Immigrant stories are not timely, they're timeless. For Bustle, I wrote about why it's time to listen to and center the voices that have known this all along. "The idea that our struggles are relevant only now that our worst fears have come to fruition underscores the biggest blindspot of the white gaze. Our existence, our voices our struggles our beauty our pain, are real whether or not white people see our humanity. We are not that proverbial tree falling in the woods, made true only by their perception of us. Framed by this narrow point of view, we are seen but also suddenly discovered, which is a dangerous way to be perceived. It is a minefield of good intentions that result in more harm
For Catapult, I wrote about about experiencing life apart from loved ones, and death and grief from afar. "In Spanish, to say I miss you we say “te extraño,” or sometimes more fittingly, “me haces falta,” which is to say “I lack you.” I lacked my grandfather and he lacked me, so when the time came to say goodbye, it seemed leaving our country twenty-five years ago had already done the hardest work for us." Read more...
