Raquel Cepeda

“Hip-hop...has been the proverbial key that’s opened the door for me to roam this breathtaking planet.”

“If it weren’t for her setting me free, I may still be a caged bird today, holding my own daughter captive on a shit-laden perch.”

“Foisting an identity on people rather than allowing them the freedom and space to create their own is shady.”

“Individually, every grain of sand brushing against my hands represents a story, an experience, and a block for me to build upon for the next generation.”

“I wish she’d said something different, but patriarchy is as prevalent around the world as racism and xenophobia are. We can’t hide from it, not even here.”

“While America will always, I think, feel foreign to me, New York City is my home. This is where I can construct my own identity freely and reject labels imposed on me.”

“I fall in love with Paraíso. It’s like a giant playground where I’m never scolded for running around recklessly, where I’m almost overwhelmed with the amount of attention and love I receive from Mami’s family. In New York, I’m invisible.”

“More than anything, this place feels familiar. I bury my hands in the hot sand and think about the embodiment of memory or, more specifically, our natural ability to carry the past in our bodies and minds. Individually, every grain of sand brushing against my hands represents a story, an experience, and a block for me to build upon for the next generation. I quietly thank this ancestor of mine for surviving the trip so that I could one day return.”

“The truth is usually left for us to hunt and gather independently, if we are so inclined.”

“This thing I am feeling, I’m almost certain, is the closest I’ll ever come to standing somewhere in between truth and reconciliation.”

“Paradise is a state of being, more than just the name of a suburb or a home.”

“Support and encouragement are found in the most unlikely places.”

“Even the juncture in history and the zeitgeist we live in is something we choose, setting the scene for the spiritual fodder we need to grow and achieve deeper elevation of our souls.”

“Lately, Mami’s eyes have been so dark, I don’t like looking into them because I’m afraid I’ll fall in.”

“Hip-hop is storytelling.”

“The tension between people is palpable, and the ideal of what it means to be and look American becomes a preoccupation to folks around the country, including me.”

“The things that come to us easily, our propensities, are carried on a deep subconscious level into our next life. There are no coincidences.”

“Come to think of it, maybe God is a He after all, because only a cruel force would create something this beautiful and make it inaccessible to most people.”

“When we illuminate the road back to our ancestors, they have a way of reaching out, of manifesting themselves...sometimes even physically.”

“To me, travel is more valuable than any stupid piece of bling money can buy.”