53 min listen
8. Snow In The Tropics
FromLa Brega
ratings:
Length:
30 minutes
Released:
Jan 6, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
During the early 1950s, the children of Puerto Rico were invited to an icy winter spectacle. Mayor Felisa Rincón de Gautier, the charismatic mayor of San Juan, arranged for Eastern Airlines to bring a plane-load of snow for a snowball fight in the city. It was a feat that has become legend for a whole generation. But while this winter wonderland came to San Juan free of charge, it wasn't without a cost.
In this special holiday episode of La Brega, we learn how the snow was actually transported to San Juan from Hilda Jimenez, Doña Fela’s assistant. And we hear from some of the people who experienced it up-close. Ignacio Rivera (of the radio program Fuego Cruzado) was 8 years old and threw snowballs; the artist Antonio Martorell remembers that too, but also sees the event as part of Puerto Rico’s troubling colonial relationship with the United States. Seventy years later – when ice is at an even greater premium – journalist and author Ana Teresa Toro says Puerto Rico is still grappling with how to understand that special delivery.
To learn more about Doña Fela, we recommend a visit to the Casa Museo Felisa Rincón de Gautier.
You can learn more about Antonio Martorell in a recent documentary called El Accidente Feliz. His portrait of the mayor is here.
The snowball fight is also the subject of a piece by the artist Sofía Gallisá Muriente, called Lluvia con nieve, now part of Whitney's collection.
Ana Teresa Toro’s new book of poetry is “Flora animal.”
In this special holiday episode of La Brega, we learn how the snow was actually transported to San Juan from Hilda Jimenez, Doña Fela’s assistant. And we hear from some of the people who experienced it up-close. Ignacio Rivera (of the radio program Fuego Cruzado) was 8 years old and threw snowballs; the artist Antonio Martorell remembers that too, but also sees the event as part of Puerto Rico’s troubling colonial relationship with the United States. Seventy years later – when ice is at an even greater premium – journalist and author Ana Teresa Toro says Puerto Rico is still grappling with how to understand that special delivery.
To learn more about Doña Fela, we recommend a visit to the Casa Museo Felisa Rincón de Gautier.
You can learn more about Antonio Martorell in a recent documentary called El Accidente Feliz. His portrait of the mayor is here.
The snowball fight is also the subject of a piece by the artist Sofía Gallisá Muriente, called Lluvia con nieve, now part of Whitney's collection.
Ana Teresa Toro’s new book of poetry is “Flora animal.”
Released:
Jan 6, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (39)
7. Se acabaron las promesas: La relación que tiene Puerto Rico con los Estados Unidos siempre ha sido un tema de debate intenso. En 1952, Puerto Rico adoptó un nuevo status que prometía descolonizar la isla. En inglés le llama “Commonwealth”. En español, lo llamamos Estado Libre Asociado, o ELA. Por décadas se le prometió a los boricuas que este estatus era único porque les brindaba una autonomía especial junto al beneficio de mantener lazos profundos con Estados Unidos. Ahora, en medio de crisis tras crisis, más personas están cuestionando esa promesa y usando la palabra colonia para describir la relación política con Estados Unidos. En este episodio, la antropóloga política y columnista de El Nuevo Día, Yarimar Bonilla busca a las personas que todavía creen en él ELA, mientras se pregunta, ¿qué pasa cuando muere un proyecto político? Pueden encontrar la pagina web del Puerto Rico Syllabus aqui. by La Brega