NYC Latino Lit Midterm

North by Northwest (1959) - Directed by

Alfred Hitchcock

North by Northwest (1959) - Titles by

Saul Bass

North by Northwest (1959) & Taxi Driver (1976) - Music by

Bernard Herrmann

The Godfather Part 2 (1974) - Directed by

Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather Part 2 (1974) - Cinematography by

Gordon Willis

The Godfather Part 2 (1974) - Music by

Nino Rota

The Godfather Part 2 (1974) - young Vito Corleone

Robert de Niro

Taxi Driver (1976) & New York, New York (1977) - Directed by

Martin Scorsese

Taxi Driver (1976) - Taxi Driver

Robert de Niro***

New York, New York (1977) - Starring

Liza Minnelli and Robert de Niro***

New York, New York (1977) - Title song by

John Kander and Fred Ebb

José Martí

Cuban writer who fought for Cuban independence from Spain. Wrote "Our America" and "Coney Island" and "A sincere man am I"

Aphorism

A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.

Ex: Make wine from plaintains; it may be sour, but it is our wine!

Ex: The prideful villager thinks his hometown contains the whole world

"Guantanamera"

Sung by Celia Cruz. Translated as 'The woman from Guantánamo') is a Cuban patriotic song, which uses a poem from the collection Simple Verses, by the Cuban poet José Martí, for the lyrics. It is an expression of love for Cuba and of solidarity with the poor people of the world.

Julia de Burgos

Wrote "Farewell in Welfare Island" and "I Love You (Te quiero)"

Also part of the nationalist party. a poet maudit

Poet Maudit

Live life out of the norm; typically involved with drugs, crime, addiction, etc. Typically reject society and die early

Daniel Immerwahr

Wrote "How to Hide an Empire"

Pedro Juan Soto

Wrote short stories about life as a Puerto Rican moving to NYC

From Spiks: The innocents, The Champ, Scribbles, and Bayaminiña

Line from "The innocents"

"Facing the immense clarity of a June midday, she longed for hurricanes and eclipses and snowfalls" - Rejection of clarity over calamity. This devastation to the family will transforms what remains

Line from The Champ

"He was a champ. He was on the lookout only for harm" - Ironic

Line from Scribbles

"The wall was no more than the wide and clear gravestone of his dreams." - The title itself is ironic since it's insulting. Latino lit doesn't back away from intense emotions

Line from Bayaminiña

"And the tin - clank! clank! - where you could still read Bayaminiña, turned dirty with blood, spattered with tears, and, freed from its nails, once again became a tin can." - The cart reverts back to being trash. The magic of turning garbage into something pretty and useful is gone = Power of poetic language

Miguel Algarín

Wrote "A Mongo Affair"

Walt Whitman

Wrote "Leaves of Grass" - Very influential to future poets

What are some characteristics of Protest Poetry? (Feb 6th)

1. Empathy for the cause

2. Speaking out; making your voice heard

3. Reflects on and reminds the past while talking about the future and encourages change

4. Emotionally charged; logical and emotional appeals'

5. A call to action

6. Aesthetic

7. Anger

8. Use of typology (spaces, capital letters, etc.)

Identity and Existentialism

Unsure with what you'll do with your life; pessimistic, but freeing. Describing self is a problem with no ultimate solution. Your actions make you what you are, not your thoughts

Pedro Pietri (Go to Feb 18th)

Wrote "Puerto Rican Obituary" and "The Broken English Dream"

Satre

Big existentialism philosopher. Was the Joe Papp to Jean Genet, producing his plays and saw Genet as one of the most revolutionary writers (and radical writers) in their time.

José Angel Figueroa (Go to Feb 18th)

Wrote "Boricua"

Tato Laviera (Go to Feb 18th)

Wrote "AmeRícan"

Jesús "Papoleto" Meléndez

Wrote "of a butterfly in el barrio or a stranger in paradise"

Miguel Piñero

Puerto Rican poet who was a major poet maudit. Wrote: The Bodega Sold Dreams**, Short Eyes*, A Lower East Side Poem*, The Book of Genesis According to St. Miguelito, This is Not the Place Where I was Born, Black Woman with the Blond Wig On, Jitterbugging Jesus, Kill Kill Kill, Running Scared, Seekin' the Cause** and many more

Nuyorican

A person of Puerto Rican birth or decent who is a current of former resident of New York City. Many of the Puerto Rican poets of the 70's and 80's described themselves as this

Albert Camus

(1913-1960) -French **existentialist** who stated that in spite of the general absurdity of human life, individuals could make rational sense out of their own existence through meaningful personal decision making.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

Pre-war German **existentialist** philosopher who argued that Westerners had over-emphasized rationality and stifled passion and creativity

Prof's dog's name?

Pearl

Joseph "Joe" Papp

An American theatrical producer and director. He created The Public Theater and Shakespeare in the Park, which showed plays to the public for free. Was all about showing plays for free. Funded and produced "Short Eyes" and was friends with Piñero.

Jean Genet

French novelist and playwright; Master of drama and fiction depicting criminal life and anti-social behavior (avant garde work); A pre-Piñero, but his version of Joe Papp (Satre) helped him turn his life around

Marvin Felix Camillo

Director of "Short Eyes". Met Piñero in Sing Sing and helped him produce/create "Short Eyes". Encouraged onlookers not to search for some type of great social reform message from the play.

Ex. of an existential situation

1. Death of a loved one could cause you to question the meaning of life or your own mortality

2. A career change could cause you to question your purpose in life

Meta

Something that calls attention to the object itself

Oscar Lewis

Wrote "La Vida" and created the theory of the Culture of Poverty.

What is the Culture of Poverty?

The culture of poverty was how poverty led to certain characteristics that mentally kept people stuck in poverty. Like not saving money, being sexually promiscuous, and Oscar Lewis believed that if they did not have those behaviors they would not be poor. It's shifting the focus to people, rather than on the system. It almost blames them.

Why would some people find the Culture of Poverty problematic?

It was considered problematic bc it was showing Puerto Rican life in a distorted lens. Stereotyping all Puerto ricans because of the one poor family he studied when he wrote the book. It also seems to blame the poor for acting/living the way they do, not the system.

Cornelius P. Rhoads

The doctor that worked in Puerto Rico for a few years. Used people as test subjects and had women sterilized. Grew a hatred towards Puerto Ricans which would lead to him killing 8 of them, which he wrote in a letter that was discovered. Escaped PR and never faced consequences, eventually using mostly Puerto Rican's and some black people and Japanese Americans as test subjects for chemical warfare in WWII. He then led the discovery and creation of chemotherapy, which led to him being given an award by the American Association for Cancer Research

Bailey K. Ashford

Discovered how Puerto Rican's were horribly suffering from hookworm. Moved to PR and made a life there (in a healthy way)

Pedro Albizu Campos

A Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and the leading figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement. Originally had faith in the US for freeing PR so he joined the army, left once he found out that wasn't happening.

Luis Muñoz Marín

Leader of PR's most dominant party in the 1930, the Partido Popular Democrático. Promoted economic development, but since he worked alongside the US, Albizu and him had beef (Albizu tried to assassinate him like once or twice). Had US doctors come to PR to test birth control on women in PR which led to it being developed, but Albizu saw this as a betrayal to his people. Encouraged people to leave the island since flights were cheap and it helped the economy. Later became the first governor of the Commonwealth of PR

Oscar Collazo & Griselio Torresola

Worked with Albizu in the Nationalist party. Had a plan to assassinate President Truman, almost carried out

What is PR to the US?

A colony/territory