the next big enemy. That led me to think about how many bombs, old and new, does it take to destroy the world? Perhaps the existing world’s arsenal of arms can already blow up the earth. I’ve been thinking about the lonely, lost, and desperate children detained at the border. I’ve been thinking about the refugees off the coast of Italy risking their lives to reach solid land, opportunity, a second chance. I’ve been thinking about the Puerto Rican families that I have come to know after Hurricane Maria building new lives. I’ve been thinking of the undocumented black and brown students from around the world studying and working in the City preparing for a better tomorrow. I’ve seen their brow, their learning, their smile. I’ve been thinking on how the President of the United States is a white supremacist of authoritarian proclivities. I’ve been thinking about my parent's aging and love and wise life. I’ve been thinking about Wilbur and Julio who got their bikes. I’ve been thinking about the woman caregiver in a desperate situation who I’m going to help through View For Death. I’ve been thinking about the possible and eventual consequences of these threads and other topics and I go down a rabbit hole.

Solace. My heart is mostly always with artists. No one like them/us to express quagmire.

Leonard Cohen’s The Future says it best right now, it is imminent.

Here The Future by Teddy Thompson. His belt feels like my heart right now.

And like the song says, “Repent.”

Sol

Good day, fair people:

My sincerest best wishes to all of you for this New Year. Thank you again for reading, listening, and the many kind notes.

CODA X is a hosh-posh of things so ...

A- The first NFAND share of the year happens to fall on Three Kings Day. It has been years since I celebrated the date and remembered being a child the day before the Three Kings arrived, I would go to the patio to get grass for the camels. That was the magic...and yesterday on the eve I celebrated with beloved families from Puerto Rico, most of them displaced by Hurricane Maria, who are building new lives are officially new residents of New York City. My job was to open pasteles and help with the cleanup. Full credit and gratitude to Diaspora X Puerto Rico, Comité Noviembre, PRParadeNYC, and We Stay/Nos Quedamos for making it happen.

B- Update on Wilbur and Julio. The Tinkerbell boys are getting their bikes thanks to Babette Audant, Lauren Gretina, Tina Hazelo Breitbach, Ileana Infante, Dolly Martínez, Raul Martínez, and Lisa Oropeza. The drop-off will happen next weekend when my dad holds his yearly Three Kings gift giveaway in the mountain of Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. Pictures will follow.

C- Pregones Theater, my beloved theater family, is seeking a Development Director. This place is special. You or someone you know could work with talented, smart, caring, lovers of words, writers, dramaturges, musicians, actors, and some of the classiest arts leaders I have ever met. And that, as many of you know is a huge statement for me. Let me know if you know of anyone who wants to learn about this opportunity. I will circulate the job notice via targeted emails, but I wanted to send out a shout-out here this morning.

D- Another job notice came my way and the cause is dear to my heart. Caregivers. R.A.I.N is looking for a Program Manager/Community Outreach Worker. The goal of the job is to “To improve the well-being and quality of life of caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease and related Dementia. To decrease Caregiver stress and increase information and awareness of Alzheimer’s Disease and related Dementia.” This job notice will also get circulated via targeted emails, but just in case you know of anyone, let me know so I can share the full breakdown.

E- Gente, I’m super happy to announce that View For Death | Paisaje Para la Muerte is having a book launch party date in Puerto Rico on 30 January 2019 at Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín (7:00 p.m.). A formal invitation is forthcoming.

F- Thanks to Joseph Petrucelli from the Jazz Foundation of America I was given the opportunity to write a backstory for pianist, composer, lyricist and bandleader Alexa Rivera for her Baryshnikov Arts Center residency. Once they publish I will share the write-up and the interview we recorded. She is lovely.For now, her new single Jíbaro Anciano has a video.

Lastly, NFAND is getting a tune-up and interviews will begin in February. I’m going to be working with the students in the sound engineering program at Hostos and they're not back until the end of the month. I might share some back conversation as of next week, but for now, I'm back for Sunday mornings shares I and look forward to year three of Notes From A Native Daughter.

Sol

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

I’m spent. I’m signing off until after the New Year. Year 2018 has been my busiest year yet. The beginning of the year was still about the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria. A lot of pieces to pick up. From taking care of mother and aunt to then working with displaced families in the City, to publishing View For Death, 2018 has been about caring for people’s dignity, including my own. And, I’m still working on getting Wilbur and Julio their bikes. So let me know if you want to join that collection.

There are some dark and sinister things going on in this country, and the world really. But here, this thing at the border vomits on dignity and humanity. Some of the best reporting I’ve read lately, and I read a bit, is coming from Paola Mendoza for Families Belong Together. She has been documenting the Caravan and the hurt with such love, so beautifully written, it brings tears to my eyes. She has been searingly capturing the stories of these refugees like no one out there. Go check it out if you haven’t already. Refugees all across the globe deserve better. They deserve for their humanity and dignity to be held like when you hold a bird with broken wings in your hand. 

Connect to humanity. Not only because ’tis the season, but because we are all we’ve got, the earth is the only land we’ve got, and it belongs to all of us. We all have red blood.

Be good. With love,

Sol

Leadership succession in the Bronx arts and culture sphere is a thing to look at, write about, and discuss. The future does matter. This is a subject I’ll delve into in 2019. I’m pre-preparing my year. For now.

Oscar J. Rivera is an example of that tomorrow for EnFoco. Since 1974 EnFoco has supported visual and photographic artists of color in underserved communities. But, the borough is changing, leaders are aging, and the promise of these imperative spaces and projects need us and younger minds to carry out the next 40-years.

This was the undercurrent feeling I was left with after my convo with Oscar. Young, purposeful, real, he’s a man with a caring eye and heart. He travels from Brooklyn to the Bronx to make it to the office and is quickly becoming an inter-borough creative connector. Love him for it. December’s Nueva Luz photo journal is The Queer Issue with Oscar’s touch from beginning to end. To purchase or check it all out visit EnFoco’s website, and listen to us with perfect sound, here.

With gratitude for the Lenape Indians, original holders of Manhattan.

Sol

Announcements:

Alexa Rivera @ the Bronx Music Heritage Center 11-11

Trina Bardusco has a new blog!

View for Death on sale.

Episode 117 | Harvest Season |  Screening @ DOC NYC 11-13 and 11-15 IFC Center

“Harvest Season” is about caregivers. I said I would dedicate these weeks to caregivers and their stories. This is a short story about the storyteller of California wine country, as seen and told through the ones that care for the harvest year-in-year-out. Arduous work. Dedicated focus with knowledge of respect for the seasons. Out in the wine country, anything can happen. A crop is never assured, as is nothing in life really, but gusto, bravado, and the need and will to carry on.

In his latest documentary feature “Harvest Season,” Bernardo again unfolds a multilayered story that points at U.S. immigration laws, labor history, and American history. The nuances come out of the stories as if they were made to boil only they surface naturally because knowledge is passed down from generation; sacrifice is what it takes to make it in the land business, and an entire industry would not be able to subsist without immigrant labor.

In Bernardo’s stories, there is always a moral compass appearing without effort. It comes one second at a time. As the scenes pass, fractions of a seconds end up as large lapses of beats, reasons, and purpose. Such is “Harvest Season.”

Bernardo reaps what he has sowed, which is a lot of humanity, dignity, and history to makes us proud.

Sol

www.harvestseasonmovie.com

www.viewfordeath.com

Picture taken from an article in Latino Sports by Nicole Perez.

In this episode, Minerva Urrutia shares about what it means to be a caregiver, as it relates to the Puerto Rican immigrant experience, being married, having children, and giving up almost everything to provide for an aging parent. Her tale is straightforward, poised, tempered, and loving. She is history in the talking.

November is Caregiving month and View For Death | Paisaje Para La Muerte is set for Thursday, 1 November 2018, with a presentation reception and talkback with Professor Eunice Flemister at the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos. See attached flyer in png format. The book was translated from English into Spanish by Marlène Ramírez-Cancio.

Grateful for Minerva’s time, consideration, and friendship.

Respect your elders.

Sol

Ebook on Amazon | Print copies on www.viewfordeath.com

www.nfand.com

Donate to 80grados, Prensasinprisa funding campaign.

Carmen Matos - aka Bx Queen

I met Carmen very recently at the Mott Haven Bar and Grill and almost instantly we got into a heart-to-heart talk about the experiences that have made us grow up and mature. We quickly realized we had both had the experience of being caregivers.

On she went to share her tale. A sad one, but also uplifting. Sometimes the darkest moments have splendor and therein stood our common ground. Her last line in this conversation is, “sometimes we have to fall to realize how strong we are when we get back up.” Word.

Unfortunately, falling seems to be a must in life and the hardest part is getting back on the road to forward. It is that journey of getting back up that I hold as the crux of the matter and feel compelled to help. The book I wrote is about just that, falling. Falling deep into grief, or as Professor Eunice Flemister told me in a recent talk, “the power of grief.” We so seldom expose it and talk about it; I feel we cheat ourselves out of a chance to connect with one another’s humanity.

It makes sense that Carmen is aka as the Bx Queen. She is stunning, tall, with piercing blue/green eyes, and warm. When you’re with her, you feel like she’s got you. I thank her for her candidness and tears, which are my own.

For the next few weeks, as lead up to share with the world a personal tale, I brace myself with bravery. Unveiling myself is a bit nutty, I haven’t always succeeded in the past when I have, but it is the only way to catch sincerity. And I won’t back down from that way of being. I want to help women caregivers in dire straights, and the only way I had to do that was to open myself for the purpose.

Carmen and the rest of the women voices I’ll be sharing with you all have that, grief, bravery, solid oak dignity, and heart.

Always from the heart.

Sol

www.viewfordeath.com

check it out

“Puerto Rico Flag Fingerprint country pride” by Pixabay is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Words and reasonings flow out of Julio Pabón with rhythm and feeling. He’s a natural storyteller. Here he delves into the history and particulars of The Jones Act. The long-standing maritime law creates a lockdown in the ports that has and continues to place an unjust economic burden on the people of Puerto Rico. He wants to go to Jacksonville for a National Day of Respect & Justice for Puerto Rico on October 26, 27, and 28, 2018. This is a non-partisan issue for Julio and his comrades, this is a human rights issue.

The central events will take place in Orlando on October 26 with a film showing; a rally in Kissimmee on October 27; closing with a symposium on The Jones Act in Jacksonville, Florida on October 28. We want Puerto Ricans, allies, and friends to do some kind of event wherever they live in the United States on The Jones Act and its impact on the island. Julio says that actions large and small count: share art, news, hold vigils, calls, and letters to local Congressional and Federal Senators #amendthejonesact, “please put the issue of Puerto Rico and The Jones Act on your agendas. Puerto Ricans in the island don't have a vote in our Federal elections, BUT WE DO!”

Sol