La Negra Tiene Tumbao
“I’m not Black! I’m brown!” These were the words angrily yelled by my Afro-Latina cousin as a child when someone called her negra, repeated to me years later by my aunt as she held onto the kitchen counter for support, her belly shaking with unbridled laughter.
Mi Gente
I’m not ashamed to say that I’m partly responsible for the million plus views the Super Bowl LIV halftime show garnered on YouTube after falling in love with the electric performance (and, in my humble opinion, one of the best half time shows ever) put on last month by Shakira, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and J Balvin, the quintessential amalgam of veteran and emerging artists, making my screen look like the Latin Grammy’s.
Photo by Militza Molina
Workin' Moms
Workin’ Moms, a sitcom created by Catherine Reitman based on her own experiences, and now streaming on Netflix, encapsulates exactly what to expect after you have a baby, (your life turns upside down overnight), realistically depicting all the comical, raw experiences of sharing your life and time with a new person, which people don’t warn you about before you become a first-time parent.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: The Cursed Father
I grew up devouring the Harry Potter books like a soul-sucking dementor, placing my name on the pre-order list whenever a blessed release date approached, bursting with excitement when I held a fresh copy in my hands, flipping to the first page to pick up where I had left off in Harry’s magical adventures at Hogwarts; therefore, when my partner surprised me with tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in New York for my 30th birthday I was as happy as a house-elf.
Quantum Leap
While watching an interview with the creator of the television show Workin’ Moms’ Catherin Reitman on BUILD Series, I connected right away with her words when she mentioned the rapid turn-around we often expect when it comes to establishing the life we envision for ourselves. We imagine taking a quantum leap when it comes to achieving our dreams, as if there can only be one fixed outcome and one arbitrary date of when everything must be accomplished.
Dolemite Is My Name: Perseverance Is My Game
After watching Dolemite is My Name twice—technically three times but the first time I watched it I was in and out like double-dutch, exhausted from a long day’s work—this movie, which is streaming on Netflix, immediately became one of my favorite films, the character of Rudy Ray Moore ranking high with another one of my all-time favorite movies, It’s a Wonderful Life’s George Bailey. Both movies coincidentally follow the inspiring journey of dreamers; Dolemite even has the vibe of a Frank Capra picture where the underdog finally wins at the end.
SZA's Ctrl: 2 Yrs L8r
Two years ago, 26-year-old Solana Rowe, known professionally as SZA, released her debut album, Ctrl (pronounced “control”), a conceptual album whose lyrics spanned the gamut of self-love, insecurities, growing up, break-ups and hook-ups, and, generally, being 20-something, figuring life out. After listening to Ctrl for the first time, I felt in my bones that the album was a veritable classic, and how could it not be?
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 2: “‘Evil? That word means nothing to our kind.’”
In the winter special, “A Midwinter’s Tale,” Sabrina’s new platinum blonde hair gives us a clue that there’s something different about her, maybe even something wicked. I loved the second half of Sabrina and thought it was a great counterpart to the first half of the show with plenty of action, mystery, and thrills.
Mami
Our relationship was often at odds because, unlike me, my mother could walk effortlessly into a party, shoulders back, head held high like a dame, drawing people like she was goddamn da Vinci. Everyone was her friend and they would rush over to greet her, exchange gossip, and share in raucous laughter over something or other.
Where Did the Laughs Go?: A Defense of Comedy
“You’ve never seen Friday?!” my boyfriend, Albert, exclaimed. I blinked unabashedly, shrugging my shoulders at his incredulity, and shaking my head, no. “You have to watch this movie, it’s one of my favorites. I know every line by heart, that’s how much I’ve seen it. I can’t believe you’ve never seen it. It’s really funny.” Well funny I know, I thought, assuaging my bruised ego. It was early in our relationship, and considering myself something of a connoisseur of films, I was hurt that Albert was already calling me out for not watching one of the best comedies ever made. I prided myself in having watched all the classic films that cinema had to offer, albeit I could count on one hand the number of comedies I owned: Sixteen Candles and The Mask.
A Spark of Light: Pro-the-Life-of-the-Woman
A Spark of Light, a novel written by the prolific and brilliant writer Jodi Picoult, is a great story that I really enjoyed reading, and where I happened to learn the most truths about abortion clinics. In an interview on C-Span conducted in December in 2018 (it can be found on Picoult’s website) Picoult said that she loves the concept of the novel as a medium to educate people on social justice.
Pelo Malo
I remember the first time I felt pain because it happened when I was four years old, getting my hair straightened by my mother’s friend. The hot comb, which had gingerly hovered inches from my face, suddenly slipped from my hairdresser’s hands long enough to brand me like livestock.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina:Illuminating the Path of Night
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina isn’t a reboot, revival or rip-off of the 90’s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch... no, it’s so much better. It’s a series based in horror that touches on the occult, cannibalism, necromancy, exorcisms—in short, so distant from anything shown on the G rated sitcom that you can’t compare the two more than the characters’ names and source of inspiration.
The Gift of Lemonade
After Beyoncé surprised the world with the release of her self-titled fifth album, Beyoncé, without the pomp and circumstance of a traditional roll out, I became a more ecstatic fan of her music as Beyoncé explored, among other things, her insecurities, sexuality, and motherhood, bringing even more honesty and grit to her songs.
Anti-Confederate
Early this year while I was walking my Schipperke around my suburban neighborhood, I saw something that struck me so deeply I had to do a double-take. Surely, I hadn’t just seen what I saw: Positioned on the upper right hand corner, on the back windshield of a blue Ford truck, fastened like a badge, was the unmistakable “Southern cross” of the Confederate flag; to add insult to injury, the statement “Never Apologize For Being Right!” was emblazoned across the front.
F.A.I.L.
Fall and Invite Loss. The best piece of advice I never got was to fail and to fail constantly. Lessons I could’ve learned in my adolescence evaded me because I wanted to stay in my shell. I didn’t go through the same experiences as my peers because I was so shy and preferred to stay out of things and be more of an observer. While my friends had jobs in high school and were able to buy the clothes they wanted to wear, which our parents couldn’t afford, I was constantly told I didn’t have to work.
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