I got a phone call from my friend and compañera Mariposa Fernandez the other day and she said, “Guess what? I’m getting married!”
I was elated, and then thought to ask her — “To whom? Who’s the lucky guy?” She answered...”No guy...I’m getting married to Puerto Rico. I’m having a wedding ceremony in the Bronx, and I have a wedding gift registry on Amazon.”
I headed over to amazon where I saw the kind of wedding gifts she was looking for — to take to Puerto Rico, which included items like mosquito netting, water purifiers, seeds and first aid kits.
I read what she had to say
“I am in love! In love with Puerto Rico, my homeland, the place of my family origin, my ancestry and my rich heritage. HOME. I am in love! I am in love with my people, en la isla and here in the diáspora, from the Bronx, where I was born to the Virgin Islands where many Puerto Ricans live. I am making a life-long commitment, one that I made long ago but will NOW make publicly. In the wake of Hurricane Irma and Maria that destroyed homes, crops and lives, resulting in the complete destruction of the power grid, infrastructure and water filtration systems and has caused an escalating health crisis. Due to the negligent emergency response from the U.S. government, the number of deaths since the hurricanes continues to steadily increase and tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have been displaced. Our commitment to our homeland needs to be a lifelong commitment and so my guests are invited to, along with me, make a lifelong vow to love, honor and cherish Puerto Rico, mother earth and humanity, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, etc., and call for a FREE PUERTO RICO. A Boricua Mass Wedding!” – MARIPOSA
You can visit her facebook page for more. Wedding details at The Point.
From her press release about the event:
The happy bride-to-be will offer her guests a traditional Puerto Rican Valencia cake, 3 layers with trimmings, Puerto Rican cuisine and a cultural program that includes, Ntozake Shange, renowned poet, playwright and novelist, author of for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf and the forthcoming collection, Wild Beauty/Belleza salvaje (Simon & Shuster), Kaila Bulé, Bomba Yo, Dancers Dreamzzz, Ricky Ortiz, Rose Angelica López, Dawn Diaz, followed by dancing to the beats of DJ C-Diverse, The Climate Justice DJ!
This is a great idea and you too can marry Puerto Rico!
in case you do not know who Mariposa is, here’s a brief bio from The Poetry Foundation
Puerto Rican poet and performance artist Mariposa María Teresa Fernández was born and raised in the Bronx. The first in her family to graduate from college, she earned a BA and an MA at New York University. In her poems, which often combine Spanish and English lines, Mariposa explore themes of empowerment, family, and identity. She is the author of Born Bronxeña: Poems on Identity, Love & Survival (2001). Her poetry has been included in The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2010, edited by Ilan Stavans), The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States (2010, edited by Miriam Jiménez Roman and Juan Flores), and Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam (2001, edited by Tony Medina and Louis Reyes Rivera).
Her work has been featured on the HBO series Habla Ya! and in the HBO documentary Americanos: Latino Life in the United States, as well as in programming on the PBS, Lifetime TV, and BET networks. Mariposa has performed her poetry at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, the Essence Music Festival, and the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit. Founder of Poetry for Entrepreneurs, she organized the annual Crysálida: Cry of the Chrysalis fundraiser supporting young women’s empowerment programs and has served on the advisory board of Where Our Minds Empower Needs (W.O.M.E.N.). Mariposa has taught poetry at Poets House, the Bronx Writers Center, and the Caribbean Cultural Center and through Poets & Write
Her poem Diasporican — speaks strongly to the millions of Puerto Ricans who do not live on the island
(full lyrics here)
Some people say that I’m not the real thing
Boricua, that is
cause I wasn’t born on the enchanted island
cause I was born on the mainland
north of Spanish Harlem
cause I was born in the Bronx…
some people think that I’m not bonafide
cause my playground was a concrete jungle
cause my Río Grande de Loiza was the Bronx River
cause my Fajardo was City Island
my Luquillo Orchard Beach
and summer nights were filled with city noises
instead of coquis
and Puerto Rico
was just some paradise
that we only saw in pictures.
What does it mean to live in between
What does it take to realize
that being Boricua
is a state of mind
a state of heart
a state of soul…
¡Mira!
No nací en Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico nacío en mi.
(I was not born in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico was born in me.)
Mariposa was one of many protestors who were out in New York City speaking out in support.
I just got off the phone with her — and she asked that I ask you all to help get the word out — there will be a Unity March for Puerto Rico in Washington DC on November the 19th.
Support Puerto Rico!