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Resources for Esmeralda's Dream
 By Susan Huetteman

Esmeralda Santiago
(May 17, 1948-)

Note to reader: Websites often change content, some weekly. Often there are changes to the URL. To retrieve an inaccessible or invalid Web site address, use a search engine. Type in the title of the article with author's name and/or "Santiago." If all else fails, type in the subject information you are trying to retrieve. See also: Endnotes.

Resources for Esmeralda's Dream are divided into topic sections:

I. By Santiago

Memoirs

Santiago, Esmeralda, When I Was Puerto Rican. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., 1993, 1994, 274 pages with glossary, concluding with a three-chapter excerpt of Almost a Woman.

An intimate and sensitive memoir of Santiago's formative years in Puerto Rico and the transition to the United States.

    Santiago looks candidly at the complexity of her parents' relationship, unmarried but loving, and their resourcefulness in dealing with the harsh conditions of povertous rural life. Santiago's Negi is a brilliant sculpting of childhood innocence and acceptance. The honesty in Santiago's poignant memoir is both sympathetic and reactive to Mami's vision of a better life for her children.

    With compassion and frankness Santiago takes us though major life experiences: parental love and separation, traditions of food, intense yearning for Puerto Rico, and, finally, New York. Brooklyn was a crude jolt into street-wise living, exacerbating her confusion and adolescent identity.

Santiago, Esmeralda, Beside Myself: A Puerto Rican Childhood. M.F.A. Thesis. Location: Sarah Lawrence College Library, 1992, 298 leaves. Subject: Sarah Lawrence College--Graduate students--Publications (Santiago), Item 40 of 565: su Sarah Lawrence College--Graduate. Based on her contracted memoir, When I Was Puerto Rican.

Santiago was a fiction major at Sarah Lawrence when she received a book contract for When I was Puerto Rican. She considered dropping out of college, but was convinced she could do both. Her thesis utilized a part of her memoir. (Telephone conversation with Esmeralda Santiago, 11-17-00 and with the assistance of Judith Kicinski and the Sarah Lawrence College Web site httpp://www.waldo.msus.edu/)

Santiago, Esmeralda, Almost a Woman. New York: Vintage Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1998, 1999, 314 pages. A sequel memoir to When I Was Puerto Rican.

    The introductory chapter serves as a transition from Macún, Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, New York then follows Santiago through adolescence to young adulthood.

    Young Esmeralda, Negi, is transplanted from the natural freedom of rural life in Macún into the realities of urban life. An excellent presentation of her struggle of immigrant poverty and youthful innocence in the complex social systems of New York's boroughs where she experiences daily prejudices and slurs.

    As she masters the English language and achieves in education, she begins to understand her potential becoming a dancer and actor. Unable to resolve the dichotomy between her potential and the reality of every day life, she walks out on both and into an affair with Turkish filmmaker, Ulvi Dõgan--her search for an undefined dream.

    Acknowledgments introduces Santiago's family: husband and filmmaker Frank Cantor and her children, Lucas and Ila.

Santiago, Esmeralda, "El hombre que yo amo." Boston: Ploughshares, Emerson College, Fall 2000, pp.146-166, 236. A three-chapter excerpt from a memoir in progress.

    Santiago recalls her elopement with Turkish filmmaker Ulvi Dõgan and her stark encounter with a more sophisticated and wealthier social standard. She depicts the raw emotions she experienced in leaving her family to live in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with a man she barely knew and older than her mother. Thrust into European etiquette, Ulvi shaped her new identity. She was now known as Chiquita. When Mami finds Esmeralda, they both learn that no one, nothing can ever separate the bond between mother and child.

Santiago, Esmeralda, (untitled memoir in progress) covers her twenties to graduation from Harvard and when she meets her husband Frank Cantor. (Telephone conversation with Santiago, 11--17-00)

Novel

Santiago, Esmeralda, América's Dream. New York: Harper Perennial, a Division of Harper Collins Publishers, 1996, 1997, 325 pages. A novel about a maid in an existing hotel-restaurant La Casa del Francés on the Isla De Vieques, off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico.

    Santiago takes us deep into the soul of América. She is self-effacing and kind, takes pride in her work, and makes excuses for Correa--her abusive lover and father of her daughter, Rosalinda.

    When fourteen-year-old Rosalinda runs away with her boyfriend, just as América and her mother had done, América's world collapses. Rosalinda returns, but doesn't want to live with her mother. It is then América knows that she, too, must leave and break the chain of Correa's violence.

    The novel follows the honest and forgiving América to a new life in Westchester County, New York near Mount Kisco. There she continues to excel as a housekeeper and mentor for the children of her employer. But her secret life is disrupted by Correa. No longer willing to be abused, she retaliates. The novel was inspired by the Nannies in the park where Santiago's children played (see: Caught Between Cultures, AARP Bulletin).

Editions with Joie Davidow

Santiago, Esmeralda and Joie Davidow, Ed. "Interracial Voice." Si magazine. Letter to Editors. Mention of their work. (Unsuccessful in attempting to locate a copy of Santiago's works in Si.SH) Final issue of Si included Christmas memories by Latino authors.

http://www.webcom.com/intvoice/letter40.html

Santiago, Esmeralda and Joie Davidow, Ed., Las Christmas. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., 198 pages. Illustrated by José Ortega. Christmas and Hanukkah holidays are presented in essays, poems, and recipes.

    Latino authors, including Martin Espada, Piri Thomas, Gary Soto, Aurora Levins Morales, join nearly twenty-five authors to bring holiday memories from the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, and the United States mainland. Many recipes for family meals mentioned in Santiago's books may be found here.

    Following a warm introduction and invitation: You are invited to Spend Christmas at hour house, Santiago's essay, A Baby Doll Like My Cousin Jenny's, provides insight into the Puerto Rican culture and customs. Sometimes growing up means losing the comfort of childhood myths--a universal experience.

Santiago, Esmeralda and Davidow, Joie, Ed., Las Mamis. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, 189 pages. Fourteen Latino authors share poignant memories of their mothers, including the revealing foreword by Joie Davidow and Santiago's essay First Born.

    Mami permeates all of Santiago's writings; in Las Mamis her mother is prominent for herself. Dõna Ramona is presented as a woman of vulnerability, strength, and courage--themes familiar to readers of Santiago's books, now told with a deeper feeling of intimacy. A wonderful mix of Caribbean, Central and South American, Europe and mainland United States authors, the essays are a moving and outstanding presentation of the Latino mother.

Essays and Conversations by Santiago

Christian Science Monitor. Copyright, Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society. Electronic Edition. Monitor Archive. From 1980-Present. E-mail, Thursday, November 2, 2000. Copyright 2000. http://www.csmonitor.com ($)

Santiago, Esmeralda, Bilingual dreamer. August 20, 1987, 2 page e-mail. Copyright 2000. Santiago explains the confusion of being bilingual: Spanish is spoken in the home, but English in the world outside--children speak the language of their peers. From her bilingual and bicultural experience, she encouraged her own children to learn both Spanish and English.

Santiago, Esmeralda, Childhood in a Puerto Rican Barrio, April 5, 1989. 3 page e-mail. Copyright 2000. Select: Monitor Archive. Santiago describes her "spiritual birthplace," Macún, as seen through the eyes of the adult returning home.

Santiago, Esmeralda, Christmas in New York; A Blanco Navidad for New Yoricans. New York: The New York Times, Sunday, The City Weekly Desk, Copyright 2000, The New York Times Company, December 19, 1999, 2 pages.

An adult Santiago celebrates Christmas with her sister Alicia and brother Charlie, remembering the old customs. She marvels that of Mami's eleven children, four live in New York and none married Puerto Ricans. The family, now extended to twenty-five, celebrates the delectable old recipes, but their Puerto Rican heritage has somehow become "dusted with snow."

Santiago, Esmeralda, Esmeralda Santiago on Writing When I Was Puerto Rican. Keynote Speaker Website, two pages. Site includes links to Santiago and other Caribbean writers, October 15, 2000. A commentary shares Santiago's experiences after writing When I Was Puerto Rican, having "no idea it would result in a dialogue about cultural identity." In returning to Puerto Rico after a seven-year absence, she was told she was contaminated from living in America. She was "...no longer Puerto Rican because my Spanish was rusty, my gaze too direct, personality too assertive...I wanted to get back to that feeling of Puertoricannes I had... and asks, who am I today?"
http://www.drew.edu/temp/mcaw/keynotepg.htm

Santiago, Esmeralda, A note to the reader. New York: Vintage Books, Reading Group Center, 2 pages. The universal theme of inexperience and shyness is expressed in the "confused silence" of being bilingual. Includes a mini-biography.
http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/puerto/santiago.html

Esmeralda, Santiago, Telephone conversation, November 27, 2000. Confirming birth date (May 17, 1948) and Masters Thesis was developed from When I Was Puerto Rican. Her work and service to abused women resulted in grant writing and assisting in the founding of DOVE (Domestic Violence Ended) in Quincy (Boston). Her film work with Cantomedia included script writing and documentaries for social good. Her third memoir in progress continues her life from her twenties until she meets her husband, filmmaker Frank Cantor.(SH)

Short Stories by Santiago

Santiago, Esmeralda, "Eyewitness." Sarah Lawrence College: Sojourner: The Women's Forum, 01-31-1988, V.13, N.5, p.28. E-mail from Judith Kicinski, 10/20/00, 4 pages. Articles with Citation, Copyright Softline Information, Inc. 2000. A short story about adolescence in New York spoken through the eyes of young Maria.

    The streets have rules. You wear what your area wears; Luisito wore Adidas, but he didn't speak "a lot of English" and was teased. The conforming didn't make him invincible, however, when he walked off the edge of the rooftop of his tenement. "I didn't think he'd really jump." Even with Adidas, he was considered a weird kid. Maria never wore hers again.

Santiago, Esmeralda, When Mami Left, I Didn't. Sarah Lawrence College: Sojourner: The Women's Forum., 03-31-1990, V.15, N.7, p.15. E-mail from Judith Kicinski, 10/20/00. Articles with Citation, Copyright Softline Information, Inc. 2000, 5 pages. An emotionally autobiographical short story about the search for independence and the conflict, yet understanding, between mother and daughter.

    Ana speaks of her mother's search of identity. "I'd never thought of my mother as a prisoner . . .could it be she'd rather he didn't come home at all?" When Mami asked Papi for a divorce, he beat her and Ana cleansed her mother's wounds. Yet, when her mother left, Ana chose to remain with her father. She tried to be both daughter and housekeeper, believing Puerto Rican women are meant to be selfless.

    When her mother returned, it embarrassed Ana to see her look beautiful and modern. Her mother's presence took priority. Ana left only a note to her father when she left with her mother. Would Papi understand that she would never stop loving him? Ana speaks of self-respect and being independent. She wonders if there will be a man in her life that would ever agree to that.

II. About Santiago

Allen, Brooke, Columbia University, "Note to the teacher. When I Was Puerto Rican, by Esmeralda Santiago," NY: Random House, Inc. Teacher's Guides, A Vintage Books Teacher's Guide, 6 pages. "Note to teacher" is a brief introduction to Santiago's life; "Preparing to read" is a warm up for the book; "Understanding the Story" includes new words, locations, relationships in Macún, Santruce, and New York. "In-depth-discussion" and "Moving beyond the book" excite detailed thinking and study.

Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago. New York: Reading Group Center, Vintage Books, 6 pages. A brief synopsis is followed by "For Discussion," with sixteen discussion points; "Comparing When I was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman," 5 points; and Suggestions for further reading. An excellent study site.
 http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/puerto/santiago.html

Baker, Beth, "Esmeralda Santiago. Caught between cultures. My writing is about people who are voiceless." An interview. Washington, D.C.: AARP Bulletin, July-August 2000. pp.118-20. Twenty-five percent of the U.S. population will be Latino by 2050. "This is a place where you can reinvent yourself. . . I don't think we can change society. You can only change individual by individual." Kids need someone that they can talk to and "ask things that you would be afraid to ask other people." The freedom to be yourself--free and self-sufficient. "That's, I think, what we all want."

Cameron, Rod; Heeres, Randall J., and Iliff, Judy, Website Evaluators, "Esmeralda Santiago," NCTE: ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre's American Collection, two pages. Evaluation and links to four Santiago related Websites.
http://www.ncteamericancollection.org

Casteline, Lauren Marie, Domingo, Myrrh Marie, Maekawa, Kazuko, and Sheehan, Wendy Ann Michele, Almost a Woman, Voices from the Gaps: Esmeralda Santiago, pp.3-5. Brief synopsis of the "cycle of womanhood and motherhood," "abusive relationships". Includes "Selected Bibliography," Santiago editions, "Works about the Author," and "Related Links," merging of cultures, and even recipes.
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/esmeraldasantiago.html

"College Writing Resources," Washington, DC: American University Library, Recommended Texts, 2 pages. Brief summary of When I Was Puerto Rican. Includes resources for Santiago, including Santiago reading an excerpt of Almost a Woman and NPR interviews (requires Real Audio Download $).

Copeland, Libby Ingrid, "Cultural Go-Between: Author Esmeralda Santiago's Two Languages and Two Lives," Washington, D.C.: Washington Post, November 12, C01. An overview of Santiago's life and works. She reminds us to show respect by calling Mami Santiago: Doña Ramona. From her husband, Frank Cantor: "I think she as a child had always to transform herself to fit the circumstances she found herself in." (see also: That's A Wrap).

Ellington, Dr. Margaret (Peggy), "Almost a Woman. Esmeralda Santiago," NCTE: ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre's American Collection, c.1999, 2 pages. Insights into Santiago's challenge to readers, wanting them to "come to my work through their own interpretations. . . I want them to have to think about what they've read." Santiago understands the pressure her readers "have felt pulled between being called to fortify the family while simultaneously being representative of it."
http://www.ncteamericancollection.org

Fox, Geoffrey, "Jumping the Puddle," From Hispanic Nation: Culture, Politics and the Constructing of Identity, 2 pages. Description of Piri Thomas's writings about the violence of his youth in Spanish Harlem and Esmeralda Santiago's transformation from "tropical rural poverty" to her achievements as a journalist.
 http://www.cheverote.com/reviews/jumping.html

Hyde, Toni, "Christmas Magic." Booklist Adult.v.95, 4pages. Christmas booklist includes Santiago and Davidow's Las Christmas.
http://www.ala.org/booklist/v95/adult/oc2/13xmas.html

O'Connell, Kathy, "Something to Declare, by Julia Alvarez" and "Almost a Woman, by Esmeralda Santiago." Advocate Weekly Newspapers. Wintertimes '98; Reviews: Nonfiction, p.4 and 5 of 11. Brief comparison of the struggles of the authors as young women. Select Archives and search for Esmeralda Santiago, 2/17/98.
http://www.newmassmedia.com

Rojo, Ana Leonor, "Esmeralda Santiago and The Latino Collective Memory," El Andar Magazine, spring 2000, 4 pages. Describes Santiago's sensitive treatment of adolescence, introspection about memoir writing, and mention of Latino memoirists who also "see their lives validated."

Schon, Isabel. "Books in Spanish Published in the U.S." Includes a brief review of  When I Was Puerto Rican (Cuando era puertorriquena). Suggested for "Older Readers."
http://www.ala.org/booklist/v92/yo-spani.html

Vale, Yelena M. Rivera, "Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago," En Papel, Persus Books, 1998, pp.1-2 of 4. "The author lets us in her world as a friend and trusts us with her sojourn into womanhood. . ." Has links to Hispanic Heritage.
http://www.plazaboricua.com

" When I Was Puerto Rican, by Esmeralda Santiago." Newton, MA: Teen Ink, Book Reviews Written Entirely By Teens For Teens. Published by The Young Authors Foundation, Inc. Jennifer K. review: "...shines hope into all of our hearts."
 http://www.teenink.com

III. Welcome to Puerto Rico

Maps & Guides
Maps of Puerto Rico and New York are very helpful when reading Santiago's works.

Botha, Ted, "Instant Caribbean." NY: Condé Nast Traveler, October 2000, pp.172-176,195-196. During the Fiesta de San Juan Bautista, the people "walk backward into the ocean in order to be blessed for the coming year." Select: Puerto Rico
http://www.britannica.com

"Caribbean. Puerto Rico/San Juan." Secaucas, NJ: Cahners Hotel and Travel Index, p.72-80. Extensive hotel guide, includes contact information and location for La Casa Del Francés, Vieques

Chestnut, Mark, "Caribbean. A better view of Puerto Rico." Secaucus, NJ: TRAVEL WEEKLY, Cahners, August 12, 1999, pp.C1-4,22 with small map inserts and photos. "Paradors: Another side of island life," features staying at small independently owned inns and hotels. Excellent example of one room rural residences.

"Destinations. Maps of the Caribbean. Island Connoisseur." Blow-ups: of Old San Juan with Miramar (northeast of Santruce)and San Juan Orientation with Santruce. Isla de Vieques with Esperanza and Vieques with indication of location of Casa del Francés. (An excellent resource)

Puerto Rico Culture link is an overview: Puerto Rican Danza Week in May with Spanish and jíbaro (rural) songs and dances. Features island instruments: cuatro and varieties of the guitar, güiro (scraper), maracas, tambourine and drum. Description of music, Jazzfest (May) and Casals Music Festival (June).

The Puerto Ricans: Our American Story. Susan Soberman, Senior Publicist, WLIW New York, e-mail 11/17/00. Documentary now on video produced by WLIW TV in association with PBS, as part of a 14-part cultural series. Re-airing date TBA. Home video with 30 minutes of bonus footage not available retail (only available by $ donation to WLIW). 1-800-847-7793.
http://www.wliw.org

"Puerto Rican History and Culture Home Page." Amazon Illuminated Books. Includes links to Puerto Rican sites for children, cooking, women, culture et even Coquis, including books by Esmeralda Santiago, music of Puerto Rico, and collections of Puerto Rican authors. Features change weekly.
http://www.iluminated.com/esmeralda.html

"Puerto Rico. People 1995." ABC Country Book of Puerto Rico.
http://www.theodora.com

    People. Data: population over 3 million, majority age 15-64 years, Spanish and English languages, 89% literate (males 90%, females 88%), labor force predominately government then manufacturing.

    Economy. Overview includes important industries (pharmaceuticals to electronics) and agricultural production (sugar to dairy), tourism. Data includes product rate and growth, inflation rate, budget, unemployment rate (16% 1964), exports, imports, and commodities, debt, growth rate (5%), electricity, industry, and agriculture (sugarcane, coffee, pineapples, plantains, bananas, livestock).

    Geography. From 1996 CIA World Factbook. Commonwealth of U.S., located in Caribbean between Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Dominican Republic; area, boundaries, climatology-tropical, terrain-mountainous to the north and west, with sandy beaches; land use-41% pastures and 20% woodland; natural hazards-periodic draughts.

IV. I Love Nuyorca: Brooklyn and Manhattan

    1. Brooklyn where Mami and her children lived.  For locations see introduction to Endnotes.

    2. Manhattan where Esmeralda attended The Performing Arts High School, located in the area of the Empire State Building at 34th and Broadway.

    3. Westchester County beautiful residential area located north of metropolitan New York City. Setting for New York segment of América's Dream and present home of Esmeralda Santiago, her husband, filmmaker Frank Cantor, and their two children.

New York Resources

Britannica. New York City history and demography, with link to Brooklyn. http://www.britannica.com

Hamill, Denis, "Manhattan, the New York that New Yorker's love." National Geographic Traveler. Washington, DC: The National Geographic Society, November/December 2000, pp.73-92. A look at Manhattan where New York is all energy: descriptions of diversity, restaurants, open markets, and Latino dance clubs. Includes places mentioned in Santiago's New York experience with guides to "the ultimate city," transportation and descriptions of major sites: Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Greenwich Village, the Battery, Seaport and shopping in the neighborhoods.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/tw

Burrows, Edwin G. & Wallace, Mike, "Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898." NY: Oxford University Press. First two planned volumes, with line cuts, maps, bibliography and index, 1416 pages. The oldest city in the U.S. and largest since 1810. Streets are districts: theater-Broadway, advertising-Madison, and Wall-banking and stock market. Includes development of poorhouses, missions, schools et al.

"Harlem's rebirth brings hope, fears." Providence, RI: The Providence Sunday Journal, 11-19-00, A12. "...everyone I know is ecstatic about the changes." The fear is the "danger of losing its cultural significance." Unemployment is 18%, three times higher than the rest of Manhattan. Rents have doubled in three-years. "There is definitely the sense that they are trying to price us out of our own neighborhood..."

Horovitz, Israel, "The Indian Wants the Bronx," In the Modern Idiom, pp.316-342. A play set in New York City and written on the premise: "How would the common man talk if he could talk poetry?" Gupta, an East Indian, is confronted by streetwise boys who mistake him for Turkish. Reader alert: the play filled with street-talk, slurs, and ethnic ridicule.

New York City. Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 pages. New York City overview with links to Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bronx. (Brooklyn-where Mami moved so her children would have a better life and Manhattan-where Esmeralda attended the Performing Arts School and worked as a dancer and actor)
http://www.britannica.com

V. Adolescence: immigrants and peers

Ali, Lorraine, "La Vida Loaded," Arts and Entertainment. New York: Newsweek, 11-13-00, p.77,79. Puerto Rican native Ricky Martin began a South American tour at thirteen with the "boy band Menudo" and now is a Latin soap-opera star (General Hospital), Broadway performer (Les Misérables), and star. Now twenty-eight years, Martin brings salsa and tropical rhythms to his music. His mother says, "..That's your sound. That's who you are."

Archie Comics

(When Santiago came to New York, Archie Comics impressed on her a fictitious image of American youth: no rules, no parents, no crime, no hunger, and only virtuous relationships. SH )

Edward, Joyce, Ruskin, Nathene, and Patsy Turrini, Separation-Individuation: Theory and Applications. New York: Gardner Press, Inc., 1981, 232 pages. Separation: the child moving from "fusion" with the mother. Individuation: the steps in development toward the individual's "personal and unique characteristics." Studies: the crises that occurs when mother and child are separated; the basis for the development of self-esteem; how accomplishment reduces feeling overwhelmed and frustrated; and the importance of "wooing" and how sexual activity alone is unsatisfying in relationships. (It was customary in many Latino families to have a chaperone accompany couples on dates--in some cases entire families joined the dating couple. Young men were expected to meet a senorita's family before dating. Sometimes couples did not date before marriage and meeting the family was an approval of the union.SH)

Gonzales, Suzannah, "Imagine Not Being Abused. Classroom program strives to give children crucial tools." RI: The Providence Journal, November 7, 2000, B1,3. "Picture yourself in a special place...A place you feel comfortable. A place you can be yourself." Susan Detwiler of the Women's Resource Center of Newport and Bristol Counties empowers young people to gain inner strength and to feel special in the Peace Promotion Program. Students, grades 3-12, learn to have healthy relationships so that as adults domestic abuse is minimized--just being you makes you special.

Gregg, Gail P. & Knight, Dyanne, "Female Adolescent Immigrant Experiences in Young Adult Literature. Digital library and archives. The Alan Review, Spring 1999, Volume 26, Number 3. Students are no longer homogeneous-middle classed, but are instead from "a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds." All students experience "growing pains," but adolescent immigrant females experience more difficulty walking the fine line between the 'old ways' and the 'new ways.'" Three works studied: Edwidge Danticat's Haitian study Breath, Eyes and Memory (1994), Linda Crew's Cambodian study Children of the River (1989), and Esmeralda Santiago's Puerto Rican study When I Was Puerto Rican (1993).
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring99/gregg.html

Hooper, Joseph, "Can They Really Tango in Riga?" Performance. New York: Civilization, pp.43-44,46. Astor Piazzollas brought the tango and Latino instruments into the concert hall, where in Buenos Aires he was beaten up and his life threatened. Tango musicians have a "secret code" that moves the rhythms "slightly ahead or back." There is always "provocation . . .it's the way people walk, their personality, their slang." Today the Tango is embraced by classical music. The Tango has strong porteño (characters), el guapo (handsome tough guy), and el compadrito (the cabaret girl). (Esmeralda, her mother and sisters enjoyed Latino couple dancing at the Armory in New York.SH)

Hughes, Carolyn T., "Looking Forward to the Past. A Profile of Frank McCourt." New York: Poets & Writers Magazine, September/October 1999, pp.22-29. Angela's Ashes tells of McCourt's childhood with poverty and the absent and alcoholic father. At first, he didn't realize the importance of his family's "crushing poverty" on his childhood and was ashamed. Escaping to New York at nineteen and working at "ego-crushing" jobs, it was 25 years before the book was begun. (An important companion reading to Santiago's works.SH)

The Providence Journal. RI: Providence.
http://www.projo.com

"Abusive Teen Relationships. Hard to Recognize, harder to fix,"by Tomi S. Wronge, Knight Ridder Newspapers. Lifestyles. Culture, p5. "One of every three girls will experience some sort of dating abuse before she graduates from high school." The psychotherapist Juill Murray was inspired to write her book, "But I Love Him," in treating battered women in Southern California. Article identified indicators: abusive jealousy, criticism, and roughhousing, and the abused feeling of guilt, making excuses for the abuser. (Companion reading for Santiago's memoirs, fiction, and service to abused women.)

"Daly finds success--again" by Frazier Moore. Television, 11-28-00, F2. Daly, the maternal star of Judging Amy, speaks of the needs of "ill-faring children" and their need for advocacy. The greatest loss being "not having someone who'd abandon commonsense and dignity on your behalf." Her role is a study in the complex relationships of mother and daughter and "those places where they are still important to each other's lives." (Throughout all Santiago's works, her mother had a vision of hope and opportunity for her children. SH)

"Getting past Italian-American stereotypes. Hyphenated Heritage by Laura Meade Kirk. Lifestyles, p.8-11. Follows Maria Laurino, author of "Where You Always An Italian?" Essays on the stereotypes that "perpetuate an image of Italian-Americans today." Italians were called "smelly," and she spent many years denying her ancestry. "She longed to be Jewish, where her dark skin and hair would be considered elegant, not ill-bred." (Companion reading for Almost a Woman).

 "Jamaicans in América. dreams deferred" by Lynn Arditi. Issues & Ideas, 12--17-00, pp.E1-9. Jamaican summer workers on Block Island, RI resort. Their homes are along hillside thickets of "avocado and papaya trees, (ripening) beside concrete houses with rusting metal roofs." Homes sit "on land the family doesn't own; ten people sleep in three rooms, sharing beds." "A rising demand for housekeepers and kitchen help by América's hotels and restaurants has spurred a sharp increase" in the number of temporary H-2B work visas. (Companion reading for América's Dream)

 "National. More Americans are foreign-born." Washington, D.C., 1-3-01, A2. American's foreign-born population is estimated at 28.3 million, with the majority from Latin América and Asia.

Ricky Ricardo

(Desi Arnaz's I Love Lucy television character exemplified a popular perception of the Latino male. SH).

Testimony of Florentino Irizarry, New York, NY. Tolan Committee On Internal Migration, 10/15/00, 11 pages. He came to New York from Puerto Rico when he was seventeen years old "because Puerto Rico does not afford the opportunities for working and developing a fuller life." He immediately discovered his challenges were: racial, new cultural traditions, a language handicap, and unable to stay in a job. Yet, he felt "better off" in NYC.
http://newdeal.feri.org/tolan/tol02.htm

Wallraff, Barbara, "Global Language?" Boston: The Atlantic Monthly, November 2000, pp.52-66. English, the perceived "universal language," is a confusion of dialects and immigrant languages that is forecast to be just ahead of Spanish speakers in 2050. Spanish speakers make up 30% of NYC. English has the ability to absorb other languages, however.

West Side Story

(One of many retellings of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The Shakespeare connection became forgotten with the strong contemporary characters and audience identification with the musical and movie.SH)

    "The Making of an American Musical," Matunuck, RI: Theatre By The Sea, p.6-9. Set in the slums of NYC, it originally was planned as an "Irish-Jew" theme and called "East Side Story." Substituting gang feuds for family feuds and fueled by the Bernstein and Sondheim's perception of Puerto Rican high passion, it was renamed "West Side Story." They discarded the Shakespearean double suicide feeling Maria had suffered enough internal pain. Opened 9-26-1957 for 732 performances. Made into a movie by United Artists in 1961 and is available on Video. (See also: That's a Wrap for Santiago and film)

    Wells, Elizabeth, "West Side Story and the Hispanic." Outlines the choice of the Puerto Rican themes in the musical. Detailed history and immigration data. Extensive Endnotes.
    http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/echo/volume2-issue1/wells/wells-article.html

Winik, Lyric Wallwork, "Parade's Special Intelligence Report. Hunger in América." New York: Parade Magazine, October 29,2000, p.14. Department of Agriculture study: 17% of American Children did not get enough to eat. 10% Americans overall face hunger (ranked): single mothers, black and Hispanics. (In New York the Santiago family received public assistance; Esmeralda translated for her mother at the Welfare Office. See: Almost a Woman chapters: "I don't care what American girls do," "But they're still illegitimate," and Stop thinking and dance."SH)

VI. Adults, Relationships and Mothers

Berg, Elizabeth, "Real Mothers...and how to discover yours." Family Room. New York: McCalls Magazine, June 1998, Reader's Digest reprint, p.72A-C. Berg asked her mother to write about her life in the 1940s. She was drawn deeply into her mother as a person and openly wept to read, "It was not a time of great monetary assets, but it was rich in many ways." She learned she should include her daughter in her reading at a writer's group and heard the magic words, "That was good."

Dano, Linda, "A mother's best lesson. In Style." New York: New Choices. Reader's Digest Publications, May 2000, pp.14-16. When Emmy-winner Linda Dano was seven she was in a beauty contest. She tripped, fell, and her mother never ridiculed her. "She was on my side all the way. From that moment on, I've known I could trust her in every way." Her mother and grandmother taught her you don't keep "a log" on relationships; you give fully.

Ehrenreich, Barbara, "Maid To Order. The Politics of other women's work." New York: Harper's Magazine, April 2000, pp.59-70. "...the classic posture of submission is making a stealthy comeback. "We scrub your floors the old-fashioned way . . .on our hands and knees." As more women enter the job market, the demand for household help increases. In 1998 36% were Hispanic, 15.8% black, and 2.7% "other."

They represent the history of immigration: Irish and Germans, then Black on the east coast; Japanese on the west coast; Chicanos in the Southwest; Caribbeans in New York; natives in Hawaii, and rural whites in Maine. (Companion reading for Santiago's work. Doña Ramona Santiago worked several jobs to support her children, including bartering housework.SH)

Jackson, Donna, "Vive la Différence. What makes couples stay together when they come from worlds apart," Modern Maturity, Washington, DC: AARP, September/October 2000, pp.40-46, 87. Susie Money says her husband Jamaican Gilly Grant comes from "a very macho culture and sometimes it is hard for them to deal with emotions...yet are louder and more talkative." In 1998 the U.S. Census reported a 900 percent increase in interracial marriages. Psychologist John Gottman observed: All couples come from separate cultures...Culture is about the meaning we ascribe to things." (None of Ramona Santiago's children married Puerto Ricans.SH)

Quindlen, Anna, "A New Roof On An Old House. The minutiae of motherhood: homework help, advice, counsel and building eternity, bit by bit," The Last Word. New York: Newsweek, June 5, 2000, p.84. Quindlen's concept of motherhood: The work of the ages. She provides brief interpretations of motherhood in literature: Into the Woods, Little Women, David Copperfield, Sons and Lovers, Pride and Prejudice, and Portney's Complaint. Her motherhood is "building character, and tradition, and values, which meander like a river...on and on." (Young Esmeralda was often frustrated by what she perceived as the parental double standard: do as I say, not as I do. SH)

Wallraff, Barbara, "Global Language?" Boston: The Atlantic Monthly , November 2000, pp.52-61, 64-66. As immigrant populations grow, English is challenged by growing Spanish speaking populations, particularly Florida, California, and the Southwest. "Hispanic people make up 30 percent of the population of New York City...even Sioux City, Iowa, now has a Spanish-language newspaper." There is a 50 percent increase of Spanish-speakers in the U.S. between 1980-90. Primary language growth among ages 15-25: Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu and English.

English absorbs elements from other languages. Internet users attract 44% non-English speakers.

VII. That's a Wrap

(media-film, recordings and stage)
See also Adolescence: Ricky Ricardo and West Side Story

Music and Recordings
González, José, guitarra clásica y cuatro puertorriqueno, and Julio Lugo, percusíon, Criollo Clásico. Bayamón, Puerto Rico. San Juan: Grabado en Melody Recording Studio. Original compositions with a mix of popular and classical works.

Sinclair, Tom and Willman, Chris, "Giants of Music," In Memoriam 2000.
NY: Entertainment Weekly, January 5, 2001. Tito Puente (4-20-1923 to 5-31-2000). Puente, was synonymous with Latin Music and Puerto Rican pride. Puente was the "mambo king" and in a movie of the same name. (Mentioned by Santiago in describing public dances in NYC. Popular dances were the tango and cha-cha-cha .

Film
The Boston Globe Archives. Boston: Globe Newspaper Company, with permission. Articles and reviews, e-mail, 3 pages.

    "KUDOS," Section-Business, 08/04/1987. Esmeralda Santiago, writer and producer at Cantomedia, a Boston-based film production company among 100 Hispanic women in communications honored by Hispanic U.S.A magazine.

    Blowen, Michael, "Lives in the Arts. Close-up on a filmmaker. Frank Cantor Sees Boston Growing as a Production Center," 03/28/1984, page (not designated), Section-Arts/Films. Grammy telecast of Frank Cantor's The Beach. "'It was a real victory for Boston filmmakers,' says Cantor who, together with his wife Esmeralda Santiago, runs Cantomedia, a Boston-based production company located on edge of Chinatown." In addition to a fifteen-part short series for the IRS, he is pursing "Eventide," a feature film about scallopers near Port Clyde, Maine.

Copeland, Libby Ingrid, "Cultural Go-Between: Author Esmeralda Santiago's Two Languages and Two Lives," four pages. Washington, D.C.: Washington Post, Thursday, November 12, 1998. Insights into Santiago's works and quote by her husband, Frank Cantor, "I think she as a child had to always transform herself to fit the circumstances she found herself in." Description of Santiago's film career includes: Harvard Scholarship at age 26 and involvement in establishing a program with William D. Delahunt (D-Mass) in 1977 to deal with domestic violence. Santiago is writing a third memoir, "this one to detail her twenties." Website under construction:
http://www.nabe.org

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball videos (see: Adolescence and Social Issues)

Esmeralda, Santiago, El hombre que yo amo,", Emerson College: Ploughshares, pp.146-166, 236. Basis for Santiago's third memoir. Companion work for Almost a Woman and the continuing story of Santiago's adult life, including her affair with the Turkish filmmaker of Dry Summer. (Santiago is the screenwriter for the Masterpiece Theatre's production of Almost a Woman. SH)

"Esmeralda Santiago, When I Was Puerto Rican ," St. Lawrence University, North Country American Conversation, March 6, 1997, 7pm, Conversation on NCPR, Conversation Leader, Ron Ortiz Flores, one page. A brief summary of Santiago's works. Introduces Frank Cantor, who, with Santiago, founded Cantomedia, a documentary film company.
http://www.stlawu.edu

"Film Producers' Period (1950-1970)," Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2pp. Survey of Turkish films and filmmakers. Includes mention of Dry Summer, "Susuz Yaz," by filmmaker Metin Erksan, gold medallist at the Berlin Film Festival (see: Almost a Woman, p.268).
http://www.mfa.gov.tr/grupc/cj/cja/cinema3.htm

Fernandez, B.C., "Havana Trump Card. Being There." NY: Entertainment Weekly,(December?, 2000), p.21. Festival del Nueyo XXII, the Havana Festival of New Latin Film, held for the past 22 years in a Third World country. Held in December, the festival is a ten-day exhibit of 300 films. EW's Website:
http://www.ew.com

Kershaw, Sarah, "Filmmaker Was Obscure, But Not Dead." Region. New York: The New York Times, Sunday, 11-19-00, p.(unknown). An updating of Puerto Rican filmmaker Tony Felton and actor Luis Arroyo--considered long lost classics. In addition to his Spanish language films, Felton acquired and distributed over 100 Puerto Rican films (1960-1970). He is working on his first film in over twenty years, an English-language feature about salsa singer Hector Lavoe.

"Key West honors Cuban heritage." Symposium, performances, fiesta, and a coast-to-coast Conga line from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Travel Weekly, October 23, 2000, p.24. (Festival expected to draw Latino artists and writers. SH)
http://www.twcrossroads.com

West Side Story, New York City adolescent life. Movie score by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. A movie portraying Puerto Rican gang life and turfs. (Companion reading for Santiago's works including Eyewitness and disturbing to Santiago that her people were portrayed that way. SH).
http://www.videoflicks.com

Up the Down Staircase based on Bel Kaufman's book about NYC public school life. (Santiago was an extra in the movie, set in the Performing Arts School she attended). http://www.hollywood.com

VIII. Latino Authors

El Templo. The Temple. Walla Walla, WA, 1997, 79 pages. Issue contains twenty poets with Chinese, Spanish, and Basque and English translations, including Arturo Fruttero and Horacio Salas (Argentina), Susan Villalba (Mexico/AZ); and Ricardo Sanchez (TX, AZ, and WA). (For mature readers)
http://www.wwics.com/~tsunami

Garcia, Susan A. Vega, "Recommended U.S. Latino Websites." Diversity and Ethnic Studies.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~savega/us_latin.htm

In The Modern Idiom. An introduction to literature., Leo Hamalian & Arthur Zeiger, Ed. NY: The City College of the City University of New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.

    Borges, Jorge Luis, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," 164-175. The philosophical Argentinean author questions the effects of reality and imaginary reality on the real experience itself. Is modesty fiction devised to justify a statement?

    Thomas, Piri, "Real Jesse Jameses," pp.114-122. An autobiographical story of Piri's Spanish Harlem roots and life on the streets, including the choices young people make about the law, and love and family relationships.

    Cortázar, Julio, "The Yellow Flower," pp.206-211. The Argentinean author and performing artist studies paranoia and the "monster in man."

The Norton Book of American Biography, Parini, Jay, Ed. with a preface by Gore Vidal. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999.
http://www.wwnorton.com

     Alvarez, Julia, "The Picky Eater," pp.619-626. A gastronomical tour of delicious Dominican cooking and "picking" boring American food and redefining its customs.

    Rodríguez, Louis J., excerpt from "Always Running," pp.632-649. Descriptive autobiographical scenes of Los Angeles gangs and the  final choice into oblivion--drugs.

    Rodriguez, Richard, "Days of Obligation," pp.568-585. From his memoir that addresses the confusion experience within his Mexican and Indian heritage.

Munoz, Lorenza, "Latinos in Hollywood," Providence, RI: The Providence Journal, Lifebeat, 10-25-00, p.G1-2 Los Angeles Times review of the reissue of Hispanics in Hollywood by Luis Reyes and Peter Rubie (Lone Eagle Publishing), a seventy-year history. 100 new additions includes: Selma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, and Freddie Prinze Jr. Updated biographies include John Leguizamo, Raquel Torres, Andy Garcia, Gilbert Roland, Rita Hayworth (Rita Cansino), Raquel Welch (Bolivian ancestry), Rita Moreno ( West Side Story), Raul Julia and Edward James Olmos. Also identifies non-Latino actors who changed their name to appear Latino.
http://www.IFILM.com

Ploughshares. Boston: Emerson College, selections of poetry and fiction by guest editors.
http://www.emerson.edu/ploughshares/Fall2000/IssueSampler.html

     Pau-Llosa, Ricardo, "Isla de Corcho," Spring 1999, p.112-3, 203.
     Poetry with Cuban images. Pau-Llosa is the author of a monograph on Puerto Rican painter Julio Rosado de Valle.

    Menes, Orlando Ricado, "Requiem Shark with Lilies." Winter 1998-99, pp.133-4, 236. Cuban poet paints St. Agnes, the winds of Spring who unlocks the mystery of rejuvenation in nature.

    Santiago, Esmeralda, "El hombre que yo amo," pp.156-66, 236. The first three chapters of her third memoir in progress, describing her affair with the filmmaker of Dry Summer.

    Suarez, Virgil, "In the House of White Light," Winter 1999-00, pp.115-116, 232. Poetry. Memories of rural family, lightning and imagination misunderstood. 

Rivera, Marisa, "An Annotated Bibliography of Published Materials on Puerto Ricans." Working paper. NO.30, 40 pages. Iowa State University: Julian Samora Research Institute.
http://www.jsri.msu.edu/RandS/research/wps/wp30.html

Rojo, Ana Leonor, "Esmeralda Santiago and The Latino Collective Memory," El Andar Magazine, Spring 2000, page 3. Identifies Latino memoirists: Pat Mora, Sandra Cisneros, Esmeralda Santiago, John Phillip Santos, and Judith Ortiz Cofer whose "collective memory" validates their lives and documents it for the next generation.

Poets & Writers Magazine, New York. http://www.pw.org
Jan/Feb 2000. Featured section, pp.33-59.

    Karetnick, Jen, "Miami literati. How Magic City Became Book Town. Special section on Cuban writers and "daily dose of danger" provides terrific subject matter for writers. It is a melting pot-the future for all cities.

     Poet Carolina Hospital's family fled Cuba for Puerto Rico then South Miami. Richard Blanco's family emigrated from Spain to Cuba to New York to Miami, defines himself as culturally insecure. Jamican poet Geoffrey Philip sees Miami as a place "full of partings."

     Included in the Miami Book Fair International, the first U.S. Cuba Writers Conference is Martín Espada .(Espada is a New Yorker with Puerto Rican heritage and professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.SH)

Potts, Charles, Ed.. Walla Walla, WA: The Temple, Gu Shi, O Tera, El Templo, Vol. 1, No. 2, Temprano, 1997. Poetry in Spanish and English by Argentina-Arturo Fruttero, p.5; Arizona/Mexico-Susan Villalba, pp.24-27; Texas/Arizona-Ricardo Sanchez, p.58; Argentina-Horacio Salas, p.67-71.

Santiago, Roberto, Ed. "Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings-An Anthology," 2 page review. "Boricua" defines the power and respect for Puerto Rico, telling the transition from beautiful Puerto Rico to the "hard pavement of the fierce South Bronx." Extensive representation of Puerto Rican authors includes: Julia de Burgos, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Martin Espada, Luis Muños Marín, Aurora Levins Morales, Freddie Prince, Geraldo Rivera, Abraham Rodriguez, Jr., Esmeralda Santiago, , Piri Thomas, and José Torres.
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog

Story. Cincinnati, OH. F&W Publications. Short Fiction. (Story was a revival and a source for classic and contemporary short stories. It has once again ceased publication.SH) The Autumn 1999 10th Anniversary issue includes index of fiction since its first inception in 1931.

    Díaz, Junot

      "Ysrael," Autumn 1995, pp.25-33,120. Junot is Domican living in New Jersey and write of street-smart boys and the cruelty they vent on a disfigured "Ysrael" boy. (Companion reading for Santiago's Eyewitness)

      "Flaca," Autumn 1999, pp.145-149, 161. A graphic vignette of an affair between dark and white--brief, intense and instantly gone.

    Lopez, Barry, "The Deaf Girl," pp.109-112,162, Autumn 1999. Set in eastern Montana, the author pictured a deaf girl walking through the tall grass. The story that followed surprised him with its vivid cruelty.

    Paz-Soldán, Edmundo, "Dochera," Autumn 1998, pp.111-119. The Bolivian author, living in New York. A fantastic leap for the maker of crossword puzzles, clueless until the end.

     Perez, Emmy, "Tumbleweed Rain," Autumn 1996, pp.99-109, 128. A story of Rosalie, a Mexican, her mother's escape and the graphic adolescent world, and finally her "escape." (Companion reading for all of Santiago's works)

    Rodriguez, Jr., Abraham

      "Alana," Summer 1993, pp.109-118, 120. Every life has a focal point "where a person is changed forever. . . She can't help what she becomes." Rodriguez lives in the South Bronx, New York.

      "Window Out," Spring 1997, pp.60-65, 127. Depicts crime claiming 149th street victims and poverty cashing in on photographic rights.

      "Reyes," Autumn 1999, pp.50-55, 163. "Reyes" is an excerpt from his novel Buddha Book. Depicts the cruelty of school conflicts in New York, with one escape, drawing a frame-by-frame diary.

Sutherland, Jean, Understanding Hispanic/Latino Culture and History Through the Use of Children's Literature. L. W. Beecher School, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 12 pages. Class is 90% African American. Latino/Hispanic students are U.S. and P.R. natives, P.R. reared or from country where cultural blend if Native Indian, Spanish, and/or African roots. Lesson plans are interdisciplinary. An extensive bibliography includes:

 That Bad Carlos by Mina Lewiton; Santiago by Pura Belpre; Caesar Chavez: Union Leader by Bruce Concord; Juanita Fights the School Board by Gloria Velasquez; A Gift for Tia Rosa by Karen

    Taha; When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago; and Going Home by Eve Bunting. Santiago tells of U.S. efforts to feed and improve hygiene, showing bureaucratic ignorance of the culture and foods available. The Pool Party and Taking Sides by Gary Soto further tell of the struggles against prejudice. Phyllis Tashlik's Hispanic, Female and Young: An Anthology has one section focused on prejudice. All the authors in the bibliography have themes of the importance of family, church or community.
    http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/

Zoetrope: All-Story. New York: Francis Ford Coppola, Jr.
http://www.zoetrope-stories.com

      Alvarez, Julia, "Planting Sticks and Grinding Yucca: On Being a Translated Writer." Winter 1999, p.35,54. When her books were translated from English into Spanish, she lost "the protection of writing in a language the majority of my relatives couldn't read." Some idioms are lost in translation, but she feels "lucky" that all of her works aren't just sticks, but sprouting for readers throughout the world. 

      Cortázar, Julio, "Blow-up," Summer 1999, first published in Argentina in 1964, basis of movie by the same name, pp.37-42,54. The author, born in Brussels and raised outside Buenos Aires, migrated to Paris where "Blow-up" is set. The story of arrest and escape, indelible images animated by memory.

      García Mánquez, Gabriel, translated by Edith Grossman, "Vivin Para Contralo (Living to tell the tale)," Fall 1998 pp.4-17,58. Presented in Spanish and English, the Columbian writer, now living in Mexico, presents the first chapter of his memoir. A poignant journey of a son and his mother back to their beginning beset with images of his youth and family.

      Lida, David, "Shuttered," Spring 2000, pp.42-47,59. Lida, now living in New York paints how alcoholic dreams only delude the drinker, not his Mexican friends.

      Menendez, Ana, "In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd," May (?), 1999, pp.37-42, 54. Part of a short story collection in progress. Delightful reminiscences by Cubans living in Miami as they sit in a park playing Dominoes to the snap of tourists' cameras and sharing stories, dotted with Castro joke and longing memories. "Here in American, I may be a short, insignificant mutt, but in Cuba I was a German shepherd."

For their assistance, my appreciation to:

Esmeralda Santiago, Barbara Adler of New York City's Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, and Pava Prints in Puerto Rico for their assistance in the development of the Puerto Rican Literary Map and illustrations; to Archivists Christine Corrao of the Boston Globe, Guin Harwood-Shaw of the Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times; The Puerto Rican Tourism Office; Susan Soberman, WLIW New York; Iris Stevens, Westchester County Film Office; the Westerly, RI Public Library; Sally and Lohr Gonzales for their hospitality in Old San Juan and introduction to Puerto Rican heritage; Anne Caban for her instruction in Latino dance and Nataraj artistic director Ranjana Devi for her instruction in Classical Indian Dance; and guitarist José González and the Performing Arts Division guitar faculty at the University of Massachusetts for inspiring my understanding of Latino music; and my husband, Albert for his great editorial eyes, SH