Finding Jessica

Today in my culture class at PUCMM we watched a documentary on Puerto Rico called Soy Boricua, pa' que tu lo sepas (I'm Puerto Rican, Just so you know!) that is mostly done and narrated by famous actress Rosie Pérez.
It made me sad and confused, as I usually am when thinking about myself. Why? I have a very medium "black" skin tone. But my mother is "black" and has native american so strong in her veins that her cheek bones could campaign on their own and her perms are unneccesary. And my father's mother is native american (possibly with something else too, but I don't think so). And his father? Puerto Rican. The Puerto Ricans that are more spanish than native with nary a hint of african, the sort of complexion Trujillo himself wanted, blue eyes and all. But I've only seen his picture.

Add to this what my country has done to my other people, which trying to identify with only one group of people in this day and age...would confuse anyone, especially me, whose strongest roots that pull at my heartstrings I didn't even know about until high school. But I always knew, I think. I could feel it, in the way I had to move my hips to a latin beat, the way spanish seemed etched in my brain before I started studying it...

But how do I identify? So I have dark skin, but everyone that looks at me in the states can see that something else. I don't quite look black. And I'm not ashamed to be proud of that, why? Because my closest ties have not a thing to do with africa. I was raised in a "white" school and neighborhood, danced ballet for 11years, now I salsa and merengue until I can hardly walk. The family I grew up with is "black", the family I did not isn't. I haven't yet reached my conclusion, but I'm sure I will claim them all.
What do I check on those race questions? If the "hispanic" option says not of african descent, well, my mommy is black, soo that knocks me out. But there is still "other", and that's what I think I will be.
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Part of the problem is the emphasis placed on color. If you ask me its as easy to change your skin tone and hair texture as a good salon, some sun, or michael's dermatologist. So who cares? All I care about is my past, my family, my culture, and that is what I want people to see, to ask about.

must see this *link*

and this *link*


The second one is a funny story about a girl in our group (ERYN) who supposedly was attacked and/or robbed maybe 2 (?) days ago and decided to go home LESS THAN A WEEK AND A HALF FROM THE END OF THE PROGRAM without credit, or refund, and paid extra to change her flight. Em sums it up pretty well. Funniest part? Miraculously her bag with everything inside seems to have been turned in, nothing at all missing, just before she left this morning at 1am. Funny, like I said.

First one is crazy pics.

Soooo...we're waiting for:

1. lunch to be ready
2. someone to go with us to calle del sol b/c I really want to go now
3. lunch to be ready
4. to leave at 7 AM FOR SANTO DOMINGO!!! (what shall I wear?!)

Ok, that's about it. There will be crazy pics of me and em on emgoes...you know the rest.

Ahhh...now for the pics I mentioned yesterday! Crazy that today is the 2nd of July.
Another pic someone else (em) took of me dancing on the boat to Isla Saona.Me and Dedé Mirabal while she is signing my book, Vivas en su jardínOne of the (5) cats at Plaza Lucitania sleeping on a shelf in their smaller kitchen...hmmm, a kitchen, I know.Another of the (5) cats at our hotel, dilligently eating, and ignoring me taking pictures of it.
Daniel and one of his amigos at the french-owned pizzeria, in front of the doors to the inner sanctum (club) that was inside. Don't remember the guys name, but he thought me and Courtney were dominican, and keep calling her beautiful and she was like "gracias" with a stink face and he said it again anyways. So funny, dominican men.


So, the itenerary for this weekend is..... (drumroll please...)

Emily in the water at Las Galeras. Jajaja, I can see your butt!
Awesome palms on the beach.
Our hotel room at...hold on, I can remember...Plaza...Lucitania! We paid about $23USD each (5 of us), very upper scale for the DR. And it was already a mess at this point, so...don't judge. What you can't see: kitchenette, fridge, 3 nightstands, door to the balcony, the wood door leads to our nice bathroom that had a rain shower.
I'm sitting on a tree stump inside the hotel. There was like a four-tree forest winding up through the hotel straight through the ceiling! So cool.
When they went off to playa rincón before we were dressed, we walked the city a bit, bought some snacks for the road, and had lunch at the same awesome french pizzeria we had dinner at. We = daniel, me, courtney.

*for an intro read the first one*
Sooo pretty! A step of mine on the beach of Puerto Plata. I make good impressions, lol.
Me and Em at a First Communion Mass. The contrast was amusing us. I had on white, she had on black, I had the darker rainbows, she the lighter, well its obvious who has the lighter skin and who the darker.
Los pies de Dedé Mirabal. I was sitting in front of her while she was telling us about her and her sisters' lives and her museum. What an animated, sweet, healthy old lady...84 years old!
My feet in the amazing sand in Las Galeras, Samaná. So soft and white...
I couldn't help playnig, ok? This too is Las Galeras, I had a mini photo shoot (there are others, trust me) while playing with the small tides against my feet. This was just after one rinsed away the sand of the previous pic.

***join me next time!***

**I added pictures to the Dedé Mirabal post and a few more words. Worth taking a look at I think.**

Sooo...I always do strange things (according to my friends) and I've noticed over the course of this trip that I tend to take pictures of my feet almost everywhere we go. Usually just one, though there have been those instances...jajaja.

Entonces, here commence my traveling foot diaries, the adventures that me and my feet (and sometimes others) embarq on often (enough). Enjoy!

First day on campus while we were waiting for our rides after the campus tour. Funny memory, Waldry couldn't find us and we waited for about half and hour before we found out way home. Later we found out that he had been driving all over campus looking for us and he and Julissa were worried. C'est la vie.
With some shells on Isla Saona. I think, if I remember correctly, they had hermit crabs inside.
Tour of the coffee plantation...I bought two bags of coffee, should have bought more. Remember that coffee I mentioned before with NOTHING in it??? Yes, well, this is where it started its journey into my tummy.
In the frigid waters at the cascadas (waterfalls) in Jarabacoa, after an interesting horse ride up the mountain followed by a short hike. You get used to the temperature, especially after so much heat, anything cool/cold feels great.
On the beach in Puerto Plata. What a hot *ss day. Seriously. Think I tanned more in that 20-30 minutes on that beach than my whole previous time here combined. Nuts.
>>>>-<<<<
Watch out for the next installment! (I can only add 5 pictures per post...malditos idiotas.)


*In a slightly later post there will be a picture of me and Dedé Mirabal herself!!! Insane, I know. For those of you like "what???? (confused face)" go read about some dominican history and aquaint yourself with the awesome Failed Pig Leonidas Trujillo and the women he had brutally beaten to death for resisiting him and who inspired the Nov.25th latin holiday of Prevention of Violence Against Women.*

Its the first of July, in case someone out there didn't notice. Gonna be in Santo Domingo on the Fourth. Seems like I'm starting a trend, last year on the Fourth I was in Turkey having weird versions of hamburgers they prepared for our american group, sitting in the dinning room overlooking the Turkish coast...rather nice.

This year I will be in a city hotter than the one I'm in now...how is that possible? I cannot imagine, and I think I would rather leave my imagination out of that one. Hmmm...weird, but every year I can't help but remember that person who's birthday is on the fourth. I should really stop coming up with things that cement facts about people not in my life in my head. Very inconvenient. And irritating.

Hmmm...gotta get to class #2 now...sucks, I know. And I'm sooooo itchy. Malditos mosquitos. I'm gotta need an oatmeal bath alternating with lemon and mint baths when I get home. Gosh my skin....I miss you so much! Least its cheap to get waxed here...yes!!!!

Though I will say, poor poor Em, what she did to you was not right, or maybe you should have asked for clarification on what she said a couple of times, but you should only have removed what you expect! Welll...feel breezy, at least?

By the way, who is the monkey that visited my page???

I knew my paper was a jumbled mess, but let's just say a "total re-vamp face-lift" would be the minimum requirement to salvage it! Ok, so there are good points in it, but its a terrible mess, de verdad.