The reading that resonated with me the most was “Puertoricanness” written by Aurora Levins Morales. Her description of it is as follows, “It was Puerto Rico waking up inside her.” “Puerto Rico waking her up at 6:00 a.m.,” but I took it as instantly made me think of the times when my mother played salsa, plena, and reggaeton weekends; hearing her sing while she cleaned was always something that made me proud of being Puerto Rican. She mentions, “Bring herself to trade in one half of her heart for the other, exchange this loneliness for another, perhaps a harsher one, she would live as a Puerto Rican lives en la Isla, right here in north Oakland.” I think this was very powerful and relatable. Regardless of where you come from, you will always be a member of your ethnicity. It will always follow you. As much as there are people who move to America in search of the “American dream,” the country they come from will always hold a special place in their hearts, no matter what country they move to. She describes many feelings within the reading that can be related to everyone. In the article, so many things are discussed regarding hiding your identity and how other people may be affected by things that bring you joy. At the same time, everyone can relate to so many of the things that are mentioned. One of the most essential points that stuck in my mind was that you shouldn’t hide who you are, whereas other people in the article complained about the rooster waking them up every morning and that she was talking about her experiences of loneliness and uncertainty, and that most importantly she was embracing herself. Though there are many people in the world who can relate to feeling ashamed of themselves, they tend to hide it, and when it comes out, it is something beautiful. I’m breaking who you truly are, which is very important. The fact is that there will be people who will make fun of you, but it is better to be yourself than to be shamed by others because you are different from them, and I believe that’s a powerful thing that I learned from the reading. In the course of explaining how she had hidden the fact that she was Puerto Rican from others, she made references to my own experience of hiding my Puerto Rican heritage as a child, which I did until I finally admitted it to others. If you are someone who has difficulties expressing their ethnicity or identity to others of any kind, I highly recommend reading this book or any other book in the Latina Women’s Voices from the Borderlands series. It is such a women’s empowerment within this story and the other stories within. In addition to the stories that I found to be very interesting, there are also a few other stories that I found to be very relevant to my own experience and that I found to be very interesting.
