summertime highs and lows
soy la misma newsletter
i can’t believe that it is nearly the end of july and in just a few short weeks i will be returning to the blue carpeted floors and the popularized phrase type-shit of what is my classroom. as nice as it might seem that educators get summers off, it truly is not enough time to re-nourish our bodies. when the day comes, i’ll gladly accept it but for now, summer is running full-speed with corn-sweat in the air!
the first week of july consisted of preparing for the international festival. stories from unheard voices (a project i started years ago) collaborated with the festival to create pamphlets of first-person stories of Haitian folks in our community. we also had the opportunity to table and interact with young ones!

i’ve been spending most of july in bemidji — 3 1/2 hours from the cities and 5 ½ hours from worthington — living in a dorm room that takes me back to undergrad. the weather hasn’t been so atrocious— i heard it’s been far worse down in southern minnesota, so i’m not complaining. i’m taking a class called ‘invitational leadership institute’ through the minnesota writing project (mwp), which is the last group to ever take this class as the program has unfortunately been defunded at the university of minnesota. i have the utmost love for the mwp, especially for its leaders. thanks to them i’ve become a strong educator and have gained extraordinary knowledge on Indigenous-related pedagogy + resources from across the state of minnesota, the importance of historically relevant literacy + culturally responsive pedagogy from Gloria Ladson-Billings, and so much more (within just the last year)! while in class, we’ve been working in reading groups, writing groups, and creating demo workshops for teachers. my demo workshop was titled ‘centering student voice in the classroom’ and asking the overarching question of, “If we agree that diverse voices are rich to the classroom, why does it feel “political” to discuss or read about racial, ethnic, and gender-expansive identities?” i had teachers work through the historically relevant literacy from Gholdy Muhammad’s Cultivating Genius and PELSB’s Standards of Effective Practice. this july, i also wrapped up my second to last grad course in my teaching program. my grad research focuses on ‘utilizing translanguaging pedagogy in ELA classrooms’, which i’m really proud of and will continue to work on for my culminating capstone project this winter.
in just a few days my time in bemidji will be ending — i will miss the walks on the lake’s curves and seeing the jaw-dropping image of tree trunks uprooted from their home. in case you didn’t know, bemidji and surrounding communities were hit by a microburst with winds that reached up to 120 mph! the city hosted a memorial for all the tree lives lost (no human lives were lost nor gravely injured). i’m in gratitude to the land and for the natural disasters it endures. this past weekend, roque decided to come visit me! we had the chance to take in the beauty of northern minnesota (land of the Anishinaabeg) by visiting two state parks: Itascan (Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan) + Bemidji (Bemijigamaag). we were also in awe to witness the Ojibwe language in public spaces — we became familiar with boozhoo (hello) and miigwech (thank you).
in other green news, the beets are growing in the garden! i’m so sad i’m not harvesting alongside roque, but he is sending me images of what’s really poppin out: jalapeños and squash. my marigolds in my backyard are also growing, which i’m so excited as (fingers-crossed) i’ll have fresh cempasúchil for dia de los muertos.

What I’m Watching
i’ve been too busy this july that watching videos has been out of the question. although, i have been scrolling thru instagram reels at night!
What I’m Reading
Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec
What I’m Listening
Sonriele by DY
EAST LA by will.i.am and Taboo
Hinterland 2025 playlist