Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings - An Anthology

by SANTIAGO, ROBERTO

• ISBN13: 9780345395023
• ISBN10: 0345395026
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1995-09-11
• Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE

Summary

MANY CULTURES * ONE WORLD "Boricua is what Puerto Ricans call one another as a term of endearment, respect, and cultural affirmation; it is a timeless declaration that transcends gender and color. Boricua is a powerful word that tells the origin and history of the Puerto Rican people." --From the Introduction From the sun-drenched beaches of a beautiful, flamboyan-covered island to the cool, hard pavement of the fierce South Bronx, the remarkable journey of the Puerto Rican people is a rich story full of daring defiance, courageous strength, fierce passions, and dangerous politics--and it is a story that continues to be told today. Long ignored by Anglo literature studies, here are more than fifty selections of poetry, fiction, plays, essays, monologues, screenplays, and speeches from some of the most vibrant and original voices in Puerto Rican literature. * Jack Agueros * Miguel Algarin * Julia de Burgos * Pedro Albizu Campos * Lucky CienFuegos * Judith Ortiz Cofer * Jesus Colon * Victor Hern ndez Cruz * Jose de Diego * Martin Espada * Sandra Maria Esteves * Ronald Fernandez * Jose Luis Gonzalez * Migene Gonzalez-Wippler * Maria Graniela de Pruetzel * Pablo Guzman * Felipe Luciano * Rene Marques * Luis Munoz Marin * Nicholasa Mohr * Aurora Levins Morales * Martita Morales * Rosario Morales * Willie Perdomo * Pedro Pietri * Miguel Pinero * Reinaldo Povod * Freddie Prinze * Geraldo Rivera * Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. * Clara E. Rodriguez * Esmeralda Santiago * Roberto Santiago * Pedro Juan Soto * Piri Thomas * Edwin Torres * Jose Torres * Joseph B. Vasquez * Ana Lydia Vega

Author Biography

Roberto Santiago is a journalist who lectures around the nation on Latino issues. He received the 1991 Inter American Press Association Award for Commentary and won first prize in the 1990 Hispanic Magazine Short Story Contest. A former reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Santiago has written for Omni, Rolling Stone, and Essence. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Acknowledgments
Here	p. 3
To the Persecuted	p. 7
The Sounds of Sixth Street	p. 8
A Letter to a Child Like Me	p. 11
It Is Raining Today	p. 19
How to Know the Puerto Ricans	p. 20
Island of Lost Causes	p. 22
Hallelujahs	p. 25
Puerto Rican Nationalism	p. 27
On Recent Disturbances in Puerto Rico	p. 29
The Boy Without a Flag	p. 30
Grand River of Loiza	p. 46
The "Lamento Borincano"	p. 48
The Party (From Palante! Young Lords Party)	p. 52
Los Macheteros	p. 60
Double Allegiance	p. 74
Child of the Americas	p. 79
Ay Ay Ay, of the Kinky Negress	p. 80
Puerto Ricans: Between Black and White	p. 81
Nigger-Reecan Blues	p. 91
Black and Latino	p. 93
Babylon for the Babylonians (From Down These Mean Streets)	p. 96
African Things	p. 101
The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria	p. 102
A Mongo Affair	p. 108
Puerto Rican Obituary	p. 117
The Konk	p. 126
The Story of My Body	p. 132
To Julia de Burgos	p. 142
Hangin' (Out) with the Homeboys	p. 144
Niggerlips	p. 151
Little Things Are Big	p. 153
The Docile Puerto Rican - Literature and Psychological Reality	p. 155
The American Invasion of Macun (From When I Was Puerto Rican)	p. 159
Monday Morning	p. 181
"Looking Good"	p. 184
Carlito's Way	p. 189
Short Eyes	p. 205
Poppa Dio!	p. 218
Bayaminina	p. 243
Roots (From Palante! Young Lords Party)	p. 245
I Became My Own Path	p. 255
Yoruba (From The Santeria Experience)	p. 256
Aunt Rosana's Rocker	p. 268
Aerobics for Love	p. 288
Malig; Malig and Sal; Sal. (From Dominoes and Other Stories from The Puerto Rican)	p. 293
My Old Flame	p. 302
HIV	p. 304
Poem for My Death	p. 307
Dedicated to Maria Rodriguez Martinez - February 24, 1975	p. 308
The Freddie Prinze Story	p. 310
A Special Kind of Courage: Bernard Carabello	p. 317
Loiza Aldea	p. 342
The Final Act	p. 347
About the Contributors	p. 349
Author Index	p. 357
Permission Acknowledgments	p. 358
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.