Ever since returning from my recent trip to Puerto Rico, my mind has been very much back on the island. This trip with my wife and daughters made me be aware of, and reflect on, a lot of issues that, frankly, I had buried for the past few years.
My mind is filled with thoughts about my family, those still around and those gone; my people, mi gente, mi pueblo; our history, both past and recent. Hurricane Maria, the scars still left, the recovery, what was lost to the wind and water and negligence and corruption. The popular #RickyRenuncia rising of this past summer, what got us there, how it all happened, and where do we go from here. The ways in which the island has failed me, and how I have failed it. The islanders and the diaspora. La colonia, la jodia colonia. Our past, our present, our future.
There’s a lot to unpack, a lot to reflect on, a lot to make sense of, a lot to put in some sort of order. Right now, I am looking at and processing everything through my Boricua lens, from news to literature, from music to podcasts, from philosophy to games. It’s gonna take a while to sort through all this in my head, and some of it will undoubtedly get sorted out as I create and write and design projects in the languages and media that I am fluent in, projects that help me make sense of my life as a Puerto Rican in the diaspora in this moment in history.
One of our most popular sayings goes, “¡Coño, despierta Boricua!”
This Boricua has reawakened.
