Why is Baby Rousseau All Smiles?

Jacob Rousseau is all smiles as he celebrates his first "National Hispanic Heritage Month." His grandfather, Hispanic Programs Specialist Jacinto Acebal, is proud to teach young Jacob about the culture and traditions of his Cuban roots. If only Jacob could talk, the stories he could tell us about "el abuelo!"

National Hispanic Heritage Month Begins Today

National Hispanic Heritage Month begins today and continues through October 15. It’s a time to celebrate the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Today also is Independence Day in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence from Spain September 16 and September 18, respectively.

Almost 54,500 employees with Hispanic backgrounds work for the Postal Service. More than 48 million Hispanic citizens live in the United States, representing 16 percent of the nation’s population. People of Hispanic origin are the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority. By 2050, the projected Hispanic population of the U.S. will be more than 132 million — 30 percent of the nation’s population.

To attract business from the growing Hispanic business and consumer markets, along with other culturally diverse sectors, USPS has created GrowGlobal!, a multicultural initiative designed to use workforce diversity to reach out to those communities. To learn more about GrowGlobal!, send an E-Mail to growglobal@usps.gov.

PCC Day Coverage: Coming to a TV Near You!

Postmaster General Jack Potter will deliver the keynote speech today from Portland, OR, during National Postal Customer Council (PCC) Day. Potter will speak by satellite to approximately 10,000 people assembled at more than 200 PCCs around the country.

In addition to activities in Portland, local PCCs across the country will hold events to celebrate National PCC Day. In South Florida, Vice President Retail Products and Services Timothy C. Healy will talk about the components of the Postal Service’s “Action Plan for the Future” and efforts to increase mail’s value and revenue to help customers grow their businesses.

Pre-show programming begins at 11:45 am EDT with a series of short video features on best practices hosted by Steve Kearney, Senior Vice President, Customer Relations. At 12 Noon EDT, the National PCC Day program begins LIVE from Portland, hosted by Paul Vogel, President of Mailing and Shipping Services, and Susan Plonkey, Vice President of Sales. PCC members can expect to hear the PMG discuss the Postal Service’s need for fundamental legislative, labor and operational changes to keep mail service viable now and for future decades.

The program will be carried LIVE on PSTN 17 and on USPS-TV LIVESTREAM at the desktop (limited availability) at http://blue.usps.gov/pac/uspstv/welcome.htm. It also will be carried on the DISH Network: Satellite - Echostar 110, Channel 9612. For those not able to view the broadcast LIVE, it will be aired again at 1 pm EDT on PSTN 17. At 2 pm EDT, a replay loop of the broadcast will begin at the top of each hour on PSTN 15 from today through 8 am EDT on September 23.

Limited Edition Nature of America Stamp Series

The Nature of America Limited Edition Collector’s Set is now available for purchase. The set contains all 12 stamp panes from the Nature of America series, a 36-page booklet featuring developmental sketches and an interview with John Dawson, the stamps’ artist. Each set also comes with a foil-stamped collectible box and individually numbered certificate autographed by Dawson. The set cost $99.95. Only 2,000 sets were produced.

USPS Salutes Poet Julia de Burgos on Stamp

On the eve of National Hispanic Heritage Month, USPS today recognizes poet Julia de Burgos in San Juan, PR, honoring her with a 44-cent stamp. An award-winning writer and journalist, de Burgos joins the Postal Service’s Literary Arts series, and the company of 75 other Hispanic-themed stamps.

Northeast Area Vice President Jordan Small noted de Burgos was “a revolutionary writer, thinker and activist, “ who wrote more than 200 poems probing issues of love, feminism and political and personal freedom. “Her groundbreaking works urged women, minorities and the poor to defy social conventions and find their own true selves,” he said.

Julia Constanza Burgos García was born Feb. 17, 1914, in the town of Carolina, PR. For several years, she held a series of teaching and journalism jobs while also publishing poems in journals and newspapers. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico in 1933 with a 2-year teaching degree.

De Burgos’ first collection, Exact Poems to Myself, consists of poems she wrote in 1934-35. One of the poems written during this early period — “Río Grande de Loíza,” a love song to the river of her childhood — also became her most famous.

¡Río Grande de Loiza!… My wellspring, my river
since the maternal petal lifted me to the world;
my pale desires came down in you from the craggy hills
to find new furrows;
and my childhood was all a poem in the river,
and a river in the poem of my first dreams.

Her other poems addressed political themes such as equality and social justice.

De Burgos left Puerto Rico in 1940 for New York City, but later moved to Cuba, where she stayed until 1942. She also served as an editor for “Pueblos Hispanos,” a New York-based Spanish-language newspaper that promoted many progressive social and political causes, including Puerto Rican independence. She is considered one of Puerto Rico’s most distinctive literary voices and is read throughout Latin America.

Before her death in 1953, she wrote poems about the loneliness and isolation experienced by those who leave their native homeland.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at a local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in larger envelopes addressed to:

Julia de Burgos Stamp
Stamp Distribution
585 Ave. RD Roosevelt OFC
San Juan, PR 00936-9311

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by November 15, 2010.