Talk:Sylvia Rexach

Latest comment: 12 years ago by Marine 69-71 in topic birth & death place

Failed verification edit

The only section in the article that had a working reference is full of mistakes.

Here's how the section was:

Post WW II edit

In 1945, after Rexach was honorably discharged from the armed forces, she went to New York. There she met and married William Riley with whom she had three children, including Puerto Rican actress/singer, Sharon Riley. The marriage went through a crisis and eventually they were divorced. After her divorce, she returned to Puerto Rico where she went to work for a radio station as a comical script writer, first for producer Tommy Muñiz, and later for comedian Ramón Rivero "Diplo". She was the founder of the first Combo in Puerto Rico consisting entirely of women. They were named Las Damiselas, and besides Rexach included: Lucy Boscana, Marta Romero, Millita, Elena Rita Ortiz and Ketty Cabán.[1]

And the reference used was:

Lets go. It starts with "In 1945, after Rexach was honorably discharged from the armed forces, she went to New York. There she met and married William Riley". We have:

  1. The reference makes no mention to 1945, it only says "Terminada la guerra".
  2. The reference makes no mention "honorably discharged", it actually says "se licenció del Ejército".
  3. The reference makes no mention to New York

In "she had three children, including Puerto Rican actress/singer, Sharon Riley.", the reference makes no mention to the future profession of this child.

In "The marriage went through a crisis and eventually they were divorced.", the reference only says "La pareja se separó". We should say more that what's on the reference.


Well, I'll try to fix that. But I don't know what to do about the broken references, since, even if we admit they were once online, it seems we don't have good reasons to believe they were correctly interpreted. --damiens.rf 16:56, 17 August 2011 (UTC)Reply


  • I want to point out the following:

1. Terminada la guerra, World War II officially ended for the US in 1945.

2. When referring to the military in Puerto Rico, se licenció del Ejército we are actually saying that the person was discharged from the armed forces. When translating "Spanish" to "English", there are certain terms that are used in Puerto Rico and which are different in other countries. Ex.; in Mexico "Tomo de un bote" = English: "Drank from a can" = Puerto Rico "Tomo de una lata".

3. actress/singer, Sharon Riley, now referenced

6. They did eventually divorce even if the ref is not specific, it is common Puerto Rican knowledge.

Take care. Tony the Marine (talk) 15:26, 18 August 2011 (UTC)Reply


Terminada la guerra refers to a time from 1945 onwards (a few years). It could well be 1946. And we will agree that even information that is "common Puerto Rican knowledge" must be attributed to reliable sources. Specially when it refers to the private life of living individuals. Thanks for the great fixes. --damiens.rf 16:05, 18 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

birth & death place edit

Infobox states she was born in "Santurce, Puerto Rico" and died in "San Juan, Puerto Rico". I thought they were different places, but when checked the article of Santurce, I noticed it is only a district of San Juan. Perhaps it should be as Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Santurce article is also named like that. 85.217.36.50 (talk) 21:00, 26 March 2012 (UTC)Reply

  • Thank you for your observation, but the infobox is right. You see, when Sylvia was born in 1922, Santurce was not "Part" of San Juan. It was on its way to becoming an independent municipality, like Rio Piedras. The thing is that San Juan had exprienced a population explosion and had to look beyond its bounderies to satisfy the San Juaneros. Santurce, which had been populated by freed slaves and their descendants, was once rich with African culture, was incoporated into San Juan and became a district in 1951. Tony the Marine (talk) 22:53, 26 March 2012 (UTC)Reply