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Harlem News Group B R O N XHARLEM . QUEENS . BROOKLYN . BRONX

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The party was on in the Bronx,with the popular Quarter-FinalCoquito tasting at the Bronx

Museum, December 5th. Coquito isa Christmas and New Year's beveragethat is similar to Egg Nog, but madewith coconut milk. Ingredients caninclude rum, eggs, coconut milk,cream, ginger, cinnamon, chocolate,and ground nuts.

A dizzying medley of eventspreceded this on the Wednesdaynight Bronx trolley. The eveningstarted with a lecture at the HostosCollege Longwood Gallery by PuertoRican artist, nationalist and educatorJose Buscaglia, who shared the podi-um with Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones,Professor Emeritus of Spanish-American Literature, Princeton Uni-versity; and Carlos A. Torre,President, Board of Education, NewHaven, CT. They discussed theLongwood Gallery exhibition: PuertoRico in Its Labyrinth, Chronicles of aCountry and a World in Crisis, aspart of the closing of this exhibition.The political overtones wereinescapable with one picture of adetailed colored sketch of "fat cats"in suits and ties, literally on the backsof the oppressed "99-percent." The

captions on the pictures in Englishand Spanish made sure that the audi-ence got the point. Buscaglia'sdetailed and colorful mixed mediaworks hit themes of the hypocrisy ofGuantanamo Bay prison, colonialismand war, and the downsides of priva-tization of public services. In onework the audience noted a flyingPresident Bush. The exhibitionincluded a model of Plaza de la Iden-tidad-captioned as "Buscaglia's 2003public work commissioned by thePuerto Rican legislature which, untilrecently, was kept in storage becauseit was deemed too nationalistic forpublic display. "

At 5:30 pm, the Bronx Trol-ley took revelers on the 5-minute tripto the Bronx Museum, for theCoquito tasting. There, the openingact was Caridad De La Luz, betterknown by her stage name "La Bruja,"who read from her new book of poet-ry, "The Poetician." She opened withher poem "Hip Hop Hope." Therhymes were impressive, coming at aquick pace. "This is not Kansas any-more. This is a New Oz, Full ofOoohs and Aaaahs." La Bruja saidshe was inspired by the Afro-Ameri-can poet Langston Hughes, particu-

larly that human beings come fromAfrica, and going way back, we areall black, or as she rhymed, "Believeit or not in fact. I too am black." LaBruja also broke into Spanish andEnglish song, with a funny numberabout her grandma cooking pork, rice& beans.

At that point, DebbieQuinones of the Coquito Masterstook over, as host of the Coquito tast-ing. People signed on that they wereof legal drinking age and got a redstamp on their hand. Amazingly,everyone got to taste 4 concoctionsof Coquito with rum, for no charge.My favorite was sample D because ithad a rich but clean taste. SamplesA, B and C were good too, but hadmore cinnamon, ground coconut andeven in one case a hint of chocolate.The Coquito Masters Finale eventwill be at the Bronx Museum on Fri-day, December, 14th at 6:00 p.m. andfree to the public. Only those of thelegal age can participate in the tast-ing. For more information on otherCoquito tastings, please seehttp://www.facebook.com/coquito.masters.

COQUITO TASTING AT THE BRONX MUSEUMBy Howard Giske

On Wednesday, December 6, Bronx Borough PresidentRuben Diaz Jr. lit the Bronx's official Christmas treein front of the Bronx County Building on the Grand

Concourse. The annual tree lighting ceremony featured Christ-mas carols by the M.S. 390 chorus, hot cocoa and cookies.Borough President Diaz celebrated the tree lighting along withSanta and Mrs. Claus.

BRONX’S OFFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREE LIT

AT BRONX COUNTY BUILDING

Photos top to bottom: 1. DrinkingCoquito. 2. La Bruja recites poetry.3. Jose Buscaglia and professors.

On Friday, December 7, Bronx Borough PresidentRuben Diaz Jr. hosted his annual "Winter Wonder-land" event at Yankee Stadium. The event, which was

co-hosted by the New York Yankees, offered thousands ofBronx youngsters a chance to meet Santa, get a toy and enjoythe holiday season.

BBP DIAZ WINTER WONDERLAND AT YANKEE STADIUM