Hey Yo! Yo Soy! 2nd Edition

Contributors

SECOND EDITION CONTRIBUTORS

GABRIELLE DAVID, a contributor, is the publisher of 2Leaf Press, a Black/Brown female-led nonprofit press based in New York that promotes multicultural literature and literacy, of which she serves as executive director. She is also editor-in-chief of the award-winning quarterly phati’tude Literary Magazine. Her poetry and essays have appeared in the Paterson Literary Review, Journal of New Jersey Poets, AIM Magazine, and the Huffington Post,and she is an editor of Hey Yo! Yo Soy! 40 Years of Nuyorican Street Poetry by Jesús Papoleto Meléndez (2012), The Branches of The Tree of Life (2014), What Does it Mean to be White in America? (2016), and is the author of the TRAILBLAZERS series (https://trailblazersblackwomen.org). https://gabrielledavid.com

VAGABOND, a contributor who also designed the cover of this second edition, is a filmmaker and multi-disciplinary artist born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican and Jamaican parents. A graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & the Arts, he attended The School of Visual Arts but dropped out after his first year to work on independent black films such as Spikes Lee’s Do The Right Thing, where he quickly learned all aspects of filmmaking and forged his own alternative aesthetic. He has written, produced and directed the documentary, Ricanstructing Vieques and the award-winning feature film, Machetero. A former member of the Ricanstruction Netwerk, a politically radical artist collective in the vein of the “Situationist International,” Vagabond continues to work on films, create posters, pamphlets, videos and all kinds of other agit-propaganda for “the cause” or just because. http://nothingtobegainedhere.com.

CAROLINA FUNG FENG, an original co-translator of the first edition and translator of this second edition, was born and raised in Costa Rica to Chinese parents, and grew up speaking Spanish and Cantonese before she learned English. Her interest in linguistics led her to study translation, and she earned a BA in Spanish-English translation and interpretation, and English Language Arts from Hunter College (CUNY). She also holds Cambridge CELTA certification and has taught ESL to adult immigrants in New York City. Hey Yo! Yo Soy! was her first literary translation, and Fung Feng has continued to serve as copy editor and translator for 2Leaf Press.

FIRST EDITION CONTRIBUTORS

Introduction by Sandra Maria Esteves

SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES is a Dominican Nuyorican poet and visual artist who is often associated with the Nuyorican Movement. She has published nine collections of poetry, including, DivaNations (audio cd, 2010); Wildflowers (audio cd, 2009); Portal (2007); and Poems In Concert (2006). Her work has appeared in numerous publications, and she is the recipient of several awards and fellowships including a Pregones Theater/NEA Master Artist Award (2010), and the Con Tinta Award from the Acentos Poetry Collective (2007). A teaching artist for over thirty years, Esteves has conducted literary programs for the New York City Board of Education, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Caribbean Cultural Center and El Museo del Barrio, among others.

Foreword by Samuel Diaz Carrion and Carmen M. Pietri-Diaz

SAMUEL DIAZ CARRION (1947-2017) was a Puerto Rican poet and writer born in the South Bronx. While working as a chemist, he participated in meetings that led to the founding of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New Rican Village and other venues. Over the years, he has coordinated poetry and reading series, and managed theatrical events for Pedro Pietri and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Diaz also served as a coordinator for the Puerto Rican-based Bienal de la Poesía Puertoriqueña and subsequent events for La Muestra de la Bienal. He also led Computer and Administrative Office Services (BxCAOS), which assisted small businesses and nonprofits in the arts and housing. Diaz Carrion is the author of Our Nuyorican Thing, The Birth of a Self-Made Identity (2014) under 2Leaf Press’ NUYORICAN WORLD SERIES.

CARMEN M. PIETRI-DIAZ (1946- 2015) was the former executive director of the world renown, Nuyorican Poets Cafe. She produced and curated the Nuyorican anniversary events at New York’s Town Hall as well as other cultural events among the college circuit in the New York Metropolitan area. In 2008, she was publicly honored with the title of executive director emeritus of the Nuyorican Cafe. Pietri-Diaz sat on the boards of various cultural organizations, including the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center and the Federation of East Village Artists (FEVA). She earned a BA in Liberal Arts from City College (CUNY) and a Juris Doctorate from CUNY Law School at Queens College. Pietri-Diaz was honored by Diario-La Prensa in 2004 as one of fifty outstanding Latina women in the U.S. She served as President and CEO of Zero Budget Productions, was a literary consultant for 2Leaf Press, and remained active in community and cultural affairs until her untimely death.

Afterword and cover design by Jaime “Shaggy” Flores

JAIME “SHAGGY” FLORES is a Nuyorican Massarican Poet, writer and African Diaspora scholar born in Spanish Harlem and raised in Cupey, Puerto Rico and Springfield, Massachusetts. While attending UMass Amherst, he became involved with student organizations, and created the annual “Voices for the Voiceless,” one of the largest poetry concerts in the Northeast that brought nationally established African Diaspora writers to the five-college community. It was at this event that Flores established the Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award to honor legendary artists. After receiving his BA in African Diaspora, he completed his master’s in History from Virginia State University (HBCU). His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and he the author of two books. Flores has worked in communications and outreach in the labor, public and private sector for nearly twenty years.

Translated by Adam Wier, Carolina Fung Feng and Marjorie González

ADAM WIER, head translator, graduated as valedictorian from Hunter College (CUNY), where he majored in Spanish-English Translation and Interpretation, and Interdisciplinary Honors Studies. Wier is also a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy’s theatre and film program. He founded Haberdasher Theatre along with some of his fellow graduates and served as the company’s managing director. He has worked as a freelance translator, and was the senior translator for the U.S. Latino edition of phati’tude Literary Magazine (2012), and rendered the subtitles for the films La Mirada de Las Fotos (Staring Pictures) (2010) and Lo Que Quiero De Ti (What I Want From You) (2012). He is currently a Fullstack Javascript developer and resides in Paris.

MARJORIE GONZÁLEZ, born in Chile, was a student at Hunter College (CUNY) student majoring in Spanish/English translation when she worked on Hey Yo! Yo Soy!, her first literary translation.

Edited by Gabrielle David and Kevin E. Tobar Pesántez

KEVIN E. TOBAR PESÁNTEZ served as an editor for phati’tude Literary Magazine, and poetry editor for 2Leaf Press. Pesántez has worked as a Workshop Facilitator of the Boy’s Town Detention Center, developing spoken word theater workshops in Brooklyn, and as a playwright and actor in cultural programs in Quito, Ecuador. He was a member of The Forum Project, New York’s first ever Theatre of the Oppressed performance troupe, was a housing advocate at University Settlement, and served as a columnist for the Rivard Report serving San Antonio, Texas. Pesántez is currently a leader of Bhakti Yoga and does outreach with yoga centers throughout the world.