Writing

Reggaeton’s power performs as a mode of cultural-techno criticality, pointing toward the superstructures that continue to enable its very appearance. For nearly ten years, the genre’s particular hybrid composition has been gradually left behind by its absorption into the U.S. mainstream market.

This is a breathing exercise. On every inhale, root yourself in the present state of our country, with the present feelings you harbor politically and emotionally. 

On every exhale, imagine that the president has died.

Inhale.

Since the early 2000s, Oakland has become known as a bastion of affordability for artists seeking refuge from the high cost of living in San Francisco. A 2014 New York Times article, "Oakland: Brooklyn by the Bay," called it a “welcoming oasis,” even though at the time of the article’s publication, Oakland was experiencing one of the fastest rising rents in the US, beating out both San Francisco and New York. The article’s language and timing point to the seeming contradiction that many established and burgeoning artistic communities face: establish a strong community of artists and displacement will likely follow.

Miami froze me with her sass, me dio tremendo erizo as the chills me corrieron por adentro y encima. She was defiant, super exigente, always cooking the Caribbean … and those endearing spills, swoons, and shakes; sometimes, in rare moments, she could even be tipa hipócrita, a necessary evil in the art of sinvergüenza–surviving three deaths before her final. In life, Miami was a vision who lived in a perpetual state of absence from home; she was here and she was there. Her vulnerability manifested in lapses between English fragments and the Spanish of being in exile.