Learning From My Mistakes
On my first day of elementary school, my mother dressed me and gave me a warning. “Be careful who you hang out with. Especially brown and Black people. They’re not known for good things. They do bad things in the streets.” “Like what?” I asked. “Stealing, killing, and all kinds of bad stuff. But you […]
Read More
Defining My Indigenous Culture for Myself and Others
“I’m not Latina, I’m Indigenous,” I tentatively said to my good friend, Wena, one early winter morning before school started. I was in 10th grade, and we had just finished sweeping the stage floor with two other classmates as part of our technical crew duties. This was a volunteer position where we served as the […]
Read More
My Thick Accent Doesn’t Define Me
When I moved here four years ago from Santo Domingo, I did not speak any English. The advice people gave me was: listen to music in English, watch TV in English, or download Duolingo. I did not like any of these methods; I hate watching television, I hated listening to music in a language that […]
Read More
A Family’s Portrait
One of my earliest memories is of my father sitting me down at our kitchen table with canvases, paint, and brushes. He taught me how to blend colors and use different materials like acrylic paint and watercolors. Whenever we felt inspired, we set out all our materials and painted what our hearts desired. My favorite […]
Read More