PUBLISHER’S COMMENTS
Samuel Diaz Carrion has been part of the Nuyorican landscape for years, writing poetry, and working as an activist. He was there when the founders of the movement decided to turn a negative into a positive by adopting a pejorative in defiance of others; and he was there when Miguel Algarin and Pedro Pietri founded the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, taking part in the building of a cultural institution, all the while creating art and becoming involved in the political and social issues of the day. He eventually worked at the Cafe and managed a blog that asked and challenged what Nuyorican is (and isn’t). It is the excerpts from this blog and his poetry that became the impetus of Our Nuyorican Thing: The Birth of A Self-Made Identity (2014).
Through my association with Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, I knew of Sam and his wife Carmen for years, and while our paths crossed from time-to-time, we did not know each other personally. When Carmen and Sam worked on Papo’s book and subsequently, Carmen began working with me on 2Leaf Press, Sam asked (at Carmen’s urging) if I would consider publishing his collection of blog entries, short stories, and poetry into one compilation. I liked the idea of it, but I had to figure out how to organize the material in a book format that would make sense. While Carmen and Sam worked with an artist to create the cover, I asked Urayoán Noel if he would write the introduction to the book, which I thought was fitting since he recently finished up on his book, In Visible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam (Univ. of Iowa Press, 2014). In time, I really enjoyed piecing together this compilation. I love the concept of this book because it tackles issues of identity, and presents affirmation of culture, country, and self. I think this book is a great teaching tool and look forward to seeing Our Nuyorican Thing finding its way onto syllabi on college campuses across the country.
—Gabrielle David
