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Homenaje: Adela Fargas
Editor's Note: Adela Fargas passed away at the age of 81 in the morning hours of January 15th, 2018. Below is a profile by Ricardo Muniz that was published in 2015 as part of his Homenaje series. I found Adela hunched over the back table in her self-named restaurant in Loisada slowly poring over the numbers to see if she had won anything. “Yo juego los números cada día,” she said squinting at me...
The Many Sounds of Puerto Rican Identities: Miguel Zenón Speaks and Plays
It was the very first day of spring, but the snow was steadily falling over New York City. Miguel Zenón’s quartet was performing the album Identities are Changeable: Tales from the Diaspora at the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture . On that same snowy day of spring I overheard someone commenting: “How can jazz be Puerto Rican?” and I went to the concert, on a day of spring with no flowers...
Pregones Theater: An Act of Love, Productivity, and Community
One of the leading Puerto Rican/Latino theaters in the United States is Pregones Theater , and the mother at its core is Rosalba Rolón , who gave birth to the theater 36 years ago. In her maternal arms, Rolón has carried this theater from its start as a touring company to its place as an institution in the South Bronx. Pregones is also the cradle for the career and passion of Rolón’s daughter,...
Hiram Maristany's Anchor Exhibit: Securing the Past, Present and Future of El Barrio
EVERYONE was there. From college freshman girls who said sorry every time their backpacks hit someone to men in three piece suits who held their cups of wine with napkins. From abuelas in wheelchairs to a five year old girl on her father’s shoulders, everyone stood together on a March 25th evening as the opening speeches of the Anchor exhibit started. “It is here where we are integrating art with...
Homenaje: Nicholasa Mohr
We have a very special place in our hearts for this issue's Homenaje. Nicholasa Mohr is not only one of the principal figures in Puerto Rican literature in the United States, and one of the first voices of Latino literature in the United States, she is also one of the first Puerto Rican women writers to produce work in English. She is best known for her works Nilda (1973) and El Bronx Remembered...
To Be Or Not To Be Grifa: Boricua Women's Observations on Hair
The question is still relevant. Many Boricua women still wake up in the morning, stand in front of the mirror and ask the Shakespearian question: To be or not to be grifa? Do we really look better with straight hair? That’s what I thought all adolescence long. This is what my three year old daughter asks everyday, “Mamá yo quiero una trenza larga y blanca como Elsa” (she wants a long, white,...
HOMENAJE: The Traveling Exhibit and a Tribute to Miguel Algarin
The Story Behind Homenaje There are roughly 8.5 million people who can claim Puerto Rican heritage and ancestry in the world. Nearly three out of every five live on the US mainland . For the young people of Puerto Rican heritage and ancestry who grow up in NYC and the United States, who and where are the cultural heroes and icons they can admire? As an artist and educator, I grappled with this...
The Greatest Jibarito: Afro-Boricua Rafael Hernández
Rafael Hernández was a prolific composer of the popular music of his day, Cuban boleros and guarachas . He is considered not just the greatest Puerto Rican composer but one of the best in Latin America because his songs, such as the anthem, “ Lamento borincano ,” resonated throughout the region. He was born October 24, 1891 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico to parents who were Afro-Puerto Rican tobacco...
We All Speak English Here: Identity, Difference and Commercialism in Salsa
Two years ago, I received, as a birthday present, a new edition of Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa) , the documentary of the concert at the New York City club the Cheetah that introduced the Fania All Stars to the world. The concert took place on the night of August 26, 1971. During the last scene of the video, the legendary disc jockey Symphony Sid introduced Johnny Pacheco, who then proceeded to...
Ana Celia Zentella on Anthropolitical Linguistics, Tato Laviera, and the Power of Nuyorican Poetry
In the forthcoming interview with Ana Celia Zentella ( CENTRO Journal 2016), Yomaira Figueroa discusses the intellectual and community-driven contributions of the prominent linguistics and ethnic studies scholar. In it Zentella openly speaks about the stigmatization of certain varieties of Spanish, legislation targeted at bilingual students, the role of Spanglish in New York, the challenges of...

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