Notes From A Native Daughter

Sita Chay is the only Korean to ever win a Latin Grammy. Fancy that…Since I started this podcast project and on the website, you’ll see that Pan-American voices or Pan-Americanism is what I seek out. Who are we people of color? What is a person of color? Where do we come from? What makes an individual Pan-American? These questions sometimes have clear-cut answers, but as time passes I tend to feel the answers are not so simple. My concerns, interests, and various answers have been informed and are intertwined with W.E.B. Dubois’ Pan-Africanism, The Antillean Confederation of Ramon Emeterio Betances, Bolivar’s Dream, The American Dream, Pan-American Airlines, and Bernardo Ruiz’s La Quinta Raza. When I think of the “America” that I live and experience, hundreds of faces come to mind and heart. How pure blood are we really? And does blood matter? I’m still against the fence on that one but I can honestly say, that in my 28-years of living in North America, Pan-American has come to signify people from all over the world open and willing to be a part of the whole - accepting, creative, curious, interested, willing, empathetic - and for whatever reasons they mostly come in the form of artists or creatives. Read more www.nfand.com

I know Mia García as Marie Rosa first since childhood. Her sister is my sister. 

Watching a person become their own is a beautiful thing. I acknowledge then, a young Puerto Rican author writing for young audiences, Mia García. As pre-teen girls do, she had a diary but discovered journaling and writing pen to paper first. Her grandfather believed her when she told him about the monsters in the closet. 

Rave and respect for her debut novel Even If The Sky Falls from Katherine Tegen (Harper Collins), about a girl who goes to New Orleans and her life changes forever. Mia is one of a handful of published Latina writers out there and for young audiences. We had a nice conversation about her journey and the business. Her next book The Resolutions is out this fall.