Day 26: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 26 – Favorite Latino Actor or Actress

Hmm, I'm feeling Wanda De Jesus these days b/c I've been wondering if I should stick out watching Sons of Anarchy. Her performance on the show is one of the ONLY reasons I'm still watching. She's a #CatMama if ever there was one!

Her and Jimmy Smitts are booed up and I think they make a stunning couple. She's so fly I wish she got more work. I appreciate some LatiNegr@ directors casting her in their films such as Illegal Tender and The Ministers. That's all I'mma say about that. 

day 23: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 23: Hispanic or Latino? Which do you prefer?

I prefer neither. I’m Puerto Rican. I think many folks when we are asked our preference may prefer our country of origin or where our ethnic and cultural background connects. I did not grow up in a Hispanic or in a Latin@ home. I grew up in a Puerto Rican one.

If you want to lump me with folks of a particular group it would be Caribbean folks. I have realized I have so much more in common with folks from the Caribbean, and not just Cuba and Dominican Republic, but also the islands such as St. Martin/Marteen, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Kitts, Haiti, Monserrat, Dominca, etc. Our histories def connect in certain ways, but our traditions, rituals and cultural belief systems are ones I find home in as well.

I have more in common and (and sometimes in solidarity) with those in the Caribbean than I find I do with countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, and other South and Central American Countries. I find more “home” with those that share the coast with us i.e. Panama, Belize, Guyana, Suriname, Yucatan, etc. 

So if I had to pick from a group and ethnic identifier for me it would be Caribbean, but since we are lumped together in the US by our history of exploration and conquest I would opt for Latin@ which recognizes the complexities of gender, is open to wordplay hence LatiNegr@ (a term I also adore for numerous reasons which I’ll prob discuss later this week). 

Hispanic is a term I find a bit too static. I don’t like the term or how it sounds. The “his” at the beginning and it not being open to wordplay (i.e. “herpanic” is more like herpes than anything else to me, and yes this may just be my own creativity getting in my own way, but that’s where it is). and the “panic” part, really? We area already isolated, feared, violated, why put more “panic” into our self identifiers (and remember this is more on the wordplay tip than anything else). what can i say? I like the idea that language evolves, that I”m part of that evolution and that I get to witness that evolution and transformation. I also want words to work for me and me not have to do too much work for the words.

not sure any of this is making sense but that’s where i’m at now. 

Day 22: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 22 – Blogueros y Blogeras - Are Latinos on the ‘Nets Relevant?

of course we are relevant! I think we have a LONG way to go when it comes to creating and sustaining our own forms of media. Let’s start first with understanding and knowing where we stand when it comes to Net Neutrality(If you haven’t heard of this go read that link to an article I wrote a few years ago).

it kind of scares me when i hear youth not know what Net Neutrality is because it impacts them so profoundly. It is the issue of their generation I believe.

I also think that we on the internets need to really think about what it means to have this access, what it means for new laws (i.e. sexting), new forms of colonization, and new forms of violence. How are we replicating the same bs we do in our everyday offline lives on the internet? i.e. excluding trans women, isolating undocumented folks, sending wrong information about sexuality and reproductive justice? 

I also think about what does it mean to continue to write and create and center our media making from a media justice perspective. Now folks with all kinds of access can be media makers, what responsibility does that mean we have (if any?)? 

Day 21: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 21 - Post an Image that Represents (Afr@)Latinidad and explain why

This is the first image i remember seeing in my family’s home of a Black Puerto Rican. Pedro Albizu Campos was a Puerto Rican revolutionary, scholar, lawyer, activist whose life work centered liberating our homeland of Puerto Rico. His position argued that the constitution of Spain had already granted Puerto Rico (and all other territories) autonomy prior to them “giving” the territories to the US to squash the war. He was all about liberation

He died (was murdered) in 1965 because of radiation experiments conducted by the US government on Puerto Rican prisoners. 

Day 20: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 20 Latin@ Superheros

I was really excited when back in 2004ish I heard Marvel would have their first Latina Superheroine named Araña. 

I got all of the issues and even used part of the first editions to use as a teaching tool w/my students. One set featured Araña’s quest for finding a superheroine outfit, and all the ways and reasons she chose not to go with flimsy and revealing costuming. She ended up choosing big goggles, combat boots, and a form fitting sporty outfit that covered her for the most part.

Her name is Anya Corazon, her mother, a Chicana, has died and she is being raised by her single father, a Puerto Rican man living in Brooklyn. In the series Araña is in high school. She is recruited into a crime fighting crew/community and her mother’s spirit speaks and guides her on certain missions.

She’s currently known as Spider-Girl (yes, before Spider Man was LatiNegro, there was a Latina Spider-Girl).

Day 19: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 19: Latinos, Police & Prisons: What Say You?

I’d like to know how many folks know how to bail someone out of jail.

How many folks know what a bond is?

How many folks know the difference between a juvenile facility and an adult one.

What’s the “age of consent” for your city/state?

How many folks have been “searched” by the police (not including the TSA at the airport)

Who knows what the 4th, 5th, 6th Amendments offer folks living in the US?

Do you know why “Miranda Rights” are called that? Do you know who Ernesto Miranda was? Why are our “rights” are named after a Latino man?

Do you know that Miranda v Arizona is real!? That this form of corruption in Arizona is not new? There is a legacy of targeting and coercing Latin@s, Natives, and the folks living in that state for generations by US “authority” and “government”? That the person who murdered Miranda has never been found? These are not coincidences.

Here’s a good PBS site about the landmark Supreme Court decision.

Go learn some thangs.

The Court maintained that the defendant’s right against self-incrimination has long been part of Anglo-American law as a means to equalize the vulnerability inherent in being detained. Such a position, unchecked, can often lead to government abuse. For example, the Court cited the continued high incidence of police violence designed to compel confessions from a suspect. This and other forms of intimidation, maintained the Court, deprive criminal suspects of their basic liberties and can lead to false confessions. The defendant’s right to an attorney is an equally fundamental right, because the presence of an attorney in interrogations, according to Chief Justice Warren, enables “the defendant under otherwise compelling circumstances to tell his story without fear, effectively, and in a way that eliminates the evils in the interrogations process.”

Day 18: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 18 – A Poem (original or quoted)

(this poem I included in my dossier from the course I took w/Dr. Patricia Hill Collins called “Critical Theories on Race and Racism.” I was one of the few who earned an A in her class. It was the same semester that would be my last semester because my paternal grandfather passed that year and I took 2 weeks off from school during the semester, and a year off from the phd program)

Born Anew At Each A.M.

by Piri Thomas
Berkeley, California


The street’s got kicks man,
like a bargain shelf,
In fact, cool-breeze, it’s got
love just like anyplace else.


It’s got high-powered salesmen
who push mucho junk,
And hustlers who can swallow
you up in a chunk.


It’s got sewers that swallow
all the street pours down its throat
It’s got hope wearing
an old over-coat.


It’s got lights that shine up
the dark and make the scene like new
It sells what you don’t need
And never lets you forget what you blew.


It’s got our beautiful children
living in all kinds of hell
hoping to survive and making it well
Swinging together in misty darkness
With much love to share
Smiling a Christ-like forgiveness,
That only a ghetto cross can bear.


The streets got life, man,
like a young tender sun,
and gentleness like
long awaited dreams to come.


For children are roses with nary a thorn,
forced to feel the racist’s scorn,
Our children are beauty
with the right to be born.


Born anew at each a.m.
Like a child out of twilight,
flying toward sunlight,
Born anew at each a.m.

Day 17: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 17 – Si No Puede Hablar Español, No Se Pone Latino. Verdad? 

maybe i’m just reading this differently, but isn’t this worded incorrectly? instead of “pone” should it be “eres”? perhaps the point is to have it spelled incorrectly to make a point? 

 Honestly, I’m getting real tired of these daily blog posts b/c some of the topics don’t really apply to me, or I’ve already written about them. I’m tired of folks policing others language. I’ve already written extensively about this topic. Check out my post: Language As Resistance, Media Making, & Media Justice.

This is a good time to revisit the Anzaldúa quote of: “So if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.” Let’s be honest, it’s scary for those in and with power when oppressed people and youth take pride in themselves because it represents survival and a revolutionary love for our lives in a way that demands our existance as humans be honored and treated with dignity.

Day 16: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 16 – Latino Art

my papi is an artist. here's what i got this yeah for my birthday. 

click foto for full image

Day 15: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 15 – Latinos in the Film Industry

There are, unfortunately, only a handful of Latin@s in the film industry, especially as directors.  There was a time I appreciated films such as “Illegal Tender” (b/c they centered LatiNegr@s, but also because Wanda de Jesus). However, folks who create those films are less than exceptional folks in general.  

My favorite “Latin@” films include: I Like It Like That and Miracle At St. Anna  ”I Like It Like That” is phenomenal! It is a story about a radical woman of color, lisette (lauren velez) (puerto rican mom and jamaican father) coming into her own, an afralatina who is raising three children with a man (chino, john seda) whose mother (rita moreno) is a white supremacist and speaks all that “good hair’ bullshit. lisette character has a trans sister Alexis (jesse borrego) who is a owner of a botanica in the neighborhood. lisette finds her own space and independence with the help of her sister and community.

Miracle at St. Anna is a film by spike lee and stars laz alonso as the main character, hector negron. the film follows 4 US soldiers during WWII who are in Italy. Negron is the one surviving soldier to tell this narrative and we watch as he is struggles with the story and weight of what he survived. when else do we hear the stories of LatiNegr@ soldiers?

Day 14: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 14 - Favorite Latino Musician

too many to pick just one. but i do adore omar sosa. everything he touches and creates is gold to me. his chants. his jazz. his homage to the ocean and god/desses and to the earth. 

they are home to me. and i hope i get to see him again perform.  here’s one of his videos. 

Day 13: 30 Days of Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 13 – What Do I know about indigenous culture (i.e.Tainos)

I know a lot about the Arawak, aka Tainos in Puerto Rico, as it’s part of my culture. I’ve also learned a bit by reading and experience of living among Mayans in Xhualtez, Yucatan (yes Mayans STILL exist so quit with all your “Mayan prophecies” bs where they were annihilated before finishing a calendar). 

I do become suspicious of folks such as anthropologists who do not have any connection to our communities because they are outsiders telling us what our ancestors have left. Who are they? This is something I realized when learning about Mayan and Aztec images and writing. Some of the “leaders” and “experts” on deciphering those writings and images and symbols are racially white folks. Will they really ever be able to understand what those symbols mean? Will they ever truthfully share what they mean? What if the symbols are about their colonial legacy and current oppressive actions, would they cover them up? 

Day 12: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 12 – Latino Politics – What affects you?

If you follow this blog you know what issues I care about and what impacts me. Here's a letter from Barack Obama (staff) that was sent to me at a job I was working at in 2007. For a day about ending smoking we had a "graffiti" wall in the center I was working at and I had to organize activities for the day. 

I decided to have pieces of newsprint for students to write encouraging letters of support encouraging Obama to quit smoking. I had a picture of him and a sentence that read "Barack Obama may be the US first Black president. He smokes, send him a note to encourage him to quit smoking tobacco and why it's important." Many students wrote things like "you need to quit smoking so you can be the president" and "If you stop smoking you are stronger and can lead" and similar things. 

Here's the letter below. The letter arrived after I was "laid off" and the staff held on to it for me and sent it to my home address. I then scanned it and emailed it to my former supervisors. None of them responded. I now have this in my portfolio for when I go on interviews. Some folks are impressed. I'm more proud that there were adults who recognized that youth created something and someone in some kind of power responded. Had I still been employed I would have posted this letter for students to see.

Day 11: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 11 – Religion

I don’t know what to write about this topic. It’s not a question or a complete sentence. Instead I’ll share a foto, when in doubt share a foto.  

Below is a foto of me with my offering for La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre in Santiago de Cuba (the southwestern part of Cuba) in January 2001. This city has the largest African ancestry as the transatlantic slave trade stopped here. La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre is Black, her image in Cuba is Black and folks from all over the island and world come to bring offerings to her.

Offerings folks leave for her (including the Castro’s, which challenges the ideas about how religion was “outlawed” or “illegal” or some other term under Fidel Castro’s regime) all sorts of items from candles, to silver and copper images of the body part they need care and healing for (i.e. feet, hearts, arms, etc.).  

Folks sell these batches of sunflowers on the road towards the site: El Cobre Basilica.  I asked that I be more open to the love that comes my way and recognize it as it arrives. 

Day 10: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day  10 – Afr@Latin@s in the Media

Excuse me while I self promote, again! My homegirl, AfraLatina Puerto Rican and Dominican warrior and media maker Sofia Quintero created HomeGirl.TV, an online space where young folks of Color, especially young women, could ask advice from other women of Color on a range of topics. I was one of the many dope folks included who offered advice. I've posted these before but you can log into HomeGirl.TV to see them all.

Also, here's a video focusing on Afr@Latin@s where I was included talking about The LatiNegr@s Project!

Day 9: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 9 -  My Feelings on Arizona

I feel like I miss Arizona. I have chosen family there and have been twice already! All of my chosen family are Xican@s who were born and raised there. Some identify as Native Xican@s. I know this question is re: their laws and ish, which honestly are triflin and scary and I think of the folks who are living in AZ who i love and adore and who are doing much needed work in the trenches while many of us just talk about AZ

I feel pissed I can’t afford to visit AZ, but happy that my homies have jobs that offer them pay and that they are coming for a visit soon! Here are some fotos from my last trip(s) to AZ:

Here i get off the plane, my homegirl elena picks me up, she wants to show me the desert. i think the desert is just dry and arid and bare. but it’s GREEN and i want to see catctus! so she takes me to some spots. i frolic as i hop to a cacti that i want to take a foto near, and then i step on one and get pinched. before helping me, elena takes a foot!

when i finally got that ish out of my foot, i took this foto between 2 ginormous cacti! mind you i’m 6ft tall:

Here we are on our way to Sedona (RED ROCK no mars). I wondered if the red rocks when held or sat on would leave a red debris, but it doesnt’. folks who live in Sedona have bank and spend it on some ridonkeylously isn, like homes crafted like pods with glass ceilings to watch the stars/aliens. here’s me gazing at the red rocks

Here’s an NYC license for Aliens 

Here’s me (suggestively?) eating a chocolate covered peanut banana

Here’s the liquid silver necklace i purchased. i also purchased some earrings and the dudes selling the necklace in scottsdale (where dan majerle ads are STILL present b/c that’st he demographic!) the 2 older native women who worked there were sisters, brother owned the shop. they saw me in my leather motorcycle jacket and asked “are you from nyc?” and laughed when i said yes. 

day 8: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 8 -  What Latino Stereotype do I hate the most

There are many that I don't enjoy here are a few that work my nerves especially:

1. "good hair"/pelo malo. this is not Latin@ only, but it's def rooted in anti-Black racism that many Latin@s embrace and perpetuate. 

2. Latin@s are all one religious belief system. no we aren't! we are present and reprsented in so many religious belief systems including having no belief system! 

3. Latin@s are not pro-choice. um, yes many of us are! and those who think they would never get an abortion doesn't mean they would stand in the way of another person's options. that means being pro-choice too, minding your own business! (and there's research to support this)

4. You are not a "real" Latin@ if you don't speak Spanish. shut all the way up, callate ya. 

5. Only Latin@s are immigrants. go read a book

Day 7: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 7 -  Post a picture about your culture and explain its significance

this is a foto from “our big fat puerto rican lesbian wedding” that happened 2 years ago. it’s my sister and her wife (and in the right my sister’s best friend). they are holding their marriage certificate. they got married in DC in June when DC legalized same gender marriage.

we were treated with respect, dignity, and congratulations as we walked into the court house. it was so hot. over 100 degrees. everybody cried. and they let us take fotos for 20 min before in the room and for 10 min after the ceremony. 

a month later my dad married his wife in a court house in their state. i had just come back from spending a week with a homegirl on her honeymoon b/c she was stood up at the alter (literally, i was there to do her make up and old boy called and said he wasnt coming!). being with her was the hardest thing i’ve ever had to do in my life right now.

i chose this foto b/c that year my sister and father found love in the ways they desire. my papi cried when he said his vows. he cried when he told me how lucky he is to have had my mother love him and now his current wife love him. 

he is very much learning with the same gender tip stuff. he has no one to talk to about my sisters b/c all his homies never talk about lesbians and he doesnt know how to bring it up or talk about it. when the wedding was being planned for my sister my dad asked me “bibi what do i wear to the ceremony” b/c he didnt think it was the same tradition/ritual as he’s used to. he’s learning. it’s all a process. 

this is significant because so many folks think Latin@s are homophobic, and some are, but not all of us. Many of us, and our elders, are open to learning and that’s what makes my family dope.

Day 6: 30 Day Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 6 - Immigration: For or Against?

I have no idea what this question refers to exactly. I think folks will read into this question and answer it based on their own perspectives. Folks may make arguments regarding DREAMers, immigration reform, secure communities (SCOMM), and other federal policies. But is that REALLY what this question is asking?

Am I for or against immigration, um who the hell am i to tell folks what to do with their bodies? To cross borders or to stay in homelands? Who am I to have an opinion when my homeland was FORCED into a migratory experience and then folks argue we aren’t “real immigrants” when our experiences of shock, isolation, expected assimilation, etc. are as “real” as many immigrants. 

People immigrate and migrate all over the world. This is a fact. This is how we have the world we have today. That ish isn’t going to stop and if folks think they can stop it or try to regulate it they are really out of touch with the world and so focused on squirreling away resources for a day that may not ever come. 

Day 5: Latin@ Blog Challenge

Day 5 - Romney or Obama?

Neither.

Do I really have to go into why neither is a good choice? How about we rephrase the question and state “Which candidate do you think is a good choice for POTUS?” that does not perpetuate the 2 party system (that’s not democracy imho), and it still isolates the women, women of Color, etc. who are on the ballot. Bet some of ya’ll didn’t even KNOW there are women of Color on the ballot including Latin@s!!!!

now who is an educated voter? The folks who know many of the candidates running or the ones who only know about the above mentioned men?

I’m not saying this is the perfect tool, but go and see who you side with based on your interests and beliefs of how this country can be lead.