Framed photos of Bessy Velásquez are arranged neatly above the television stand in the home where she lived with her two daughters. Her apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn remains spotless, just as she liked it.
Velásquez’s daughters, 17-year-old Bessita and 14-year-old Kimberley, still reminisce about how they used to call their mom "Doña Perfecta" because of her obsessive cleaning—a name they got from one of the Spanish-language soap operas they used to watch together.
"She was so headstrong," Bessita said, recalling the mother who raised two teenagers kept the house meticulously clean, worked and who once took classes at New York City College of Technology hoping to run a day care center one day. But after separating from her husband, Carlos Velásquez in 2000, Velasquez stopped going to college and focused full time on working to pay the bills.
Velasquez grew up in a middle-class family in Tegucigalpa, the youngest of five daughters. Her parents ran an inn and sent all five daughters to private Catholic schools. At 17, Velásquez decided to follow her heart to be with her future husband, Carlos, who had already gone to New York. Her sister Danny Lee Arroyo, then 18, also wanted to start fresh after breaking up with a boyfriend in Honduras. Together, the two sisters started a new life in the U.S. Velasquez’s closest sister in age, Arroyo, today 43, says the absence of her sister is still palpable.
"I still try to dial her number," said Arroyo, who lives in Boston. "We would talk over the phone all the time, especially at 4 or 5 a.m. I would keep her company via cell phone."
Arroyo’s last conversation with Velásquez was on Saturday at 5 a.m., the morning before her death. Bessy was working when she called her sister to tell her she was going to a workshop for parents of children who are going to college. Her daughter, Bessita, is graduating from high school in mid-June.
After three months of working at both LaGuardia Airport and Myrtle Car Service, Velásquez decided to dedicate more time to her daughters and work exclusively at the cab company since it was close to her home. With the base a block away, she could frequently check on her daughters or stop by to prepare them dinner.
Her cab, a black Lincoln, was like her second home, with pictures of the two girls and her favorite bachata CDs. From her car, she would call everyone she knew."She'd call me like five times a day,even when I was in class,just to say ‘I love you,’" said Bessita, who would often confide in her mother about school, gossip and boys that she liked.
Once, when the girls went to a Christian summer camp in Pennsylvania, Bessita remembers she opened her journal to write in it, only to find a note from her mother that read: "I love you. I hope you have fun. I'm miserable over here." Then, when Velásquez picked them up a week later—the longest they had ever been away from her—she brought them yellow roses, tinged with orange.
On the eve of the accident, the girls' last conversation with their mother was very much like most they had with her. They were visiting their father in the Bronx, and she was impatient to see them soon.
"When are you going to come back?" Velásquez asked. "Ma, it's only been a day," Kimberley replied.
Before that night, Bessita had only once begged her mother not to go to work. That afternoon four years ago, while driving on the job, a bullet had grazed Velásquez's shoulder when a jealous husband following his wife shot at the cab where both women were riding.
Even though Velásquez didn't have much time on her hands, she made a point of being very involved in other people's lives."She always surprised me," said Edgar León, her boyfriend of eight years. One night, when they were sitting in the car chatting, León casually mentioned he would like to see Albany. Before he knew it they were on the highway. "Where are we going?" he asked her. "To Albany," she responded. "Let's go now. If we think about it, we will never go."
León, a 36-year-old Myrtle cab driver, said that even his family in Ecuador took a liking to Velásquez. "She won the love of my family, without ever meeting them," he said.
"Few people in life can shine with such pleasure," said Dagoberto Marín, the owner of Myrtle Car Service, where Velásquez worked for 12 years.
"Number 125," Velásquez's cab number, received a great number of requests from customers asking specifically for her because they enjoyed her cheerful attitude, said Miriam Marín, the owner’s daughter and manager of Myrtle Car Service.
Velásquez would always go to the cab company's soccer games, and sold water and drinks on the sidelines to make some additional money. And she rejoiced the day their team won the city cab company tournament last October, Dagoberto Marín said.
Soccer was also the subject of the last exchange of messages between Velásquez and her ex-husband Carlos, 65, who she had met in Honduras and later married when they reconnected in New York. On the night before the accident, Velásquez phoned him five times but never got through. She left messages, though.
"The Red Bulls won! The Red Bulls won!" she excitedly told him in her first voice message.. That same Sunday, when the national soccer team of Honduras stunned the heavy favorite Mexico, she left another one. "We will beat Mexico now, and we will go to the World Cup!" she said. .Carlos transferred the messages to tape so that he could listen to them whenever he wants to remember her voice.
Nelly Tamayo, one of Velásquez's close friends, was waiting for a call from her on that Sunday morning. They had planned to meet to attend services at the New York City Church of Christ in Park Slope.
"I waited until 9 a.m. but she never came," Tamayo said. “I never yelled so hard when I found out. I fainted."
Velásquez often went out of her way to bring Tamayo, who is blind, anything she needed, even though Tamayo is able to take care of herself.
On the day of the funeral, a procession of 150 cabs departed from Myrtle Car Service for the Ortiz Funeral Home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and the drivers parked in two rows surrounding the entire block. They also raised $2,700, which they gave to the daughters.
The pews at the church were packed as family and friends walked by Velásquez's open casket.It was hard for Velásquez's family to recognize her. "We had to study her hands to make sure it was our sister," Arroyo said.
"It gives me so much grief that a person like this is enjoying his life," Arroyo said of Omar. "He destroyed not only three lives, but three families."
Bessita gets choked up at the thought of her mother not being at her high school graduation in June.
But she has taken on the role of her mother by staying positive and remembering the importance of keeping the family connected. She is unsure whether to accept her upstate college offers or study locally because she doesn't want to leave Kimberley alone.
"She's only 14," Bessita said, while looking at her younger sister with sadness in her eyes.
-Andrés Bermúdez Liévano, Elizabeth Henderson, Kristina Puga
(Published in The Columbia Journalist)
Showing posts with label Queens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queens. Show all posts
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Jollibee Opens in Queens
I first heard about the opening of the first Filipino fastfood chain on the East Coast, Jollibee, in New York Magazine, during Valentine's day weekend, but I was reminded about it while riding the 7 train this past Saturday evening and seeing three teenage girls holding white plastic bags with the Jollibee logo on them. I asked them where it was located, and one of them replied, "63rd Street." So I got off on the 61st. stop in Woodside and decided to check for myself what the hype was about.
I reached Jollibee at 6:15 p.m. - a site one cannot miss due to the long line around the corner and the glowing red letters spelling Jollibee. Men and women were also crowding around Jollibee's mascot - a giant red bee with a white chef's hat - in front of the establishment and taking photos with it. I got in the line to ask what exactly it was that was so special about this place that's making it the main attraction of "Little Manila" - the strip of Roosevelt Avenue from 63rd - 71st Streets.
The first woman I encountered said she is just visiting from the Philippines, yet she still decides to take a picture in front of Woodside's Jollibee.
Maila Marantal, 37, on the line with her mom, while her two kids waited in the car, drove over 50 minutes from Jersey City taste the famous Chicken Joy. "It's been three years that I didn't taste this, so I had to come," she said. "The sauce, or gravy, is number one in the Phillipines. It really tastes good. They are known for the chicken and the sauce." She continues to go on involuntarily about the peach mango pie, and how it's crispy crust way beats McDonald's apple pie.
At 6:38 p.m. I finally reach the doorway, but am stopped by the guard who is still monitoring the number of people entering, as the space only allows a maximum of 70. The manager, Philippe Garcesto, says that it is now much more bearable than the first two weeks when there was a line since 5 a.m. and closed at 3 a.m.
"Part of me being here is that it's important for me to reconnect to my people," said Garcesto, a 23-year-old art student who moved to NY from the Philippines at age eight. "I wasn't able to do that growing up and now I get to practice Tagalog with the customers. Sometimes it goes over my head, but I just do it."
At 6:45 p.m. I decide to come back to eat since there were no available seats, but I will come back - especially to try some Filipino breakfast of tapas and tocilog which should be available in about two months. As I walked away, there was still a line around the corner.
I reached Jollibee at 6:15 p.m. - a site one cannot miss due to the long line around the corner and the glowing red letters spelling Jollibee. Men and women were also crowding around Jollibee's mascot - a giant red bee with a white chef's hat - in front of the establishment and taking photos with it. I got in the line to ask what exactly it was that was so special about this place that's making it the main attraction of "Little Manila" - the strip of Roosevelt Avenue from 63rd - 71st Streets.
The first woman I encountered said she is just visiting from the Philippines, yet she still decides to take a picture in front of Woodside's Jollibee.
Maila Marantal, 37, on the line with her mom, while her two kids waited in the car, drove over 50 minutes from Jersey City taste the famous Chicken Joy. "It's been three years that I didn't taste this, so I had to come," she said. "The sauce, or gravy, is number one in the Phillipines. It really tastes good. They are known for the chicken and the sauce." She continues to go on involuntarily about the peach mango pie, and how it's crispy crust way beats McDonald's apple pie.
At 6:38 p.m. I finally reach the doorway, but am stopped by the guard who is still monitoring the number of people entering, as the space only allows a maximum of 70. The manager, Philippe Garcesto, says that it is now much more bearable than the first two weeks when there was a line since 5 a.m. and closed at 3 a.m.
"Part of me being here is that it's important for me to reconnect to my people," said Garcesto, a 23-year-old art student who moved to NY from the Philippines at age eight. "I wasn't able to do that growing up and now I get to practice Tagalog with the customers. Sometimes it goes over my head, but I just do it."
At 6:45 p.m. I decide to come back to eat since there were no available seats, but I will come back - especially to try some Filipino breakfast of tapas and tocilog which should be available in about two months. As I walked away, there was still a line around the corner.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Celebrating Human Greatness
A gala event entitled “Celebrating Human Greatness,” provided a time for tranquil reflection and appreciation of others for a group of about 60 Queens women of varied ages and backgrounds.
In order to celebrate 30 years of service in the U.S., the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization hosted the gathering at Maurya Cuisine of India, located at 63-98 Woodhaven Boulevard in Rego Park.
Victoria Schneps-Yunis, president of Schneps Communications, was the guest of honor on Tuesday April 8.
Brahma Kumaris is an organization run by women with approximately 800,000 members in more than 8,500 centers all over the world - including four in New York in Elmhurst, Great Neck, Manhattan and the Catskills.
Affiliated with the United Nations, their mission is to bring peace everywhere by stimulating public conversations on the importance of positive thinking, spiritual, moral and ethical values, and meditation.
After a motivational song was performed by Music Under New York (MUNY) member Martina Bruno, Schneps-Yunis spoke about how she has been challenged during her multi-careered life and what has inspired her.
“How do we know what’s in us until we’re challenged?” asked Schneps-Yunis, who was a teacher before creating The Queens Courier.
Shortly after, the women in the audience divided into groups of three to share their own stories. “We wanted to create a dialogue to give people insight into their inner strength,” said Linda Krentzman, a national team organizer for almost 15 years who moderated the evening.
“It really made me realize how much is going on out in the world and how just one person’s passion and determination and love can make a difference,” said Angi Purinton, 25, who learned about the organization through a friend and has been taking their lifelong learning courses for about a month. “I was so content listening to stories that inspired me and meeting new people.”
(Published in The Queens Courier)
In order to celebrate 30 years of service in the U.S., the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization hosted the gathering at Maurya Cuisine of India, located at 63-98 Woodhaven Boulevard in Rego Park.
Victoria Schneps-Yunis, president of Schneps Communications, was the guest of honor on Tuesday April 8.
Brahma Kumaris is an organization run by women with approximately 800,000 members in more than 8,500 centers all over the world - including four in New York in Elmhurst, Great Neck, Manhattan and the Catskills.
Affiliated with the United Nations, their mission is to bring peace everywhere by stimulating public conversations on the importance of positive thinking, spiritual, moral and ethical values, and meditation.
After a motivational song was performed by Music Under New York (MUNY) member Martina Bruno, Schneps-Yunis spoke about how she has been challenged during her multi-careered life and what has inspired her.
“How do we know what’s in us until we’re challenged?” asked Schneps-Yunis, who was a teacher before creating The Queens Courier.
Shortly after, the women in the audience divided into groups of three to share their own stories. “We wanted to create a dialogue to give people insight into their inner strength,” said Linda Krentzman, a national team organizer for almost 15 years who moderated the evening.
“It really made me realize how much is going on out in the world and how just one person’s passion and determination and love can make a difference,” said Angi Purinton, 25, who learned about the organization through a friend and has been taking their lifelong learning courses for about a month. “I was so content listening to stories that inspired me and meeting new people.”
(Published in The Queens Courier)
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
La Kueva Rocks on in Queens
Rock en español with a side of pollo a la brasa anyone?
Now you can come for lunch, dinner, drinks, and rock en español to La Kueva (The Cave) – the House of Latin Rock. Previously located on Steinway Street in Astoria, this legendary spot amongst Spanish rockers since 1999 reopened on September 2004 on Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside.
Plastic bats and gargoyles no longer furnish this cave. Now called La Kueva 2.0 – Latin Rock Café, it has revamped its image with white globe light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. It’s a little brighter, with a wide open space for the round tables where people can sit and eat, and of course there’s also room for a stage and small dance floor in the back. The place is a bit sleeker than the grungier, darker, narrower original version of La Kueva. It is also now more easily accessible by train and car, with parking across the street.
"It’s still under construction – there’s still a lot to do, but the bar we made exactly the same – so people still feel at home", says owner Jesús Giraldo. "Now people can bring their families during the day to eat – their mom, their aunts, uncles…something you couldn’t do in the other one. Now kids 15 years old, or so, can finally come in, when before they couldn’t."
Posters of Juanes, Shakira, and Maná are just a few of the details on the dark wood paneled walls that help make the customers - most of whom are recent or second generation immigrants from Central and South America - feel at home.
"We wanted to reinvent ourselves, make ourselves more modern, while maintaining the same style of music," says Giraldo.
Now that the place serves food from the owner’s native Colombia, it’s even more of an attraction for its customers. The Nuevo Latino menu offers specialties such as Plato Cartagena de Indias – camarones, y scallops en una salsa cremosa de ajo y cilantro, servido con arroz y tostones, and Bandeja Viejo Caldas – carne asada, chicharron, arroz, frijoles, yuca frita y un huevo frito, just to name a few. All entrées, except for burger and sandwich dishes are served with their exceptional tangy house salad.
"The original idea of La Kueva was to be a pub, but the people like to dance," says the owner.
Other Latin music genres such as bachata, and the newly popular reggaeton, have been attempting to sneak into the cave, but it’s trying to stay exclusive to rock.
"Some of the DJs don’t listen, some think you can only dance to merengue and salsa, but we want to maintain rock - at least 70% rock, and 25% tropical. We want to keep live bands, we still have open mike on Thursday nights, and we’re thinking of starting karaoke on Sundays," says Giraldo.
The regulars are what made La Kueva, La Kueva. "There are even some that used to come way in the beginning, have gotten divorced, and have now come back," laughs Giraldo. The same house band, Los Discípulos de Jesús (the Disciples of Jesus) still plays at La Kueva 2.0 when they can get the group together. They usually play every other Friday or Saturday night, alternating.
The lead singer, Zack Valladares, a long-haired native of Ecuador says, "The people that work here – I consider them family- the waitstaff, security guards, the owner…and there are new people that keep on coming. It’s a nice feeling to meet new people…La Kueva is the biggest place for Spanish Rock in N.Y. right now…"
According to the new lease, the place should last at least another 10 years, a big leap from the five years given at the original place. When some of the patrons were asked how long they thought the new locale would last, "Forever," and "I hope it will last a long time," were the common responses.
For more information on upcoming events at La Kueva 2.0, check out their website: http://www.lakueva.com/.
(Published in NYRemezcla.com)
Now you can come for lunch, dinner, drinks, and rock en español to La Kueva (The Cave) – the House of Latin Rock. Previously located on Steinway Street in Astoria, this legendary spot amongst Spanish rockers since 1999 reopened on September 2004 on Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside.
Plastic bats and gargoyles no longer furnish this cave. Now called La Kueva 2.0 – Latin Rock Café, it has revamped its image with white globe light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. It’s a little brighter, with a wide open space for the round tables where people can sit and eat, and of course there’s also room for a stage and small dance floor in the back. The place is a bit sleeker than the grungier, darker, narrower original version of La Kueva. It is also now more easily accessible by train and car, with parking across the street.
"It’s still under construction – there’s still a lot to do, but the bar we made exactly the same – so people still feel at home", says owner Jesús Giraldo. "Now people can bring their families during the day to eat – their mom, their aunts, uncles…something you couldn’t do in the other one. Now kids 15 years old, or so, can finally come in, when before they couldn’t."
Posters of Juanes, Shakira, and Maná are just a few of the details on the dark wood paneled walls that help make the customers - most of whom are recent or second generation immigrants from Central and South America - feel at home.
"We wanted to reinvent ourselves, make ourselves more modern, while maintaining the same style of music," says Giraldo.
Now that the place serves food from the owner’s native Colombia, it’s even more of an attraction for its customers. The Nuevo Latino menu offers specialties such as Plato Cartagena de Indias – camarones, y scallops en una salsa cremosa de ajo y cilantro, servido con arroz y tostones, and Bandeja Viejo Caldas – carne asada, chicharron, arroz, frijoles, yuca frita y un huevo frito, just to name a few. All entrées, except for burger and sandwich dishes are served with their exceptional tangy house salad.
"The original idea of La Kueva was to be a pub, but the people like to dance," says the owner.
Other Latin music genres such as bachata, and the newly popular reggaeton, have been attempting to sneak into the cave, but it’s trying to stay exclusive to rock.
"Some of the DJs don’t listen, some think you can only dance to merengue and salsa, but we want to maintain rock - at least 70% rock, and 25% tropical. We want to keep live bands, we still have open mike on Thursday nights, and we’re thinking of starting karaoke on Sundays," says Giraldo.
The regulars are what made La Kueva, La Kueva. "There are even some that used to come way in the beginning, have gotten divorced, and have now come back," laughs Giraldo. The same house band, Los Discípulos de Jesús (the Disciples of Jesus) still plays at La Kueva 2.0 when they can get the group together. They usually play every other Friday or Saturday night, alternating.
The lead singer, Zack Valladares, a long-haired native of Ecuador says, "The people that work here – I consider them family- the waitstaff, security guards, the owner…and there are new people that keep on coming. It’s a nice feeling to meet new people…La Kueva is the biggest place for Spanish Rock in N.Y. right now…"
According to the new lease, the place should last at least another 10 years, a big leap from the five years given at the original place. When some of the patrons were asked how long they thought the new locale would last, "Forever," and "I hope it will last a long time," were the common responses.
For more information on upcoming events at La Kueva 2.0, check out their website: http://www.lakueva.com/.
(Published in NYRemezcla.com)
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