“Once Upon A Time En El Barrio”

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Filmmaker/Director Juan Shamsul Alam’s Film “Once Upon A Time” To be screened December 15, 9:15 pm at the Tribeca screening theater 375 Greenwhich st.. The story revolves around Lolita Lebron, and the repercussion after, on a Puerto Rican community, espicially on The Campos Family from 107 th. Street..You will, laugh, anger, and cry. Free to the public.must make reservations..Email alam778@hotmal.com seating is limited.

Subject: Once Upon A Time…

The Universe is Hidden in the Palms – Papo Colo

The Forum

palm_invite.jpg

El Universo se Esconde en las Palmeras / The Universe is Hidden in the Palms

1.
El universo se esconde en las palmeras,
Lo busco porque quiero….. el saber de todas las historias.
The universe hides in the palm trees,
I look for it because I seek… the knowledge of all histories.
2.
Palmo a palmo camino su territorio, dejando correr la voz,
Como cometa haciendo sonar su cola,
Reconociendo los movimientos de sus ramas, con todos los gestos
Y todas las sombras de las distancias.…
Medidas con luz.
From palm to palm I walk its territory, letting the voice run,
As a comet sounding it’s tail,
Recognizing the movements of its branches, with all the gestures
And all the shadows of the distances….
Measured with light.
3.
Yo, ser insignificante, pretendo sus poderes.
I, an insignificant being, allege its powers.
4.
Yo barco a la deriva, que adivino su naufragio.
I, a boat adrift, predict its shipwreck.
5.
Quién sabe lo que me espera
Hundiéndome en mis visiones
Que parecen de sueños pero son de hierro,
Cuando se convierten en sucesos tridimensionales.
Who knows what awaits me
Drowning in my visions
That appear to be of dreams, but are of iron,
When transformed into tri-dimensional happenings.
6.
El techo del cielo es azul, como el mar,
Pero su interiorior es negro como el espacio y las profundidades.
The sky’s roof is blue, like the sea,
But its interiors are black like space and its profundities.
7.
Las reglas de la gravedad están de fiesta,
Porque el mundo vuela al revés y patas arriba.
The rules of gravity are having a party,
Because the world flies backwards and belly up.
8.
Fue un animal vegetariano el que empezó la controversia:
O nos comemos los unos a los otros
O se reinventa el sistema digestivo.
It was a vegetarian animal that started the controversy:
Or we eat one another
Or we reinvent the digestive system.
9.
La vida no es sueño sino sus consecuencias,
La circunstancia es el momento….
Que se detiene en el tiempo,
E inmediatamente,
Corre incansable, hasta que se esfuma.
Life is not dreams but their consequences,
The circumstance is the moment….
That is detained in time,
And immediately,
Runs untiring, until it disappears.
10.
Por qué entonces tanta prisa?
Si no me toca ni un suspiro,
Ni un aliento de los nacidos,
Ni un aleteo de madurez,
Ni una meditación que la experiencia experimenta….
Me toca un poco de sabiduría, quizás, si estoy de suerte.
Why then such a hurry ?
If I am not entitled to a sigh,
Nor to newly born breath,
Nor to a shaking in your maturity,
Nor to a meditation that experience experiments….
I am entitled to a bit of wisdom, perhaps, if I am the lucky one.
11.
Si eres de los que imaginan….
Que la tierra es
Un universo entre los ojos, una zona galáctica en el cerebro
Y el cuerpo ancestral que eres tu mismo,
Entonces es ahí…. cuando perteneces a tu muerte.
If you are one of those that imagine….
That the earth is
A universe between the eyes, a galactic zone in the brain
And the ancestral body that is your self,
It is then…. when you posses life and belong to your death.
12.
Sabrá Dios….
Cuando todas tus creencias, se hundan en incomodidades racionales,
Y te pierdas en el laberinto de la fe, te mires por dentro,
Y te liberes de la vergüenza de creer en un fin….
Sabrá Dios…..si desaparecerás hacia la nada.
God knows….
When all your beliefs, dive in rational discomfort,
And you get lost in the labyrinth of faith, you look within yourself,
And liberate yourself of the embarrassment of believing in an end…
God knows…if you disappear into the nothingness.
13.
El principio es rotación
Se vuelve como todas las vueltas……Lo contrario.
Y el camino se convierte en ruta,
Y lo que fue distante, ahora es alcanzable y lo que fue, descubres que siempre ha sido….
El final.
The beginning is rotation
As its turn around, and becomes its opposite.
And the path becomes a route,
And what was distant, now is reachable and what was, you discover has always been.…
The end.
14.
Es la mitad de todo lo que queda,
Es la mitad de algo lo que quieres,
Es la mitad de nada lo que tienes.
It is half of all that remains,
It is half of something, that you want,
It is half of nothing, that you have.
15.
Es en el cuerpo interior donde caminas,
Hasta gastarte en ti y desaparacer en fluídos.
Es asi que continuas, sin remedio flotando en la marea.
Nada es fijo, todo sin buscarlo….
Aparece.
It is in the interior body where you walk,
Until wasting yourself within and disappearing into fluids.
That’s how you continue, without remedy, floating in the tide.
Nothing is certain, everything without seeking it….
Appears.
16.
Sobrevivo sin las palabras,
Pues poseo los sonidos que las hacen entendibles,
Pienso en la arrogancia del silencio….
Que es cuando comprendes los significados
Y mides la velocidad de lo que dices.
I survive without the words,
For I possess the sounds that make them understandable,
I ponder on the arrogance of silence….
Which is when you can comprehend significances
And measure the velocity of what you say.
17.
Las palabras son acciones prematuras de lo que piensas….
La manipulación de tu realidad….y….La construción de lo possible….
Lo que ves….
No es lo que interpretas y lo que lees,
Se cambia en la traducción de lo que entiendes….
Words are premature actions to what you think….
The construction of the possible… the manipulation of reality….
What you see….
It is not what you interpret and what you read,
Changes in the translation of what you understand….
18.
Después de todo….
La muerte no es el final del lenguaje, ni la desaparición
De todos los sentidos,
La lengua se convierte en oídos históricos y en el polvo ancestral donde caminas.
After all….
Death is not the end of language, nor the disappearance
Of all other senses,
The tongue becomes ancestral dust, which is….where you walk.
19.
Nacerás en otra forma hasta convertirte en un sol….
Que se consume con su fuerza,
Cuántos átomos tendrás en el cuerpo?
You’ll be reborn in other forms until you come back as a sun….
That consumes itself with its strength.
How many atoms will your body have?
20.
Es tu legado otro humano parecido a ti?
O un témpano de hielo derritiéndose en el trópico?
Un oasis en cuidades sobrepobladas?
Una piedra de una montaña deforme?
Quizás un árbol tropical como esta palma que te mira.
Que huella dejarás en esta vida?
Is your legacy another human that looks like you?
Or an iceberg melting in the tropic?
An oasis in overpopulated cities?
A rock from a deformed mountain?
Maybe a tropical tree, like this palm that stares back at you.
What mark you will leave in this life?
21.
Déjate ver como nunca,
Despoja el espíritu de tu carne y vive en los que te recuerdan.
Let yourself be seen, as you never have,
Relinquish the spirit of your flesh and live in those that remember you.

CUNY PUERTO RICAN FACULTY RECRUITMENT PROJECT

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CUNY Logo

Dear Colleague:

The CUNY Puerto Rican Faculty Recruitment Project has been established
to help attract Puerto Rican/Latina(o) faculty to the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Its two primary activities include:

  • Conducting outreach and recruitment activities to attract outstanding candidates for faculty positions in all disciplines at CUNY; and
  • Working with CUNY colleges to connect highly qualified candidates with positions open within the CUNY system.

Attached please find some recently advertised positions at CUNY.
Interested persons should consult the job listings on the CUNY Web site at www.cuny.edu for further information and a complete listing of CUNY. Potential candidates should apply directly to positions as announced by CUNY, not to the Project.

However, the Project would appreciate knowing about any persons applying to or interested in CUNY to track our outreach and recruitment progress. For this purpose, CVs may be sent to the Project by e-mail to jmorin@hunter.cuny.edu.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Prof. José Luis Morín
Interim Director
CUNY Puerto Rican Faculty Recruitment Project
c/o Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor & University Provost
535 East 80th Street
New York, NY 10021
Tel.: (212) 772-5715
jmorin@hunter.cuny.edu

King of Dominoes at Teatro La Tea

Corrientes, , , , , , ,

In commemoration of Puerto Rican Heritage Month, Teatro LA TEA proudly presents, “King of Dominoes” by playwright Bil Vargas.

King of Dominoes

“King of Dominoes” is a powerful account of the intergenerational conflicts of a family torn by the politics that embroils their island nation. It is a story of an idealistic father and his son’s quest for freedom for the country they love.

Directed by acclaimed screenwriter Michael J. Narvaez, with renowned credits as a poet and writer. Narvaez takes on the challenge of an emotional task-he too is Puerto Rican. The cast is comprised by the talent of : Jason Flores, Indio Melendez, Michael Philip Del Rio, and Teresa Yenque…all with numerous stage and film credits.

When:

Friday, November 3rd, 2006 – thru –
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006

Hours:

Wednesday 8:00PM
Thursday 8:00PM
Friday 8:00PM
Saturday 8:00PM
Sunday 5:00PM

Tickets available at SmartTix.

University of Puerto Rico Recruiting U.S. Puerto Rican Students

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UPR busca estudiantes latinos

Por The Associated Press

(11:02 a.m.) Se realizarán charlas en Estados Unidos para los que quieran obtener un grado universitario en la Isla.

SAN JUAN — La Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR) y la Administración de Asuntos Federales de Puerto Rico (PRFAA, en inglés) arreciarán esta semana en Estados Unidos una campaña en busca de jóvenes puertorriqueños o latinos que deseen estudiar en la isla.

“Los latinos continuamos rezagados en la obtención de grados universitarios. El aprovechamiento académico de nuestros jóvenes es imprescindible para el desarrollo socio-económico y político de nuestras comunidades”, señaló hoy Eduardo Bhatia, director ejecutivo de PRFAA, cuya sede principal está en Washington.

El programa en el que podrían estudiar los jóvenes es bilingüe y se ofrece en los recintos universitarios de Humacao, Cayey y Río Piedras.

Bhatia destacó que al 2003, tan solo 13.1% de los boricuas mayores de 25 años que residen en los Estados Unidos tenía un bachillerato, en comparación al 34.8% de los blancos, 18.5% de los afro-americanos y el 59% de los asiáticos.

En términos de estudios graduados, el panorama es aún más precario: tan solo 3.1% de los puertorriqueños mayores de 25 años había obtenido diploma de estudios graduados, en comparación a los blancos (8.7%), afro-americanos (4.1%) y asiáticos (15.6%).

Esta semana, la UPR y PRFAA realizarán charlas sobre el programa bilingüe en Connecticut y Massachussets. En octubre y noviembre, las charlas se moverán a Pennsylvania, Nueva Jersey y Florida.

http://www.endi.com//XStatic/endi/template/nota.aspx?n=86993

El conversatorio entre Puerto Rico y Nueva York

The Forum, , ,

Diogenes Ballester

DIOGENES BALLESTER’S

Ancestral Confessions: Historical evidence of a city
Confesiones Ancestrales: Evidencia de una ciudad
El Museo de la Historia de Ponce
Puerto Rico: 13 de mayo – 7 de octubre

Keeper of History — Holder of Dreams
Portadora de Historia — Poseedora de Sueños
National Museum of Catholic Art and History
New York City: July 15 – September 30

Two concurrent exhibitions in a transcaribbean discourse between Puerto Rico and New York

Brochure (PDF 1.8 mb)

TREN URBANO FIASCO

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Tren Urbano

It’s been a year and a half since its introduction and the
Tren Urbano is working but it’s not going anywhere, here’s why:

The entire mass transportation system dubbed the Alternativa de Transpor-tación Integrada, “ATI” [Integrated Transportation Alternative] doesn’t work!

The public bus system doesn’t work!

The water ferries and shuttles from Hato Rey Station [Golden Mile District] to Old San Juan have had two false starts and are nonexistent!

Tren Urbano Home Page [official site], hasn’t been working for over year! and the Tren Urbano Puerto Rico Public Art Project Home Page has been suspended!

Sidewalks are nonexistent since they are taken-over by cars!

And finally, the Tren Urbano “está cojo”, it doesn’t go anywhere, just ask anyone in San Juan, its been built from the outskirts-inwards, all systems in the world start from the city centre towards the outskirts, it doesn’t reach “la espina dorsal”, the main troughfare of the city, densely populated areas such as Santurce, Miramar and Old San Juan, building extensions to Caguas as planned will also not solve anything, it will just promote further urban sprawl, exactly what developers want because roadways are clogged, Caguas could easily be served by a Rapid Transit Bus system with its own right-of-way and higher quality inter-city buses, a much less costly alternative!

Do we really want to be enslaved by the car in suburbia, do we really need 1+ ton of metal and 100+ horses to transport us to the corner store in this day and age!, are we being shortchanged!

This letter is in reference to comments posted on July 9th, 2003:
 El Tren Urbano: Will it solve San Juan’s traffic congestion or create a new problem?

Photo: Felix Lopes © All Rights Reserved

Memorial for Don Otilio Díaz, executive director of La Casa

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Don Otilio Díaz, executive director of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, died peacefully on Monday, August 21, 2006. He was 75. Mr. Díaz had no children, but is survived here in New York by a sister and several nieces. A public memorial will be held from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Wednesday, August 30 and Thursday, August 31 in Room 103 of the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center, located at 1680 Lexington Avenue near 106 Street. Religious services will be held at 10:00 AM on Friday, September 1 at Saint Cecilia’s Church, located on East 106th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues. Mr. Diaz will then be buried in his hometown of Guayama, Puerto Rico. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to La Casa’s “Otilio Diaz Memorial Fund.” For more information, call (212) 722-2600 or visit http://www.lacasapr.org.

FBI Destroying Records

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Congressman José E. Serrano
Representing the Sixteenth District of New York

Serrano to FBI: Destroying Records is Counterproductive to Gov’t Openness

Washington, DC – August 22, 2006- Congressman José E. Serrano sent the following letter to the FBI late last week in response to recent revelations that the Puerto Rico field office destroyed certain records in the past. Serrano asked that the Bureau immediately suspend any further destruction of records. In 2000, Serrano and then-director Louis Freeh initiated a years-long effort to promote openness and accountability by the FBI in Puerto Rico.

###

August 17, 2006

Robert S. Mueller, III, Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building

Dear Director Mueller:

As you know, I and other members of the Puerto Rican community have been grateful for your continued cooperation in the initiative by your predecessor, Louis Freeh, to disclose files related to the Bureau’s actions against supporters of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. These files have been invaluable in building the historical record of this dark period in our nation’s history, and it is my ongoing interest in this subject that inspires this letter.

It has been brought to my attention that the San Juan field office destroyed certain records on the independence movement in February of 1989. This information came to light as the result of a Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request by Jan Susler of the People’s Law Office.

I write to request that, notwithstanding any standard procedure, you suspend any further destruction of records concerning organizations and individuals related to the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. I would also like to request documentation of the destruction of any such records to date, and their former locations before they were destroyed.

Given the fact that the recent release of the Inspector General’s report on the Ojeda Ríos incident has done little to allay concerns about the Bureau’s modus operandi in Puerto Rico, I believe that the your continued commitment to the preservation and disclosure of these files will be essential to improving the Bureau’s image on the island.

Thank you for your attention to these concerns. I look forward to continuing our cooperation on this matter.

Sincerely,

José E. Serrano
Member of Congress

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Congressman José E. Serrano has represented the Bronx in Congress since 1990. He is the longest serving Member of Puerto Rican descent.

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