1	In the News Panorama The headlines of Hispanidad. read more...
2	UPFRONT Ruben Navarrette, Jr. An Affirmative Action success story. read more...
3	UPFRONT Dr. Eduardo Padrón Sparks of understanding can be radicalizing. read more...
4	Ask Julie Understanding the power of social lending. read more...
5	First Person A look inside the world of Delia de la Vara. read more...

The Achievers

Four People Who Opened Our Eyes
In honor of Hispanic Heritage month we look at those who take inspiration from the past and present to form the future. This year we applaud a musician who was inspired by the traditional folkloric music of his native island to create something completely new with his creative reimagining; a photographer whose prolific work spanning decades tells the story of neglected communities and their people, in hopes of making an impact by creating a historical record; an activist who proves the pen is mightier than the sword by writing generational tales of Hispanic life and empowering others to do the same; and a doctor who sees a world of invisible people, endeavors to help them and, in doing so, is cultivating a new generation of doctors intent on doing the same.
Each person’s story serves not only as a source of inspiration for others intent on pushing the cultural envelope, but also to demonstrate the possibilities for change. These few have shown us something new about our world today and what it could be tomorrow.

Unveiling Truths
Camilo José Vergara
Photographer and Documentarian
For more than three decades, photographer Camilo Jose Vergara has been capturing the realities of an America that many do not see. By focusing his lens on poor and minority enclaves in such cities as New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Newark, Los Angeles and others, he has created a visual account of their history.
Based in New York but born in Chile, Vergara’s long fascination with the complexities of urban America has lead to a prolific catalogue. His many projects, which include several books, exhibitions and more, have produced some 14,000 slides, many of which are case studies in the evolution of a place.
“I use photography as a means of discovery, as a tool with which to clarify visions and construct knowledge about a particular city or place,” writes Vergara in his introduction of the project. “Pictures are the starting point in posing a question, adding a link with other images, or claiming new territory.”
Vergara’s work is accessible through his website and interactive gallery Invisible Cities. On the site visitors can peek into little-seen Harlem, Camden, New Jersey, and Richmond, California for insight into the lives of those cities and the residents who shaped them.
Vergara is currently proposing a new comprehensive and sweeping web project called The Visual Encyclopedia of American Ghettos. The goal is to document these areas in a way similar to how the Farm Security Administration photographed areas of the country during the Great Depression. Those FSA images have become, for many, the windows to that period for the nation. Considering Vergara’s keen eye and ability to deliver copious images these images, too, could become the views through which many come to understand the plight of poor urban America today.

An Audible Innovation
Miguel Zenón
Musician and Forward Thinker
Latin jazz has gotten a bad rap, says musician Miguel Zenon. When people recall the music, they think of something very specific, namely instrumental jazz music.“I think there are different ways to deal with Latin music and jazz,” says Zenon. “I think [I have] just a different perspective. I can’t say it makes me different from other people. My intent is to have it be more balanced.”
A brilliant saxophonist, music professor and composer, Zenon has a method of dealing with Latin music and jazz that has earned him the label of music genius. And not simply by fans and critics, but by the MacArthur Foundation, the organization that awards the well-known genius grants. Zenon received one in 2008, the same year he was awarded the Guggenheim fellowship, marking the first time an artist had received both honors in one year. What attracted the recognition was the unique fusion he creates in his music— jazz and traditional folk music.
“While I grew up with Puerto Rican music, I wasn’t listening to it as a musician. I never thought of it as being special, I never gave it much thought,” he says. “When I moved to the States, I was 100 percent emerged in jazz music. It wasn’t until I was writing my own music, reexamining and trying to find what made me different, that I focused on Puerto Rican folk music.”
A native Puerto Rican, Zenon began his music education at age 11 when he began attending Escuela Libre de Musica, a well-respected school on the island. He discovered jazz in his teens and opened his ears to American jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Impressed with their legendary works, and armed with a formal jazz education from the Berklee School of Music, Zenon took to writing his own music.
Zenon did extensive research into jibaro music, discovering ever more information to help him create a balanced sound. The result was the 2005 album Jibaro, a critical success that drew praise for pushing the envelope where both Latin and jazz are concerned. Zenon says he believes that the album was so well received because it mixed a modern element of contemporary music witha earthy folkloric element. In August, Zenon released his next album, Esta Plena, which does for plena music what Jibaro did to jibaro.
“The most important thing is to make both worlds as balanced as possible,” he says. “That creates successful fusion, so people feel those two identities in there. The essential thing is if you try to mix two different worlds, you have to really know them you have to study the tradition.”

Achieving Good Works
Dr. Pedro José Greer, Jr.
Doctor and Philanthropist
For someone who wanted to spend his life caring for people in the shadows, Dr. Pedro José Greer has received well-deserved time in the limelight. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Greer, or Dr. Joe as he is known to his patients and the Miami community where he works, has recently been named to another great honor—a Presidential Medal of Freedom. The doctor was one of 16 people President Barack Obama recently recognized as “agents of change.”
All the praise and honors are a welcome, but unplanned for, affirmation that his works not only benefit his community, but also the future of medicine.
Known today for his seemingly endless work on behalf of the homeless, Greer took on his mission some 30 years ago after the tragic death of his sister. “When something like that happens you questions aspects of faith, and God,” he says. “I made a promise to her that I would never let anyone die alone.” Fueled by his pledge, he took notice of a growing homeless population under Miami’s highways. It opened his eyes to a world of poverty in his own backyard, he says. He decided, with some supporters, to open a clinic and soon Camillus Health Concern was born, which caters to the poor.
Over the course of his career, Greer’s philanthropic, academic and scientific work flourished, earning him a wide range of positions and touching a number of people. He next set his sights on educating the next generation of doctors. Today he is chair of the Department of Humanities, Health and Society at Florida International University’s new Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Maintaining his focus on the poor, Greer hopes to change the current profit-centric trend in medicine.
“When did it become socially acceptable for a doctor to say no to a patient because they had no money?” he asks. “We teach the ethics of medicine, cultural competency, all the things doctors have never done well,” he says. He hopes to develop the most culturally sensitive group of doctors the medical profession has ever seen. They have three years to change the world, he jokes.
A good doctor, says Greer, is a multitude of things: a scientist, a clincian, a detective, a humanitarian, and more. After a career of tackling issues that many other practitioners would balk at, one would think “good doctor” is a compliment Greer would easily conceed to. But his work is not yet done. “I would describe myself as a person trying to become that doctor.”

A Written Revelation
Josefina Lopez
Writer and Community Uniter
It’s hard to assign a title to Josefina Lopez’ work. The playwright, author, screenwriter, poet and community organizer, among other things, has a dizzying array of occupations. “I would say I am primarily an activist, and writing is my weapon of choice,” says Lopez. “I feel like I am a creative person [fighting] injustice toward women and Latinos. I want to raise the consciousness of people in the U.S.”
Although she had nearly 20 play productions, Lopez first became well known as the writer of Real Women Have Curves, which she adapted from her play with co-writer George LaVoo. The movie portrayed multi-dimensional, savvy, acculturated Hispanic women and flew in the face of the traditional way Latinas were portrayed in film. Defying stereotype is something Lopez had been doing in her plays, but this particular story began a dialogue not only about Latina sexuality, family dynamics, immigration and access to education for poor Hispanics, but also about the importance of telling these kinds of stories.
Lopez has traveled a long road since then. After finding such success, she began writing pilots for networks, none of which were picked up. Disappointed, she turned her attention from Hollywood, tackling more plays and her first novel. She moved to France and wrote Hungry Woman in Paris, about a clever Latina who feels trapped in her life and treks to France. The book took cues from her own life. “I think writing is very soulful. It’s also about trying to capture the human experience,” she says. “We are more powerful than we think we are.”
Lopez also worked toward empowering others to tell their stories. She founded Boyle Heights Latinas in Film Extravaganza, which celebrates the work of Hispanic women in film, and Casa 0101, a non-profit theater in her neighborhood. With these organizations she is equipping future writers with the tools necessary to continue building the art community.
“I also teach writing. I don’t just teach the mechanics of writing. It isn’t about outing words to paper. Everyone has a shadow to them... Storytelling is about the people who are brave enough to go there.”
Her latest play is an exploration of power and relationships. Trio los Machos looks at the lives of three musicians who find employment in the bracero program. When one becomes ill and has no insurance, the friends who often bicker band together and care for him as intimately as a mother or wife. Lopez, whose father was a bracero and from whom she draws inspiration, calls the play a love letter to Latinos.
“I feel like I am barely starting. I think this is just the beginning,” says Lopez, who is working on her next novel. As for what the future holds, “I am much more interested in taking my place in herstory. I think women have to start to creating their own history.”