Book Reading and Panel Discussion

Puerto Rico's Political Fate

Reading from two novels about Puerto Rico by Robert Friedman, followed by a panel discussion about the island's status with political commentator Gerson Borrero and Columbia Law School professor Christina Duffy Ponsa.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

3:00pm - 5:00pm

La Casa Azul Bookstore

143 E. 103rd Street

New York, NY 10029

Between Lexington & Park Ave

103rd St stop on the 6 train

Register via email: rsvp.lacasaazul@gmail.com 

Brief reading from two novels about Puerto Rico and colonial politics: The Surrounding Sea & Shadow of the Fathers, by Robert Friedman. The two novels explore the highly ambivalent political relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The Surrounding Sea, set in the year 2000, revolves around the issue of the offshore island of Vieques, where the U.S. Navy's live bombing exercises caused illness, environmental damage and death  Shadow of the Fathers is based on a true incident that occurred in Puerto Rico in 1931 when Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, sent by the Rockefeller Foundation to work on an outbreak of pernicious anemia, claimed to have killed off eight of his patients as a first-step toward an ethnic cleansing of the "natives."

After the reading, Puerto Rico's political fate will be discussed by Robert Friedman, a former journalist in Puerto Rico and Washington correspondent for the now-defunct San Juan Star newspaper, Gerson Borrero, former editor-in-chief of El Diario-La Prensa, and Christina Duffy Ponsa, law professor and former law clerk to Appeals Court Judge Jose Cabranes and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. The audience is welcome to participate.

The Surrounding Sea explores the highly ambivalent political relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The year is 2000 and Stevie Perez is taking part with his girlfriend, Laura Rosario, in a protest at the University of Puerto Rico against the U.S. Navy's bombing exercises that have caused illness, environmental damage and death on the offshore island of Vieques. The Riot Squad is called onto the campus and Laura is hit by a stray bullet and killed. To keep Laura's memory alive, a grieving Stevie becomes a drug mule in order to raise money for a scholarship in her name. He is soon set up in a drug theft and is forced to flee as he is pursued from the Bronx, where he was raised, to the island of his birth. Along the way, Stevie learns hard truths about life, love and loss.

Shadow of the Fathers is based on a true incident that occurred in Puerto Rico in 1931 whenDr. Cornelius Rhoads, sent by the Rockefeller Foundation to work on an outbreak of pernicious anemia, claimed to have killed off eight of his patients as a first-step toward an ethnic cleansing of the "natives." The novel revolves around the search by Puerto Rican artist Pablo Camino, the doctor's fictional son, for the truth about the father he never knew. The search into the past casts heavy shadows on both individual lives and political motives in the present.

About La Casa Azul Bookstore

Located in the heart of El Barrio, La Casa Azul Bookstore is much more than the average retail store, it is the literary hub of the neighborhood serving as the third place, a meeting space in the community. Events at La Casa Azul Bookstore range from book clubs, author signings, gallery shows, film screenings, writer's conferences and workshops. For further information: (212) 426 - 2626 or www.lacasaazulbookstore.com