Unsilencing the Afro-Puerto Rican Voice

    Yesterday was the second anniversary.  And it wasn't of any wedding or professional event.  This is the anniversary of the last Friday I left my home in Maunabo expecting to return that Sunday and it never came to be.  It was a Friday the 13th.  I remember that morning Vico-C's  song which my brothers used to play over and over again.  But differently fom a scary Friday, that day was  the best Friday of  that semester.  I even had sufficient time to go to town and walk around and feel like a tourist taking photos in la plaza.      Yes, I had heard there was a virus around and it was becomimg the top news of the past days.  People were commenting about it.  There were concerns; I had them too.  But never in my darkest nightmares, I visualized the outcome this microscopic agent that would not only  disrupt  the macrocosmo, but also my world.  I had believed myself a survivor and  in recovery of the 2017 Hurricane Maria and the recent January, 2020 earthquake and its aftermath

 Today, many celebrate International Women's Day.  It should not be a day in isolation, but each day, we should remember to defend the rights of each and every human on planet Earth. Highlighting  this event gives us a pause of our busy lives to reflect on our ancestors and how these women faced so many challenges and overcame them so we can today have rights that were only dreams in a not so long past.     Today I will share the first story I wrote for the anthology Coquies, Drums and Dreams .  It is titled "Adannaya's Sugar" . This story is a retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin".  My stories are set in 19th century Puerto Rico at the threshold of the abolition of slavery. The main characters are Afro-Puerto Rican women that challenge the patriarchal models of their times and the slavery system in diverse ways.     In the case of Adannaya, her father boasts that his daughter can transform brown sugar into white which was an expensive process at that time.  This u

      Yesterday we went to Mayaguez; in search of a Bubble Tea business.  You see, my daughter enjoys bubble tea.  Her Asian culinary interest could probably be  traced to some years ago and her interest at that time to BTS music  that now has expanded to a great variety of Asian musicians amd performers; maybe it could be due to her anime interest or her goal to traveling to Asian countries.       Some months ago, a dear  friend and colleague  invited us to a Bubble Tea business in the eastern part of Puerto Rico.  I had already heard about bubble tea  through TwoSet Violin musicians.  During the pandemic at its peak,  I decided to reconnect to the violin and as I searched for videos related to playing my abadoned from time to time instrument.  I discovered their channel.  The name bubble tea was very familiar because of this Youtube channel, but not the taste.  I knew it is an Asian tea-based drink that includes tapioca balls.       And yes, I do love bubble tea.  My Caribbean soul l

     When I was a graduate student, I was exposed to life transforming experiences.  My courses were more than a series of lectures to obtain a grade-they were wake-up calls and unexpected paths to self-discovery.  One of those courses was offered by Dr. Faraclas of UPR- Rio Piedras.  The course was Language and Power and it provided me the forum to the second story I wrote that became part of my dissertation.     Language is very powerful as I discovered in this course.  Rita Mae Brown stated that "Language is the road map of a culture.  It tells you where its people come from and where they are going".  In my case, the English language became my canvas to paint my journey of self-discovery and share it with the world.  I wanted to use as the starting point  of this journey my passion for children's literature.  Through children's story, I would  discover who I was and question the misconceptions I once believed as true.     During the genesis of this story, Disney

      As an Afro-Puerto Rican woman, I have undertaken a journey of discovery.  When I started my graduate studies at UPR-Rio Piedras to complete a doctorate degree, I did not imagine that more than a degree, these studies will make me question my identity and pursue a quest to encounter those ancestors whose lives have been silenced in history.     This academic journey also permitted me to explore my creativity through the writing of children's stories and later on a novel.  They are still mainly unpublished works but today as I write this first post of the blog,  I have made the compromise to myself to share them beyond the small circle of friends and collegues that have permitted me to express myself through the world of imagination interwoven with history and the challenges faced by those who no longer live among us.     I also had the opportunity in those years to be part of the wonderful team of Anansesem E-zine .  It first started as the discovery of the most astonishing re