THE COMMON #16 FEATURES PORTFOLIO OF PUERTO RICAN WRITERS
The Fall Issue Recognizes the Vibrancy and Resilience of Puerto Rican Writers and Artists in the Aftermath of Hurricane Marรญa

Amherst, Mass.โOctober 15, 2018
September 2018 marked one year after Hurricane Marรญa devastated Puerto Rico, striking an island already in the thick of political and economic instability and causing an estimated 4,645 deaths. In the stormโs aftermath, many wondered: โWhat is the role of art in times of tragedy? What should writers and artists do with their talents?โ THE COMMONโs Issue 16 features a special portfolio of Puerto Rican writers and artists that recognizes the vibrancy of literary and visual arts both on the island and in the diaspora.
Issue 16โs portfolio De Puerto Rico: Un aรฑo despuรฉs de la tormenta / From Puerto Rico: One year after the storm celebrates the resilience and talents of Puerto Rican writers working in a variety of genres. In March 2018, Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Acker spent a week in San Juan interviewing and collaborating with writers, artists, and performers. โHurricane Maria was not merely a setback or temporary disaster,โ she writes in an essay published in LitHub in September. โThe threat was existential. Would the island ever recover enough to support full lives and future generations?โ These finely curated pieces explore this and many other questions related to the storm and its aftermath.

Issue 16 Contributor Marรญa Luisa Arroyo Cruzado
In โ4,645+,โ Marรญa Luisa Arroyo Cruzado asks, โWhat are the Puerto Rican Spanish words for aftermath? / Disaster capitalism? Intentional erasure of a modern colony?โ In โNative Shore,โ poet Mara Pastor drives home the unwelcome post-Maria reality: โThey were counting on the debt, / but not on heavy metals in the water, / cadmium in the ash they breathe. / Nothing prepared for the poverty of the house, / for a piece of the pool collapsingโฆโ
Mara Pastorโs poems appear in both Spanish and English, celebrating the beauty of her verse in two languages. In addition to these poems, two essays appear bilingually, and the issue features a number of works translated into English for the first time.
While the portfolio explores the harsh details of post-hurricane life in Puerto Rico, it also showcases the strength and beauty of the island. In renowned artist Adรกlโs photo series Los ahogados / Puerto Ricans Underwater, a woman submerged in a bathtub holds a smiling baby above the water. In another photograph, from his series Los dormidos / The Sleepers, a couple sleeps curled around a can of gasoline, the womanโs head on a pillow of ice. โSanturce, Un Libro Mural / Santurce: A Mural Bookโ brings to the page a collaboration by writer Francisco Font-Acevedo and artist Rafael Trelles currently installed on the streets of Santurce, the most populous and artsiest barrio of San Juan. Sergio Gutiรฉrrez Negrรณn tells the story of Bimbo, a shy man who learns to love himself and the sea in โPeople Who Go to the Beach Alone.โ National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Willie Perdomoโs โWe Used to Call It Puerto Rican Rainโ is an ode to the islandโs tropical weather and to its inhabitants.

Poet Willie Perdomo, Issue 16 Contributor
โI believe the creative process of this issue of The Common is in itself a reflection of the kind of conversations we should be having between the people of the United States and the people of Puerto Rico,โ reflects Issue 16 contributor Ana Teresa Toro, whose essay โTo Abandon Paradiseโ opens the portfolio. ย โWe share the same passport but have very different experiences. To be part of this portfolio represents to me the chance not only to show our view of the world, and to tell our stories, but also to connect with readers who will expand our perspective with their own experiences.โ

Issue 16 Contributor Ana Teresa Toro
Also included in Issue 16 are THE COMMONโs characteristically diverse, place-centric short stories, essays, and poems, including work by: David Lehman, series editor for The Best American Poetry and Rhode Island Poet Laureate Tina Cane; as well as up-and-coming poets like Kristina Faust, winner of the 2018 DISQUIET Literary Prize for poetry. Mindy Misenerโs debut story โBaby Was Not Fineโ recounts a summer job, an act of violence, and the haunting actions we canโt take back. PEN/Robert J. Dau Debut Short Story Prize-winner Ben Shattuckโs story โThe History of Soundโ ruminates on the connections that grow from a shared love of music. In โLand Not Theirs,โ Madison Davis reflects on her experiences growing up in, and growing out of, Black churches. Lisa Chen, winner of a 2018 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writerโs Award, explores Susan Sontagโs โProject for a Trip to Chinaโ and ruminates on the death of Chenโs estranged father.
Issue 16 Launch Eventsย
Featuring Puerto Rican writers and translators Ana Teresa Toro, Sergio Gutiรฉrrez Negrรณn, Marรญa Josรฉ Gimรฉnez, and Marรญa Luisa Arroyo Cruzado. Filmmaker Michelle Falcรณn will screen her documentary film PROMESA, which tells the stories of people affected by Puerto Ricoโs economic crisis.
Free and open to the public. Dinner provided.
238 Cabot Street, Holyoke MA
Tuesday, November 6
Issue 16 Launch
Powerhouse, Amherst College
Reading and Conversation 7 pm, Reception 8:30 pm
Brief readings by and conversation with Puerto Rican writers and translators Ana Teresa Toro, Sergio Gutiรฉrrez Negrรณn, Marรญa Josรฉ Gimรฉnez, Willie Perdomo, and Marรญa Luisa Arroyo Cruzado, moderated by The Common Editor in Chief Jennifer Acker. Followed by a wine reception at 8:30.
Free and open to the public.
The Common is co-sponsoring the events below with the Hampshire College Art Gallery:
AgitArte is an organization of working class artists and cultural organizers that creates projects and practices of cultural solidarity with grassroots struggles against oppression, and proposes alternatives for transforming our world.
October 20-24
Four members of AgitArteโJorge Dรญaz Ortiz, Dey Hernรกndez, Sugeily Rodrรญguez Lebrรณn, and Agustรญn Muรฑoz Rรญosโwill give a series of campus and community presentations, including Solidaridad y sobrevivencia para nuestra liberaciรณn / Solidarity and Survival for Our Liberation,ย a recent cantastoria created in the aftermath of Hurricane Marรญa, andย End the Debt! Decolonize! Liberate!ย Scroll Project, a collaboratively produced, collectively experienced art object that visually unfurls a history of colonialism and resistance in Puerto Rico.
AgitArteโs residency takes place in conjunction with the installationย The Museum of the Old Colonyย by artist Pablo Delano, on view in the Hampshire College Art Gallery until November 11.
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Presentation (5-7 pm) followed by a community celebration
Wisteriahurst Museum,ย 238 Cabot Street, Holyoke, MA
Wednesday October 24, 2018
Presentation (6-7.30 pm) and reception
Hampshire College Art Gallery
ย
Aboutย The Common
An award-winning print and digital literary journal published biannually,ย The Commonย includes short stories, essays, poems, and images that embody a strong sense of place.ย The Commonย Online publishes original content weekly, including book reviews, interviews, personal essays, short dispatches, poetry, contributor recordings, and multimedia features. Based atย Amherst College, the magazineย is a joint venture between the College andย The Common Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.ย The Commonย also runs theย Literary Publishing Internship at Amherst College, mentoring students in all aspects of literary publishing, and regularly hosts public programming.

