Road Trip

Black LGBT Journalists and Advocates Tackle Race’s Homo Rep

// August 18th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // 2009 NABJ Conference, The Road, Video

Nadine Smith had just spent the last three years trying to defeat a ballot initiative that would prevent her and her girlfriend, Andrea Hildebran, from taking the next step.  So last November when the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, which defined marriage as occurring between a man and woman, passed by only two percentage points she knew exactly whom and what to blame. (more…)

Tampa Homeless Project Incites Debate

// August 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // 2009 NABJ Conference, Video

Local Community Tells Catholic Charities “Not Here.”

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Afro Puerto Rico: The Island’s Ties to Slavery

// June 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // 2009 NAHJ Conference, The Road, Video

Most tourists visiting Puerto Rico do not know about its African heritage.

For many years, the subject was omitted from the island’s history books. But there’s now a museum in Old San Juan that celebrates Africa’s cultural influence on the island. Paintings, artifacts, documents and photos help tell the story at El Museo de Nuestra Raiz Africana (the Museum of Our African Roots), located in Plaza San Jose on Calle San Sebatian.

The exhibit includes a display drums that deliver the African-derived beats of Bomba and Plena, along with local Afro-Puerto Rican art, such as the masks used in the music festivals of the historically black town of Loiza. These objects are examples of how the roots of  modern festivals, customs and even cuisine can be traced back to Africa. Orlando Abreo, guide of the museum, explains how Puerto Ricans are becoming more conscious and accepting of their African heritage.

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Chat with beloved Puerto Rican painter Luis German Cajigas

// June 25th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // 2009 NAHJ Conference, Video

Walk into any government building in Puerto Rico, and you’re likely to see a painting by German Cajigas. The same is true for many family homes here and those of Puerto Ricans living abroad.

Cajigas is one of the most famous and beloved Puerto Rican contemporary painters, having, since the ’50s, been inspired by the island’s landscapes almost exclusively. His paintings have been exhibited in museums around the world.

“They have traveled more than me,” he says.

He invited me and Astrid Rivera to his Old San Juan gallery, which is also his studio and home, for a chat about his life and undying love for the “Island of Enchantment.”

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Midnight Splash Video: Noche de San Juan

// June 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // 2009 NAHJ Conference, Video

At the stroke of midnight Wednesday morning (June 24), hordes of beachgoers at the Caribe Hilton hotel in San Juan, P.R., dashed backwards into the warm summer waters of the Atlantic Ocean. But one thing is for sure, journalists at the Midnight Splash couldn’t agree how many jumps it takes to wash away those evil spirits. Watch the “Noche de San Juan” video.

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Beethoven’s in the House

// June 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Global Media Forum, Video

Damiano and I paid a visit to the Beethoven-Haus, located in central Bonn, while taking a little break from the conference. Beethoven was born in the house and the collection includes the last piano he ever played, the original manuscript of the Moonlight Sonata and a gift shop for all your Beethoven shopping needs.

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