The Dominican Republic is my holy land, my Mecca.

A mother isn’t the person who births you; it’s the person who rears you and shows you love.

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.

Hip-hop...has been the proverbial key that's opened the door for me to roam this breathtaking planet.

I wish she'd said something different, but patriarchy is as prevalent around the world as racism and xenophobia are. We can't hide from it, not even 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.

Support and encouragement are found in the most unlikely places.

Some fictions become fixtures in the real city. Their stories are so powerful that they leap off the page on to the streets, irreversibly altering the place where they were set.

There's something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk.

To be in a body is to hear the heartbeat of death at every moment.

In my work, I participate in the things that I critique. I satirize the things that I love and know well and find problematic.

My nipples could cut glass.

A bachelor's children are always young: they're immortal children - always lisping, waddling, helpless, and with a chance of turning out good.

Help is even being offered from across the ocean, as over two dozen countries have stepped forward to offer financial and material support to the American people.

Mawah meenon ne le plus poohlala," I say with an affected bow.

Sacred or not, sacrifice is an ugly business.

people in great trouble don't change to other people. They only change to themselves.