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Amy Toensing
@amytoensing

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FROM MY ARCHIVE | Puerto Rico Post 2 :: I first visited Puerto Rico a little over 20 years ago when I sailed into San Juan on the tall ship @harveygamage I was working on. I didn’t know much about the place or the complex relationship between the island and the United States and it turns out most Americans don’t know either; Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, not a state. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens who are subject to federal laws and fight in the U.S. military, but can’t vote in presidential elections. For some, this relationship really just means that Puerto Rico is the oldest colony in the world. The island’s status has been a debate for over a century: to be a U.S. state, a ‘sovereign free associated state” or become an independent country. In the 2020 referendum 52% voted for statehood and 47% against.⁠ ⁠ Shortly after my visit, I was assigned a short story for @natgeo magazine about a small town in the mountains of Puerto Rico called Adjuntas. I spent a week photographing this beautiful place; boys playing in the streets with their horses, coffee farms, little bars (with more horses), singing, dancing, cooking – all the ingredients of everyday life but with a distinct cultural flare. I found time there to be slower with more space for conversations. Soon after my time in Adjuntas, I was assigned to do a larger story on the island that was published in @natgeo magazine in 2003. For this month of August, I will be posting a weekly selection of images I made along the way.⁠ ⁠ Image #1: Little girl dresses hang on a laundry line on a porch in Utuado, Puerto Rico⁠ ⁠ Image #2: A woman shows off her Puerto Rican flag dress at the annual Carnival celebration in Ponce, Puerto Rico.⁠ ⁠ Image #3: Drum beats move Gina Aviles as she sways to bomba music at El Ambbique bar in Loiza Aldea, Puerto Rico. ⁠ ⁠ Image #4: University of Puerto Rico students protest the U.S. Navy performing bombing exercises in August of 2001 on Vieques Island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #puertorico #dance #travel #photography #dresses #caribbean #community #utuado #carnival #ponce #bomba #loizaaldea #vieques