Your article hit me, mi gente!

I left the place I called home back in April 2020-the pandemic hit and the company I had contracted with as a freelance Spanish/inglés interpreter (whose main client was the Dept of Education), said we could no longer go into the schools. We were expected to get a land line phone (SAY WHAT?!???) and microphone/headset equipment.

Back then I was paying $1,630 a month for the cutest apartment in Harlem (90 Convent Ave). I left to live in Charlotte, NC (paying 1/2 my Manhattanville rent).

The long story short is I feel you on so much of what you wrote. I also clarify when people say they're "from New York too" - I ask them, ok, but do you mean NYC? Because the state is large and it's an entirely different vibe if you're saying you live - or grew up - in Buffalo, Syracuse or even Long Island!!!

I'm South Bronx-born, though my parents left before I turned 4 years young. I grew up in Queens - shout out to Long Island City, Queensbridge!!

When I returned to my ancestral motherland of Boriken, I stopped calling NYC 'home.' NYC will always have a special place in my heart, though the truth remains, the u.s. of kkk was never my true home.

p.s. what's your schedule like for the end of the month? Ima be in NYC (25th - 28th) for my spoken word poetry & my debut chapbook, Daughter de Borikén. HMU if you wanna meet up (or drop by an event). Let's connect: https://lolaslines.com

p.p.s. I appreciate you :)

also, meant to add this Indigenous - always with a capital I