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  Panama - Renaissance man Ruben Blades once again is surprising fans and admirers with his decision to return to his native Panama to serve the people - this time as a lawyer.
Blades, 55, has racked up accolades as an actor, Panamanian presidential candidate and singer. Now, he's putting his film and music career in order to practice law. With a degree from Harvard University in international law, Blades hopes to be of service to his country.
His film career includes roles in Robert Redford's "The Milagro Beanfield War" (1988) and Spike Lee's "Mo Better Blues"(1990). In his musical career, Blades won Grammys for "Escenas" (1987) and "Tiempo" (1999) in which he teamed up with Costa Rican band Editus. His musical contribution goes beyond just award-winning CDs as Blades is considered one of the originators behind the salsa movement known as Nueva Canción or New Song movement.
Blades added politics to his resume with a 1994 presidential run in Panama where he came in third.
With a promise to return to his music in the future, fans will have to console themselves that Ruben Blades is making a difference to his people and his land.
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TJ Nelson is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing
Athena's Shadow
<http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=34163>. Set in
Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena's Shadow follows the adventures
of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long
forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of
little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive
Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading
memory that holds the key to why Grace's great-grandmother, Athena, shot
her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931. Traversing the line between
the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to
uncover Athena's true crime.
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