I was a dancer once, so my love and respect for dancers is a bit biased. But so be it, the discipline dancers have is mostly unrecognized and misunderstood. It’s not all games and play at the ballet. Dancers dance. Dancers arrive early for class. Dancers can count, can change the accent of their physical move just to make it fun. Dancers experience life with a sense of physicality, quick wit learning, doer action, and improvisation that blends well with everyday common life.

María Torres’ first dance class was at 1-year old in her family living room. The daughter of a conguero, I guess she was born to feel the rhythm and show it. The long story short is that she ended up winning a ballroom dance competition that started her off on a journey that has not stopped since. You have to hear her tell the story. Here is an artist that has gone at it her way without excuses. Here’s a self-realized woman who mentors others with talent and grit who are also going at it their way, because if not, something inside will die.

Here’s to focusing, going for it, and dancing…

Sol

IN SPANISH Episode 80 - After the storm no Puerto Rican is the same, at least I’m not. I am me, always deep, intense, reflecting, but something is different. A puzzle gets assembled piece by piece. Big stories are made up of pieces of lore. I realized that with Frank, I’m looking to put together something I’m not sure what it is. I think maybe after memories of what Puerto Rico once was or had. Somewhere in there is my movement at the moment.

Frank is an old-timer of film and television. He was around and working before Univision was Univision, which he was a part of before it all got built up into the empire it is today. Frank worked with Dad in seven television specials. I remember being a kid in his sets and even having a little part in the children’s television special they made. Maybe this year Dad and Frank can have a conversation about it and we can let the thing play in streaming. Just ideas. Like I said, I’m trying to put something together I’m not sure what it is yet. Frank is a part of the aspect of Puerto Rican history I know best, its arts and culture. It is in Spanish. We couldn’t have done it in English but we didn’t. Asi que disfruten de Frank lo que puedan entender.

Luego de María no soy la misma. Creo que ningún puertorriqueño lo es. Algo busco que aún no se que es o algo busco armar que aún no se lo que es pero algo me dice que con Frank comencé a buscar algo nuevo. Veremos. De seguro busco historias. De seguro busco fundamentos para emular el profesionalismo, aprender de los que corren las largas distancias, y razones para ayudar a otros a conocer quienes somos en especial en el campo de arte y cultura que es de lo más que conozco de mi isla. Frank es un ‘viejo lobo de mar’ como escribió Sylvia Rexach. Recuerdo estar en los sets de Frank para las grabaciones de especiales de televisión que hizo con Padre. Siete en total. En fin. Muchos recuerdos de mi país. Mucha música, mucha gente linda.

Y eso. Stay the course.

Resist neo-fascism, white supremacy, stand for DACA, Native Nations, Puerto Rico, call your senators to defend Net Neutrality. That is the last bit of democracy we have left. Black Lives Matter be better today than yesterday.

Sol

Who can put a price on memories? Pictures are precious for this very reason I suppose. We hold on to moments of moments. It is one of the ways in which we can capture time. In this is the age of citizen journalism and citizen photography, who and what is the real deal? Amateurs and Pros meet at junctures of action and practice. There is so much to see. How it turns out is that most famous images are credited to men photographers. But as photography experts and buffs know, women photographers have also captured history. This is for them...

The article, The Women Who Covered Vietnam by Elizabeth Becker immediately made me think of Verónica Sanchis Bencomo, founder of Foto Féminas, a platform exclusively devoted to showcasing Latin American women photographers. Since its launch, Foto Féminas features one photographer a month. Today, Foto Féminas is a showcase platform and a library. The collection is named after Maria Cristina Orive, a pivotal figure in Latin American photojournalism from Guatemala, who passed away this September. Orive, alongside legendary Argentinian photographer Sara Facio founded La Azotea one of the most respected oldest photography publishing houses in Latin America.

This month’s featured photographer is Gabriela Rivera Lucero. A beast. And I mean wonderful and good. The work is literally beastly, it’s called Bestiario. Check it out. The proposal is not for the faint of heart, but it is real and timely and some of the most exciting work I’ve seen in some time.

Foto Féminas has an important role and we have Veronica thank. The collective voices of these women photographers are telling the story of Latin America with bravery and not a hint of shyness. Fierce.

Sol

Pride of ancestry comes in the form of poise. Such is Malín Falú. Incredibly poised. A Puerto Rican lady from the town of Santurce who apparently, according to her, came to this world with a bent for conversing with people. She explains that when she was a young adolescent she was asked what she liked to do and her response was, “I like talking to people.” And, she made a career out of it.

Malin has been a fixture of Spanish language radio in New York City for over 40 years. She has interviewed countless Latin American figures in the fields of arts and entertainment, politics, human interest, sports, and much more. Her style sealed her reputation as a woman of word and substance years ago. She is beloved and respected by the industry and the community because she is one of those hearts, at the center of community and legacy.

Malin is one of the organizers of the SILENT PROCESSION taking place next Sunday, November 19th. Meeting time is 10:00 a.m. at White Park on East 106th Street and the procession begins at 10:30 a.m. and heads to Trump Plaza on 57th.

#Poetsforpuertorico was a hit. Willie Perdomo, thank you, thank you, thank you. The room was packed. A historic night for the spoken. Without a doubt. A vitamin room. A space for solidarity and Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico. Poet Cynthia Dewi Oka is off the charts. Her ode to Puerto Rico was like few I’ve ever met, for anyone or anything. The wound penned to slash the jugular. I feel like the different patches of a knitted quilt.

I spoke to musician, activist, director, writer, musical theater advocate Local 802, Marlena Fitzpatrick, about her piece for the Huffington Post, More Than Prayers: How the Diaspora Can Help Our Families in Puerto Rico because she ‘admitted’ she wasn’t being objective about her assessment of how best to help the island. This is in short vignettes, the voice of her seeing eyes.

The little things do matter.

This is a different time. I know it’s not specific enough, but it’s specific enough that you get. The colossal breakdown of morals and decency in government agency looks to me like we’re trapped and on track towards a worldwide holocaust. I said it once before in this Letter to the President, we, the people, we have nowhere else to run…but millions are, we’re moving in circles because the earth is round. The past week has been intense. Puerto Rican families are being displaced, my own included, I welcomed three into my home - the elder, the frail, the women and children, the strong father, the young, an exodus.

Blue tarps are needed in Puerto Rico. The island needs over 40,000 blue tarps and they are not getting delivered. The reasons vary. I have gotten news of this need a couple of times a week since the hurricane. The video link is from Friday. The reasons vary, from there isn’t enough humanitarian inventory to FEMA taking too much time inputting inventory clearance. The news here and there trickles out. Still no blue tarps, more rain has fallen, and people continue to lose more of what they don’t have. The news of need of tarps has been traveling around since a bit after September 20. I say there needs to be an alliance of middle-big agencies that together should place an industrial order of blue tarps and work together to distribute. The shadow ‘strok’ distribution system still stands. What an image...

Which brings me to poetry. Poets, poems, and writers say it best. Artists in general capture quagmire like no else, which is why we need them. I have spoken with so many people in the past month I’m trying to piece together a cohesive picture, but what I get is a fractured cohesive piece of feeling. Willie and I had a great talk but the sound sucked. I kept about 10 minutes of our talk because Willie was so sincere and the sound was at its best.

#PoetsforPuertoRico will raise funds for Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico. A who’s-who of Poetry will gather on November 4th at Poetry House for a reading for Hurricane Relief.

I have more to share and will, I just have not had time. In the meantime. Here’s acclaimed Willie Perdomo.

Week 71. This one is for Hostos Community College, the South Bronx, and Puerto Rico.

Thank you to the Congressman.

For those of you who don’t know, Bobby Sanabria is a master percussionist and musician. Straight from his bio, “drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer, filmmaker, conductor, educator, activist, multi-cultural warrior and multiple Grammy nominee.” Boom. Or as Ricans would say on the street, “una jodienda."

Bobby has a benefit concert on October 23rd at the old Village Gate, now (le) poisson rouge where Salsa met Jazz every Monday night for years. The talk with Bobby ended up being a four-part mini-series but I’m sharing the first two. He goes off and gives the full line up of the band and mixes it all with a history lesson on music, the New York music scene when he was growing up, and just a general sense of the times and music and his love for it.

Also on the talk is Elena Martínez, veteran and senior folklorist, researcher, writer and overall cultural guardian. Love her.

Take a listen. History. Diaspora. Latin Music. Puerto Ricans in Latin Music. Music heals. Salsa meets Jazz again on the 23rd. Big Band and all…

Bobby and Elena teamed up with the Jazz Foundation of America and proceeds go to them for Puerto Rican musicians affected by the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and María.

Listen to Part I and Part II

Uptown Manhattan has Rhina Valentin. For the past 11-years, she has given creatives here a platform to be heard and seen from her weekly Friday show on Bronxnet, OPEN. Maybe this is why she is called La Reina del Barrio. She is from El Barrio, but the “Queen” part we didn’t get to talk about that part. Nonetheless, in this episode La Reina del Barrio talks about motherhood, moving cross country, coming back, OPEN Bronxnet, her new variety show, Maria, and going at it with bravado and dignity. Thank you, Rhina Valentin, for a lovely conversation.

María Relief Effort Initiative: Yaraní del Valle is fierce. I’ve seen her sing her heart out. Etched in my mind. A unique interpreter she is. Bella. It is no coincidence that Yaraní, alongside Lady Onion, Aris Mejias and Lady Lanchonete, Isabel Gandía, created the duffle initiative, EcoKit Puerto Rico.

The backstory of how the three of us are connected is a mini story. But, the skinny is the lesson. And that is, the diaspora network is threaded and spreads out pretty far. People working together from all over and partnering with coalitions on the island, creating efforts, sending gestures, and operating in what Yara calls a “stork” system effort. All the while and emerging and unofficial, “new order” ripples.

Yara is a source and a force. Listen to her. She has a lot to say, not only about EcoKit but about who-where-how, the network she operates in is working.

EcoKit Puerto Rico
Aris Mejias
Isabel Gandía
Yaraní Del Valle
ISER Caribe

Borrowed from Dad = Borinquen Vive

Pete Miranda is one of the sweetest, coolest, funniest cats around. I've known him years from working in the Latin music circuit. For those of you who don't know who he is, Pete is a legend. Really. New York City and diaspora history in full glory. Here is a Boricua from Manatí who ended up playing with the Machito and Tito Puente orchestras. Pete is a natural storyteller and his candidness is beautiful. All total he spoke pretty much without interruption for over two hours. I edited a five-part mini-series of Pete, and here are the first two.  They say music heals...so, here it is, no music, just talk, but good enough to bring a smile to your face. 

Rosalba Rolón is an actress, dramaturge, writer, producer, lyricist, grant writer, mentor, leader, and the world is a better place because she is in it. God is my witness.

Like so many, soon after María passed the questions became, what can we do to help? And thousands have activated to do just that, help. There are numerous and beautiful initiatives and coalitions taking root all over the land, far beyond the island and the island itself. In the midst of so much chaos and shady dealings, the domino effect of consequences continues. But the efforts don’t stop. Pregones/PRTT’s Hurricane María Relief Drive for Artists is one of those beautiful gestures.

For the month of October, the theater will campaign to provide $500 micro-grants to theater, music, dance, visual and literary arts practitioners in Puerto Rico. The drive will put emergency cash in the hands of artists with whom Pregones/PRTT has had a history of exchange and collaboration, and who are also invited to identify subsequent micro-grant recipients.

Two shows happening at Pregones/PRTT on Walton this month, Harlem Hellfighters on a Latin Beat, the concert (Oct. 7) and El Apagón (Oct. 20) 100% of ticket sales will go towards the Hurricane María Relief Drive for Artists. At Pregones/PRTT on Broadway District, Spamilton.

Listen to her talk. She explains it all. The heart of it, the need of it, the solidarity with artists.

Episode 67 is the great Howard Jordan - he's a match and a talker for today's times and Puerto Ricans.

Fierce and gracious both, the Mayor of San Juan. It looks true. The administrations don't care if we die. It is so grotesque and real it's unbelievable. So much so that you don’t believe it at first. Rats working behind the scenes, colluding, arguing, imposing bureaucratic paperwork before humanitarian urgency, lying, confusing the people, letting them rot so to speak. But then you see it, and it is nauseating. Words don’t come easy. I’m tense, irritable, short, working very hard to stay the course, sifting through emails and feeds looking for stuff, reading.  Everything is different. This cheat sheet keeps changing but it’s still made to help people. Read on, it has a lot more information. Hope it helps. Write to me if you need to. Sol

Status Update

Status.pr

Maria Tech Brigade - Puerto Rico Tras el Paso del Huracán María Google doc.

Jason Suarez Portland OR María Tech Brigade / jason@suarez.email

GIS, programming, spreadsheet etc

Diasporicans.com | We have data on donation centers around country etc.

If you know organization that has need for volunteers (we have over 200 people) please contact

Connect Worldwide | Register

Llamada Diaria - Red de Apoyo Mutuo Post María
Gmail: apoyomutuopr@gmail.com | Twitter: @PRapoyo

OJO:

Maritxel Carrero
-father director of Mayaguez Medical Center (no water, 50% capacity)

-Milton D Carrero - 410 Hostos Ave, Mayaguez PR 00680

Jennifer Concepcion | Center for Disease Control - ypi@cdc.gov They are in contact with folks on the ground in Puerto Rico for the first time. Focusing on water treatment

Karen Vega coordinates services to connect people without a home with social services. She stops working on Oct. 17 and will offer pro bono services to people arriving in the US with Medicaid, shelters, etc. | Her words: Are there any social workers getting organized? Bilingual social workers are needed here. Buscan gente joven buscando empleo. No pagan bien pero pagan. Mucho trabajo pero tiene su satisfacción porque van ayudar gente. puertorico.newyork.sw@gmail.com  

Water Filter | Lifestraw.eartheasy.com CODE LF30OFF Water Filter 30% Discount

Rosa Cruz-Cordero - get on her list - rc1941@hunter.cuny.edu - monthly newsletter via Hunter College about news and events.

ACTIONS:

Denise Solis / Bay area / 510-224-6692 / tallerbombalele@gmail.com /

National DAY OF ACTION Oct 4th - calling out for forgiveness of debt, downtown Oakland, also something at LA (Merrill Lynch building) More info. on Facebook.

We want all major cities to come out on Oct 4th.

David Galarza, organizer Relieve/Rebuild Puerto Rico—New York | Release the relief

Cancel the Debt | Cancel Jones
Rally next week at Folley Sq. Wednesday Oct 4th at 12PM |

Independent Coalitions | Foundations for Maria Hurricane Relief

Carmelo Anthony Puerto Rico Relief - The Players Tribune

Casa Pueblo - casapueblo.org - Very respected organization. Casa Pueblo is a self-managed community project that is committed to appreciating and protecting natural, cultural and human resources. They have helped protect the municipalities of Adjuntas, Utuado, Lares and Jayuya since 1980. Casa Pueblo has road clearing brigades as well as distributing goods. Email: mariolarosario@gmail.com

Efecto Sombrilla - efectosombrilla.org | Contact Tara: tara@efectosombrilla.org Uniting efforts of farmers around the island, have centers in Miramar Hato Rey ready to accept seeds, etc.  Any help, ideas, contacts to get the sustainable agriculture back on their feet contact Tara

EcoKit Duffle for Puerto Rico – EcoKit Duffle  | Yarani Del Valle Piñero (facebook), Aris Mejias, and Isa Gandia, Organizers | Thru isercaribe.org the EcoKit Duffle initiative delivers eco-friendly survival materials. Yarani works and collaborates with several organizations and coalitions on the island.

Giving Solar Light to Puerto Rico - John Leguizamo solar4pr.org

La Cucina - If you are seeking to communicate with community-based efforts working on the ground in PR: Landline at “La Cucina” with solid and direct communication in Hato Rey, PR: 787-767-9862 Good place to leave information and receive small donations for specific people/organizations. They are helping decentralize resources, information, etc. Email: Eduardo Caro / ejecaro@gmail.com

Pregones / Teatro Rodante Puertorriqueño – Pregonesprtt.org – Relief Drive for Artists Join Pregones in helping Puerto Rican artists with their peer-to-peer relief drive. Because the arts are VITAL in the reconstruction of our nation!#ArtistsPR #Relief #P2P http://pregonesprtt.org/you/donate/

Proyecto Enlace del Caño Martín Peña - martinpeña.org The Trust Tierra del Caño Martín Peña won the UN-Hábitat For A Better Urban Future World Prize in 2016.

Puerto Rico x Puerto Rico - Prxpr.org The founding partners and leaders of the PRxPR Fund are five highly respected, senior Puerto Rican born and raised business professionals who bring diverse extensive US and international experience in key areas of operations, legal, financial, technology, government, and marketing. All monies raised by PRxPR Fund will be disbursed based on criteria determined by official expert authorities on the ground and their vetted needs assessment.  We will work closely with trusted local organizations to ensure that we provide relief in a way that will have maximum impact on the neediest communities in PR.  

Puerto Rico Rises - puertorriquenos.nuevayork@gmail.com - Puerto Rico Rises

Creating a line of distribution completely separate from PR government/municipalities. They have trucks, drivers, logistics coordinator, containers, and 300 volunteers in the island waiting to start. Seeking 20 volunteer coordinators to be trained and spread around the island as lead coordinators. PPR trucks are going to be tracked, they have 11 security companies that are joining to protect everyone’s security. PPR needs contact with Municipalities and 20 leaders. We are almost there.

OCT 8 Event - transmitted globally Puerto Rico Lights up… from Holland to Columbia, transmitted on FB simultaneously. Silent Vigil

OCT 21 Event Global Drive in 50 cities - Puerto Rico Rise up also transmitted FB simultaneously

Somos Una Voz - Somos Una Voz - a bunch of celebrities, a combined force of over 1billion followers, joined Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez’s alliance.

Susie Ran Kim -  Solar & Connection to Puerto Rico - From the Go Fund Me page | The two back to back hurricanes have bisected the entire island- leaving so many people with destroyed homes, little access to water, gas, electricity and all forms of communication. Immediate needs are power, clean water, and connectivity. My name is Susie Kim. I am a co-founder and Artistic director for Newfilmmakers Los Angeles and have been producing the science and art documentary Bifrost into the Aurora which is based out of Puerto Rico for the past 3 years. By luck, I was in Los Angeles when the hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, watching everything go down. Since then, I've been able to maintain communications with our production team, our friends, and the university students to understand how to best help. Together with friends, families, and support from our community in the US, we are organizing together to address the immediate needs of the island which is energy, connectivity, and clean water.

Taller Salud - www.tallersalud.org - Taller Salud is a community-based, feminist grassroots organization that works for the integral well-being of girls, young women and adult women, targeted primarily at low-income communities. Since 1979.

Voices for Puerto Rico – Voicesforpuertorico.com – arts and culture - This is another crew of Latino celebrities and influencers who join Mariem Pérez, Carlitos Ruíz, and Adriana Teresa Letorney to aid and support relief efforts.

Community and Cultural Partners for Earthquake and Hurricane Relief Efforts

Coalición Mexicana – CoaliciónMexicana.org – community building

Celebrate Mexico Now Festival – Rise! NY|MX Earthquake Relief for Mexico Benefit Concert – arts and culture

Comité Noviembre – Comiténoviembre.org – anchor organization and network - community building

Revolución Latina – Hurricane and Earthquake Relief Dance-A-Thon

National Foundations & Organizations

Acacia Network – AcaciaNetWork.org

American Red Cross – Disaster Relief International Help Resources

Hispanic Federation - Hispanic Federation.org

Latino Justice – Latinojustice.org

One America Appeal - Oneamericanappeal.org

International Foundations for Earthquake and Hurricane Relief Efforts

Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands - Usvirecovery.org

Direct Relief -  Directrelief.org

Fondo Unido de México - fondounido.org.mx

Global Giving - GlobalGiving.org

Oxfam – Oxfamamerica.org

Pan American Development Foundation - padf.org

Save the Children – SavetheChildren.org

Unicef - Unicefusa.org

Travel Tips

Heard this on la Llamada de Apoyo: Bag Waiver (Delta)- For folks traveling to the islands to help and bring goods.

Email: bagwaiverqsts.delta@delta.com - Include your name, flight number, state how many bags, organizations you will visit, articles you are bringing, and explain the motive of travel and you must have a fiscal sponsor designated 501 C 3 or an EIN to qualify for the humanitarian waiver credit.

Flying out of San Juan - Bring food and water for the long lines and the wait.

U.S. Senate

Office of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
Rep. 7th District - Brooklyn-Lower Manhattan-Queens
Email: melissa.delort@mail.house.gov to find family members.

Government - Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration – prfaa.pr.org

Unidos Por Puerto Rico - unidosporpuertorico.com

Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico – fcpr.org

Fondos Unidos de Puerto Rico
P.O. Box 191914
San Juan, PR 00919
tel: (787) 728-8500
fax: (787) 728-7099
http://www.fondosunidos.org/

Caritas Puerto Rico
201 Calle San Jorge
Esquina Baldorioty de Castro
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902
P.O. Box 8812, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-0812
787 300-4953  
www.caritas.pr

Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico
1719 Ave. Ponce de León
San Juan, PR 00909-1905
787-721-1037
https://www.fcpr.org/

Hurricane Maria Children's Relief Fund
Save the Children
501 Kings Highway East, Suite 400,
Fairfield, CT 06825
https://secure.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.9535647/k.A2B9/Hurricane_Maria_Childrens_Relief_Fund/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp

Maria & Irma: Puerto Rico Real-time Recovery Fund
ConPRmetidos
1511 Ave. Ponce de León Suite K, La Ciudadela
San Juan P.R. 00909
Phone:787-773-1100

https://www.generosity.com/emergencies-fundraising/maria-irma-puerto-rico-real-time-recovery-fund

Government - New York City

New York City State – NY.Gov

New York City Gov. Fund donate to Puerto Rico - NYC.Gov

Fire Department New York City – FDNY & FDNY Facebook Page

Donation Sites Set Up Across New York City

ONLY Priorities: Diapers, Baby food, Batteries, First Aid Supplies, Feminine Hygiene Products

El Maestro Cultural Center
1300 Southern Blvd. (near Freeman Street)
2:00 - 8:00 p.m.|  646-299-6507
revolucionboricua76@gmail.com

ASPIRA of New York, Inc.,
Site #1 – Main Office |15 West 36th Street, NY, NY 10018
Site #2 – P.S.\ I.S. 224 | 345 Brook Avenue, Room 104, Bronx, NY 10455
Note: Aspira’s main office is accepting amazon packages.

FDNY

Donations will be accepted during the hours of 7 am - 9 pm. Please be aware that FDNY members at these locations may not be present during drop-off hours if they are responding to an emergency.

Manhattan

Engine 91: 242 E. 111th Street, New York, NY 11220 (East Harlem)
Engine 95/ Ladder 36: 29 Vermilyea Avenue, New York, NY 10033 (Inwood)
Engine 28/ Ladder 11: 222 E. 2nd Street, New York, NY 10009 (Lower East Side)

Bronx

EMS Station 26: 1264 Boston Road, Bronx NY 10456 (Morrisania)
EMS Station 55: 3134 Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10451 (Melrose)
Engine 64/ Ladder 47: 1214 Castle Hill Avenue, Bronx, NY 10462 (Castle Hill)
Engine 83/ Ladder 29: 618 E. 138th Street, Bronx, NY 10454 (Mott Haven/South Bronx)

Queens

Engine 316: 27-12 Kearney Street, Queens, NY 11369 (East Elmhurst)
Engine 289/ Ladder 138: 97-28 43rd Avenue, Queens, NY 11368 (Corona)
Engine 307/ Ladder 154: 81-17 Northern Boulevard, Queens, NY 11372 (Jackson Heights)

Brooklyn

Engine 271/ Ladder 124: 392 Himrod Street, Brooklyn, NY 11237 (Bushwick)
Engine 277/ Ladder 112: 582 Knickerbocker Avenue, Brooklyn, NY  11221 (Bushwick)
Engine 201/ Ladder 114: 5113 4th Avenue,  Brooklyn, NY  11220 ( Sunset Park)
Engine 228: 436 39th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 (Sunset Park)
Engine 218: 650 Hart Street, Brooklyn, NY 11221 (Bushwick)

Staten Island

Engine 153/ Ladder 77: 74 Broad Street, Staten Island, NY 10304 (Stapleton)
Engine 157/ Ladder 80: 1573 Castleton Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10302 (Port Richmond)
Ladder 79: 1189 Castleton Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10310 (Port Richmond)

ACACIA DROP OFF LOCATIONS:

Manhattan:

East Harlem Multi Service Center
419 East 120th Street, NY
Contact: Paul Delgado 347-489-6516

Institute for the Puerto Rican and Hispanic Elderly
Carver Senior Center
55 East 102nd Street, NY between Madison Avenue
Contact: Maria Rivera 917-838-8028

The Loisaida Center
710 East 120th 9th Street, NY
Contact: Libertad Guerra 646-757-0522

Bronx:

Ramon Velez Health Center
754 East 151th Street
Bronx, NY 10455
Contact: Michael Orozco 347-924-3435

CASA Promesa
308 East 175th Street
Bronx, NY 10457
Contact : Adriene Rosell 347-924-2002

915 Westchester Avenue, 3rd floor
Bronx, NY 10459
Contact: Eileen Enmanuel 646-224-9207

White Plains Road
3677 White Plains Road
Bronx, NY 10467
Contact: Adalgisa Capellan 917-612-7258

Queens:

Skyway Queens
132-10 South Conduit
New York, NY 11430
Contact: Kwame Rennie 347-675-1994

Sleep Inn JFK
177-08 Liberty Avenue
Queens, NY 11433
Contact: Marly Jourdain 929-446-5038

Brooklyn:

Brooklyn Cluster
255 Liberty Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11212
Contact: Jenelle Cole 646-457-0926/Metika Shaw 929-446-5103

References

Business Insider -  (Sept. 11, 2017)

The Best Charities to give in the wake of Hurricane Irma

The Huffington Post - (Sept. 21, 2017)

Hispanic Federation Organizes Relief Efforts to Help Puerto Rico After Hurricane María

How Stuff Works - (Sept. 18, 2017) 5 Donation Tips for (Really) Helping Disaster Victims

Latino Rebels (Sept. 30, 2017) - The Cruelest Storm: A Statement for Puerto Rico

PR Informa - PR Informa Facebook

Dad sent me this video back in March. Danny en Collores...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWhTLcis5T4

If you are Puerto Rican then you know El Valle de Collores by Puerto Rican poet Luis LLornés Torres. Mrs. Higuera, one of my school's Spanish teacher from Cuba, assigned us to memorize el Valle De Collores for Spanish class. We had to stand in front of the room and recite out loud. I loved it, and her, Mrs. Higuera, and the poem. Dad, here so proud of Puerto Rico's bounty. Todo es diferente hoy. Everything is different today. María was ferocious to her, la Verde Luz. But, after a knock out it's back up again, one step at a time, one day at a time. Defeat is humbling. I'm not saying Puerto Rico is defeated. Because it isn't, but the storm beat it so. Puerto Rico te amo. You are not alone. With a heavy heart and in full awareness and solidarity with all the towns, countries, and people suffering around world.

Going indie as a designer was not in her plans. Necessity came knocking and she took her sewing skills and put them into action creating Skin Onion in 2012.

Lady Onion, as I now call her, is also an actress and appears in the upcoming (October 26) Puerto Rican film Sol de Media Noche, starring opposite Pedro Capó. Though we talk about the film a little bit in this conversation, our exchange centers more on her clothing experiment turned brand. I love that when necessity and desperation knocked at her door she made something of it. Her garments are soft, flexible, purposeful, and timeless.

Young, beautiful, and committed Lady Onion is just like her wearable expressions soft, flexible, and purposeful.

Five small community-based arts organizations: BronxArtSpace, Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA, En Foco, Inc., Literary Freedom Project, and Puerto Rican Institute for Development of the Arts make up the Urban Arts Cooperative - UAC. Bill Aguado, is spearheading the endeavor. 

Bill’s career is ample deep. This beautiful article by David González of The New York Times says it best.

The crux of UAC is “to build a financially viable alternative to the existing local arts council and institute strategies for arts support that does not rely on the traditional 501(c) nonprofit model while meeting accountability standards set by funders.” Press Release 7|10|17. 

The synthesis of the message is to assess and empower present and future artists, particularly those who reside in The Bronx, Harlem, and Washington Heights. UAC received seed funding from the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund in The New York Community Trust. 

Bill and Ron Kavanaugh, of the Literary Freedom Project, are welcoming like-minded individuals and collectives to join the cooperative to build new models of existence for artists from The Bronx, Harlem, and Washington Heights, though it could serve as model for others.

In this email correspondence for this post, I’m sharing the full press release as an attachment for your reference. I’ll be participating with UAC. I recognize we need one another, now more than ever. Together better than separate. Artists.

Grateful for Bill’s time, seriousness, commitment, and candidness.

In the eye of the beholder. 

Photography. Silence. Song of Myself. A worldwide network and a one stop shop for creatives and media producers. Visura. For better or for others (her own words). Her purpose. A beauty. Family.

Chilean filmmaker Fernando Guzzoni is a poet. His film Jesús is a powerful coming of age film with a different bent. Inspired by a true event Fernando writes to slash your viser off your face.

Jesús is raw, real, beautiful, and devastating. This is the story about boy that mirrors the Chile of today and the cities we all live in. Fernando is a profound thinker and cares about a lot of things. In this work he etches a journey of tragedy all wrapped up in free love, innocence, immaturity, base behavior, repentance, treason, defeat. He doesn’t make it pretty, but he does bring us his voice with respect and courage.

Theatrical roll-out of Jesús begins September 1 in New York and follows a DVD/VOD on September 19. See his other two works, La Colorina and Carne de Perro (Dog Flesh).