Hola! My name is Jessy and I'm a 28-year-old U.S. Latina (Puerto Rican to be exact) living, loving and learning in NYC (Brooklyn!). I'm a journalist/editor/poet/truth seeker/media-mogual-in-training. *Additional slashes will be added when I've taken on other skills* I've been writing since I was in the single digits and decided at 10 this is what I would do when I "grew up." So while I don't feel completely grown, I've been pursuing my love of words ever since.
I'm an intense and passionate person so I don't believe in doing anything half-ass, but much to my surprise, although I technically started this blog back in June 2005, this is my first time posting anything. So seven months and one new year later I'm finally sitting down to get things going. That's the great thing about holidays, birthdays, life-changing experiences, it's God's way of nudging you into action, giving you another opportunity to do something--anything--one more time.
So what took me so long?
I hesitated in revealing my thoughts out of fear (I am an artiste after all and am sensitive to all my creations. Why put myself out there for public consumption?), laziness (I'm a big napper especially on cold days), and procrastination (I'm always running around doing something so there's always a reason to not do something else). But without risk there is no gain. If I want to change the world and make people think, what better way than using a free-forum that technology has provided me with? So here I am...Jan. 2, 2006 finally getting started.
What you'll find on here are my thoughts, opinions, rantings, ravings, and musings about the world as well as my little corner of it. FYI...I have the habit of code switching (or speaking Spanglish as some call it) so I'll do my best to translate where I can. But like the movie, nuances are lost in translation, so you won't always get what I'm saying. Sorry!
And in case you're curious about the name of my spot...that's pretty easy to explain.
Although I was born and raised in the states, I've always hungered for knowledge about my background and history. All I heard growing up from my Dad was that I should never forget where I come from (and no he wasn't talking about the suburbs of Long Island where we lived) but rather my Puerto Rican culture, heritage and ancestory. But I didn't always know what that meant. As a kid, being Puerto Rican was the rice and beans my Mom cooked, the salsa music that was always blaring out of our stereo system and the Spanish language that I grew to associate with home, love and familia. But growing up in a predominately African-American community, I knew that I was different. So I started asking my family questions and researching on my own what "being Puerto Rican" was all about. One of my many discoveries was our history of resistance and the struggle of Puerto Rican nationalists who fought to gain the island's independence from U.S. colonial rule. One of those people was Lolita Lebron, a woman who who was part of the struggle and who led an armed attack on the U.S. Congress in 1954. I read the transcript of a letter that was found in her purse after the failed attack and upon her arrest. I viewed it as her "love letter" to the world. To honor her and the respect I have for her tenacity and valor, I titled this blog after her and the idea that this, in manyways, is my love letter to the world.
With that I bid farewell. Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment