Blog

In college I had a keeper of all my heart’s unspoken riddles. He a DJ and I wrote poetry. At festivals he spun records and I wrote, danced, soaked in the sun...deeply soaked in the sun as it bronzed my beautiful caramel skin. Or so I thought. At his family’s party, the subject of skin color came up. Read more...

One night, several years ago, I was awoken to a sudden scream downstairs in the living room. My body jolted out of bed as I heard my father yelling. I couldn’t make out the words from his moment of terror. I woke him up. He quickly convulsed and opened his eyes. I asked him what was going on, and he snapped... Read more...

I think I have rebellion in my blood. But who defines what rebellious behavior is? As a second-generation Mexican-American woman, rebellion could be interpreted as going against my cultural norms, which presents a lot of “shoulds” on women.“You should be married by a certain age.” Read more...

We are moving towards an intersectional world; that’s where momentum and inevitability are taking us. There are those who fear the unknown, glorify stagnation, and are resistant to any source of “different” and any kind of “other.” Well I don’t stand for that. My existence doesn’t stand for that. Read more...

I clearly had no clue about accent marks in the 4th grade, and a tiff I had with a classmate was evident of that. Now, all I can do is laugh about what went down. I’ve surely grown since then and now have the perfect tips for parents of children with “ethnic names” AND anyone who thinks their name is jacked up. Read more...

For each and every person I feature on Defining Cultures, I’m constantly reminded that we are more connected than we think. Today, I wanted to share one of many examples that I’ve encountered, and the chance to enter and win, not only a DNA kit, but a trip to discover where you are from! Read more...

Stares. That's what I got while walking down the streets in Santa Marta, Colombia during my recent trip. Their eyes followed every step that I took when I walked past them. It was only when I turned a corner that I felt their eyes drop, but new eyes found their way to me. Read more...

The smell of pupusas, the sound of Los Hermanos Flores playing in the background, and Salvadoran flags throughout the apartment. From an early age, I was able to appreciate my culture and where my family came from. I was born the youngest of five children and always felt left out because... Read more...

When I was a kid, I wished a lot of things were different. This was partially because of my ambiguous identity. I didn’t know what to consider myself or even who to look up to. There were clearly many socially constructed distinctions between my two parts, but nobody to... Read more...

If you asked me two-three years ago, I would have not known how to describe my identity. Not only because I lacked the conventional language to do so, but because I was unaware that my community back home was not the social landscape of the entire nation. Read more...

As we all begin to get familiar with America Chavez and her possible impact on the Marvel Universe, I want to focus on an Afro Latina Superhero. If you haven't been paying attention to independent comic books, you may have missed the debut of La Borinqueña this past fall. Read more...

Solo trips are my forte. I can choose to carry out my own agenda or go on a whim. I become vulnerable – making new friends and leaning to the hearts of strangers to move me along. For a moment in time, I’m able to escape reality. One of these trips led me to Jaipur... Read more...

In 2012, Shanghai became 'home' for the next three years. It was also a significant point in my life where I learned to live in the moment. I consciously disconnected my personal life from the Western world. No TV (except movies), no Twitter, no IG, no Facebook. Read more...

Being mixed/biracial/multicultural, my physical appearance has always been accompanied by a sense of ambiguity. My racial composition, Black and White, is hardly complicated yet others have never been able to figure it out at first glance. In my lifetime I have been mistaken for Turkish, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Dominican... Read more...