Jose A Villalongo

José Angel Villalongo, Sr., a native of New York City but reminds people that he is Boricua (Puerto Rican). He feels that the word New York Rican implies he is half of something which he is not. He is proud of his heritage an claims it, honors it and feels it in his soul. He is married to Anna Goméz de Villalongo and has four children, Amarilis, Joey, José, Jr., and Angel Villalongo. José, is also the proud grandfather of Amir Villalongo, Monasia Ann Bracey Villalongo , Ayana Amarilis Bracey Villalongo and Jasson Villalongo (deceased). He holds a Masters' Degree in Public Administration from Rutgers the State University, a Baccalaureate Degree in Sociology from Montclair State University, and 2 Associates, one in Humanities and the second in Human Services Degrees from Passaic County Community College. He is a photographer, a poet and an activist in his community. His poetry has appeared in Temas, Footwork, The Mill Street Forward, Rainbow, The Newspaper Horizons of Newark, and The Passaic County Community College Artist Guild Anthology. He has received several Honorable mentions for his poems.

Recently his poem entitled "In the Good Old U.S.A.", appeared in the Unsettling America Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural poetry. He is the founder and editor of the Passaic County Community College Spanish literary magazine called Horizontes.

As a photographer he has published in Footwork, and Artspeak. He has had several exhibitions which include Passaic County Community College Hispanic Heritage Month, Aspira of New Jersey Celebration (Paterson office), was the feature photographer at William Paterson College were they celebrated Puerto Rican Heritage Month, and the Paterson museum.

In his community he has been involved in organizations such as Commissioner for the Paterson Board of Education, President and co-founder of Comité Noviembre De New Jersey, co-founder of Sociedad Cultural Borincana, Inc., founder of the Spanish Literary Magazine called Horizontes, first Puerto Rican (Latino) to assume the position of Vice President for the Paterson Community Health Center, past president of the Passaic County Community College Alumni Association (First Latino to become president), and Board member of the Passaic County Heritage Council. In the past he has participated in numerous community organizations and committees. Food for though, "If we don?t participate in organizations that developed policies that affect the Latino (Hispanic) Community, we can never achieve equality." He has been residing in Paterson since 1974.

Favorite Color: Any Blue which is the color of passion.

Interests:
Culture: Learning about different Cultures.
History: Learning about my Boricua Heritage.
Genealogy: Researching my Family Name (Villalongo).
Youth: Empowering our youth so they may become successful in life.

Religion: IFA-A Yoruba base religion

Community: Serving our community in order to improve the quality of life. Improving the Quality of life through involvement.

Current Involvement in Organizations:
Comité Noviembre De New Jersey. Co-founder and member.
Sociedad Cultural Borincana, Inc. Co-founder & President.
Paterson Community Health Center. President 2001.
Horizontes a Hispanic Literary Magazine: Founder.
Paterson Community Emergency Response Team