Un Periódico Diferente / A Different Kind of Newspaper
Izamiento de la Bandera de la República Dominicana en
Un Periódico Diferente / A Different Kind of Ne
Springfield
Foto del Mes /Photo of the Month
Remembering our March 2005 Edition
Un podcast sobre la historia del archipiélago de Puerto Rico y el Caribe
Conversaciones con expertos sobre el tema y personalidades de interés. Con el historiador público Ramón A. González-Arango López.
¡Nuevo episodio todos los jueves! ¡Comparte y disfrútalo!
contents
2 Foto del Mes /Photo of the Month Remembering our March 2005 Edition
3 Izamiento de la Bandera de la República Dominicana en Springfield
4 Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one
5 Bad Bunny, Puerto Rico, and public history
6 Westfield State University será la sede de la Cumbre Equidad en el 413
7 El empresario Cesar Ruiz adquiere el Wyckoff Country Golf Club
Opinión / Opinion
Recent Executive Actions Are Dismantling Laws Against Discrimination
8 The Power of Learning, The Strength of Women
9 Literatura / Literature Antes de salir de casa
13 Libros / Books
US According to Them - Stateside Portrayals of Puerto Ricans and Their Culture, 1898-2010
A Handbook of Latinx Art
14 Latinas in Nursing: Stories of determination, inspiration, and trust
15 Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico
16 Arte / Art
Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People Exhibition at CENTRO Gallery
Música / Music
Camille Thurman con The Darrell Green Quartet en UMass Amherst
17 The Pioneer Valley Symphony presents Windows Into Other Worlds
Editor Manuel Frau Ramos manuelfrau@gmail.com 413-320-3826
Assistant Editor Ingrid Estrany-Frau
Art Director Tennessee Media Design
Business Address El Sol Latino P.O Box 572 Amherst, MA 01004-0572
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El Sol Latino is published monthly by Coquí Media Group. El Sol Latino es publicado mensualmente por Coquí Media Group, P.O Box 572, Amherst, MA 01004-0572.
Izamiento de la Bandera de la República Dominicana en Springfield por
El Centro Cultural y Deportivo Dominicano (CCDD) en Springfield, MA, organizó la ceremonia de izamiento de la bandera de la República Dominicana en el Ayuntamiento de Springfield para honrar la herencia y el espíritu de la comunidad dominicana. El evento se llevó a cabo el sábado 22, 2025.
El tradicional evento reunió a la comunidad dominicana del área para honrar la bandera que sirve como símbolo de libertad y unidad y celebrar la rica historia cultural y los logros de los dominicanos en los Estados Unidos.
El evento incluyó un discurso de bienvenida del presidente del centro (CCDD), Donar Saillant, y otros discursos destacando la importancia histórica y la relevancia cultural de la bandera dominicana. La ceremonia conmemoró el 181 aniversario de la independencia de la República Dominicana de Haití. Se reconocieron los esfuerzos de los líderes revolucionarios Juan Pablo Duarte, Ramón Matías, y otros que resultaron en la liberación el 27 de febrero de 1844.
El grupo de teatro comunitario 7 Arts Latino Foundation hizó una representación inspirada en la noche de la Declaración de la Independencia Dominicana. David Martínez, a nombre de la Fundación, felicitó a la directiva del Centro Cultural y Deportivo Dominicano y a todos sus voluntarios por el éxito de la ceremonia del izamiento de la bandera. David también agradeció a los organizadores por “haber confiado en nosotros para representar el momento artístico-cultural del evento con Trabucazo de Libertad”.
Bethania Rodríguez, vice-consul de la República Dominicana en Boston, representó al Consulado en la ceremonia. El alcalde de Springfield, Domenic J. Sarno, junto a los representantes electos de
MANUEL FRAU RAMOS
la ciudad y del estado, se unieron a la comunidad dominicana de Springfield para esta ceremonia especial.
Entre los participantes en la ceremonia se encontraban el senador estatal Adam Gómez, el representante estatal Carlos González, y los concejales de la ciudad de Springfield José Delgado y María Pérez.
En su discurso, el alcalde Domenic J. Sarno resaltó la importancia de la diversidad en la ciudad de Springfied al manifestar que, “As we continue to honor our city’s diversity, it is important to thank, acknowledge and recognize our Dominican residents, families and businesses for their continued belief and investment in our Springfield. Springfield is proud of our history and the diverse heritage from all of our residents and I am proud to stand together with our Dominican Community as we celebrate Dominican Independence Day.”
El Centro Cultura y Deportivo Dominicano (CCDD) tiene como misión el promover, fortalecer y fomentar la cultura y tradiciones dominicanas a través de la participación comunitaria y deportiva, las expresiones culturales y la identidad nacional para contribuir a la unidad de la diáspora dominicana.
Domenic J. Sarno, alcalde de Springfield
Asistentes al evento
Donar Saillant, Presidente del Centro Cultural y Deportivo Dominicano
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one
by DEAN ROBBINS
This article originally appeared on the NEWS. WISC EDU (University of Wisconsin-Madison) on February 10, 2025
How would you feel if, out of the blue, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny called to ask you a favor? Last December, that’s what happened to Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, a University of Wisconsin–Madison assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history. Bad Bunny (aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) vibed with Meléndez-Badillo’s acclaimed 2024 book “Puerto Rico: A National History,” and the rapper’s team proposed that the scholar write historical narratives to accompany videos for the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
Meléndez-Badillo dove into the project and composed entries for 17 songs within a week. Four days later, the videos with his Spanishlanguage text dropped on YouTube, racking up millions of views and making the UW professor something of a superstar himself. Sales spiked for “Puerto Rico: A National History,” and international media clamored for interviews.
Meléndez-Badillo was gratified by the chance to explore Puerto Rico’s challenges while celebrating its distinctive culture. His Bad Bunny adventure, he says in our recent conversation, has been “mind-blowing.”
Why did Bad Bunny reach out to you?
I think it’s because of the reception my book “Puerto Rico: A National History” has had in Puerto Rico. It seeks to understand the current political moment, and it aligned with the vision Bad Bunny had for “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.” The book is a history of Puerto Rico from pre-Columbian societies all the way to Bad Bunny, shedding light on communities that have been marginalized throughout history: working-class movements, feminist movements, queer movements. It’s interested in how history can help us to understand the present and also to envision potential futures.
What is the current political moment in Puerto Rico?
Puerto Rico has been undergoing a series of fiscal, political and social crises since at least 2006. In “Puerto Rico: A National History,” I trace the longer history of that crisis. We have a frail infrastructure, and there’s a massive exodus of Puerto Ricans leaving the archipelago. It’s a series of unfortunate events caused mainly by colonialism and lack of sovereignty.
Why do you think the book connected with Bad Bunny and other Puerto Ricans?
I’ve always been guided by teachings from my grandparents, and I tried to add a human element to the narrative. I come from a working-class background, and that serves as my intellectual compass for the questions I ask about history. I wanted to write a book that could be taught in university classrooms but also read outside of the university — one that would be accessible to my grandparents, who made it to the fourth and sixth grade. It’s received a lot of attention and is being sold in the airport and in pharmacies in Puerto Rico. I hope it’s helped people understand the complexities and the beauty of Puerto Rican history.
Meléndez-Badillo: “Never in my life did I think that Bad Bunny would help my scholarship reach such broad audiences.”
Photo by Aurora Santiago Ortiz
Were you a Bad Bunny fan before he contacted you?
A huge fan. I’ve seen him multiple times and have also written about him in a scholarly way alongside UW–Madison professor Aurora Santiago Ortiz. So I was excited when someone on his team reached out to me about a collaboration. We got on the phone, and the team explained that the record is a tribute to Puerto Rican culture and music — a national affirmation in the face of displacement and gentrification. I immediately said yes.
How did you approach the writing?
Bad Bunny was interested in a general overview of Puerto Rican history to go with the YouTube videos, so I wrote historical narratives that cover the conquest by the Spanish empire in 1508 until the present day. They also focus on specific topics like the creation of the Puerto Rican flag, strikes in the sugarcane industry, and Afro musical styles in Puerto Rico, from bomba and plena to reggaeton.
What’s been the response?
I’ve gotten messages from people around the world thanking me because they did not know anything about Puerto Rico — its colonial history and the richness of its culture. I’ve also gotten messages from Puerto Ricans who are learning about their own history. And Puerto Rican teachers have been incorporating the information in their classrooms.
Given this new wrinkle in your career, is UW–Madison a good place to continue your work on Puerto Rican history?
UW–Madison was always my dream job. The university has a great tradition of Latin American and Caribbean scholarship, and some of the greatest minds in the field were trained here. So I was over the moon when I got an offer to be part of that and am now working to expand Puerto Rican studies at UW.
I became a historian because I wanted to share the knowledge with people outside of academia. But never in my life did I think that Bad Bunny would help my scholarship reach such broad audiences, using the biggest platform in the world.
Bad Bunny, Puerto Rico, and public history
This essay originally appeared on the “Ideas” page of the Princeton University Page website https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/badbunny-puerto-rico-and-public-history).”
2025 began with a musical gift. The evening before Three King’s Day, on January 6th, Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny released his sixth album DeBÍ TiRAR MaS FOTos (I Should Have Taken More Pictures).
Considering that Bad Bunny is the most streamed artist in the world, it is not surprising that the response was immediate, passionate, viral. Videos proliferated of fans hearing each song for the first time amid shouts of joy, spontaneous and exuberant dance moves, and tears. The title song, a nostalgia-soaked ode to loving and appreciating people while we have them, spurred in-memoriam video montages and digital photo albums on social media. And the album started receiving glowing reviews, replete with detailed analyses of each musical decision, sample, and Puerto Rican rhythm (salsa, plena, reggaeton, and other Afro-Caribbean beats punctuate the album in an irresistible cross-generational appeal).
Were it not for the album’s official YouTube videos, this viral phenomenon would have remained on the outskirts of my consciousness. Just one more Thing on the Internet. But Bad Bunny made an unprecedented decision to use his power to refuse the demands of our mediatic age. Instead of releasing flashy, highly produced videos for each track, the artist’s team worked with Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, author of Puerto Rico: A National History, to create historical slides that were launched alongside each of the seventeen tracks.
The historical slides are exactly what would be expected at an academic conference. A paragraph or two of sans-serif text on a solid-colored background with a single photo to the right. Each slide has precisely the same format. The aesthetics are decidedly PowerPoint 2000.
by PRIYA NELSON | Senior Editor of History at Princeton University Press
Dense layers of meaning bely the simplicity of the slides. The background is the light blue of the original Puerto Rican flag, before the US imposed the current dark blue to match its own. And the texts themselves speak with the music, creating innumerable possibilities for historical insight. The crux of the album, for example, is “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” a call for solidarity in the face of rampant and violent gentrification that announces its politics in the title. (The lyrics elaborate: They want to take my river and my beach too. They want my neighborhood and for grandma to leave. No, don’t let go of the flag nor forget the le-lo-lai. ‘Cause I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawai’i.) One of Meléndez-Badillo’s texts in the official video discusses the colonization of Hawai’i and the use of Puerto Rican labor in the exercise of domination. Another explains the existential challenges facing the sapo concho frog, native to Puerto Rico. The resonances are clear. Puerto Rico’s present—marked most devastatingly by environmental crisis and the despairing sense that everything is at the mercy of the highest bidder—is our global present. We can’t understand the endangered species without understanding the luxury resort. The many extinctions looming on the horizon are all connected.
Yet hope remains. Bad Bunny’s gift was also a declaration. The album’s mascot, which appears in Bad Bunny’s official channels and merchandise, is a sapo concho. Framing the frog are the words: PUERTO RICO. SEGUIMO AQUÍ.
We are still here. We are here dancing and singing. We are here playing our ancestoral drums and teaching our history with the newest digital technologies. We are here fighting for our future. Nothing had prepared me for seeing the historical visualizers for the first time. The world of dance, music, and popular culture in general has never enjoyed any definable relationship to my work as acquisitions editor for history. I have seen more PowerPoints than I care to remember, but never outside of a classroom or academic conference.
It has taken weeks to process the collision of contexts, and every day that passes presents a new angle on what has become a global cultural phenomenon. Amid all the dancing and singing, others were reading and rereading the historical texts, just as I was, and commenting on YouTube. Calls to solidarity mixed with appreciative comments on the history lessons. Around Latin America, DJs began to remix the new album with the beats of local politically active musicians, creating a sense of transnational identity and resistance as the US embarks on another wild chapter of oppressing its southern neighbors. Letters from teachers in Puerto Rico’s besieged school system poured into the author’s inbox. Publicity mounted all over the world, with many reviews explaining, specifically, the artist’s decision to downplay his own image and elevate a collective continued on page 6
“La Guerra después de la guerra (1898-1899),” historical visualizer by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo for VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR from the album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (2025).
Westfield State University será la sede de la Cumbre Equidad en el 413
SPRINGFIELD, MA | COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS | Febrero 4, 2025- La cumbre Equidad en 413 regresa para 2025 y en maneras mas prominentes e impactantes. Programada para el jueves 12 de junio de 2025, de 8 AM a 5 PM en la Westfield State University, la cumbre espera fomentar el crecimiento, la colaboración y la acción. Su traslado a WSU refleja el creciente interés y compromiso de empresas, organizaciones e instituciones de todos los sectores para involucrar a aun mas personas en conversaciones fundamentales sobre equidad racial en el oeste de Massachusetts. En 2023, Equidad en el 413 reunió a más de 350 profesionales de la región, todos invitados a tomar medidas concretas para promover la equidad racial en sus lugares de trabajo y comunidades. Este año, la cumbre se basa en su éxito anterior con nuevas oportunidades de participación y una destacada conferencia magistral que inspirara a los asistentes a pensar en grande y actual con valentía. Subiendo al escenario como oradora principal estará Serilda Summers-McGee, fundadora y directora ejecutiva de Workplace Change, una firma de personas y cultura creada para guiar, asesorar y motivar al mundo empresarial en su crecimiento y transición, tanto interna como externamente, mientras integra la diversidad, la equidad y la inclusión en los sistemas de recursos humanos. Con más de 17 años de experiencia como innovadora en H.R. and DEI, ha perfeccionado su capacidad para identificar desafíos y oportunidades, ensenando a miles de personas a ser mejores lideres. Ha inspirado a innumerables profesionales a crear, adoptar y movilizar cambios organizacionales duraderos. Summers-McGee desafiara a los asistentes a repensar lo que es posible y ofrecerá estrategias para construir organizaciones más equitativas. Equidad en el 413 se complace en dar la bienvenida a Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Faith Based Health Alliance, y Westfield State University como nuevos socios organizadores este ano. Estas valiosas incorporaciones a un equipo de organización ya excepcional prometen aportar nuevas perspectivas y energía a la planificación del evento. Los socios organizadores buscan crear una experiencia en la que como suele verse en los campus, las ideas
Bad
puedan florecer y el cambio significativo puede comenzar. Los demás socios organizadores son:
• Behavioral Health Network
• Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
• Hilltown Community Health Center
• Health New England
• Human Service Forum
• Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts
• City of Springfield DHHS
• Western Mass EDC
• Women of Color Health Equity Collective
En el mundo actual, las conversaciones sobre equidad son mas necesarias que nunca. Equidad en el 413 responde a la urgencia de abordar los desafíos sociales y profesionales con ideas prácticas de profesionales comunitarios comprometidos a marcar la diferencia en nuestra región, quienes lideraran sesiones y presentaciones como facilitadores. La cumbre es una oportunidad única para alejarse del ruido y enforcarse en el trabajo que realmente importa—crear un oeste de Massachusetts mas justo e inclusivo a largo plazo. Para reservar su lugar o convertirse en socio comunitario como patrocinador del evento, visite communityfoundation.org/E413.
Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, fundada en 1991, busca enriquecer la calidad de vida de las personas en nuestra región. Con un patrimonio que supera los $282 millones, la fundación presta servicio a los tres condados a lo largo del rio Connecticut y el oeste de Massachusetts (Hampden, Hampshire, y Franklin condados) como un recurso, catalizador y coordinador de actividades filantrópicas. Para obtener mas información, visite communityfoundation.org.
Para más información sobre este tema, por favor llame a Emma Mesa-Melendez al (413) 732-2858, o envíele un correo electrónico a emesa@communityfoundation.org
Bunny, Puerto Rico, and public history continued from page 5
sense of history. Since its release, the album has maintained a place at the top of the charts, and the historical videos have been viewed, in total, well over three hundred million times.
Something new has been created. Bad Bunny fans around Latin America and the world and Puerto Ricans of all generations have already taken note. I hope public historians will take note too.
Like most people who care about the public understanding of history, I did not expect the early days of 2025 to be a time of joy. But joyful they have been. Amid the mounting threats—the book bans, the rewriting of history, the bullying of historians within the academy and beyond, and the unabashed subjugation of truth to power—true public history will live on. Its sustenance may not come from where we expect, but not every frustrated expectation is cause for lament. This Three King’s Day, Bad Bunny gave historians a reason to rejoice.
Publishing any book is an attempt to send a message to readers of today and tomorrow. Puerto Rico by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo is public history at its best—written out of a deep love for the people of the oldest colony in the world and offered to them with honesty and respect. Today we can say that the message of Puerto Rico was received. It was received on a scale that, as high as our hopes always were, no one involved in its publication could have imagined. This is the marvelous gambit of creation.
As we look ahead to 2025 and wonder about the future of history, I hope public historians will, on reading this story, carry with them a bit of the hope that I have felt this year. Yes, many spaces that once allowed truth to flourish are falling away. But we are still here. We are here—together—thinking and publishing. We are here honoring history. And we are here fighting for our future Buy this book at https://press.princeton.edu/books/ paperback/9780691231297/puerto-rico#buy
Serilda Summers-McGee, fundadora y directora ejecutiva de Workplace Change
El empresario Cesar Ruiz adquiere el Wyckoff Country Golf Club
El empresario Cesar Ruiz recientemente adquirió el Wyckoff Country Club localizado en la ciudad de Holyoke, Massachusetts. El campo de golf fue adquirido por la cantidad de 2.8 millones de dólares. La propiedad de cerca de 109 acres, que incluye un campo de golf de 18 hoyos y una casa club, cuenta con el “Daniel Ross Course” Restaurant. De acuerdo al comunicado de prensa, la nueva administración continuará operando el campo de golf, el restaurante y la casa club.
El restaurante y la casa club se someterán a una renovación y se modernizarán. También se adquirirán nuevos carros de golf que sustituirán la flota existente, además de otras futuras mejoras.
Se proyecta que la modernización de Wyckoff atraiga nuevos miembros y genere nuevos empleos.
Ruiz mencionó que en estos momentos la propiedad de Wyckoff no se utilizará para llevar a cabo actividades que no estén relacionadas
Opinión / Opinion
por MANUEL FRAU RAMOS
con el golf, ni para ser sede de eventos de otra índole. Sin embargo, se planifica que la nueva propiedad forme parte integral de un proyecto deportivo a construirse en varias localizaciones en Holyoke. El mismo fue anunciado por Ruiz el pasado 6 de febrero de 2024. El proyecto conlleva la construcción de unas facilidades deportivas estilo olímpico con el deporte del voleibol como pieza central. El moderno complejo deportivo albergará la nueva sede del Salón de la Fama del Voleibol Internacional, que actualmente comparte el espacio con el Holyoke Children’s Museum ubicado en 444 Dwight Street. El proyecto busca afianzar el status de Holyoke como la cuna del voleibol y como centro (hub) para el desarrollo global de este deporte.
Cesar Ruiz es natural de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Se crió en el vecindario del North End de Springfield. En el 1967, la familia adquirió su primera casa en el sector de Forest Park.
Ruiz es producto del sistema de Escuelas Públicas de Springfield. Estudió en la Universidad de Massachusetts-Amherst. En 1980, a la edad de 25 años, Cesar hizo historia al convertirse en el primer latino elegido para el Comité Escolar de Springfield.
En 2016, Cesar cofundó Golden Years Home Care Services. En el 2020 estableció Golden Years Behavioral Health Group, brindando servicios cruciales para adolescentes en las áreas de rehabilitación de drogas y salud mental.
Recent Executive Actions Are Dismantling Laws Against Discrimination
MIGUEL L. ARCE and JOSÉ P. ARCE
President Trump is moving at a dizzying speed in banning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programming. DEI initiatives promote essential components for a healthy, thriving society. Their purpose is to foster equitable environments in businesses and schools, especially for historically marginalized communities. Although DEI initiatives date back to the 1960s, more were launched and expanded in the early 2020s during increased calls for racial justice. DEI seeks the presence of individuals, regardless of their background or identity, into a welcoming environment where all are empowered to fully participate and contribute, to have “a seat at the table.”
Project 2025
Project 2025, also known as the “2025 Presidential Transition Project,” is a plan, which was created by conservative organizations, for a radical dismantling of the federal government. The plan to alter the government was led by The Heritage Foundation. During the 2024 election campaign, President Trump denied knowing anything about the 900-page document proposing to dismantle government. It is seeking to set and enforce a plan by the Executive branch that is supposedly to restore the family as the center piece of American society (PBS News Hour, 2/22/2025). Recent executive actions align closely with Project 2025. President Trump’s January 21 Executive Order “Ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity” revokes the Equal Opportunity rule signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, which is still the law today (CBS News, Money Watch, January 25, 2025).
Project 2025 calls for deleting from every government office, every agency regulation, every contract, grant, and every piece of legislation
that contain words like diversity, equity, and inclusion. According to Forbes (12/22/24), Trump’s earliest Executive Order matches with Project 2025’s DEI recommendations, which fit into four main categories:
• Abolishing DEI offices and personnel in the federal government;
• Ending the government’s participation in DEI initiatives; • Amending laws that regulate against discrimination; and, • Taking enforcement action against any organization that engages in DEI.
The conservative document states that “all state and local governments, institutions of higher education, corporations and any other private employers who are engaged in ‘discrimination’ (quotations added by contributors) are in violation of constitutional and legal requirements” (p. 562, Forbes, 12/22/24)”. Pam Bondi, newly appointed U.S. Attorney General is even considering “criminal investigations” of companies that pursue DEI (Commercial Observer, 2/18/25).
Another attack on education
As a current and a former college professor, we are particularly concerned about the Education Department’s “ultimatum to stop using ‘racial preferences’ as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas” (Collin Binkley, Associated Press, 2/18/25). America’s colleges and universities were given two weeks to eliminate diversity programming or lose federal funds. Angel B. Perez, chief executive officer of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, represents 28,000 college admissions personnel. He states that, even though higher education institutions know what they are doing is not illegal, they are worried that non-compliance will impact their federal funding. The Executive Order uses vague
continued on page 11
Cesar Ruiz anunciando el nuevo complejo deportivo en febrero 2024.
The Power of Learning, The Strength of Women
by Dr. SONIA E. DINNALL Superintendent of Springfield Public Schools
Throughout history, education has been a force for change. Knowledge provides upward mobility. Women like Mary McLeod Bethune and Dolores Huerta understood this and dedicated their lives to ensuring that learning was accessible to all.
Bethune, an educator and civil rights leader, knew that education was the foundation of true empowerment. She founded a school for Black girls and created a lasting institution, Bethune-Cookman University, which has provided opportunities for generations of students. She believed that through learning, families and communities would be lifted.
Huerta, an advocate for workers’ rights, believed that education was vital to creating a just society. She worked to ensure that farmworkers had access to schools, fought against discrimination, and empowered learners to use their voices. Her activism changed laws and proved that knowledge is power.
The stories of Bethune and Huerta remind us that education is a tool for empowerment and Springfield Public Schools continues to carry that belief. We strive to ensure that all our students are equipped with the knowledge, support, and confidence to pursue their dreams.
The late educator Rita Pierson captured this truth when she said, “Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best they can be.”
When we show up for our students, when we believe in them, we empower them to believe in themselves.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, let’s reaffirm our commitment to education as a path to empowerment, with beliefs as strong as Bethune’s, Huerta’s, and Pierson’s. When we invest in learning, we invest in the power of education to transform lives.
Versión en español
El poder del aprendizaje, la fuerza de las mujeres
A lo largo de la historia, la educación ha sido una fuerza de cambio. El conocimiento proporciona movilidad ascendente. Mujeres como Mary McLeod Bethune y Dolores Huerta lo comprendieron y dedicaron sus vidas a garantizar que el aprendizaje fuera accesible para todos.
Bethune, educadora y líder de los derechos civiles, sabía que la educación era la base del verdadero empoderamiento. Fundó una escuela para niñas negras y creó una institución duradera, la Universidad Bethune-Cookman, que ha brindado oportunidades a generaciones de estudiantes. Creía que, a través del aprendizaje, las familias y las comunidades saldrían adelante. Huerta, defensora de los derechos de los trabajadores, creía que la
educación era vital para crear una sociedad justa. Trabajó para garantizar que los trabajadores agrícolas tuvieran acceso a las escuelas, luchó contra la discriminación y capacitó a los estudiantes para que hicieran oír su voz. Su activismo cambió leyes y demostró que el conocimiento es poder.
Las historias de Bethune y Huerta nos recuerdan que la educación es una herramienta para el empoderamiento y las Escuelas Públicas de Springfield continúan llevando esa creencia. Nos esforzamos para asegurar que todos nuestros estudiantes estén equipados con el conocimiento, el apoyo y la confianza para perseguir sus sueños.
La difunta educadora Rita Pierson capturó esta verdad cuando dijo, “Cada niño merece un campeón-un adulto que nunca se dará por vencido con ellos, que entiende el poder de la conexión, e insiste en que se conviertan en lo mejor que puedan ser.”
Cuando apoyamos a nuestros estudiantes, cuando creemos en ellos, les damos la posibilidad de creer en sí mismos.
Al celebrar el Mes de la Historia de la Mujer, reafirmemos nuestro compromiso con la educación como camino hacia la autonomía, con convicciones tan firmes como las de Bethune, Huerta y Pierson. Cuando invertimos en aprendizaje, invertimos en el poder de la educación para transformar vidas. Opinión /
Publish your bilingual ad in El SolLatino! Call us today at (413) 320-3826.
Dr. SONIA E. DINNALL, Springfield Public Schools
Literatura / Literature
Antes de salir de casa
por JOSÉ EDGARDO CRUZ FIGUEROA
Antes de salir de casa, puse un disco de Eddie Palmieri para acompañarlo con mis timbalitos. Toqué la nueva versión de “Azúcar” en el disco Sueño. La portada del disco, un elepé, es una foto de un mural en la calle 9 y la avenida C, en Loisaida, donde viví un año. La artista nombró al mural, lo adivinaron, “La lucha continúa”, que suele ser el grito de guerra de los derrotados. En Loisaida unos tecatos se metieron en mi apartamento y me robaron el tocadiscos, un rollo de papel de inodoro—increíble pero cierto—y unas monedas sueltas. Sin pensarlo dos veces, me mudé a un apartamento que estaba a dos edificios de la esquina de Lafayette y Spring, que era como estar en el centro de una encrucijada, con cuatro caminos que conducían hacia Little Italy en el oeste, Soho hacia el este, el West Village hacia el norte, y Chinatown hacia el sur. Ahí viví seis años y medio, pagando $300 al mes a cambio de cuatro cuartos y un baño sin lavamanos. En dos de los cuartos si estiraba las manos tocaba las paredes opuestas. En uno de esos cuartitos entretuve por varias noches a una amiga que tenía un nombre bello y poco común que empezaba con la letra Y. Las paredes estaban forradas de libros pero no leímos ni una palabra. El cuarto del frente era tan grande como una pista de baile. Una noche reuní a una docena de amigos para despedir el año. El grupo bailaba con tanta energía que del piso de madera—viejo, crujiente y desnivelado— volaban las astillas. Nosotros nos reíamos y seguíamos bailando. Yo dije: ¡no se quiten los zapatos que se les espeta una astilla y me llenan el piso de sangre!
La gente decía que ese vecindario estaba protegido por la mafia y la verdad es que ahí nunca me pasó nada: el apartamento no tenía rejas en las ventanas y por ahí jamás se metió un tecato ni otro tipo de delincuente. Una vez un viejo italiano me advirtió que dejara de tocar bongós porque estaba en Little Italy, pero no le hice caso y a los dos meses el viejo se murió y yo seguí tocando. Me sentí aliviado pues, a pesar de que era un viejo, la próxima vez que lo viera quizás hubiese tenido que meterle un puño en la cara o una patada en las rodillas para que entendiera que a mí no me amedrentaba. Un amigo me dijo, ten cuidao con los italianos que si los insultas o incluso si les caes mal un mafioso te puede matar. Por suerte para mí, cuando llegué al vecindario a la Mafia lo que le quedaba era la reputación de peligrosa y despiadada. En realidad era perro que ladra pero no muerde.
Cada mañana, en la esquina de Spring y Mulberry, compraba croissants acabados de hornear. A las tres de la tarde iba al Caffe Roma, en la esquina de Mulberry y Broome, para tomarme un café con leche acompañado de un sfogliatella. Ahí me atendía el dueño,
un argentino que no sé por qué me trataba como un compatriota a pesar de que yo soy puertorriqueño. Hablábamos en español y quizás fue por eso, el lenguaje actuando a la misma vez como elemento de unificación étnica y de disolución de nuestra identidad nacional; en el Caffe ambos éramos Latinos.
Después de masacrar “Azúcar” con mi acompañamiento, me lavé la cara, me mojé el pelo, lo estilizé con la crema fijadora que había comprado en Madrid después de que en el aeropuerto de Roma me confiscaran la crema de aceite de oliva que uso regularmente, y me lavé los dientes. En el dentista ya no me dicen que tengo unos dientes bien bonitos pero si los comparo con los de otros creo que están de lo mejor. Hace treinta años que no me sale una carie. Cuando cerré la pluma del lavamanos escuché un ruido en la primera planta. A veces escuchaba sonidos extraños que no podía identificar que resultaban ser imaginarios.
Pensando que otra vez era víctima de un desvarío, escuché pasos. Eran pasos firmes, contundentes, resonantes como un bajo amplificado para ser escuchado en un estadio o como el beat profundo de un reguetón. Al bajar encontré a mi hijo, sentado en una butaca de la sala, tomándose una taza de café. Esa mañana se había afeitado. Llevaba una gorra de los Piratas del Pittsburgh y una camiseta negra demasiado apretada. Le dije: ¡Oh, estás aquí! y me contestó con una sonrisa. Le pregunté si había juego de fútbol esa noche y me dijo que sí pero que no recordaba qué equipos iban a jugar. Miró la aplicación del NFL en su celular y me dijo: los Falcones de Atlanta y las Águilas de Philadelphia a las 8:15 en ESPN. Pasa después del trabajo para verlo, le dije, pero no compres porquerías para cenar que aquí hay un montón de pollo asado y hay que comérselo cuanto antes. Él me dijo OK y quedamos. Entonces entré al Thalia, en el Upper West Side, para ver una película silente acompañada en vivo por un músico local. El tipo era pianista clásico pero estaba desempleado. No lograba conseguir audiencia con ninguna orquesta y él presumía que cuando veían en su resumé que era puertorriqueño, de inmediato lo descartaban. ¿Un puertorriqueño que puede tocar a Rachmaninoff? No es posible. No tenía la más mínima prueba de que era víctima de un prejuicio que, francamente, a la altura del siglo 21 era difícil creer que existiera, pero que nunca lo llamaran era bastante sospechoso. Así que ahí estaba, en la penumbra del Thalia, iluminando con sus notas y acordes el rostro de María Falconetti, dándole magnitud a sus rezos, haciendo que sus movimientos tuviesen el sentido y el sentimiento apropiados a La pasión de Juana de Arco, acordes y notas que estoy seguro que Dreyer habría aprobado.
Yo me acomodé, como siempre, en el centro de la fila del centro y de
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Antes de salir de casa continued from page 9
vez en cuando miraba al pianista con el rabo del ojo y juraba que su manera de tocar expresaba su angustia por no poder tocar como se debe en una buena orquesta, por haber decidido desafiar el destino que le tocaba por ser puertorriqueño, para luego darse cuenta de que había dado un salto al vacío sin paracaídas. Recordé que yo había hecho lo mismo al irme de Puerto Rico pero con un paracaídas intacto y una caída tierna en un campo acolchonado con flores. Su único consuelo, aquella noche en el Thalia, era que al menos podía escapar de los rigores de la música clásica y ofrecerle al público su interpretación de una banda sonora inexistente, dictada por las imágenes en movimiento, como si estuviera dando un concierto de jazz en el siglo 15, obviamente adelantado a su tiempo. Yo estuve tan ensimismado en la música como en las imágenes hasta que mi mujer entró a la sala. Al verme sentado en el sofá eslembao, mirando como un sonámbulo un cuadro de Harry Nadler y portando el sombrero que había perdido en París a la orilla del Sena, me dijo Arturo despierta que ya es hora de que te vayas.
Yo estaba despierto, pero en otra parte. Eso me pasaba a menudo. Si miraba un árbol creía que estaba en medio de un bosque. Una mata cualquiera me transportaba a los campings en El Verde, pescando camarones de río y bebiendo brandy para calentarme, acurrucado con Irene Sullivan en la caseta que nos protegía del torrente de lluvia que siempre caía durante la noche. No se me olvidaba que ella había dejado a su marido para estar conmigo y luego yo la abandoné, pero ese mal recuerdo no lograba sacarme de tiempo.
Cuando me duchaba pensaba que estaba mojándome con todo y ropa bajo una catarata, ya fuese la del Niágara o las de Iguazú, imaginándome con una sombrilla y una capa de plástico en la cubierta del Maid of the Mist o tirándome al agua desde la Garganta del Diablo como un clavadista mexicano. A veces, sentado en la biblioteca, con mis cosas iluminadas por bombillas fosforecentes, con el aire acondicionado tan alto que era imposible que un gérmen invasor sobreviviera para enfermarme, creía que estaba en un quirófano listo para iniciar una cirugía plástica. En esos momentos creía que llovía y buscaba mi paraguas.
Si me ponía a escuchar música recordaba conciertos memorables como el que dio Rubén Blades en Carnegie Hall en 1985, comenzando a la hora exacta mientras se jactaba de ser puntual como los americanos, algunos íntimos como el que ofrecía Hilton Ruiz y Major Holley en un club en Soho que era un roto en la pared, otros más abiertos pero confeccionados a escala humana como los que ofrecía Ray Vega en Kavehaz, primero en Soho en la calle Mercer y luego en la calle 26 cerca de Gramercy Park; regresaba a mis días en la encrucijada que hacía fácil comer croissants acabados de salir del horno y sentarme a perder el tiempo en Caffe Roma hablando en español, pero también comprar bizcochos de queso en Eileen’s, en la esquina de Lafayette y Delancey, cenar una noche en Road to Mandalay, entre Lafayette y Mulberry, y la otra en Il Fornaio, más abajito de Broome, casi llegando a Canal, donde una vez vi a Woody Allen, antes de que se desgraciara, comiéndose un plato de linguini con almejas sin que nadie le prestara la más mínima atención.
Después de comprar discos a $2.99 en Bates en la calle Delancey, me veía caminando todos los lunes desde mi apartamento en la calle Lafayette hasta Bleecker Street, para pasar la noche en el Village Gate escuchando o bailando o ambas cosas durante las presentaciones de Salsa Meets Jazz. Nunca se me olvida la noche que pasé bailando con Isabel Quintana a quien le dije que quería verla como se debe y me dijo I’d like that y no la volví a ver jamás. Con el pasar del tiempo supe que dictaba cátedra en una universidad de Florida y aunque parecía que seguía soltera no la contacté pues ya sabía que aquel I’d like that era solo una frase, algo que se dice por decir y que no significa nada. Del Village Gate salía con una peste a cigarrillo que me cubría completito y que a menos que lavara la ropa y me bañara al llegar al apartamento, lo impregnaba del mal olor por días seguidos. Eso le hacía la vida insoportable a mi novia que por suerte no me lo tomó tan a mal. A pesar de ese agravio y de muchas otras cosas, algunas bien malas, luego accedió a ser mi mujer. Ahora ella es la encargada de traerme de vuelta a la realidad cuando me atasco en tales memorias o cuando me pierdo en fantasías que amenazan con retrasar mi salida de casa. Ella es el ancla que evita que me lleve la corriente. Pero esas memorias y fantasías son siempre un preámbulo, ya sea pretendiendo ser músico al compás de una canción grabada o hundiéndome en un recuerdo, en un bosque imaginario, en una sala de operaciones buscando al dichoso paraguas, en una catarata o en una pintura abstracta, hasta que viene alguien y me jala una oreja o se coloca frente a mí dando saltos. Es como llegar a la oficina del médico, esperar en la recepción, luego pasar a un cuartito donde me hacen esperar más, donde pienso que se ha acabado el mundo y finalmente oigo un toquecito en la puerta que se abre inmediatamente; no me da tiempo de decir sí, estoy listo, y si ya no me he puesto la bata del examen me cogen desnudo. Mi mujer siempre me coge por sorpresa pero nunca desnudo. Es decir, yo siempre estoy listo para salir. De hecho, esos preámbulos oníricos son mi forma de coger impulso para tirarme a la calle. Cuando se rompe la burbuja, siempre estoy bien vestido y con un pie frente al otro. Si no he perdido el sombrero en algún lugar del mundo me lo pongo y me miro en el espejo para ver si está bien. Si hace frío me pongo un abrigo que tiene un botón que dice BOOK JUNKIE y si hace calor no importa, salgo con pantalones largos.
Así, una vez terminé de acompañar a Palmieri, bajé a la primera planta, saludé a mi hijo, quedamos en ver el juego de fútbol, y luego de que mi mujer me sacara del embeleso que la pintura de Nadler me había provocado, mezclando la música y el arte en mi ensueño con el Thalia, miré la aplicación del tiempo en mi celular. La temperatura estaba a 70 grados. Como iba a salir en la Vespa necesitaba un abrigo ligero. Más tarde la temperatura iba a subir a 83 grados pero eso no sería problema pues podía guardar el abrigo en el compartimiento para guantes de la Vespa.
Le dije adiós a mi hijo y me regodeé un poco en la cocina, mirando la nevera a ver si había algo que me pudiera llevar para el almuerzo. Había pollo por todas partes. Estoy harto de tanto pollo. Tendré que comerme una porción de pizza, pensé. Cusato’s, en la esquina de
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Recent
Executive Actions Are Dismantling Laws Against Discrimination continued
language that has had a chilling effect, which is pressuring schools to eradicate DEI programming.
Likewise, since 2023, Republicans in local state legislatures across the country have actively considered bills against college and university DEI efforts. The Chronicle of Higher Education (February 7, 2025) has tracked over 86 such bills introduced in state legislatures and the United States Congress since 2023. In that time, 14 anti-DEI bills have become law. These bills tend to focus on restricting DEI offices and staff, DEI training, diversity statements, and identitybased hiring practices. Although prior practices that were questioned by opponents of DEI were found defensible in court, The Chronicle of Higher Education (December 13, 2024) found that over 200 college have changed names, restructured or closed departments, offices or centers with DEI programming.
Surviving the assaults
In addition to the Executive Order to dismantle DEI on his first day, President Trump signed an order directing federal agencies to terminate all “equity-related” grants or contracts. The directive extends Trump’s executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs as part of his fight against “wokeness.” He signed a follow-up order requiring federal contractors to certify that they do not promote DEI. The Education Department is threatening to withhold federal funds from schools that do not comply with the new guidance to stop using “racial preference” (NPR, 2/19/25; Democracy Now, 2/21/25).
In response, U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore has largely blocked Trump’s executive orders ending federal support for DEI programs. Abelson granted a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from terminating or changing federal contracts they consider equity-related. Furthermore, Abelson found that the orders likely carry constitutional violations, including against free-speech rights (The Associated Press, 2/21/25). Though these executive orders are unconstitutional and a blatant overreach of presidential authority, the Administration’s directives have had a chilling effect on free speech. Thus far, they have impacted public and private education and employment.
Jackie Gharapour Wernz, an education lawyer in Texas, called what is happening as regulation by intimidation (bold type is by the contributors - USA TODAY, 2/20/25). So, can DEI survive Project 2025? Let us keep in mind that building a culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is not just the right thing to do— it also brings tangible benefits to organizations. Since the Education Department’s deadline for schools to follow its letter is February 28th, this a pressing issue. Still, possible litigation could change that timeline indefinitely.
Forging ahead
The recent rise in anti-DEI rhetoric has many concerned about the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Court challenges to Trump’s policies started on Inauguration Day (January 20th) and have continued at a rapid pace ever since. The administration is facing some 70 lawsuits nationwide challenging the executive orders and his moves to downsize the federal government. What can we do? An article in “Forbes” (2/22/25) suggests that we (a) resist the narrative that DEI is going away; (b) tell the story of why diversity, equity and
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inclusion matter; (c) and be clear about DEI strategies, intentions and impacts.
To be clear, DEI programs have always been aimed at creating and sustaining a healthy community by means of maintaining its essential vitality. Diversity recognizes a rich variety of life styles, religions, languages, history, etc. that reflect the citizens and people of the United States. The equity in DEI means that all kinds of people (with particular attention to underrepresented men, women, and children) have the same kinds of opportunities for quality education, meaningful employment, safe neighborhoods and essential services in their communities. Moreover, equity has always been a keystone of the American Dream leading to a meaningful future. Finally, inclusion in the DEI program means that all are given an important voice in how progress toward a better country takes place.
In summary, the dismantling of Diversity-Equity-Inclusion (DEI) by conservatives is much more than eliminating a transitory initiative that is currently in vogue; rather, it is the active destruction of concrete legislation and programs that reinvigorate our country, which must embody hope for all its people. We must not confuse the current political evisceration of federal and state DEI legislation with what the Trump Administration is branding as decisive action to improve governmental efficiency. The wanton destruction of DEI in the name of efficiency is an egregious lie.
Antes de salir de casa continued from page 10
Western Avenue y Quail, ofrece la mejor pizza en el área aledaña a la oficina. Si me la como en la tienda, podré sentarme en la vitrina para mirar la gente pasar. El área no es muy buena y el tránsito pedestre incluye pordioseros, desamparados, enfermos mentales, degenerados, gente que huele mal o que es super obesa, pero también obreros de la construcción, una que otra muchacha empujando un carrito de bebé, poetas que te declaman versos a cambio de monedas, mexicanos que dicen que son de Oaxaca, tan chaparritos—como dicen ellos—que parecen enanos, y estudiantes que aunque no leen un libro van a la escuela.
Mi mujer me dijo bájate de esa nube y acábate de ir que vas a llegar tarde. No sé por qué pensó que mirar detenidamente el contenido de la nevera era lo mismo que estar perdido en una fantasía. Eso a veces me pasaba pero esta vez no era el caso. Estaba cavilando, es cierto, pero en torno a un dilema concreto: ¿pollo o pizza? Tampoco sé por qué me dijo que iba a llegar tarde pues en la oficina nadie me esperaba. Supuse que su alerta era un hábito o quizás producto de una confusión, el resultado de una percepción equivocada. Pero también podía ser su manera de tener la última palabra, cosa que a ella le gusta mucho, antes de verme salir de casa.
JOSÉ EDGARDO CRUZ FIGUEROA (cruzjose5319@ gmail.com) es natural de San Juan y criado en El Fanguito y Barrio Obrero en Santurce, Puerto Rico. Es profesor emérito de ciencias políticas en la Universidad del Estado de Nueva York en Albany.
JOSÉ EDGARDO CRUZ FIGUEROA
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Libros / Books
US According to Them Stateside Portrayals of
Puerto Ricans and Their Culture, 1898-2010
by LIGIA T. DOMENECH • JACKSON, MS | UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI
The acquisition of Puerto Rico as a colony in 1898 prompted the interest of many in the United States—the military, correspondents, investors, missionaries, politicians, scientists, and tourists. Wanting to know more about Puerto Rico, its inhabitants, and its potential utility, many of these curious but untrained observers visited the island and documented their experiences for the benefit of future visitors. Decades later, readers continue to revisit these writings and create new accounts that explore the “effects of American civilization” on Puerto Rican society.
In Us According to Them: Stateside Portrayals of Puerto Ricans and Their Culture, 1898-2010, Puerto Rican historian Ligia T. Domenech exposes the distorted mirror turned on Puerto Rico, one constructed
A
Handbook of Latinx Art
| February 17, 2025 | 442 pages
through the eyes of foreigners. Each of the eighteen chapters focuses on a different aspect of mainland US descriptions of Puerto Rican culture—from gender, race, and class to music, religion, and food. Accurate or not, books on Puerto Rico have contained perceptions about Puerto Ricans and their world that continue to shape opinions held by US citizens dwelling stateside. This book explores the lasting impacts of these repeated stereotypes on the collective understandings of both the colonizer and the colonized.
About the Author
Ligia T. Domenech is an independent history researcher and educator with a PhD in history from the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. She is author of Imprisoned in the Caribbean: The 1942 German U-Boat Blockade and has contributed to such books as Island at War: Puerto Rico in the Crucible of the Second World War, the latter published by University Press of Mississippi.
edited by ROCÍO ARANDA-ALVARADO and DEBORAH CULLEN-MORALES
OAKLAND, CA | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS | February, 2025 | 424 pages
Handbook of Latinx Art is the first anthology to explore the rich, deep, and often overlooked contributions that Latinx artists have made to art in the United States. Drawn from wide-ranging sources, this volume includes texts by artists, critics, and scholars from the 1960s to the present that reflect the diversity of the Latinx experience across the nation, from the West Coast and the Mexican border to New York, Miami, and the Midwest.
The anthology features essential writings by Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, Dominican American, and Central American artists to highlight how visionaries of diverse immigrant groups negotiate issues of participation and belonging, material, style, and community in their own voices. These intersectional essays cut across region, gender, race, and class to lay out a complex emerging field that reckons with different histories, geographies, and political engagements and, ultimately, underscores the importance of Latinx artists to the history of American art.
Reviews
“This much-anticipated volume is exactly what we need to incorporate Latinx art as a key, required component in the curriculum. Authored by two of the most recognized intellectual leaders in the field, this project is an essential resource for scholars working across the fields of art history and visual culture studies and could not come at a better time.”—Arlene Dávila, author of Latinx Art
“In their Handbook of Latinx Art, Rocío Aranda-Alvarado and Debroah Cullen-Morales highlight for us the voices of artists and critics, along with the possibilities within exhibition making encompassed under the rubric of Latinx creativity. In these expansive discussions of art of the last century we uncover ever more of the Americanness in American art. A Handbook of Latinx Art is a stellar compilation that comes at the right time. It is a much-needed volume that helps us continue writing and imagining the ongoing story of American art through a generous Latinx lens.”—Kellie Jones, author of South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s
“This collection is an invaluable resource that positions ‘Latinx art’ as a complex and diverse practice at the intersections of American, Caribbean, and Latin American art. Drawing on key works, it introduces readers to an eye-opening critical dialogue taking place in the United States since the 1970s among artists, curators, and scholars.”—Chon Noriega, coauthor of Home—So Different, So Appealing
About the Authors
ROCÍO ARANDA-ALVARADO is an art historian and curator focused on contemporary US Latinx and modern and contemporary Latin American, Caribbean, and African American art. She is Senior Program Officer for arts and culture at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. DEBORAH CULLEN-MORALES is an art historian and curator focused on modern and contemporary Latinx, Caribbean, and African American art. She is Program Officer for arts and culture at the Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities.
Latinas in Nursing: Stories of determination, inspiration, and trust
by TINA LOARTE-RODRÍGUEZ | Authors
:
Roxana
C. Chicas, Amberlynn Pantoja, Grace Grau, Chelsea Rojas, Fallon A. Lopez, Albertina Perez, Serrita Roper, Carmen Roman, Nicole Gómez, Martha Salmon, Sharon Ramirez, Jeniffer Dolinta, Zacnité Vargas Avalos, Melissa Cortez and Kim Ann Kim NAPERVILLE, IL | FIG FACTOR MEDIA PUBLISHING | August 29, 2024 | 184 pages
Description
Being a nurse is a privilege. Treating, educating, and advocating for other humans as they navigate their lives and the world’s challenges to become better versions of themselves are some of the gifts of nursing.
Being a nurse is a burden. Broken systems, flawed policies, outdated practices, lack of reimbursement, racist structures are realities of the nursing profession. Latinas in Nursing, who comprise less than eight percent of the U.S. registered nurse workforce, face additional barriers in caring for their patients, families, and communities, often sacrificing their own well-being.
Latinas in Nursing is a compilation of the beautiful and powerful stories of the challenges, glories, triumphs, defeats, resiliency, growth, and discovery these influential Latina nurses share about their inspiring journeys.
This book is a starting point and gateway for Latinas in the nursing profession to what they deserve: support and resources for growth; opportunities to continue to improve nursing and healthcare, and increased and strengthened resources for robust pipelines and support systems to increase and retain the number of Latinas in nursing, nursing leadership, and nursing academia, across the U.S. and eventually, across the world.
About the Author
Dr. Tina Loarte-Rodriguez is a firstgeneration college graduate from Cornell University, the University of Connecticut, and Quinnipiac University. Her commitment to learning is unwavering, as seen in her completion of the American Nurses Association’s Innovation Accelerator Program in 2023 and her participation in the 2023-2024 American Nurses Advocacy Institute. She was honored with the 2021 Hartford Business Journal Healthcare Hero Award. She led her nursing team to clinch the 2021 Connecticut Nurses Association Excellence in Team Award. Her active and impactful involvement with the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), the Connecticut Nurses’ Association (CNA), DNPs of Color (DOCs), and the New England Minority Nurse Leadership Conference (NEMNLC) are shining examples of her commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion. Her published works, including the groundbreaking anthology Latinas In Nursing, further underscore her dedication to her profession. For more information, visit: Fig Factor Media | https://figfactormedia.com/ Latinas in Nursing https://latinasinnursing.org/
Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico
por JOSE ATILES • REDWOOD CITY, CA | STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS | November 26,
2024 | 330 pages
Devastating hurricanes, deteriorating infrastructure, massive public debt, and a global pandemic make up the continuous crises that plague Puerto Rico. In the last several years, this disastrous escalation has placed the archipelago more centrally on the radar of residents and politicians in the United States, as the US Congress established an oversight board with emergency powers to ensure Puerto Rico’s economic survival—and its ability to repay its debt. These events should not be understood as a random string of compounding misfortune. Rather, as demonstrated by Jose Atiles in Crisis by Design, they result from the social, legal, and political structure of colonialism. Moreover, Atiles shows how administrations, through emergency powers and laws paired with the dynamics of wealth extraction, have served to sustain and exacerbate crises. He explores the role of the local government, corporations, and grassroots mobilizations. More broadly, the Puerto Rican case provides insight into the role of law and emergency powers in other global south, Caribbean, and racialized and colonized countries. In these settings, Atiles contends, colonialism is the ongoing catastrophe.
Review
Crisis by Design is as much about Puerto Rico as it is about our global colonial neoliberalism condition. It is about being done and undone by old and new structural forces, which form a relentless crisis-driven multilayered system.” —Luis Eslava, La Trobe University and Kent Law School.
“This book makes a ground breaking contribution to our knowledge of what has come to be known “disaster capitalism” by elucidating how, in the colonial context, disaster is capitalism. The social devastation caused by financial hurricanes, just like their extreme
weather equivalents and earthquakes, and just like the social debris that is created in the aftermath by the PROMESA and the FOMB have become the routine and certain by-products of colonial capitalism. As Jose Atiles teaches us, it is not just that the ‘state of emergency’ has become the rule; in colonial context it was always so. Emergency law is a constant, a cast iron rule of law, forged in the furnaces of capital accumulation. As Puerto Rico lurches from multi-layered crisis to multi-layered crisis, we realise that the unbroken succession of deeply interwoven crises appear as a constant underpinned by new layers of ‘exceptional’ law. As he walks through the ashes of the crisi/es, Jose Atiles finds both newly imposed forms of value extraction (through corruption and anticorruption initiatives alike) and new forms of resistance to those (#Wandalismo and #NiCorruptosNiCobardes). And it is in the latter that we find the embers of something new to come. A popular movement on the streets, rising up against corruption to create temporary ruptures and challenges to colonial legality; an enduring, slow-burning fuse that is kept smoldering in what is an almost impossibly uplifting and beautiful conclusion to Crisis by Design.”
—David Whyte, Queen Mary University of London.
About the Author
Jose Atiles is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and the College of Law (by courtesy) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico (Stanford University Press, 2024), an interdisciplinary examination of law, emergency powers, and anticorruption mobilizations in Puerto Rico. Crisis by Design explores the Puerto Rico’s recent history—from the 2006 public debt crisis and the 2016 government bankruptcy to the devastating hurricanes Irma and María, anticorruption protests, earthquakes, and the COVID-19 pandemic—arguing that these crises are intrinsic to the colonial structure rather than isolated events. His work contributes to critical sociolegal and criminological scholarship on emergency powers and disaster, demonstrating that colonialism is the primary force driving Puerto Rico’s crises.
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Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People Exhibition at CENTRO Gallery
NEW YORK, NY | CENTRO | December 30, 2024 – Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People honors Puerto Rican identities in the archipelago and its diasporas. Puerto Rico’s colonial status and geographical location situate it as a locus of global encounters and ongoing displacement. As such, the Puerto Rican diaspora can be understood as a collage of overlapping histories of colonialism, resistance, and survival. This exhibition engages with collage as both practice and metaphor. A collage is an assemblage, an art technique that uses discrete materials, images, or text to create a whole picture. Countering the concept of a melting pot, which emphasizes assimilation and loss of culture, the idea of a collaged community allows for the celebration of roots and relations.
This exhibition also considers the close relationship between photography and collage, both notable 20th-century art forms. It takes the first major documentary initiative on the Puerto Rican diaspora as a point of departure to examine the enduring legacy of survival and migration. The Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project by community organizer, activist, educator, and documentary photographer Frank Espada (1930–2014, Puerto Rico) was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1979 to 1981. The resulting collection of over 4,000 photos and 130 interviews led to the 2007 publication The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People, from which this exhibition takes its subtitle. The artists featured in this exhibition consider the Puerto Rican diaspora in a fluid and expansive way. While several focus on the diaspora in the traditional sense—Puerto Ricans who migrate to the United States—many honor the different diasporas that intersect with the archipelago of Puerto Rico, documenting their communities with care and showing us a collage of Puerto Rican and Caribbean experiences.
Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People is organized by the Eli and Edy Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (MSU BAM) and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies
Música / Music
Siempre es especial cuando recibimos nuevamente a una exalumna de Jazz in July quien ahora es toda una artista principal. Jazz in July es un exitoso programa de verano de UMass Amherst. Es aún más especial cuando el regreso de esta exalumna al campus incluye ser la Artista en Residencia del Billy Taylor Jazz.
Compositora, multi-instrumentista, vocalista e intérprete única de la tradición de jazz, Camille Thurman se está convirtiendo rápidamente en una de las líderes de la forma, haciendo una contribución considerable y dinámica al legado del jazz mientras rinde homenaje a sus héroes.
(CENTRO) at Hunter College, in collaboration with the Diaspora Solidarities Lab (DSL), and curated by Dr. Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez, directora of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO), formerly associate professor at MSU; Dr. Windy M. Cosme Rosario, instructor, University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedras; and Dalina A. Perdomo Álvarez, assistant curator, MSU BAM; with support from DSL fellows Melanie Rodríguez Vázquez, Ariana Costales Del Toro, Yafrainy Familia, Nicole Hernández, Stephany Bravo, Imaida M. Durán Mariñez, Alana Cordero Montesinos, Meleny González, Olivia M. Ramírez, Jaden Morales, and Yuleysy Ortiz. Support for this series is provided by the MSU Federal Credit Union. The Diaspora Solidarities Lab is made possible with financial support from the Mellon Foundation.
This exhibition is the result of collaborative research and community projects produced since 2022 by the Diaspora Solidarities Lab (DSL), a Black feminist–led partnership between Michigan State University, Johns Hopkins University, and Hunter College. The DSL is directed by Dr. Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez, professor and directora of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College, formerly an associate professor at MSU, and Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Artists featured in the exhibition include La Vaughn Belle, Mónica Ching, Frank Espada, Alia Farid, Glorimar Garcia, Daniel Lind Ramos, María Martínez-Cañas, Luis Rivera Jiménez, Edra Soto, Brenda Torres-Figueroa, and Nitza Tufiño.
The exhibition will be on view until September 26th, 2025, Tuesday–Thursday and Saturdays from 12-5 PM. March 13, 2025– September 25, 2025.
CENTRO Gallery is located at 2180 3rd Avenue at 119th Street, New York, NY 10035. Contact: centro.gallery@hunter.cuny.edu / 212-396-7874
Camille Thurman con The Darrell Green Quartet en UMass Amherst
Thurman es fluida y poderosa en el saxofón tenor y muy inventiva como vocalista. Sus ricos efectos sonoros en el saxofón han sido comparados con los de Joe Henderson y Dexter Gordon, mientras que su voz, incluída una impresionante habilidad para el scatting, evoca a Ella Fitzgerald y Betty Carter.
Thurman realizó una gira como miembro del Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, de 2018 a 2020, y compartió escenario con luminarias tales como George Coleman, Roy Haynes y Dianne Reeves.
Thurman pasará su residencia trabajando con estudiantes de UMass y de escuelas secundarias locales, y luego subirá a escena en el auditorio Bowker con su esposo, el baterista Darrell Green, y su cuarteto para lo que seguramente será una actuación memorable.
Bowker Auditorium, Stockbridge Hall – jueves, 13 de marzo, 7:30 p.m. Para más información sobre este evento, visite: https://umassarts. site/cthurman-cec
Música / Music
The Pioneer Valley Symphony presents Windows Into Other Worlds
GREENFIELD, MA | February 6, 2025- The Pioneer Valley Symphony (PVS), a community orchestra in its 86th season, presents Windows Into Other Worlds, a concert celebrating music from cultures around the globe, on Saturday, March 8, from 7-9 PM at Belchertown High School. PVS Music Director Tianhui Ng conducts.
The concert opens with Nigerian composer Fela Sowande’s Folk Symphony, commissioned by the Nigerian government for its independence celebration in 1960 and inspired by the country’s rich musical heritage. Next, flute virtuoso and Latin Grammy-nominated artist Giovanni A. Pérez will perform with the PVSO in the world premiere of his flute concerto, Esclavitud Perpétua, which reflects on how over 500 years of colonization and cultural clashes have shaped Puerto Rican music.
The evening will conclude with Ottorino Respighi’s soaring Pines of Rome. This tone poem, with its iconic vibrant orchestration, portrays the lively landscapes of Rome. The Italian composer created it as a tribute to his nation’s capital.
Maestro Ng says, “At a time when winter keeps many of us from traveling as much as we would like, this concert is a musical journey that promises to refresh our spirit through joyful sounds from across the world.”
The concert length is 1 hour and 45 minutes, including an intermission. Arrive at 6 PM for a pre-concert talk with PVS Resident Musicologist Dr. David Schneider, Georges Lurcy Professor of Music at Amherst College.
The PVS is committed to making the joy of music equitably accessible for all. Tickets are on a sliding scale of $15-$35. Seats are general admission regardless of the amount you choose to pay. Tickets for youth up to age 18 and college students of any age are $5.
WIC and EBT cardholders may attend PVS concerts for free through the Mass Cultural Council’s Card to Culture program. Thanks to our Museum Passes, free family tickets are also available at more than 30 local libraries. For more information, contact the PVS Box Office at boxoffice@pvso.org or 413-773-3664.
The Pioneer Valley Symphony, based in Greenfield, was established in 1939 and is one of the oldest community orchestras in the U.S. A 501(c)3 nonprofit, the PVS is a strong community of musicians and music lovers who connect, engage, and inspire our community by providing opportunities to make, appreciate, and learn about music. We endeavor to introduce our audiences to new works, unfamiliar composers, and unique perspectives, building on a legacy of excellence and professional-quality performances. The PVS is proud of our collaborations with world-class soloists, innovative composers, skilled teachers, and renowned scholars. We offer accessible educational opportunities, including youth ensembles, private lessons, group workshops, and education concerts. Learn more at pvsoc.org.
Giovanni A. Pérez
13 de marzo
Camille Thurman con el Darrell Green Quartet
15 de marzo
¡Guitarra! Gabriele Leite
5 de abril
Etienne Charles: alma criolla
24 de abril
Meshell Ndegeocello: No más agua
— El evangelio de James Baldwin