Perhaps finding out that we carry New World history in our genes will transcend racial checkboxes altogether and enable Latino-Americans to rethink what America is supposed to look like.

Individually, every grain of sand brushing against my hands represents a story, an experience, and a block for me to build upon for the next generation.

Globalization by the way of McDonald’s and KFC has captured the hearts, the minds, and from what I can see through the window, the growing bellies of the folks here.

Foisting an identity on people rather than allowing them the freedom and space to create their own is shady.

The truth is usually left for us to hunt and gather independently, if we are so inclined.

Are Latino-Americans white? Black? Other? Illegal aliens from Mars? Or are we the very face of America?

I have never bought into the idea that blood is thicker than water. Love and respect are meant to be earned from our children, our spouses, our families, and our friends.

When we illuminate the road back to our ancestors, they have a way of reaching out, of manifesting themselves...sometimes even physically.

This thing I am feeling, I’m almost certain, is the closest I’ll ever come to standing somewhere in between truth and reconciliation.

Even the juncture in history and the zeitgeist we live in is something we choose, setting the scene for the spiritual fodder we need to grow and achieve deeper elevation of our souls.

While America will always, I think, feel foreign to me, New York City is my home. This is where I can construct my own identity freely and reject labels imposed on me.

Art is the product of an imperfect world. In a perfect world, art would not exist.

In a desperate attempt to stay young forever we have achieved eternal childishness, rather than eternal youth.

I may a loser in many ways but not a quitter in any way.

Allen Ginsberg instructs: "First thought, best thought." Oh, to have my every spontaneous thought count as poetry! No draft after draft like a draft

A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.'

Time doesn't fly when you are not happy.

I'm not a toy boy, bellybutton band, so I don't have to worry about that. Actually, I never did.

It would be easier to write a novel without reader input, but I feel the fiction is richer for it.

If I love the character, then thats all that matters to me. It doesnt really matter what genre it is.

But obligation, I eventually saw, is not the same as commitment, and it's certainly not an acceptable reason to stick with something that isn't working