El trece de septiembre/September 13th

-
Photo from nj.com. Click HERE. 
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Bernie Williams (Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr.)! (1968-      )

A Puerto Rican former professional baseball player with the New York Yankees from 1991 to 2006 and a classically trained guitarist who has released two jazz albums and was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009, Williams is a multi-talented man. He was born in New York City and lived in the Bronx before moving back to Puerto Rico with his parents when he was one. His dad was a merchant marine and dispatcher and his mom was a retired principal and college professor. Williams played both baseball and guitar growing up, and he was also a standout in track and field, winning medals at an international meet when he was 15. He was signed by the Yankees on his 17th birthday. Even then, he considered studying to be a doctor and took a biology course at the University of Puerto Rico, but he decided that he could not excel at both medicine and baseball and thus decided to pursue only baseball. He became one of the most beloved Yankees of all time, winning four World Series championships with them. He was a 5 time MLB All Star and his number, 51, was retired by the Yankees in 2015. Williams and former wife Waleska have three children: Bernie Jr., Beatriz, and Bianca. To see him perform La Salsa en Mí in 2010, click HERE.

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

El veintidós de agosto/August 22nd

-
Image
Photo from wavenespapers.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Ricardo Hurtado! (1999-      ) An actor and musician who became famous playing Freddy on the Nickelodeon series School of Rock , Hurtado was born to Nicaraguan parents in Miami. He moved with his family to Atlanta, Georgia when he was one years old. Hurtado's father is a musician (a piano player with a degree in music from the University of Georgia). "Everyone on my dad's side of the family is a musician," he told an interviewer in 2016, adding that his uncle played the guitar. In the same interview , Hurtado talks about his faith and says, "My main goal in life if to be as close as I can be to God." He wrote his first song for this purpose -- his second song was about a breakup. Listen to Hurtado speak Spanish at this 2017 interview outside the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.
Read more

El siete de enero/January 7th

-
Image
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Juan Gabriel (Alberto Aguilera Valadez)! (1950-2016) "Music is mankind's way of thanking the universe for letting us be here." -Juan Gabriel       Photo from Billboard's write-up on Juan Gabriel's cover       of Creedence Clearwater's Have You Ever Seen    The Rain? (Gracias al sol) several months  before his death.  Click  HERE   to read and listen.  A Mexican singer, songwriter, and actor, and "the actual king of Latin pop" who was idolized by younger performers such as Marc Anthony, Juan Gabriel was adored by fans worldwide. He put out some 2,000 songs during his lifetime and sold out multiple concerts. He was not always as well-known by English-language speakers in the U.S., however, and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's wonderful 1999 profile of him in the  L.A. Times  (updated when he died in 2016 -- click  HERE  to read) includes a story about a West Hollywood a...
Read more

El diez de julio/July 10th

-
Image
Photo from El Porvenir. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Nicolás Guillén! (1902-1989) A Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer of African-European descent, Guillén was known during his life as the National Poet of Cuba. Born in Camagüey, he was the oldest of six children born to Nicolás Guillén y Urra, who had fought for Cuban independence from Spain, and Argelia Batista y Arrieta. Guillén's father belonged to the Partido Libertad and founded the daily newspaper La Libertad to express his views. Government forces assassinated Guillén's father for protesting electoral fraud and closed down his printing press. After that, Guillén's family struggled financially. Guillén was greatly influenced by meeting African-American poet Langston Hughes in 1930. Hughes' enthusiasm for Afro-Cuban music inspired Guillén, who was familiar with 'son' music from his father. Hughes immediately recognized the similarities between son music in Cuba and the b...
Read more