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LA CASITA BLANCA

LA CASITA BLANCA

Nicole Hern Ndez At The Puerto Rican Summer Festivals

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Nicole Hernández,

II am beginning the third year of my Ph.D. program at Arizona State University in Social Cultural Anthropology. My dissertation is researching the history of the migration of Puerto Ricans to California and our cultural heritage practices. As part of my pre-doctoral fieldwork, I spent the day at the Puerto Rican Festivals in both Long Beach and Newark, California. At the festivals, I rented a booth and displayed a small portion of the 1980 photography collection by Puerto Rican documentarian Frank Espada. Mr. Espada sadly passed away in 2014, but in 2004 he published an important book called “The Puerto Rican Diaspora Project: Themes in the Survival of a People,” which features his one-of-a-kind research, Funded by the National Endowment of the Humanities. From 1979 to 1981, Mr. Espada visited and photographed nearly every Puerto Rican community across the US, conducting 144 interviews with community leaders from different eras. In Long Beach, one series of popular photos was the long-past Día de San Juan Festival hosted by David Santiago and friends at Cabrillo Beach, that festival ended in 1981.

I was happily surprised by the number of people who stopped by my tent and shared their warm memories of those days at the beach with their families. In the Bay Area, I showcased familiar faces such as John Santos and Piri Thomas, as well as community leaders like Edelmiro Huertas, former president of Club Puertorriqueño de San Francisco, and Doña Lila Calderón de Romero from the 1950s group, Órden Fraternal de los Hijos de Puerto Rico. I conducted about 25 short interviews with people who stopped by to share their personal experiences and commentaries about the California Puerto Rican community, both past and present. I am excited to be building a more cohesive narrative of our community dating back to 1901, when the first Puerto Ricans settled in San Francisco. California. Puerto Ricans have a long and proud history in this State, and we are still going strong!

Nacoprw Socal Is Honored At The Occtac Community Partners Celebration

Thank you to our member and OCCTAC's founding executive director, Dr. Ana Jiménez-Hami, for honoring our organization at the 2023 Orange County Children's Therapeutic Arts Center (OCCTAC) Annual Community Partners Celebration. Also present were the Mayor of Santa Ana, Valerie Amezcua, and Vincent Sarmiento from the OC Board of Supervisors. The event showcased performances and an art exhibit from the talented students of the Center. OCCTAC is dedicated to providing innovative, artistic, educational, and therapeutic programs to inspire and transform children and at-promise youth, along with their families, to fulfill their highest potential. NACOPRW SoCal is thrilled to support this great nonprofit organization with a donation.

Nacoprw So Cal Celebrates Puerto Rican Heritage Day With House Of Puerto Rico San Diego

The city of San Diego declared Friday, May 19th, 2023, as Puerto Rican Heritage Day, and NACOPRW SoCal joined this day proudly. Tony Flores, President of House of Puerto Rico in San Diego, announced the City Proclamation declaring May 19, 2023, Puerto Rican Heritage Day. A group from our NACOPRW SoCal Chapter continued celebrating our Boricua pride at Petco Park, where we saw the San Diego Padres play against the Boston Red Sox. It was amazing to see almost 400 Puerto Ricans sitting together wearing the colors of our flag and lots of great Puerto Rican outfits, t-shirts, and hats. ¡Weepa!

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