I am still here
I am New Mexico born and raised
But only two seasons a year
I am California all year long
With its steady unchanging sun
I am the Spanish Indian
The lost one
The one with no tongue
I am the hot desert sun
Blazing in the enchanted sky
I am 16-hour-drives down the 5
For snow cones and pickles at parades
I am inter-tribal ceremonies
Where the drum pumps through my veins
I am late summer monsoons
Flooding the red muddy land
I am the smell of rain.
I am the cold snowy winter
Kept warm by my grandfather’s fire
I am the holidays
Wrapped in Grandma’s crochet
I am tamales and Navajo tacos
Mutton stew and enchiladas
I am posole and sopapillas
Kept secret from colonizing eyes
I am red or green.
I am the only girl
The first born
The storyteller
I am still here.
Storytellers Forum
Welcome to my storytellers forum!
Before you read, please remember that writing is a sacred practice. In order to write, you first have to be willing to open up yourself up to an audience. This means there is a great level of vulnerability in the process. The writing process is not linear. Thoughts and feelings manifest themselves all at once. This forum is space for us all to try to place it in a logical order. This can be difficult and take many edits and adjustments within a conversation. Know that my work is one from the heart and not from an assumed professional expertise. My writing is based on my personal goals to share the voices that are usually not heard. Much of what I write can be seen as radical and aggressive by today's cultural standards. My mission with #teachlove is to share my words unfiltered, and often unedited, to help start conversations that will advocate for self-care and accepting differences to open up avenues in our communities so that everyone's story can be told.