El veinticuatro de febrero/February 24th
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Judith Ortiz Cofer! (1952-Dec. 30th, 2016) Photo from Ortiz Cofer's obituary on onlineathens.com. Click HERE . A celebrated Puerto Rican writer of poetry, short stories, autobiography, essays, and young adult fiction, Ortiz Cofer was also the Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia from 1984 until her retirement in 2013. Born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico to young parents (her dad was just 18 and her mom not quite 15 when they married in 1951), Ortiz moved to the mainland in 1956 after her dad, who had joined the Navy to help support his family, was stationed at Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. The family lived in an apartment in Paterson, New Jersey, though whenever her father was deployed for six months at a time (which was often), they moved back to the island. It was a nomadic existence (Read more HERE ). Ortiz spoke Spanish at home and English in school. As she perfected her English, she was able to...