Black Girls and Brown Boys: A Response to ‘Aye Papi’

Author’s note: This post was written in August of last year, but I remixed it a bit. Enjoy.

When I read Tracy Renee Jones’s “Aye Papi…………One Woman’s Love Affair With Latino Men” a year ago, I will admit, I was stoked.

An account from a Black Woman on her romances with Latino guys? I’ll read that.

Typing in “Black  woman  and Latino man” yields very few results.  I mean forums from the 2000s detailing someone’s experiences are fine and dandy pero dame mas.  So, instead of complaining about the absence of info on the subject, I decided to throw in my two cents on the Jones piece.

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Diasporic Realness: Telling Our Stories- The First Ever Guest Writers Month

Diasporic Realness: Telling Our Stories is here! What is it you ask?  It is Black Girl, Latin World’s first ever guest writers month!  A whole month of new voices, fresh perspectives and a lot of Blackness.

Want to be apart of it? Hit up BGLW in the contact box below with a brief pitch on what you want to write.  In addition to articles, creative submissions like poetry, essays, video content, reflections and the like are great. Please make sure the content is your own.

❤ BGLW

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Guest Post: Black Like Me by Ashely “Flashe” Gordon

 I’m a different type of black person. There really isn’t a category for people like me. I guess it’s too much of an anomaly for us to have a title. We are African American people who are introduced to and consequently begin to identify with Latino, specifically Afro-Latino, culture.

 

My play The Stories of Us at the Austin Latino New Play Festival

PHOTO CREDIT: Teatro Vivo

A few months ago, I got the news of my life.  The Austin Latino New Play Festival called and they wanted to do a staged reading of my play The Stories of Us .  This piece has come a long way since a small workshop in 2013.  But more on the process later.  If you are in the Austin-area, check out the festival.  My play is May 16th at 8pm.

The Stories of Us is a collection of stories that dig deep into the intercultural conflict between African Americans and Latinos, African diaspora identity, and Afrolatinidad. This scrapbook of experiences, histories, and feelings takes its audience through African roots in Mexico, the time you told your brother you were dating a “black girl,” and that moment you were proud of your heritage, combining to reveal people of color trying to navigate each other’s worlds and build one together.

May 14-16 3 nights, 3 great new Latino plays Austin Latino New Play Festival with ScriptWorks at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center Get your tixs on line – http://latinoplayfestival.bpt.me

❤ BGLW

Black Girl, Latin World in 2015, let’s go!

It’s the START OF SOMETHING GOOD!

When Black Girl, Latin World took flight in 2011, it was purely a hobby.  I was inspired by African American, Latino World, the LatiNegr@s Project and many other bloggers and Afrolatino advocates to share my stories dealing with the subject.  Since 2013, this blog has been connecting me with beautiful readers who keep me inspired as I write about my experiences as an African American engaging in diaspora.  Every email I get from a person who wants to know about Afrolatino theatre work or comment about your experiences keeps me writing.

I’ve taken a bit of the break from this blog because I needed to graduate.  I did it! I’m now a University of Texas at Austin graduate!  Now, as I seek employment, I plan to focus on my passions…writing and Afrolatinidad.

Black Girl, Latin World will be adding some new and awesome projects that I hope you all will love.

• Spotlight of the Month-Monthly highlights, guest posts and interviews with organizations, artists, writers and everyday people passionate about Afrolatinidad and the diaspora.
• #MultilingualBlackPeople – A movement, discussion  and empowerment space for multilinguals in the Black Diaspora!  Monthly posts on language learning, Spanish phrases and my own Portuguese learning journey.
• Connections Across Diasporas: African Americans and Afrolatinos-More posts on the connections between Afrolatinos and African Americans in history, music and the arts.
• Escribela Negra– A collection of blog posts focused on empowerment through writing for the African American and Afrolatina woman!  Chock full of notes, advice and stories from and about writers of color.

I’m also working on a play centered around Afrolatinidad and I look forward to sharing that progress with you.  And you can follow my work as a Her Campus writer too.

I am stoked about this new year and looking forward to connecting with you all.

Of course, if there is anything you would like to see featured on BGLW or if you’d like to be featured yourself drop me a line at at blackgirllatinworld@gmail.com.

Okay, you’ve heard my plans for this new year.  What are your goals? Do you want to start a blog?  A movement? Learn a new language?  Gain a better spiritual relationship?  Gain a healthy lifestyle?  Share it below or tweet me with the hashtag #BLGWGoals.

❤ BGLW