Remezcla

Taboo Struggled With His Identity Growing Up — So He Wrote a Kid’s Book on It

Amaris Castillo — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 14:00:47 +0000

Decades before he helped start the Black Eyed Peas, Taboo Nawasha was a young Jimmy Gomez, wading through a complex identity. His grandmother–a Native American from the Shoshone and Hopi tribes–helped raise him alongside his single mom. Nanny, as she was affectionately called, shared many stories of her life back in Jerome, Arizona. His grandfather,

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‘Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed’ Author Walks Us Through Powerful Essay Picks

Amaris Castillo — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 15:14:44 +0000

As the founder of the book festival, The Bronx is Reading, Saraciea J. Fennell is always searching for stories from the Latine diaspora. The writer feels strongly that there’s room for more of us in every genre, whether it be non-fiction or fantasy. A few years ago, her idea for an anthology by Latine writers

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Creating in Crisis: On Book Publishing, Angie Cruz

Amaris Castillo — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 16:25:41 +0000

Angie Cruz’s critically-acclaimed novel Dominicana was shortlisted for the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction in April. The Dominican-American author is the only Latina up for the prize, to be announced on Sept. 9. Dominicana centers on Ana Canción, a 15-year-old Dominican girl whose family forces her into an arranged marriage with a much older man.

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Elizabeth Acevedo’s ‘Clap When You Land’ Is a Moving Story of Secrets, Grief & Newfound Sisterhood

Amaris Castillo — Wed, 20 May 2020 21:06:16 +0000

On Nov. 12, 2001, an American Airlines flight headed to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, plummeted in Queens, NY. All of the passengers and crew aboard the plane were killed, along with five people on the ground. The majority of them were Dominican. Because the crash occurred two months and one day after the September 11

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Angie Cruz’s ‘Dominicana’ Was Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction

Amaris Castillo — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 20:52:30 +0000

Angie Cruz’s critically-acclaimed Dominicana has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary prizes. The award, which is in its 25th year, is given annually to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the preceding year.

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The History of the Tower Known as the “Ellis Island of the South”

Amaris Castillo — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 18:55:37 +0000

It’s impossible to miss The Freedom Tower when driving along downtown Miami’s famous Biscayne Boulevard. Though originally built in 1925 as the headquarters for Miami News, the 17-story Freedom Tower is best known as the “Ellis Island of the South” due to its role in helping Cubans who were seeking political asylum from Fidel Castro’s

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The Little-Known History of Amelio Robles, a Trans Zapatista Who Fought in Mexico’s Revolution

Amaris Castillo — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:39:59 +0000

Despite Latinos being the largest minority group in the country, the U.S. education system has consistently failed to incorporate our history in its classrooms. Doing the work your K-12 teachers likely skipped over, Remezcla’s Latino History 101 series is sharing the vast yet often unknown stories of Latinos and the people, moments, programs, movements and

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This Is How Latinos Feel About Thanksgiving

Amaris Castillo — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 20:44:37 +0000

On Thanksgiving, many Latinos will reunite with their loved ones over heaping plates of delicious food and conversation. The federal holiday is largely considered a time to give thanks for one’s blessings, and the kinds of dishes served will depend on which country your family hails from. If you’re Puerto Rican, for example, there may

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‘The Butterfly Effect’ Is a Youth-Led Movement Bringing Attention to the Thousands of Kids in Detention Centers

Amaris Castillo — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 18:30:25 +0000

Thousands of paper-made butterflies have been spotted around the San Francisco Bay Area, in libraries, schools and city halls. Created out of everything from coffee filters to scraps of construction paper, the colorful winged insects collectively make up The Butterfly Effect: Migration is Beautiful, a youth-led art and activism project raising awareness about the 15,000

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28-Year-Old Mandy Velez Had a Funeral for Her Student Loans to Celebrate Paying Off $100K Debt

Amaris Castillo — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 19:13:40 +0000

Mandy Velez didn’t think about the debt she was incurring during her time at the University of Pittsburgh. “I was raised in a household where education is a thing that is necessary and you do whatever it takes, and that includes going into debt,” Velez, a New York-based Puerto Rican journalist, tells Remezcla. “You’re paying

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