I Didn’t Realize I Was Burning Out Until My Hair Started Breaking Off
Dreams, tarot cards, and cliffs, oh my! In this blog post, I share an impending life transition that fills me, not with fear, but with curiosity.
Rereading Wuthering Heights: Why It's Not the Romance You Think It Is
I never saw Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship in Wuthering Heights as a great romance. Rereading the novel, I realized the true love story lay elsewhere.
Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show and What it Meant for Latino Representation
From his Grammy Album of the Year win to the Super Bowl stage, Bad Bunny’s rise marks a historic moment for Latino representation.
How Growing Up Around Books Shaped Me as a Writer
What were the values around reading and writing when you were growing up, and did they shape who you became? Before I ever thought of myself as a writer, I was surrounded by books. In this post, I share how that shaped me.
Why Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Reinforced My Parenthood Reading of the Story
Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation of Frankenstein didn’t introduce me to a new interpretation: it reinforced the one I’ve carried since college. Del Toro’s Frankenstein made Victor’s failure feel unmistakably parental.
A Night at Buena Vista Social Club: My NYC Birthday Weekend at the New Broadway Musical
For my 36th birthday last month, I saw the new musical Buena Vista Social Club. One critical element of the play made it the best Broadway show ever.
Why You Can’t Hide Your Talents
I grew up shy, quiet, and afraid to be seen, but the Parable of the Talents challenged me to stop hiding my writing. In this post, I share how I’m overcoming fear and learning to live out my purpose through words.
When Simple Isn’t So Easy: Sensory Overload
It was supposed to be a simple drive home. Then he threw the tablet out the window.
Jessie Reyez at The Met
My personal recap of Jessie Reyez’s Paid in Memories show in Philly—an unforgettable night of R&B, storytelling, and soul.
Broken Nose, Unbroken Joy
From a carefree day out to an unexpected ER visit—Sebastian’s broken nose couldn’t break his joy. A story of love, resilience, and finding lessons in the hardest moments.
Sinners: The Griot Archetype
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners casts its protagonist Sammie Moore as a modern-day griot, reminding us that storytellers are sacred—and worth protecting. This post explores that archetype and connects it to filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s thoughts on creativity and the tools that invite the muse.
Adam Ray Live
My husband had bought tickets for Adam Ray’s tour stop in Philadelphia last year but the show got pushed back to March. “Dr. Phil” started getting big on Kill Tony, and he was doing YouTube videos with the character as well, that it seemed like the Dr. Phil Live show Adam was touring replaced our show date. We held onto our tickets because we were interested in seeing Adam Ray as himself after watching him kill so many times as “Dr. Phil”. We saw his show last weekend where he performed at the Punch Line Philly comedy club for just one out of six sold-out shows that weekend at the club.
Claressa Shields: From Flint to the Olympics
The Fire Inside, directed by Rachel Morrison in her directorial debut and distributed by Amazon MGM Studios, was in theaters last Christmas but I didn’t get a chance to watch it until it was streaming. The movie is based on the true story of boxer Claressa Shields from Flint, Michigan, who at just 17 years old wins an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. If that wasn’t impressive enough, USA boxing hadn’t won a gold medal since 2004 and women couldn’t compete in the sport before 2012.
“Unstoppable”: A Man’s Character is His Fate
Unstoppable streaming on Amazon is a film based on the true story of Anthony Robles, a wrestler born with one leg. I wanted to watch it because it was a movie about a Latino that starred Jharrel Jerome from When They See Us and Moonlight as Anthony, and the iconic Jennifer Lopez as his mom Judy. Michael Peña also stars as his high school coach Bobby Williams. Unstoppable is an inspiring story but what surprised me most was Anthony’s character.
5 Ways Critical Thinking Skills Can Increase Your Happiness
Writer Margarita Diaz recently wrote about Happiness and how to take the route that causes you the least angst. I reached out to her and asked if she would contribute a piece about this for this month’s blog. Read more to learn tips on how to navigate life better to bring us more happiness and peace.
12 Summers
My old job was twelve years of most of my adult life, with the end of my time there feeling drained. For the first time, I thought I had moved a mountain, leaving an unhappy situation.
Shane Gillis Stars in “Tires”
The coolest thing about Tires, the Netflix comedy series set in the workplace, is that one of its creators wasn’t supposed to get this opportunity. Shane Gillis’ popularity is just undeniable.
Mother’s Day
I’m a mom to a 6-year-old this Mother's Day, and I can hardly believe how big that is. Sebastian will be starting kindergarten this fall, which also seems unreal. He’s also big for his age, so he looks older. He wears a size 8 in clothes but fits more comfortably in size 10; his feet have rapidly grown to where he can walk around quite nicely in size 2 shoes. I won’t be surprised if he’s the next size up in sneakers by the summer. Once he’s in actual school, it’ll hit me how much of a big kid he is.
A New Chapter
At the start of the year, I wrote Looking Back At 2023 about my less-than-fun year. Well, I’m happy to report that in February, only two months into the new year, things took a turn with the job hunt. Back in December, I shifted my expectations and reset my job alerts with Indeed for case management positions instead of being so stubborn with only looking for writing jobs. I wanted to get my resume noticed with my twelve years of experience in that field and applied to any agency where I could do something different.
Gen V: Superheroes Becoming Humans
To appreciate the spin-off show, Gen V, you have to watch The Boys, Amazon’s original show, which has aired three seasons since 2019 and is based on a comic book series. I only started watching The Boys last year because when my husband first told me about the show years ago, I wasn’t interested in something called The Boys. I just didn’t think it was for me or that I would like it. I’m glad I gave it a chance, though, because I fell in love with the premise: What about the innocent casualties of the superheros’ powers?
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