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Puerto Rico archeological find mired in politics

SAN JUAN -- The lady carved on the ancient rock is squatting, with frog-like legs sticking out to each side. Her decapitated head is dangling to the right.
That's how she had been, perfectly preserved, for up to 800 years, until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came upon her last year while building a $375 million dam to control flooding in southern Puerto Rico.
She was buried again last week with the hope that some day specialists will study her and Puerto Rican children will visit and learn about the lives of the Taino Indians who created her. But archaeologists and government officals first had to settle a raging debate about who should have control over her and other artifacts sent to Georgia for analysis.
For more of this report, go to the Miami Herald site at
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/589011.html

Y DE CAMINO

Y DE CAMINO
Originally uploaded by Dr3d5.

from the Puerto Rico Sun photo group

photo by Dr3d5 on flickr

Preserving El Barrio: Marina Ortiz

Anyone who is in NYC's El Barrio, probably knows Marina Ortiz, an independent journalist, local community activist and resident.
She is usually armed with a camera, shooting and documenting many of the people, stories and events in East Harlem.
This boricua is founder of East Harlem Preservation, a community advocacy group that monitors large-scale development, supports preservation, and fights privatization of public parkland. Ortiz is a watchdog of the rapid changes going on in El Barrio because of gentrification. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently interviewed Ortiz on her push to save El Barrio, the so-called crown jewel of Puerto Rican and Latino culture in New York City.
"I was inspired to begin efforts to preserve the rich history, culture and architecture of Spanish Harlem and the greater East Harlem when the inevitable footprint of gentrification began to take its hold on our community," Ortiz was quoted as saying.
To read the article published in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Spring 2008 Diversity Scholarship Program Alumni Newsletter,
http://www.eastharlempreservation.org/docs/DSPAlumni_mjo08.pdf
To learn more about her work with the East Harlem Preservation, check out her site at www.eastharlempreservation.org.
Meanwhile, Ortiz also runs another important community project: Virtual Boricua. This is a website that focuses on Puerto Rican news, issues, culture, events and activism. To visit, go to www.virtualboricua.org. It is a must see site for anyone interested in Puerto Rican culture, especially boricua New York. -- Clarisel Gonzalez