Wiser With Age

Tag: Puerto Rican

  • Actor Ivonne Coll on playing the matriarch on ‘Jane the Virgin’ at 70


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Ivonne Coll (Photo\Starla Fortunato)

    Ivonne Coll is not a mother, or a grandmother, in real life, but she plays the role of both on television.

    Coll, otherwise known as Alba, plays the matriarch of her alternate reality home on The CW’s “Jane the Virgin.† There, the Puerto Rican actor plays the Venezuelan grandmother of Jane (Gina Rodriguez), and the mother of Xiomara Villanueva (Andrea Navedo). Her main goal as head of that household is to try and steer Jane in the right direction. 

    “What I like about the show is how they portray Alba is that she is still sensual,†says Coll, adding that her character is also courageous and intelligent. “A lot of times abuelas are shown as always having an apron on and asking if you ate, but Alba is a dynamic woman who has a boyfriend and makes mistakes in life. The creators allow me to sing and dance – those are the opportunities that this show has allowed me to express.â€

    In a way, the now 70-year-old actor is going back to her roots. At 20, while studying psychology at the University of Puerto Rico, Coll won the Miss Puerto Rico title, and in the same year, 1967, she represented Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe pageant – both of which required her to display her talents of acting, singing and dancing. Upon seeing her performing skills, a producer in Puerto Rico gave Coll her own variety show. But at 26, Coll decided it was time to move to Hollywood.

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Ivonne Coll in 1967 (Courtesy Ivonne Coll)

    “My mother couldn’t understand why I was leaving Puerto Rico, because I was so successful there, but I knew my calling was somewhere else,†says Coll. “I knew I had to study the craft of acting. I didn’t care about fame, or making it, or becoming a star, I wanted to become a working actor – that was my goal.â€

    Little did she know, she says, that according to the standards of Hollywood, she was already considered “too old.â€

    “But I didn’t know that, and when I was told about it, I didn’t care,†says the determined Coll. “I just thought, ‘Let me keep on growing and doing my craft.’â€

    It was around this time in her life that she often didn’t have money for food or to buy bottled water, but nothing, not even not having money, would be an obstacle to accomplishing her dream. When she needed diction classes to make her spoken English clearer, she instantly thought of a creative solution.

    “I would clean the room for free lessons,†says Coll, laughing at this memory. “It was joyful. I never thought that I was struggling. I never thought I was paying my dues. It was a joy to do that work to get that session.â€

    Shortly after, by a chance situation, she was hired to play the “redheaded singer, Yolanda†in Francis Ford Coppola’s, “The Godfather II,†which hit theaters in 1974.

    “It was around 2 or 3 in the morning, and Al Pacino came on the set to do the kissing scene, and that’s what it did it for me,†recounts Coll about the exact moment she confirmed she wanted to dedicate the rest of her life to acting. “As he walked to Fredo, watching the way he transformed. I thought, ‘How did he do that?!’â€

    It was then that she started to train even harder.

    “I studied acting techniques for seven years, with Lee Strasberg, David Alexander, and Lucille Ball – who gave an eight-week workshop in Hollywood,†says Coll, adding that Ball was very strict and committed as a teacher.

    Throughout her career, Coll has starred on Broadway in “Goodbye Fidel,†and played Lady Macbeth in “Lady Macbeth,†and acted in the films, “Lean on Me,†and “Walking the Dead,†and has countless television credits, including “Switched at Birth,†and “Glee.†Yet no matter how many years and projects pass, she still calls her mother her biggest inspiration, role model and hero.

    “It’s all for Puerto Rico and my mother,†says Coll about Rosita Mendoza who was a celebrated hairstylist in Puerto Rico. “I think I inherited all my talent from my mother…Later in her life, she would be training – her talent for teaching is my talent for coaching others. That’s my mother – I’m so lucky. The last thing she saw me in was in Puerto Rican Parade in New York City when I won the Lifetime Achievement Award [in 2015]. She saw it on TV, and a week later she died.â€

    Coll admits that as her recurring role as a mom in the television series,“Switched at Birth†was dwindling down, she started thinking about gracefully bowing out of show business and returning to her island home.

    “I didn’t think there would be more roles for me,†says Coll. “As I’m doing the paperwork needed to wrap up, I get the audition for this role at Jane the Virgin.â€

    Not taking it seriously, she first told her agency she’s busy doing jury duty.

    “I was so confused, because the role was in Spanish in English, and the audition was the next day!,†says Coll.

    Once there, she asked the producers what kind of Spanish dialect they wanted. They said Venezuelan, which was a very easy transition from her native Caribbean Spanish.  

    “God decided that role was for me no matter how much I didn’t take it seriously,†says Coll. “When they called me to go to network, I turned off my phone, and I didn’t hear they cancelled the audition. So I went. And at the moment the casting director came in, and she said, ‘Abuela, we’ll see your tape.’ They didn’t answer until the next day. We were in parking lot when I got it. I was screaming in the car. It’s been a great ride.â€

    She says working on “Jane the Virgin†has been one of her most special experiences, because her co-stars have become like true family.

    “It’s also the first time three Latinas are in a mainstream show, and now we have it in ‘One Day at a Time,’†says Coll about the Netflix series she will soon guest star on – reuniting her with Rita Moreno, 85, who played the “Glam-ma†on “Jane the Virgin.â€

    Looking back now to when she once heard she was “too old†at 27, Coll laughs.

    “I just produced and co-wrote a short and I’m acting in it,†she says. “It’s about two women – one is a principal, and one is a yoga teacher and married to a Harvard professor…I want to put [Latinas] in charge like we are in real life…Producers feel it won’t sell, but it will sell, because it represents the face of North America.â€

    What advice would she tell her 20-year-old self at her age now?

    “I wouldn’t change anything of what I did really…Go with your gut feeling. God lives in you. I was not aware that I was doing that. Be more aware of what moves you, because that will inform how your life will be.â€

    “Alba, to me, has been a gift of love from God that came at a time I was about to retire. Isn’t it incredible?,” says Coll. “You can plan, but God has other plans, and His plans are better than yours.â€

  • How writing her life story led a woman to inner healing

    How writing her life story led a woman to inner healing


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Maria Aponte (Photo/George Malave)

    Maria Aponte was born and raised an only child in East Harlem, otherwise known as “El Barrio,†in New York City, to Puerto Rican parents.

    Because she lost her mother at 16, and her father at 22, loneliness was a battle she fought most of her life, but it was also what made her the undefeated warrior and artist that she is today. And perhaps, the eternal yearning for parental guidance and wisdom, is what drove her to create a non-profit which honors elders later in life.

    At 60, Aponte has achieved much. She has written and performed two one-woman plays, the autobiographical “Lagrimas de mis Madres,†and “I Will Not Be Silenced,†based on the life of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. She has also written a poetry book, and a memoir, “The Gift of Loss,†which most recently hit shelves. In addition to working full-time in career development at Fordham University, she also started a non-profit called Latina 50 Plus four years ago, through which she honors other Latina pioneers over the age of 50.

    “I got the opportunity to tell my story in “Lagrimas de mis madres,†says Aponte about the play based on the women in her family, which she wrote during her undergrad years.

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Aponte performing in her one woman show, “Lagrimas de Mis Madres.” (Photo/Elena Marrero)

    She says the story came easily, because she wrote the script using the poetry she had written throughout her youth.

    “I wanted to tell this story, because I was the last woman in my family, and I thought it could help others,†says Aponte, adding that she knew her work touched the audience when people would wait in the lobby to thank her for her courage to tell her story. “Eventually, it became a full-length play on off-Broadway. I took it on the road for 10 and a half years around the country.â€

    Because she was not the “typical looking Puerto Rican actress” of the time, she explains, like Rita Moreno – but more Afro-Latina in appearance, Aponte says she found she would get more work if she wrote plays herself. Her next play about Sor Juana de la Cruz, she also developed into a one-woman show and took it on tour around the country.

    “I was an introvert, and I think the arts saved me,†says Aponte, about how she dealt with the early death of her mother. “Even though it was painful, I was always able to use my art to deal with my pain.â€

    She says she knew she was born to be an artist as young as age 7.

    “I knew I wanted to be in the theater ever since I was a munchkin in the school play, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ – I connected to the stage,†says Aponte. “I was jumping up and down one day, and I smelled dust from the wooden planks of the stage, and I loved the smell. My first influence was my drama teacher at 13 – I was learning lines and stage plotting…I knew then that I knew I would be an artist, and I always have been in some form.â€

    She adds that her favorite medium will always be theater.

    “I love live theater,†says Aponte. “When I do a poetry reading, I end up performing…To me, it’s not just memorizing lines but developing character and taking the audience on a journey. I fell into the poetry thing in the 80’s, and that’s when I started writing more. My saving grace was the Nuyorican Poet’s Café. When I walked in, I felt like I was walking into El Barrio. That’s where I discovered my Puerto Rican pride, and where I connected with elders like Pedro Pietri.â€

    She says she also learned a lot from the late Miriam Colon who was the founder and director of NYC’s Puerto Rican Traveling Theater.

    “My elders taught me about my history and my culture,†says Aponte, who moved to the Bronx in the 1980’s, where she still resides today with her husband and fellow storyteller, Bobby Gonzalez.

    Now that she’s older, she would like to return the same favor and be an example for the youth she encounters.

    Aponte has led a structured presence, in her otherwise diversified creative life, working full-time at Fordham University for the past 19 years. She has spent time in various departments, but has stayed in career services for the past 11 years – in the managing diversity initiative, and in 2014 she simultaneously completed her MA in Latino Studies.

    “I don’t think you should stay stuck,†says Aponte. “I love the life I live today. A typical month could also involve sitting on panels and supporting other artists’ work. My heart is in the betterment and development of women of color.â€

    For herself, she realized how life growth happens in stages, over time, and she tries to teach that to others.

    “I was always telling my story in pieces. I have played my grandmother, mother, myself as a child, and as a woman,†says Aponte. “I would never address my father. My parents separated when I was two. My dad was actually not a bad person, just an alcoholic. He was a percussionist and could sing…but I never experienced him myself, just from what I heard from others. I wanted to write also about forgiveness.â€

    Through her writing, Aponte says she has documented the amount of years it took her to become her own woman.

    “It is about coming to terms with who you are, and thinking, ‘Wow, I went through all that,’ she says. “I have a tremendous gratitude for life. Like right now as I’m speaking to you, I’m smiling.â€

    She adds that most people don’t want to deal with emotion, but everyone has to at their own timing.

    “People say I’m so calm, but I say it’s a lot of work,†says Aponte. “The best I can do is plant a little seed.â€

    Why she created Latina 50 Plus?

    “In the industry I work in, career development, I felt that older Latina women were disappearing,†says Aponte. “I felt I needed to create a space where their history wouldn’t be lost. We need to honor the elders who rolled up their sleeves before us.â€

    Latina 50 Plus is a non-profit currently in its fourth year. The fourth annual luncheon, taking place on June, 24, will be honoring seven women in the fields of art, community service, education, medicine, law and literature.

    The next goal, she says, is a mentoring program.

    Her advice to her younger self?

    “Being a child caregiver, I would ignore myself,†says Aponte. “I had to really work hard on that. That’s how my brain worked. That could be your own obstacle…You have to have passion and persistence, because if you don’t, you can get swallowed up in the mundane stuff. You must discover yourself. Ask yourself, ‘Who am I?’ Everyone is going to have that moment. Don’t be afraid of it. Accept yourself with all of your imperfections. It’s ok if you mess up.â€

  • Bronx poet uses storytelling to educate others about their history

    Bronx poet uses storytelling to educate others about their history


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Bobby Gonzalez (Photo/George Malave)

    Bobby Gonzalez has had practically every job you could think of — from a medical records clerk in a hospital to customer service at a utility company. However, he says it was at age 40 that he discovered his life’s calling and passion – storytelling. His favorite topic is his Puerto Rican and Taino heritage, which in turn, challenges his listeners to get curious about their own roots.

    Ever since that moment of enlightenment, storytelling is what Gonzalez devotes his life to. At 65, he still resides in his native Bronx, NY, with his wife Maria, but sometimes he doesn’t even know where he’ll end up the next day giving a workshop or lecture. So far, he’s spoken in 42 states — in the past two weeks alone, he’s been at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Davidson College in North Carolina speaking about the racial and cultural diversity of Latinos. Next week, he’ll host his monthly spoken word event in Queens, NY.

    “When people ask me, ‘What do you do?’ I say, I’m an educator through lectures and poetry,†says Gonzalez, who has also authored two books, “The Last Puerto Rican,†and “Taino Zen.”  “I don’t know what’s going to happen the next minute. Occasionally, I get a phone call asking me, ‘Can you do this?’ and I do it. I’m not afraid to fail.â€

    His second favorite job in life, he says, was working at his family’s bodega, which they owned for more than 30 years.

    “That’s where I really polished my speaking skills, and I heard a lot of great stories,†says Gonzalez, about the place which birthed his purpose. “It was quite an experience.â€

    He says his parents also played an important role.

    “We were very fortunate, my brothers and I, to have had two Puerto Rican parents who always made the point to tell us where we came from and instilled in us a great pride of who we were,†says Gonzalez. “That inspired me to embark on a lifetime of personal research. I got my information from books and oral traditions – here and in Puerto Rico. When I was a little boy, my parents would take me to Puerto Rico, and I would sit at the feet of my great grandfather. He would tell me the stories of the old days, and I would roll my eyes, but I wish I listened more carefully.â€

    Gonzalez can see clearly now that his ancestors grew up in a different world, and that gives him the incentive to tell their stories. One story in particular which has marked him is one of his mother’s arrival to New York from Puerto Rico via a train from Miami in the 1940’s.

    “She was very light-skinned, and when she got to Miami, the conductor told my dark-skinned grandmother to sit in another car,†recalls Gonzalez. “I have to remind young people they take a lot for granted – even the right to vote.â€

    Gonzalez remembers the exact date he began documenting his family roots by writing poetry.

    “It was February 9, 1964,†he says without hesitation. “The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the day after, millions of kids around the world bought their own guitars and started to write their own music.â€

    Storytelling came very naturally to him, he further explains.

    “Every day, I would go to the library, get some books, and then go down my block and tell stories,†says Gonzalez, who still has the same almost involuntary instinct years later. “I spend a lot of time in the Manhattan and the Bronx libraries,†where he sometimes also hosts spoken word nights for teens.

    He says one of his biggest career challenges also took place in a library while he was telling stories of his ancestors, the Taino people, who are an indigenous people of the Caribbean.

    “Once I was speaking in a library in Queens, and a man told me, ‘There are no Tainos left. I don’t know why you’re doing this.’ At the end, he came up to me and said, ‘I’m proud to be a Taino.’ I was taught by my parents never to say ‘You are wrong.’ We were all raised differently, so it’s important to dialogue in a civilized manner. We are all one.â€

    Gonzalez says he used this parental wisdom when speaking at the University of Mississippi last year, as well.

    “We can’t have the same perspectives, and that’s okay, as long we listen to each other with respect,†he adds. “I meet students from Latin countries, and they don’t know about their indigenous heritage, and people who lived here their whole life don’t know American history. My favorite moment is always when people say, ‘I didn’t know that.’â€

    Education is primordial for Gonzalez, even though his father only finished 2nd grade and his mom, 6th grade. He admits he never finished his bachelor’s degree in marketing, but he believes through his natural curiosity, he has learned so much more by devouring books on his own. And now he loves to share that knowledge with kids as young as pre-k, all the way to seniors.

    “I don’t have the sense of fear,†says Gonzalez about what has helped him the most in life. “The times now are nothing compared to what my parents went through. Police brutality was a lot more common back then, there were no bilingual services, and immigrant groups lived in one neighborhood. My brothers, and I went to college. We didn’t finish, but we did it, because my parents sacrificed for us.â€

    What is the one piece of life advice he wishes he could tell his younger self today?

    “It gets better every day if you make the conscious effort to improve yourself passionately and persistently.â€Â 

  • Pastor walks 150 miles in the name of immigration

    Pastor walks 150 miles in the name of immigration


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Bishop José Garcia during “El Camino del Inmigrante,” “The Walk of the Immigrant†(Photo/Esteban Garcia)

    Bishop José Garcia, 63, just finished walking an average of 12 miles a day, for 11 days straight. Not for exercise, but for the basic rights of immigrants.

    “El Camino del Inmigrante,” “The Walk of the Immigrant†in English, was a 150-mile pilgrimage from August 20 – 30, aimed at highlighting the challenges of the current U.S. immigration system, one of them being hunger of immigrants. The walk started in Border Field State Park on the U.S.-Mexico border and ended at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, with various stops in between.

    Garcia, who resides in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., with his wife, is currently the director of church relations at Bread for the World – a non-partisan non-profit organization focused on educating policy makers, and the public, about hunger in the U.S. and abroad. He also serves on the board of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.

    “It’s been very emotional walking with the people and listening to all the different stories and the reasons they are doing the walk,†says Garcia who was accompanied by approximately 120 other walkers. “One of the individuals that I met told me that as they were crossing to come to the U.S., two of the people in their group got sick and were not able to keep the pace, and the coyote told them they had to leave them behind. This person told me they felt miserable, guilty, all these emotions walking away from these two individuals…”

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Walk participants placing crosses in the sand. Each cross represents a deceased individual who lost their life crossing the border. (Photo/Johnny Lim)

    “I would like to create awareness of the plight of the immigrant and call to attention the political leaders, especially the candidates for the Presidency, for the need of immigration reform here in our country. We are doing this advocacy, because we see the connection between hunger and immigration.â€

    According to research conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies, nearly 70 percent of Mexican immigrants, and their U.S.-born children, live in poverty. Many immigrant families are farmworkers who are hungry due to low wages; they also often don’t have access to health services, and work in hazardous conditions.

    “Immigration reform is more than giving citizenship but dealing with the laws and systems of why people leave their countries to begin with,†continues Garcia. “These men and women are bringing values, morality, their faith, and traditions that will contribute to making this a better country. It’s not only about what they get, but what they give.â€

    The Christian pastor of more than two decades, says he empathizes with immigrants, because he himself migrated from Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico to the mainland U.S. at age 27. Since the island of Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the U.S., he did not go through a lot of the legal issues other immigrants do, but some struggles he could relate to, he says.

    “[I would receive] a patronizing attitude,†says Garcia, who in addition to studying at a seminary, holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of Puerto Rico and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. “Because I spoke Spanish, I was considered not smart enough. There were also stereotypes about our food.â€

    While working as a state bishop from 2004-2014 at the Church of God of Prophecy in California, Garcia explains he was like a pastor of the other pastors in his state – making sure that they fulfill their duties.

    “Pastors have different issues. Many of them had congregants who were undocumented,†says Garcia. “That’s how I began doing advocacy for them – for immigration reform. Listening to their stories are very moving. One of the things I took for granted is that people live in fear – never knowing if their families are going to be separated. They felt that they couldn’t claim those rights. That’s why I engage in this work of advocacy.â€

    He says a typical day for him, today, deals with meetings concerning strategies, signing letters, making press statements, representing law makers, trying to engage leaders, and mobilizing people locally.

    “My favorite part of my job is being on the field with the people crying for justice who are treated unfairly,†says Garcia. “God requires us to love one another, and the scripture teaches us to care for the stranger, and that for me is an affirmation of the work that I’m doing.â€

    What piece of life advice would he give his younger self?

    “Be informed and engage in justice for those who don’t have a voice.â€

  • Borinqueneer still serves as a military intelligence volunteer at 92

    Borinqueneer still serves as a military intelligence volunteer at 92

    July 27, 2012, U.S. Army veteran Andres Vergara salutes during the commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice in Arlington, Virginia. With four official combat jumps, Vergara received the South Korean medal of honor for rescuing 100 children from an orphanage during the war. (Photo/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
    July 27, 2012, U.S. Army veteran Andres Vergara salutes during the commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice in Arlington, Virginia. With four official combat jumps, Vergara received the South Korean medal of honor for rescuing 100 children from an orphanage during the war. (Photo/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    The 65th Infantry Regiment, otherwise known as “Borinqueneers,” was created in 1899 by the U.S. Congress as a segregated unit composed primarily of Puerto Ricans. Thousands of these brave men served in World War I, World War II and the Korean War.

    According to Gilberto Villahermosa’s book, “Honor and Fidelity: The 65th Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953,” 61,000 Puerto Ricans served in the Korean War alone, thousands of them with the 65th. However, the 65th has been the only segregated military infantry unit to have not yet been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

    But just last month, after more than a year in the making, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed bills that will grant the 65th Infantry Regiment its long-awaited recognition. President Barack Obama will sign the legislation on June 10, 2014, and the living members of the infantry, and their families, will head to Washington to receive the Medal.

    “I am feeling wonderful!,” says Master Sergeant Andres Vergara about the pending honor.

    Vergara, now 92, signed up with the Army at 19 and served in the 65th during World War II. According to “The Borinqueneers” documentary producer, Noemi Figueroa, he is only one of at least 300 Borinqueneers, which could possibly be in the thousands, who are still documented as living. Residing in Clearwater, Florida, Vergara drives 11 hours every weekend to an Army base in Georgia to volunteer – even though he retired from the Army 34 years ago.

    “I do military intelligence,” says Vergara proudly. “I sit at the computer Friday, Saturday and Sunday with no sleep.”

    He says he signed up as a volunteer three years ago, and the Army recruited him.

    “This is my last month,” says Vergara. “I have the rest of the week off, and this weekend I am lucky I can go to New York to take part in the National Puerto Rican Day Parade.”

    This year’s parade, on June 8, will feature a special float dedicated to the Borinqueneers of the 65th Infantry Regiment.

    During service in Korea, Vergara saved the lives of approximately 100 children when a Korean orphanage caught fire. Recently, the Republic of South Korea honored him with a Medal of Honor, and they also named a school in his honor.

    Although the details of that experience are fuzzy in his memory, what he does remember fondly is playing the tuba in the 81st Army Band while serving in Germany, Africa, and Japan.

    What is he going do now that he is retiring from the Army for the second time?

    “I might continue parachute jumping,” says Vergara happily. “I’m a paratrooper. I go every two weeks. I’ve been to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Israel. Next year, we’re going to Vietnam!”