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Professor Manuel Hernández Essays Collection Email: mannyh32@puertoricans.com http://www.editorialplazamayor.com/autores/manuel_hernandez.htm For additional: HC-O1, Box 8552, Luquillo, Puerto Rico 00773 or e-mail. mannyh32@puertoricans.com New Book Presentation - The Birth of a Rican - By Manuel Hernandez-Carmona

Latino/a Literature Seminars

Manuel Hernandez has given seminars on how to integrate Latino/a Literature in the English Classroom in cities across the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico. He is willing to visit your school, community center, corporation and institution and share his view on this new literature. The literature can serve as a bridge for further literary analysis and can help students improve their scores on city, national and state testing requirements.
(Click here for curriculum vitae)

To Be or Not To Be Supreme Court Judge:Sonia Sotomayor
By Manuel Hernandez-Carmona copyright
mannyh32@puertoricans.com

There has been a lot of debate over the qualifications and character of the nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor. To be or not to be Supreme Court judge that is the national question. The up and coming confirmation of the Puerto Rican judge from the Bronx has refueled the issue of who is and who is not qualified to be United States Supreme Court Judge. Her critics have questioned her integrity and vision, yet they admire her tenacity at the Senate Hearings.

Although in terms of curriculum vitae, she is overqualified---her critics continue to question decisions she made as Federal District judge and as judge at the US Circuit Court of Appeals. Many have questioned the influence that her ethnicity and humble backgrounds may have in future judicial decisions. The United States has made its forefathers proud with the election of President Barack Obama, but his choice for Supreme Court Judge really has taken liberty and justice for all to the next level of American understanding. No doubt, she is a woman and a Latina.

To top all that, her parents were part of one of the most massive immigration movements in American history, precisely fostered by the Puerto Rican government’s ties to the American government in the early 1900’s which granted them U.S. citizenship and the right to enter the U.S. without having a passport. Sotomayor’s parents made the journey inspired by the so-called American dream, and the opportunities their children would have in New York City. Her mother worked day and night while Sonia and her brother did what they did best : get an education.

More than just a story, Sotomayor’s appointment brings down stereotypes that were ingrained in the minds of the American public with West Side Story’s (1957 Broadway play) prejudiced portrayal of the Latina woman. Hollywood has made a living off the bias depiction of the easy-slut and close-minded Latina woman. The Senate Hearings are underway, and some U.S. Senators will use a magnifying glass to look closely at any little detail that will make Sotomayor unworthy of the highest appointment bestowed upon any attorney in the United States. The truth is that she is worthy beyond any reasonable doubt. Even Shakespeare would rethink his famous “to be or not to be” quote in light of what will come down in American history as one of the most “justified” nominations to the Supreme Court of all time.

Manuel Hernandez, a contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com), lives in Puerto Rico where he teaches school. He has a B.A. and MA Teaching English. He is candidate for a PhD. He has just published a textbook titled, Latino/a Literature in The English Classroom (Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2003). For more information, e-mail him at mannyh32@puertoricans.com For school orders, go to www.editorialplazamayor.com for more information or call 787-764-0455 For a complete bibliography: email me at mannyh32@puertoricans.com