Raquel Cepeda's Blog, page 9

NBC Latino Shows Some Love

Earlier this week, Claudio Remeseira reviewed three “fascinating” reads for NBC Latino. My book was one of the three selected. Here’s a snippet:

“Dominicans have been a significant presence in New York City for at least the past fifty years. However, there are very few memoirs or non-academic works documenting that rich experience. One notable exception is Raquel Cepeda’s “Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina,” the first major autobiographical work by a Dominican-American to be published in recent years.

You may want to read “Bird of Paradise” as the non-fiction, female-gender companion to Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Both are tales of self-discovery through the many racial, ethnic, and linguistic conflicting forces that lie at the heart of U.S. Latino identity, as well as the story of a personal struggle against a supposed fukú or ancestral curse that has haunted the authors’ families for generations.”

Read the full story here.

From Uruguay to New York City. Kismet, Maybe. Probably.

The first time I heard of Dominican-American photographer Groana , it was through my homie Jose Vilson sometime last October or November. Weeks later, I saw her portraits prominently displayed at the U.S. Ambassador’s ginormous crib in Uruguay. Fast forward a few months to a book signing and event uptown and there she stood before me, asking if I would sit for her for a project she’s working on focusing on Dominican-American artists. Of course I would, I responded. And recently, the stars aligned and we made it happen.

It’s A Cruel Summer

Somewhere in America, a Tio Tomas named Too Curious George Zimmerman is flailing his gun around like a wild cowboy while the family of the teenage boy he murdered mourns and become driven to prevent this from happening again to other Black and Brown. On one hand, it’s quite inspiring to see how people of all races have coalesced around the Stand Your Ground laws despite the “insane” support it still receives from the predictable mostly-white and Republican gun-loving Americans around the country.  I’ve sat back trying to digest the reactions, some from people I am really fond of, that range from deplorable to downright ignorant. Some people have invoked Black-on-Black/Brown-on-Brown crime and wrote this off as just another case: that’s total bullshit. One has nothing to do with the other…but that’s another conversation. For me, the fat-ass light brown elephant in the room that hasn’t been discussed isn’t George Zimmerman—we’ve discussed and will continue to talk about that elephant for months to come. What we haven’t discussed, not in the media although certainly amongst some of my friends and family in private, is race…through anOther lens.

The truth, and I’m embarrassed to admit it, is that Zimmerman is part Latino. And still, every conversation I’ve watched in the media has been through the prism of Black-and-white America. Race, especially in this context, is too complicated for talking heads to discuss because of the nuance and subtext that isn’t being explored. If race is indeed  not a fact but rather a social experience then I think—and thank God, Buddha and Krishna I don’t know him personally—that Zimmerman identifies as a white man, and therefore, privileged, and ultimately above the law. That storyline is a complex one that doesn’t fit into soundbites. It’s uncomfortable. Race in the Latino-American community is fluid and crazy complicated. It doesn’t matter whether his mother or other family members are assimilationists or if they want to be as chalky white as Sammy Sosa. It’s how one sees themselves. It’s about the time they vest to learn about and embrace the New World history that runs through their veins: it’s white, African, Indigenous and Other.

If Zimmerman took the time to learn that, to understand that Trayvon Martin and he had a shared historical experience, perhaps he would not have acted out in fear and ultimately kill that young man. Self-hatred is what surfaces in the mirror when someone doesn’t do the work to explore and define one’s own identity. It happens when we ignore one part of ourselves and acknowledge the other. It’s that thing eats away at our insides like a disease. It’s rage. And it’s infectious. We need to start talking about it before the virus snowballs further out of control.

 

 

 

 

 

@VidaVibrante & @MamiVerse + @Colgate = Bird of Paradise Twitter Chat!

Join @vidavibrante and @mamiverse for a #VIDABOOKCHAT, sponsored by @Colgate with me on
Monday, July 15, 2013, from 9-10 p.m. EST (8-9 CT, 7-8 MT, & 6-7 PT)
RSVP HERE TO TWEET, CHAT & WIN!
10 LUCKY FOLLOWERS WILL WIN: A Year’s Supply of Colgate Oral Care goods
2 LUCKY FOLLOWERS WILL WIN: An Autographed Copy of Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

CHECK OUT THE DETAILS, BELOW:
Who: @vidavibrante, @mamiverse, @raquelcepeda

What: Vida Book Chat (#vidabookchat) with Raquel Cepeda & MamiVerse (See below to learn about @RaquelCepeda)

When: Monday, July 15, 2013, from 9-10 p.m. EST (8-9 CT, 7-8 MT, & 6-7 PT)

Where: Twitter—On Monday, join us on Twubs.com (http://twubs.com/vidabookchat) to follow along directly (use hashtags #VidaBookChat). Or log into your Twitter account and insert hashtag to follow the conversation!

Sponsor: @Colgate

Las Comadres National Book Club Teleconference is Set for July 29, and Other Musings

I will be taking part of a teleconference for my book Bird of Paradise, hosted by Las Comadres National Book Club at 8PM eastern standard time, on Monday, July 29th. You must register here to access the dial-in number from your region to take part in the national (including Hawaii and Puerto Rico) conversation. I look forward to speaking to each and everyone of you.

Also, check out this interview I recently did with Random House Canada’s online mag Hazlitt, this review in Clutch, and this wonderful piece by Julianne Escobedo-Shepherd (the illo by Monica is pictured, below) in Rookie when time permits.

 

 

 

 

 

Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) Force-Fed Under the Standard Guantanamo Bay Procedure

I wasn’t surprised when I saw Yasiin Bey, someone I have had the sincere and profound honor of calling a friend for almost two decades now, volunteer to walk in someone else’s shoes, or, in this case, be tortured in the way more than forty human beings are on the daily in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, I wasn’t surprised. What shocked me  was watching the actual procedure being imposed I have only read about. I was disappointed to see that this kind or torture was being carried over from the last administration despite our current head honcho’s promise to shut it down. Seeing it, almost experiencing the anguish along with Yasiin, was excruciating to witness, even for a few minutes.

According to the guardian:

As Ramadan begins, more than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantánamo Bay continue their protest. More than 40 of them are being force-fed. A leaked document sets out the military instructions, or standard operating procedure, for force-feeding detainees. Read on here.

The White Mandingos: The Ghetto is Tryna Kill Them

My husband, Sacha Jenkins SHR, released an album yesterday with his compadres, Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer, and left coast lyricist MURS. Together, they form The White Mandingos and their debut album, The Ghetto is Tryna Kill Me, is available for download here, for sale here, or wherever music is sold. I won’t tell you how dope it is because you probably think I’m a thousand percent biased…but you can read what other heads are saying here, here, and here. Or better yet, take a listen and make up our own mind. 

I’ll leave you with this, their latest video titled My First White Girl

Time Flies When [OR] My Life in Lovetaps

It’s been a long time: a little over a month to be exact. I had started and deleted several blog postings over the last five weeks—I usually like to talk about cool events after they’ve happened out of superstition but I should probably rethink that quirk—and decided that I couldn’t let another day go by without checking in. It’s been quite a hectic period for this grateful Gemini!

First, a few lovetaps are in order: número uno goes to Melissa Harris-Perry for placing my book Bird of Paradise on #nerdland’s summer reading list! I’m grateful to her for her continued support, especially as there seems to be no end in sight in the “difficult negotiations” between my parent company Simon & Schuster and the literary killjoys that run Barnes & Noble.

Lovetap número dos goes to Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club. They selected Bird of Paradise as their July 2013 book club selection! The teleconference is scheduled for July 29: More details to come. To say I’m excited by the selection is a gross understatement! Really. It is.

I was in Miami over the weekend for business and pleasure. I had a book reading and appearance at Books & Books Coral Gables on Friday, a baby shower on Saturday and my bornday to celebrate with family and friends (remember Lisa from the Morocco chapter?) on Sunday. I’m not going to to front. It was raining so hard on Friday evening—it was downright dangerous—that it felt as if we were rowing the car past one flooded street after another as we inched our way to the bookstore. I assumed nobody would be there but when I showed up a few minutes late, there was already a group of folks there waiting for me to start. It only took about fifteen minutes to pack the house and the reading and talk went on fabulously. By the way, Books & Books Coral Gables is one of the loveliest bookstores I’ve ever stepped foot in. I look forward to going back and, whether permitting, holding court in their outdoor space. They know how to treat authors. Lovetaps to them for the complimentary glass of pinot and making this author feel welcomed, and to the audience for trekking there.

Yo, it’s hard to pick the best moments of the last several weeks but…if I must…it would have to be every minute of the Deconstructing Latina production trip to Santo Domingo the week before I jetted to Miami. I don’t know how we pulled it off in such a short time but I swear at times I could literally feel the universe sprinkle its magic fairy dust on us as we prepped for about three weeks leading up to the trip. The plan was to take four of our teen girls to the sight of the first American city in the zone we know today as the New World to learn about history in a way they never had before. To make matters more special, two of the four teens had never been out of the country before so that added another layer to the adventure.

I couldn’t have pulled it off without their parents, Life is Precious, my producer/mentor/friend Henry Chalfant, my crew, and Dominican historian/author/friend Frank Moya Pons: so, lovetaps for everyone! The trip exceeded my expectations and I can’t wait to share more highlights from the experience, as well as what I’ve learned so far (every production is different…and I’ll be focusing on that a bit more in the forthcoming weeks) about documentary filmmaking.

 Frank Moya Pons, moi, Henry Chalfant at Engombe, a former 18th century sugar plantation

On an aside, but not really—speaking of filmmaking: the week before heading off to Santo Domingo, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at Maysles Cinemas for my friend Bobbito Garcia and his co-director Kevin Couliau’s debut film Doin’ It In the Park, about pick-up basketball in New York City (lovetaps to Bob!!!). It was at this panel, featuring the filmmakers Charlie Ahearn, and Henry Chalfant, that I had a duh moment. I hadn’t given it much thought before then but as I listened to the conversation I realized that the very first documentary film I’d ever seen was Henry’s Style Wars. It’s been so long that it just slipped my mind. And today, as life would have it, Henry is not only a dear friend, mentor and confidante but my producer. If you’ve read Bird of Paradise, none of this will surprise you.

Ok, so right before the panel, where I also had the pleasure of meeting one of my film heros, Albert Maysles, I flew to Chi-town for a twenty-four hour trip to speak at two of media matriarch Maria Hinojosa‘s (can you say “love” then “tap”?) classes on Latina mental health and the media at DePaul University. If I had professors like Maria when I was attending college, I would have certainly had a different educational experience and opinion about higher (mis)education. One class read my book and the other watched my film Bling: A Planet Rock. I don’t know that I would have made my flight back to New York if it hadn’t been delayed due to the weather. I don’t know who got more inspiration out of the classes: me or the students!

Speaking of which, I have to go: I’m giving a talk at a local college in a couple hours!

I’ll be back.

Lovetaps from the Cepeda-Jenkins headquarters.

PS: A very special congratulations to my husband SHR’s supergroup The White Mandingos. Today is their record release date. Cop their record on itunes, Amazon, or wherever records are sold. It’s good for you!

Postscript: Melissa Harris-Perry and Glam Belleza Latina

Melissa Harris-Perry producer Shanta N. Covington wrote a cool postscript about my book that starts:

The proposed immigration deal introduced last month by the Gang of Eight was one of many issues President Obama spoke about at his White House press conference on Tuesday. The president was complimentary of the deal. “I feel confident that the bipartisan work that’s been done on immigration reform will result in a bill that passes the Senate and passes the House and gets on my desk,” he said. “And that’s going to be a historic achievement.” CONTINUE READING HERE.

 

Glam Belleza Latina, Glamour‘s digital beauty destination for Latinas, gave me some love today. It starts:

In her new book Bird of Paradise, Raquel Cepeda delves into her Dominican ancestry. Here, we delve into her beauty insights. CONTINUE READING HERE

 

Fly Girl in Nerdland: My Appearance on Melissa Harris-Perry

I can’t front: I was a bit nervous. I have  an intellectual #girlcrush on Melissa Harris-Perry. She is one of the smartest women on the planet and certainly an anomaly in the world of television hosting and political commentary. I only wish we taped the commercial breaks for my own use. I was impressed by the fact that she actually read my book herself rather than have a producer dig into it and formulate all the questions: Melissa went a step further and absorbed it. We were supposed to discuss three passages from the book but got caught up in the convo so we only covered the topic of my birth mother.

During one of the commercial breaks, Melissa asked me how I came up with the title of my book, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina. I told her that I see the title as being two separate titles, one for each part. Bird of Paradise is the title of Part 1: Paradise is the Spanish translation for Paraiso, the name of the ‘hood I lived in for some time with my maternal grandparents. The word “Bird” is a nod to Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Birds Sings. How I Became Latina is the title of the second part of my book because it chronicles just that—how I became a Latina. The second part of the book chronicles my genetic adventure through the science of ancestral DNA to unearth who my peeps were before they ended up in the Dominican Republic and, ultimately, I became a Latina-American or dominiyorkian. There it is.

Here is The Writer’s Corner video clips, below.

I also sat on a panel with Janice Junn, Jelani Cobb and Andrea Plaid about how talking about women changes the immigration conversation. Check it out:

and…