New website - lamentoborincano.com

I am combining both my blogs, this one and Diverse Reality. The new website is Lamento Borincano. Please visit the site and let me know any feedback you may have. It is still a work in progress.

Thanks for all the visitors here, it's been great but I wanted to have a place where I can have all my information. 

Playwright Diaz wins ATC's 2008 Latino Award - Latino Perspectives Magazine - January 2009 - Phoenix, Arizona

Playwright Diaz wins ATC's 2008 Latino Award - Latino Perspectives Magazine - January 2009 - Phoenix, Arizona: "Arizona Theatre Company has selected a Puerto Rican playwright with a “hip-hop flair” as the winner of its 2008 National Latino Playwriting Award.

Kristoffer Diaz’s winning entry was The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, a work with a main character called The Mace, a Puerto Rican pro wrestler from the Bronx. The play takes a “comic look at pro wrestling, geopolitics and raisin bread.”

Arizona Theatre’s Company’s National Latino Playwriting Award annually recognizes an outstanding work by a Latino playwright. The winner receives $1,000. Diaz earned an MFA from New York University’s Department of Dramatic Writing."

Feliz Navidad: Puerto Rican tradition says Christmas isn't over yet

Growing up in Puerto Rico, I have fond memories of the holidays. Christmas, was just the beginning and we would receive one gift. The real holiday came on January 6, El Dia de los Reyes (Three Kings Day).  I remember the day before and going in the fields with the other children in the neighborhood to gather grass. We would put the grass in a shoebox and leave it out for the camels. 

After waking up and receiving our presents our family would get in the car and visit relatives who live in the mountains for the real celebration.  Lots of relatives, lots of children and the food, arroz con gandules, pasteles, and lechon, all made for an experience I still long for today. Unfortunately, times have changed and that tradition is being forgotten. 

Reading the article below brought back all these fond memories. 

Feliz Navidad: Puerto Rican tradition says Christmas isn't over yet

Ron Rivera, Potter Devoted to Clean Water, Dies at 60 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

As the year draws to a close, it is a time to remember those who passed. I always look forward to reading the New York Times year end issue "The Lives They Lived" to read about fascinating people that died throughout the year. Often I come across people who I had not heard of and their contributions. 

This one in particular drew my attention because he was a Bronx born Puerto Rican who devoted his life to helping others. He was a potter that created "Potters for Peace" and help build 30 factories in the poorest parts of the world. His main cause was bringing clean water to stop disease. It is ironic that he died at 60 due to malaria while finishing his 30th factory, this one in Nigeria. 

Read the obituary below to learn more about this great human. The second link is to the article in this week's NYT Magazine.

Ron Rivera, Potter Devoted to Clean Water, Dies at 60 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

Ron Rivera, Solution in a Pot

Lemon's Where I Am From Poem

This Tony Award winning poet will be performing his one man show "County of Kings: The Beautiful Struggle" at The Public Theater as part of the Under the Radar Festival. Lemon won a Tony Award for his participation in Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam . He can also be seen in HBO's version of the show.

PERFORMANCE DATES & TIME:

Wednesday, January 7 @7PM

Thursday, January 8 @3PM

Saturday, January 10 @9:30PM

Sunday, January 11 @3PM

Monday, January 12 @7PM

Tuesday, January 13 @7PM

Wednesday, January 14 @2PM

Friday, January 16 @7PM

Saturday, January 17 @3PM

Sunday, January 18 @7PM

Tickets $15

Ticket information can be found at The Public Theater Web Site

Support Latino Theater!

The Lost Taino Tribe

For most of my life, I have been taught that Tainos were extinct. In the past few years, there has been a movement to disprove this theory. This documentary is a work in progress to look at the facts and the myths surrounding the Taino Indian legacy. The filmmaker, Alex Zacarias has created a website and social network where people can share their stories or knowledge of the Tainos. The website is www.losttainotribe.com or you can click on the badge below.

Visit LOST TAINO TRIBE

Cumba Media Presents Podcast Episode 1 - A.B. Lugo

A.B. Lugo is an actor, playwright, poet and director who lives in New York City. I had a chance to sit down with him and discuss his career, his inspirations and his body of work. With three plays being produced at the same time, he is a busy man on the verge of a breakout. The first play is "Manchild Machismo" a one-man show he wrote and performs, the second play Geneva is being presented in both Spanish and English as part of the Asi Somos Festival at Teatro LaTea at the Clemente Velez Soto Community Center in the Lower East Side. The third play "Emboscada (Branches)" is being performed this month at Teatro Coribantes in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

Listen to interview here - Cumba Media Presents Podcast Episode 1 - A.B. Lugo

Pageant Honors Link to Puerto Rico’s Native Tribe - NYTimes.com

Wow, I can't believe that the New York Times had two articles on Puerto Rico one right after the other. More surprising is that it was a featured article on the front page of their web site and it had nothing to do with tourism.

This article is about the Taíno influence on the island and centers on the National Indigenous Festival of Jajuya where they award a young girl for her Taíno looks and costume.


Pageant Honors Link to Puerto Rico’s Native Tribe - NYTimes.com

Help our children

In this time of giving, I have chosen to support our children's education. There is a great site called Donors Choose, where teachers can post projects that they are trying to fund. You can see a link on the left column of this page.

Most of the projects are very low cost, sometimes less than $100.00 can provide classroom supplies that should be a right for any student.

Here in the U.S. education seems to be left behind when budget cuts are considered. It is a testament to the true heroes in our society, the teachers that commit themselves in spite of the lack of support.

I have created a donors page that can be accessed through the link above. In here I have posted some projects that will be expiring soon and need very little money to complete.

Please help in any way you can and be proud of the fact that you are doing some good in a child's life.

A Taste of Puerto Rico in Cities Across the Land - NYTimes.com

Nothing says the holidays to a Puerto Rican like pasteles! Memories of the kitchen full of people working together to make dozens of pasteles to distribute among the family. A few months ago, I got together with a friend and her mother to make pasteles and there is something in working together to make a meal that reminds me of my childhood. As our parents get older or die, people tend to rely on people who make them for sale.

This article from the NYT highlights one woman who maintains the tradition.


A Taste of Puerto Rico in Cities Across the Land - NYTimes.com