Sharing some cafecito

Our morning cafecito is sacred.
My 2 year old has long noticed the ritual.

Nahum: Mami, what's that?
Me: Cafe mi'jo.
Nahum: Mami...
Me: Yeah...que fue?
Nahum: is only for grown ups?
Me: Kind of, yeah...
Nahum: Mami...
Me: Nahum...
Nahum: I want to try it, mami.
Me: Well....[I look around for David. Great, he's not around. Besides, I got cafe con leche in a bottle! I turned out okay. A taste won't do any harm.]
Nahum: Mami?
Me: Okay, you can try a little little bit. Okay?





Nahum nods his head in agreement and as I put the mug close to his little mouth he takes a good sip, makes a face and looks at me to see if I react.

Me: Did you like it?
Nahum: Yup.
Me: Really?
Nahum: It's tasty.
Me: You are becoming such a good Puerto Rican!!!!


BECOMING PUERTO RICAN MEANS: Cafe con leche is not just an indoctrination, it is a delicious way of life.

Teaching Puerto Rican-ness

I have a 2 year old that is half Puerto Rican, one quarter Haitian/Dominican and one quarter Czech.
My plan as a relativist parent is to instill some of each's traditions into our everyday living...
except, I can't say I know too much about the Haitian/Dominican or Czech experiences.

Then I started to notice certain very Puerto Rican things:

-Nahum loves lots of noise, people or what some Puerto Ricans would call "buya." A Nahum le gusta la buya! For example, last night we went to a friends birthday party and he was interacting and playing with all the other adults, dancing to the music and singing happy birthday. Contrast a night like that to when he is home with me and David and is whiny and cranky probably because there isn't enough for him to do!

-Nahum loves to eat with people. I told Nahum a while ago that when we have friends visit, we eat together because it is important to share a meal. David pointed out to me that he had never made that connection growing up: having friends means eating together.

Well, I never thought I would be somehow teaching Puerto Rican-ness with my actions so effectively! (which I am sure has cross-cultural values.)

How are you living up to and in your cultural way of being?

BECOMING PUERTO RICAN MEANS: Accepting that your actions ARE going to do a lot of speaking for you.

Time to take a stand!

Today, I attended the first day of the Massachusetts Health Policy Student Forum at the State House in the heart of Boston.

Somethings I learned and want to share with you:

1. The people who make the laws don't have much expertise, they just have their life experience and experts to educate them on how to write and make certain laws pass. All this time I thought politicians had to be well versed in the issues that they write and pass laws in!
Can you believe that?!?!

2. Since this is the case, (and God bless all the politicians who can handle being politicians and working in such a charged environment), I want to be one of those EXPERTS that informs the legislation process through mental health policy!

3. Today I actually have an idea of what that type of work might look like!
WOW! I am only 26! Wooohoooo!

4. ALWAYS VOTE! All the way from your local elected officials to the top, especially in your communities! Do you know who is writing laws that you and your children are going to live through???? Legislators that get voted in because they rallied enough people to vote for them (not necessarily for evidence-based reasons!) Most of us don't know who is making these choices FOR US, SO APPRECIATE and PLAY YOUR ROLE IN OUR society (even though there are plenty of shady things out in gov, yes, we all know.) BUT we can change that and make society a better place! Project Vote Smart is one way to get started! GO!

5. Walking through the State House humbled and angered me to think about the fact that I would have been excluded from being in that space because of the color of my skin or first language... and yet there I was in 2010, while the first Massachusetts African-American Governor was sitting in the Executive Office of the State House making tough decisions! Nevermind, our prez!

(By the way, he already has made a call to action for Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, so let's all rally together for Haiti during this extremely difficult time. You can text HAITI to "90999" to donate $10 via your phone bill to the Red Cross for relief help.)

YES, we have a long way to go, but am I happy we have come this far already!

BECOMING PUERTO RICAN MEANS: Walking through the State House in one for the most politically meaningful times of history and deciding to take a stand!