Book Review by Melisende's Online Library

The Work of Alberto O. Cappas

By Melisende’s Library – an Online Library

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/melisendes-library

I have the pleasure of being an "i-friend" (i.e.: internet buddy) of Alberto. And as such, was honored when I had the opportunity to read some of his works.

A Little about Alberto: Alberto O. Cappas is both a poet and social observer. His works reflect the changing conditions of Puerto Ricans in both their homeland and mainland America. He is active in promoting self-empowerment among his local community and encouraging people to take life and the scruff of the neck and make something for themselves.

1. Dona Julia: A collection of poems that tell of life on the "other side of the tracks" - where life is both hard and cheap; where people struggle to eke out a living day by day; where violence dominates; and yet it is also a place of the home and family, of comfort and familiarity.

The language is not flowery and gossamer-like - it is harsh, sometimes brutal but always upfront and in your face. It is a reflection of reality - it is not something akin to the fantasy poetic worlds of Keats and Byron. It is poetry for today and for today's society.

Alberto provides a glimpse into the yin and yang of life.

2. Lessons for Myself: A work dedicated to young people who feel trapped by their environment; who feel that there is no possible way out of the day-to-day struggle with life; who feel nothing but despair and anger. Alberto's work compels young people to "think outside the box" - to not accept stereotypes, to take charge of their destinies, to make the change necessary themselves rather than sit wallowing in self-depredation. Life is there to be lived, enjoyed, and experienced to the fullest - and only you can make that detour on life's great journey.

3. Never Too Late To Make a U-Turn: "Never Too Late" was specifically written with students in mind, and has been accepted and utilized within the American educational system. An updated version, The Educational Pledge, Questions to Self-Development, was published this past year. You can order the book  ---  The Educational Pledge

Alberto speaks of his own trials and tribulations in an attempt to help young people cope with their own. He is the voice of experience in a world where the lessons of experience can sometimes come at too late in life. He offers guidance and understanding to a youth that really needs a helping hand. A man dedicated to empowering our youth and thus the world we live in.

Visit: http://theeducationalpledge.com

Melisende is the author of medieval biographies & history-related articles and enjoys writing about the achievements of women throughout time. She is also the author of Pages from History. Visit her at http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/melisendes-library

About Alberto O. Cappas

AOC Background and Community Contributions

Born in Yauco, Puerto Rico in 1946 and arrived in New York City in 1953. Alberto Oscar Cappas is a poet and entrepreneur in several diverse areas. He is the author of Never too late to make a U-Turn: An Educational Pledge & 15 Questions to Self-Development, a motivational book for parents and youth-at-risk; and author of The Pledge: A Guide for Everyday Living, published in 2001. He is also the author of the following poetry collections: Doña Julia & Other Selected Poems, Author House Publishers, 2002; Disintegration of the Puerto Ricans, Don Pedro Enterprises, 1997; and Echolalia, Carlton Press, 1989. His poetry has been included in many publications and anthologies in the United States and Canada.

Cappas is the recipient of the “Keepers of Our Culture” Award for Literature, presented to him by the New York State Hispanic Heritage Month Committee -- on September 15, 1994. His talents and skills as a writer, interest in the human condition, and concern for those socio-economic issues which impact the Puerto Rican/Latino community, have served to foster in him an active interest and involvement as a journalist. This has led to his role as co-publisher and co-editor of The New Tomorrow (TNT) and the Latino Village Press (LVP), two monthly publications designed to educate and inform the Puerto Rican/Latino community about the importance of going into business and developing Latino economic institutions and infrastructures. His accomplishments and achievements list him as the founder and Chairperson of the AOC Speakers Bureau, the only Latino and African American speakers’ bureau in the country when founded in 1992. He is founder and Chairperson of Don Pedro Cookies, the makers of Don Pedro Cookies; and he is co-founder of A Place for Poets, a national publication that featured aspiring Latino and other emerging writers and poets.

Further, his works have achieved wide interests, growing appeal, and numerous accolades. It should be noted that his work has been featured and preserved in the City of Buffalo’s new Metro subway system, with a commissioned work by the Niagara Frontier’s Transportation Authority of an artistic “vignette” with two other Latino artists. The work is a thirty-foot steel tile mural that reflects the search for a sense of belonging in this city. Also, his early works have been included in the renowned Schomburg Library’s archives.

Alberto O. Cappas is an alumnus of the State University of New York at Buffalo and a recipient of the NYC Urban League’s Charles Evans Hughes Award for Creative Writing -- presented to him by Harlem Preparatory School in 1967.

AOC has been featured in the following publications

Youth Today (National youth publication)
Quisqueya Life (Dominican American)
City Limits Magazine
Latin Beat Magazine
Buffalo News
Buffalo Courier-Express
Buffalo West Side Times
Buffalo Hispano News
Avista
Syracuse Impartial Citizen
Vista Carib News
Canales Magazine
New York Press
Noticias del Mundo
Buffalo Challenger
Buffalo Good News
People's Weekly World
Brownstone Magazine (NYU)
Downtown Press
Vision: El Periodico del Barrio
La Voz Hispana
Conciencia (NYU)
Crane's NY Business Magazine
The New York Times
La Ultima Hora
Guild Press
New York Newsday (Manhattan Profile)
Vista Monthly Magazine
Saludos Hispano Magazine
El Boricua Magazine
El Boricua.com (Magazine)
National Hispanic Voice
National Council of Latina Women Newsletter
Puerto Rican Connection Magazine



Poetry Recitals/Cultural Presentations

Buffalo Parents Association (Keynote Speaker, Buffalo, NY)
Stritch University (Leadership Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
New York State School Attendance Officers Association (Monticello, NY)
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
NYS Department of Health/Office of Minority Health’s Diversity Forums (Albany, NY)
Baruch College, NYC
Schenectady Community College (Schenectady, NY)
Buffalo State College (Buffalo, NY)
PODER, State University of NY at Buffalo
Undergraduate Student Conference/New York University (NYU)
Buffalo Community Partnership
Ithaca College
Manhattan Community College
Black Arts Forum/Brooklyn
Hispanic Heritage Month/Albany
Attica Correctional Facility (Attica, NY)
North Collins Correctional Facility
Buffalo Masten Park Secure Center
Bronx Youth Development Center
Nuyorican's Poets' Café (New York City)
NYS Liquor Authority (Hispanic Heritage Month Activity)
New York State Division for Youth
New York Public Libraries
Harlem Hospital Center (Puerto Rican Heritage Month Activity)

Publications

1. Ramon Gallardo (January 2021), a collection of writings (newspaper columns) by the late Ramon Gallardo, a gifted and talented writer who captured the soul and spirit of a city thru the eyes of Buffalo's Puerto Rican/Latino community during the 70s and 80s. 

2. The Educational Pledge: Questions to Self-Development (2020), for young people and teens, a guide to personal and spiritual discovery.

3.  Doña Julia and other selected poems, November 2002, Nubian Voices, 2nd Printing (2008)

4.  Roots to Reality, from a poetry recital and cultural presentation, Cultural Diversity Series, sponsored by the New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, 1997.

5.  The Disintegration of the Puerto Ricans, a collection of poems, published in 1997, Don Pedro Enterprises, USA, Ltd., New York, NY. The book was reprinted again in 2007. (out of print)

6. Echolalia, Verse & Vibrations, a collection of poems, published in 1989, Calton Press, New York, NY (out of print)

7. Echoes, six poems, published in 1987, A Place for Poets, New York, NY (out of print)

8. Guild Press Anthologies, featured in over eight (8) anthologies published by Guild Press, publisher of Black, Asian, and Latino poets and writers, 1987-1996.

For more information visit the author's website: buffalolatinovillage.com