This lovely photo montage captures what my parents shared w/me and my siblings through stories, song and traditions about life on the island in the '40s. It's quite emotional for those of us of the Great Migration.
Also, I suspect many of our fellow Latino migrants--especially today's abused immigrant workers--can relate as well.
Even the harshest Republican governors on the US mainland aren't pushing for the mass firing of govt workers, but the one in Puerto Rico is. Gov Luis Fortuño has already fired 20,000 govt workers, including 7300 school teachers, and plans to fire another 10,000. This is on top of an island economy that leads the nation in unemployment and that shed 41,000 private sector jobs in the past year alone.
PR's unemployment rate now stands 17.5% -- again, by far the highest in the US and 2nd only to the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. Oh, and the PR rate doesn't account for the under-employed nor for those who have given up hope of employment.
It's likely that 50- 60-70% of the island's workers are NOT gainfully employed—and prospects for such are exceedingly slim given the government’s boneheaded policies.
It's under this scenario that Fortuño's reckless firings, combined w/a military-style crackdown on protestors that's pushing PR over the edge. Though his response is not new...making life so miserable for workers that they migrate to the mainland is a well honed govt. strategy. Seriously, it's the classic San Juan approach to solving labor and economic challenges.
Watch tomorrow's island-wide strike. PR's future may very well depend on what the workers and the govt choose to do.
“Your film contributed to our great success and was well received by the media, sponsors and patrons of the Festival.” Orlando Hispanic Film Festival
Very nice.
Special thanks went to 65th veterans: SFC German Bravo (Ret.) and Raul Reyes Castañeira (both participated in the program), CSM Jose Amalbert (Ret.), Andres Medina and Igrail Morales; Carlos Guffain (65th vet LTC Tomas Guffain’s son), and the Orlando chapter of the Borinqueneers Motorcycle Club.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) debated Republican ex-Lt Gov. Betsy McCaughey on healthcare reform last night at NYU. Weiner, a staunch supporter of universal health care w/a single payer system v McCaughey, the conservo analyst credited w/taking down the Clinton Health Plan in ’92, who believes the system is fine.
The debate, Lincoln-Douglas style, lasted 1.2 hours, and offered the expected sizzle. The embedded video is of the full debate. For TPM’s summary: http://bit.ly/ZjzDj.
Christopher London (ManhattanSociety.com, London in New York) was on hand to witness and photograph the pro-con clash. London gave Weiner the win by TKO:
“In my humble opinion, we did not just witness a fearless, progressive democratic warrior in action, who is a great voice for New York City, but perhaps the birth of a future Mayor of New York, a Senator or who knows?”
Here’s a link to London’s terrific Weiner v McCaughey Debate photos: http://bit.ly/dMP4Q.
Latin Music USA on PBS is a story about American music. Fusions of Latin sounds with jazz, rock, country, rhythm and blues - music with deeper roots and broader reach than most people realize. It’s a fresh take on our musical history, reaching across time and across musical genres to embrace the exciting hybrid sounds created by Latinos; musical fusions that have deeply enriched popular music in the US for over more than five decades.
The series features the memorable stories of artists including among others, the memorable stories of artists including among others, Salsa greats Willie Colón and Marc Anthony; the Latin-inflected sounds found in much of sixties’ rock and roll from the Drifters to Motown to the Rolling Stones; the genius of Texas accordion player Flaco Jiménez; Carlos Santana; Linda Ronstadt; the legendary Chicano rock band Los Lobos; megastars Gloria and Emilio Estefan; Ricky Martin and Juanes; Miami rapper Pitbull; Reggaeton performers Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderón; Lin-Manuel Miranda from the Tony Award winning musical “In the Heights.”
The life experiences of these and many other unforgettable artists will reveal how Latinos have reinvented their music in the United States and forged new identities within this country, while never losing sight of their own rich traditions.
4 Part Series
The PBS documentary airs in four parts and feautures a mix of music and interviews. It airs in English on PBS with an available Spanish-language track via V-me TV.
Part 1: Traces the rise of Latin jazz and the explosion of the mambo and the cha cha chá as they sweep the US from East to West. Latin Music infiltrates r&b and rock and roll through the 1960s.
Part 2: Puerto Ricans and other Latinos in New York reinvent the Cuban son and the Puerto Rican plena, adding elements from soul and jazz to create Salsa, which becomes a defining rhythm for Latinos the world over.
Part 3: Mexican-Americans in California, Texas and across the Southwest create their own distinct musical voices during the second half of the 20th century. Their music would play an important role in the struggle for Chicano civil rights and ultimately propel them from the barrio to the national stage.
Part 4: Looks at the explosion of Latin music in the turn of the century, focusing on the success of artists like Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan and Shakira in the English-language market - in the context of an increasingly Latinized US. As studios focus on star-driven pop, Latino youth gravitate toward urban fusions - Spanish rap and reggaeton. Rising numbers of Latinos entering the US create new markets for genres like Rock en Español.
Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa, the "voice of Latin America" whose music inspired opponents of South America's brutal military regimes and led to her forced exile in Europe, died today. She was 74.
Watch the video for a glimpse into what made 'La Negra' beloved by the people and hated by the powerful.
Who is Latino? is a question on the minds of many.
Here's one way of figuring whether you are or are not Latino:
Watch 'Emigrante Latino' by the Salvadorean group 'Los Hermanos Flores', and if you're not deeply moved by the music, images and the words, you're NOT Latino.
If you have Latin American family heritage--in whole or in part--and you feel deep empathy, a connection, to the people in the song, then you ARE Latino.
This lovely photo montage captures what my parents shared w/me and my siblings through stories, song and traditions about life on the island in the '40s. It's quite emotional for those of us of the Great Migration.
Even the harshest Republican governors on the US mainland aren't pushing for the mass firing of govt workers, but the one in Puerto Rico is. Gov Luis Fortuño has already fired 20,000 govt workers, including 7300 school teachers, and plans to fire another 10,000. This is on top of an island economy that leads the nation in unemployment and that shed 41,000 private sector jobs in the past year alone.
Producers of THE BORINQUENEERS today announced that their film has won the 2009 Orlando Hispanic Film Festival Audience Award.
Latin Music USA on PBS is a story about American music. Fusions of Latin sounds with jazz, rock, country, rhythm and blues - music with deeper roots and broader reach than most people realize. It’s a fresh take on our musical history, reaching across time and across musical genres to embrace the exciting hybrid sounds created by Latinos; musical fusions that have deeply enriched popular music in the US for over more than five decades.
Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa, the "voice of Latin America" whose music inspired opponents of South America's brutal military regimes and led to her forced exile in Europe, died today. She was 74.
