An Ode to Christmas

http://patriciasteele.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-girl-immigrant-christmas-ode-to.html

A Christmas poem written two months after I returned from Spain.  Still gives me goosebumps.

Freedom, Justice and Healing by Martin Sheen

https://youtu.be/p8_6xGzDTSo

AN EXCERPT FROM "SPANISH IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES" FACEBOOK SITE  

Project Directors :James D. Fernández is Collegiate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at NYU.  Luis Argeo is a journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in Gijon, Asturias, Spain.

Born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez  

The actor Martin Sheen (Dayton, Ohio. 1940), famous for his roles in Apocalypse Now and The West Wing, decided to compose and use his stage name in memory of the first casting director who trusted (Robert Dale Martin) and a media Catholic archbishop (Fulton J. Sheen). However, he has never officially changed his name: Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez.  He was the 7^th of 12 children born to Galician and Irish parents who immigrated to Ohio.  He decided to leave the working class neighborhood where he grew up to study acting in New York City, where he combined his political and social activism.  Maybe that commitment to the values ​​that he learned from his parents have been passed down to him, which led to Martin Sheen to become a benchmark figure in both facets.

El actor Martin Sheen (Dayton, Ohio. 1940), célebre por sus papeles en Apocalypse Now yEl ala oeste de la Casa Blanca (The West Wing), decidió componer y usar su nombre artístico en recuerdo del primer director de casting que confió en él (Robert Dale Martin) y de un mediático arzobispo católico (Fulton J. Sheen). Sin embargo, oficialmente nunca ha llegado a cambiar su nombre: Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez. Hijo de gallego e irlandesa emigrados a Ohio, de joven decidió abandonar el barrio obrero en el que se crió para estudiar interpretación en la ciudad de Nueva York, carrera que desde el inicio ha compaginado con su activismo político y social. Quizás ese compromiso con los valores que le transmitieron sus padres haya sido lo que ha llevado a Martin Sheen a convertirse en una figura referente en ambas facetas.