Holding deep gratitude for the honor of being a Guest Speaker at the “I Am Boricua” book launch at the iconic community space in Brooklyn, nuyoricanbooks maydayspace 📝🇵🇷 This was before the crowning - but very much felt my ancestors present preparing me. Thank you to the brilliant author who didn’t wait for permission—who created her own publishing agency, nuyoricanbooks and said yes to herself. That is Latina brilliance. That is Boricua excellence. And she saw my potential to allow me the honor to present her book with love and gentle care for this Launch. I read aloud a spoken word poem I poured my heart into, about my Nuyorican roots, identity, and healing. Little did I know how this would become a defining step in my journey. As a teenager, I would perform at open-mics through programs that provided strong community supported that I needed for survival, like urbanwordnyc and safe spaces like nuyoricanpoetscafe ✍🏽🎙️ I decided to test-run this poem to this audience before p...