Keep Speaking On Beginning Spanish Learners

People make fun of Kevin Heart’s video in which he spits a few lines of his Spanish.  But I think it’s wonderful.  You know why? Because he is being bold! He is using his knowledge to engage in the language. You see, it took me years to step out of fear when speaking Spanish.  I was afraid I would fail at grammar or not understand what someone was saying to me.  That fear was not productive.  Here I was seeking to be proficient in a language that I didn’t even use.  Girl, bye.

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To be Practical or to be Brave

Via Giphy

I was watching Jane the Virgin a few weeks ago and there was a scene in which Jane remembers the conversation she had with her beau Rafael when they first met. Rafael asks Jane about her aspirations. Instead of replying with an occupation, Jane smiles and utters a question that we all ask ourselves when faced with life decisions: “Am I being practical or brave? ” She ends up explaining both of her dreams; a practical goal to become a teacher and a lofty aspiration to become a writer.

That moment was my life.

Rewrites and Feedback and Stories, Oh My!

Last weekend, I headed down to Austin to view a staged reading of my latest play The Stories of Us.  In August of this year, I wrote another draft of Stories and pushed it aside until the final reveal this October.  It’s always exciting to see what the characters reveal to you after you’ve been away from them for a while.

Seen Elsewhere: Six Unconventional Ways to Practice Your Spanish

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You’re probably already spending hours on Rosetta Stone.  You’re practically glued to your Duolingo app.  You have all the latest Spanish music, but you are on the look out for ways to perfect your second language that aren’t so… traditional.  Here are six unconventional ways to practice your Spanish.

Seen Elsewhere: Our Big Afro-Descendant Sisterhood

Via Giphy

I remember sitting with a friend who identified as Afro-Latina.  She beamed with joy as she told me about her Afro-Cuban friend from class, her coworker from Guyana, and me, a Black American she met through a mutual friend. The bond that she felt with all of us was special. Despite our ethnic and cultural differences, we were all Black women. We may go by different names, speak contrasting languages and dance to separate music, but we all are apart of an unspoken sisterhood.