Sunday, January 29, 2006

Featured sports column:
New York Daily News - Sports - Mike Lupica's Shooting From the Lip: Count wins not Latinos
MUSIC:

YERBABUENA is a group of young Boricua and Latino musicians, singers and dancers who
come together to play the music that they love under the musical direction of singer-composer-musician Tato Torres, sharing an intense passion for the musical traditions of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

The last thing that will come to your mind while at a YERBABUENA event is that you're watching a show. It feels more like a cross between a jam in the park, a
spiritual ceremony and a family reunion.

The music they play is, by nature, participatory. Whether bomba, plena or musica jibara, it's all interactive. And being witness to their vibrant sounds, just leaves the audience no choice but to join in the singing and dance to the beat of the drums. After a YERBABUENA session, you'll be uplifted, tired and happy.

Visit the band's website for more info. and free music downloads:
www.yerbabuena.biz and www.MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com/tatoyerbabuena)


Source: Yerbabuena
PRSUN Contact Information:

You can always contact Puerto Rico Sun by commenting here on a specific entry or e-mailing me directly at prsuncom@yahoo.com. You can also e-mail me at this address in connection to PRSUN TV.

FYI: I have terminated the Puerto Rico Sun Yahoo group and have created a new Google group instead. If you are interested in becoming a Puerto Rico Sun member, feel free to join the group.

Here are the essentials:

* Group name: Puerto Rico Sun
* Group home page: www.groups.google.com/group/puertoricosun
* Group email address puertoricosun@googlegroups.com


As you know, there is also a group of photobloggers who belong to the Puerto Rico Sun group at Flickr, showcasing images of the island and stateside boricua communities.

Thank you.

Clarisel

Friday, January 27, 2006

Tunnel


Tunnel
Originally uploaded by igualmente.
Featured report:
Study Finds Rich-Poor Income Gap Growing - Yahoo! News The greatest disparity between rich and poor was in New York, where the top 20 percent of wage earners had average incomes 8.1 times larger than the poorest 20 percent in the early 2000s.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Community Event

La Casa De La Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc.
(The Puerto Rican Cultural Heritage House, Inc.)

Cordialmente le invita a la interesante lectura del drama

“Los Peligros de Chencha” de Anita Vélez Mitchell

Con la participación de:

Actores y Actrices del grupo “Danza Fiesta”
Hilda Rivera Pantoja - Coreógrafa

Domingo, 29 de enero del 2006, a las 3:00 p.m.
1230 Quinta Avenida, salón #458

Invite a sus amigos

Donación $10.00

R.S.V.P.
(212) 722-2600

http://www.lacasapr.org/
Featured article:

Text of NYC Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City Address at Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2006 State of the City Address (Gotham Gazette. January 26, 2006)
PRESS STATEMENT

Friends of the International Leadership Charter School Announce Victory for Bronx Community

On Tuesday January 10, 2006 the New York State Board of Regents voted unanimously to fill the last 4 charter school slots available for New York City. The establishment of the International Leadership Charter School, a high school proposed for the Bronx, is a victory for the Puerto Rican and Latino immigrant youth and the community which it will serve. This grassroots effort led by a Bronx puertorriquena Dr. Elaine Ruiz Lopez is part of a larger vision for the neighborhood in which the school will be located.

With the conviction that, “It takes a village to educate a child…” Dr. Ruiz Lopez, graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University is the founder and Chief Executive Officer for ILCS. She embarked upon a long and rigorous journey to address a problem that is approaching epidemic proportions in the Borough. “If they are not being taught how can they graduate?” A drop-out rate for Bronx high school students that exceeded more than 50% in some areas was the driving force that fueled this Bronx native’s passion for bringing together the most dedicated and experienced individuals in the area of law, finance, non-profit management, school administration and community engagement to ensure that the dream for this community would become a reality.

This effort was made possible with the support of numerous community leaders and organizations that actively united around the concept of establishing a charter high school that would provide a stellar education to the most neglected student population in the Bronx, the ELL and immigrant high school age youth.

The stakes were very high in this process as there were several groups who applied for the remaining slots before the Cap on charter schools closed. ILCS is only the second charter high school in the NYC that has been authorized by Chancellor Joel Klein. The first charter high school is Williamsburg Charter High School whose founder and CEO Eddie Calderon Melendez is on the ILCS Board of Trustees. Other key board members include Frances Lucerna, founder of Peace and Justice Academy El Puente, Peter Moyers, Esq, Professor Frank Tang, Alice Mairs, and Al Prentice McCutchen.

The organizations and individuals who supported this effort includes Community Planning Board 6, El Puente, Inc., the National Council of La Raza, the International Branch of the YMCA, the New York City Charter Center for Excellence, Professor Pedro Noguera, NYU, The Children’s Defense Fund, The Office of the Bronx Borough President, Councilman Joel Rivera, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, and Mastermind, Inc.

The positive outcome validated the numerous sacrifices made by the ILCS founding Board of Trustees and the Friends of ILCS, Inc. Dr. Ruiz Lopez, who prefers being called Elaine, is already preparing diligently for the first day of school and 4 years up the road. Elaine cannot wait to meet all 88 9th grade students who will for the first time, enroll in a public school of choice with an equal opportunity to attend and graduate from a quality school with an academically rigorous curriculum that is designed to pave the way toward enrollment in the college of their choice. According to Elaine, “For hundreds of students this may be the first time that they have been given a fighting chance to be the first in their families to attend college. Failure will never be an option at ILCS. Now that’s social justice.”

For more information, Dr. Elaine Ruiz Lopez at 646-623-8879 or Palomaazul@aol.com