Saturday, September 6, 2014

Jack Delano’s Puerto Rico: A Masterwork Spanning 40 Years and One Island

Jack Delano’s Puerto Rico: A Masterwork Spanning 40 Years and One Island

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I just came across this article on Jack Delano. It is from 2011 and was written by David González. Lovely gallery of photos. This is the second of two pieces on the work of Jack Delano. Part One is here.
An offhand comment Roy Stryker made to Jack Delano changed his life. Mr. Stryker had called Mr. Delano in November 1941 to suggest that he go to the Virgin Islands to document a Farm Security Administration project.
“And while you’re there,” Mr. Stryker added, “you might want to stop by for a few days in Puerto Rico.”
He agreed, and cut short his current assignment in Georgia. Then he dashed off to find an atlas to figure out exactly where he was headed. A few days turned into more than three months – thanks to the United States’ declaring war after the Pearl Harbor bombing – as Mr. Delano, later joined by his wife, Irene, crisscrossed the island. They were so captivated that they managed to return in 1946 – on a Guggenheim fellowship that turned into a permanent move.
Today, Mr. Delano’s vast archive of Puerto Rican images – augmented by a series he did in the 1980s where he revisited some of the same villages, valleys and people he first encountered in the 1940s – is both his masterwork and valentine to his adopted island home. They depict poverty and progress, back-breaking labor and lush landscapes, urban sprawl and modern materialism.
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“I was fascinated and disturbed by so much of what I saw,” he wrote of his first trip to the island in his memoir, “Photographic Memories,” which the Smithsonian published shortly before his death in 1997. “I had seen plenty of poverty in my travels in the Deep South, but never anything like this.”
But true to his guiding principle — respect for the thing in front of the camera, as Paul Strand had declared — he saw deeper.
“Yet people everywhere were cordial, hospitable, generous, kind and full of dignity and a sparkling sense of humor,” he noted. “Wherever we went, no matter how dire the poverty, we were welcomed into people’s homes and offered coffee.”
Consider this: When a thunderstorm forced them to seek shelter one day, an impoverished woman welcomed Jack and Irene into her ramshackle home, where the rain fell through holes in the roof. As Irene handed out chocolates to the excited children, the woman explained how her husband had hurt his back and could no longer work the cane fields. She did laundry for her neighbors, and coaxed an egg from a hen when she could.
“Don’t worry, Señora,” he recounted in his book. “We take care of ourselves.”
When the storm let up, the Delanos, stunned by what they had seen, left. One of the children called out after them and put a brown paper bag in Irene’s lap.
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“What’s in it?” Jack asked after they had ridden in silence for a while. “She looked inside and said, ‘Two eggs.’ ”
Mr. Delano’s work is perhaps a lifetime’s repayment of that woman’s generosity. When he and his wife returned in 1946, he joined the island’s Department of Information, which had modeled itself after the Farm Security Administration. He traveled the island, photographing schools, religious festivals, fairs, hospitals and railroads.
The group included two of his friends from the administration, Edwin and Louise Rosskam, who joined him in a later venture when they were persuaded by the future governor, Luis Muñoz Marin, to establish an agency that would use film and graphics to improve education in rural areas.
That decision led to Mr. Delano’s gradual movement away from photography, as he went into making documentary films, then to work at a newly established educational television station. He would later go on to rediscover his first love, music, as a composer, too.
But in the late 1970s, as a new generation discovered the Farm Security Administration photos, he had the idea to revisit his early work on the island. Several grants underwrote the cost, as the Delanos returned to the scenes of their youthful adventures. They found an island – and people – that had been transformed, and not always for the better. At the same time, they were able to discern the fundamental spirit that had so moved them decades earlier.
Among the 200 images in the resulting exhibition — later published in “Puerto Rico Mio” by the Smithsonian – was one of a funeral, taken in 1946 in Fajardo. A man walks down the street toting an infant’s coffin on his shoulder, a handful of people behind him. A visitor to the show wrote in the guest book: “Mr. Delano – Thank you for making it possible for me to witness the funeral of my little sister, who died before I was born.”
A son, Pablo Delano, himself a photographer, sees no coincidence in the fact that his father had no idea where he was heading in 1941.
“It was totally serendipitous,” he said. “It changed a lot of lives, and produced this whole body of work.”
Even in his final years, Pablo Delano said, his father was always willing to share his insights. Jack Delano’s phone number was listed, and people would call, asking him to come and talk at a school.
“He went to what I think were extreme lengths for somebody of his age and physical condition,” Pablo Delano  said. “But if some sixth-grade teacher called and said, ‘Mr. Delano, we’re learning about Puerto Rico in the 1940s and wondered if you could come to speak to the kids,’ he would get into his Honda Civic and drive out there. And his driving was terrible, like Mr. Magoo. He’d drive to a mountain town, find the school, hobble in and talk to the kids.”
Respect for the thing in front of the camera. And when he died, his adopted land repaid that respect.
“The flag of Puerto Rico was draped on his coffin,” Pablo Delano said. “We still have that flag. It’s a very meaningful thing to us.”

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Jack Delano's Puerto Rico: A Masterwork Spanning 40 Years and ... 

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FBI: Cuba aggressively recruiting leftist American academics - Topix

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FBI: Cuba aggressively recruiting leftist American academics

Posted in the Puerto Rico Forum

Comments
1 - 6 of 6 Comments Last updated 2 hrs ago
Since: Oct 12
#1 17 hrs ago
A few days ago, Jorge and I had talked about the rampant leftism in colleges and universities these days.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/05/fb...
"Cuba’s communist-led intelligence services are aggressively recruiting leftist American academics and university professors as spies and influence agents, according to an internal FBI report published this week.

Cuban intelligence services “have perfected the work of placing agents, that includes aggressively targeting U.S. universities under the assumption that a percentage of students will eventually move on to positions within the U.S. government that can provide access to information of use to the [Cuban intelligence service],” the five-page unclassified FBI report says. It notes that the Cubans “devote a significant amount of resources to targeting and exploiting U.S. academia.” "

I wonder how many UPR professors they have on their payroll. It's pretty obvious that a large chunk of PIP and Soberanista leaders have been brought out by the Cubans.

This calls for a major Federal investigation. Our educators and activists should not be pawns of a foreign enemy.
JMWinPR
San Juan, Puerto Rico
#2 12 hrs ago
This is new?? This has been occurring at least since the '40's. Cuba wasn't recruiting of course, but the former USSR. They don't need to recruit, most will work willingly work for them. Been in a college dorm in the past 50 yrs? Most have the ubiquitous picture of Sr Guevara. I find it fascinating that after the "takeover" professors are among the first "parasites" to be removed. And each April 22 or there abouts, we celebrate the birthday of the fellow who coined the phrase "useful idiot".
Anyone have any solutions? Look forward to hearing them
Jorge
San Juan, Puerto Rico
#3 10 hrs ago
LongIslander1987 wrote:
A few days ago, Jorge and I had talked about the rampant leftism in colleges and universities these days.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/05/fb...
"Cuba’s communist-led intelligence services are aggressively recruiting leftist American academics and university professors as spies and influence agents, according to an internal FBI report published this week.
Cuban intelligence services “have perfected the work of placing agents, that includes aggressively targeting U.S. universities under the assumption that a percentage of students will eventually move on to positions within the U.S. government that can provide access to information of use to the [Cuban intelligence service],” the five-page unclassified FBI report says. It notes that the Cubans “devote a significant amount of resources to targeting and exploiting U.S. academia.” "
I wonder how many UPR professors they have on their payroll. It's pretty obvious that a large chunk of PIP and Soberanista leaders have been brought out by the Cubans.
This calls for a major Federal investigation. Our educators and activists should not be pawns of a foreign enemy.
I was willing to denounce a couple of UPR workers travelling illegally to Cuba thru the Dominican Rep. and Jamaica. Guess what? Its not on the FBI's agenda to investigate such cases, and mind you, they were local independentistas and soberanistas.

My guess, the Cold War is over.

I remember, as recent as 1989, when some of my own UPR classrooms were "infiltrated" with anti Communist undercovers, amongst my classmates, paid by the federal govt.

How do I know this? Because thru class participation they could know who was who,- they "uncovered" themselves to me by showing me their badges, ids and hidden guns.
Since: Oct 12
#4 10 hrs ago
Jorge wrote:
<quoted text>
I was willing to denounce a couple of UPR workers travelling illegally to Cuba thru the Dominican Rep. and Jamaica. Guess what? Its not on the FBI's agenda to investigate such cases, and mind you, they were local independentistas and soberanistas.
My guess, the Cold War is over.
I remember, as recent as 1989, when some of my own UPR classrooms were "infiltrated" with anti Communist undercovers, amongst my classmates, paid by the federal govt.
How do I know this? Because thru class participation they could know who was who,- they "uncovered" themselves to me by showing me their badges, ids and hidden guns.
That's interesting because the FBI identified Puerto Rican separatism as a major internal security threat in their 2013 Domestic Threat Assessment alongside various other wackos and radicals.

http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/08/31/fbi-nati...
"They include anti-government militia groups and white supremacy extremists, along with “sovereign citizen” nationalists, and anarchists. Other domestic threat groups outlined by the FBI assessment include violent animal rights and environmentalist extremists, black separatists, anti- and pro-abortion activists, and Puerto Rican nationalists."
^ clearly the Feds are still interested.

I would contact the US State Department about the illegal travel to Cuba ... it's still a Federal offense and people have been prosecuted for it as recently as 2012.
Jorge
San Juan, Puerto Rico
#5 9 hrs ago
LongIslander1987 wrote:
<quoted text>
That's interesting because the FBI identified Puerto Rican separatism as a major internal security threat in their 2013 Domestic Threat Assessment alongside various other wackos and radicals.
http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/08/31/fbi-nati...
"They include anti-government militia groups and white supremacy extremists, along with “sovereign citizen” nationalists, and anarchists. Other domestic threat groups outlined by the FBI assessment include violent animal rights and environmentalist extremists, black separatists, anti- and pro-abortion activists, and Puerto Rican nationalists."
^ clearly the Feds are still interested.
I would contact the US State Department about the illegal travel to Cuba ... it's still a Federal offense and people have been prosecuted for it as recently as 2012.
Apparently, not anymore. At least, they don't bother with those travelling, at their own risk, to Cuba- and there are thousands of Americans doing it as we post.

And let me tell you, one of the persons I called about, publicized his "feat" all over the campus, not that he hid it or anything of the sort. It was vox populi.

So, I had tons of witnesses.

I called the FBI and they acknowledged that Americans were travelling to forbidden places but the cost of prosecuting them was too high, due to the numbers.
Allan
#6 2 hrs ago
Jorge wrote:
<quoted text>
Apparently, not anymore. At least, they don't bother with those travelling, at their own risk, to Cuba- and there are thousands of Americans doing it as we post.
And let me tell you, one of the persons I called about, publicized his "feat" all over the campus, not that he hid it or anything of the sort. It was vox populi.
So, I had tons of witnesses.
I called the FBI and they acknowledged that Americans were travelling to forbidden places but the cost of prosecuting them was too high, due to the numbers.
You could have spent some of that lawsuit money, you and Davey sure do like contacting law enforcement. I would put money on you being one of those Cuban spies with all your anti US rhetoric...