The event that I attended was the Conversation with Carmen Rivera. This was my favorite event because I resonated with her statement about “Writing your own story”. What I got from this is that we are the writers of any piece of writing that we write, but also we are the writers of our lives. Every step, action, decision, and challenge make up our story of who we are. I liked going beyond her statement because in some cases we often don’t accept that we are the writers of our lives because of circumstances such as pressures from others, societal expectations, and stereotypes. This is why Carmen Rivera’s discussion connects well with one of the major topics of this course which is finding your identity and embracing it.

     Carmen Rivera is a talented writer who is very fluid and expressive in her work. What caught my attention in her discussion is how La Gringa was based on her personal experience. She allowed herself to let that experience result in her writing a play. An idea is all it takes to do amazing things. Ideas are essential for self-discovery as they are the building blocks that maintain structure while embarking on the journey for self-discovery. Furthermore, the thing that amazed me was when she told her audience that she quit her job to follow her dreams despite the possible repercussions. Relating this to our course, we have read various readings about Latinas going against the norm of what it means to be a Latina. Despite them knowing the consequences of going against cultural norms, they end up pursuing them because they realize that self-discovery and self-acceptance are done with the help of no one, but rather the pandering and acceptance of oneself. 

     Carmen Rivera’s speech was an amazing experience that really opened my eyes and showed me that there is more to life than being conformed to rigid cultural beliefs that don’t allow us to prosper in life and be the person we want to be. It’s our life. Our story. We are the writers of our book, writing each chapter with our actions and decisions, making a story that is unique ours and only ours.