When crippled with otherness: I celebrate our differences
When treated like a stranger: I embrace our humanness
When provoked with rupture: I tend to my mother Coyolxāuhqui
When disjointed by oppression and pain: I appease in my bodymindspirit
When told that I don’t belong ni aquí ni allá:
I bury my roots in the interstitial space,
in nepantla.
Because, yes, I am different. What it’s labeled as other is my force.
I am the combination of cultures, of languages, of traditions.
I represent the struggle for acceptance and for healing,
Soy Curandera Scholar Activist.
I walk this path always seeking to spread and receive compassion;
to be firm when needed or to spread balm on my wounds.
I embody traditions observed under a critical loving perspective
and my bravery encourages me to transform
for the better of my ancestres and future ancestors.
Hey, wait!
May all this push me to the peripheria, to the borders?
I am not willing to leave completely.
Harrowing it is, yet, I dwell in that space,
in the in-between,
in nepantla.
Fernanda Vega Born tapatía, later adopted a borderlands identity who feel-thinks as Buddhist. She has an Anzaldúan heart; and she is an advocate of long talks, good food and bikes. To dodge neoliberal imposed celerity, she carves time to type poetry and to sip tea on a sunny spot. ig: _tragalibros
