New York City as a subject has fascinated generations of artists, writers, and musicians. However, the glamorous image of the city has changed over the years, and in the 1960s, popular music, in particular, began to reflect a utopia/dystopia dichotomy in relation to New York. During the past twenty years, six popular singer-songwriters who have…

Latin elements or themes made for the North American market have been used in American films, but at the same time these films have been playing in a Latin American market, making it useful to examine how Latin America has been portrayed in these films. The taste for exotic locales and themes is an element that has been present since the…

The hybrid music of the group "Kid Creole and the Coconuts" shows traces of every popular music style that has aroused New York City during the past 40 years--big band swing, Latin dance music, calypso, reggae, disco, funk, soul, rock, and movie pop. The fictitious characters the members of the band assume on stage, together with their…

In 1927 the Brazilian modernist writer, Jose Bento Monteiro Lobato, traveled to New York City with his family, where he took up a position as economic attache at the Brazilian Consulate. For 4 years he and his family lived in Jackson Heights, while he worked and observed the feverish activity that was making the United States the foremost and most…

College faculty who teach writing courses might find an examination of early religious literature helpful when trying to explain "writing for an audience" or "audience awareness" to their students. The Jesuit priest who preached to and wrote for the Indians in Brazil during the early colonial period, Jose de Anchieta, is a…

Both the American author, L. Frank Baum, and his Brazilian counterpart, Jose Monteiro Lobato, created children's books that featured alternative worlds, peopled by characters who fascinated many generations of young readers. The authors were both born in the second half of the nineteenth century into families of privilege, and both enjoyed idyllic…