THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: MEMORIAL DAY 2022, THELMA REYNA ON DOCTOR POETS & OTHER HEALERS, JOSÉ UMPIERRE’S BURUNDANGA BORICUA ON A NEW PUERTO RICO PLEBISCITE, IS IT MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING? AND RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT ON SAN ANTONIO’S I-35 FREEWAY MURALS.
We are saddened to see that our annual Memorial Day celebration, which is intended to honor the sacrifice of enlisted men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice, has acquired a new meaning in 2022.
This week we visit with Thelma Reyna, past poet laureate of Altadena, California and co-editor of a new anthology penned by professionals in the medical field. The book is titled Doctor Poets and Other Healers: COVID In Their Own Words is comprised of poems and essays written by medical professionals as they experienced the second year of the Covid Pandemic.
From Puerto Rico, blogger José Umpierre comments on the recent agreement for their to be a new plebiscite to determine the future status of Puerto Rico. Importantly, the new plebiscite will nullify previous island-wide plebiscites, certain to raise the ire of Puerto Rico’s Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP), and the Partido Popular Democratico (PPD). But el Zocotroco has seen this movie play out before. He wonders if there is much ado about nothing. Check out his take on the situation (in Spanish, of course).
Ricardo Romo’s Tejano Report surveys new murals going up under the San Antonio’s Interstate 35. The murals are part of a new San Antonio Street Art Initiative being led by artists Shek Vega and Nik Soupe, and muralist and painter Cruz Ortiz. Check out these amazingly beautiful murals!
Enjoy your week on Latinopia!
Tia Tenopia