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Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Book by Raquel Cepeda · 42 quotes · Travel, Identity, Home

This memoir delves into the author's experiences and reflections on her cultural heritage, offering a candid look at the complexities of identity and belonging.

Book detail: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina is presented as a focused source page for quotations connected with this book, collection, transcript, or source record.

This memoir delves into the author's experiences and reflections on her cultural heritage, offering a candid look at the complexities of identity and belonging.

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Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina Quotes

“The Dominican Republic is my holy land, my Mecca.”

Land Holy Republic Mecca Holy Land Dominican Republic

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“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.”

Thinking Feels I Can Home America My Own Cities New York Identity Labels Rejects New York City Constructs

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“There are things in our blood that are just naturally passed down to us, whether we want to recognize them or not.”

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Women destroy me. I allow them to.”

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Being Latino means being from everywhere, and that is exactly what America is supposed to be about.”

Mean America Racism Supposed To Be Latino

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Nobody, she felt, understood her-not her mother, not her father, not her sister or brother, none of the girls or boys at school, nadie - except her man.”

Men School Mother Girl Father Felt Boys Brother Understood Teenage Teenage Love

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“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.”

Children Ideas Water Blood Our Children Our Family Meant To Be Spouse Love And Respect Blood Is Thicker Than Water

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Shakespeare had it right all along: Love will kill you in the end.”

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“I guess it all depends on whom you ask and when you ask. Race, I've learned, is in the eye of the beholder.”

Eye Asks Race Depends I've Learned Beholder Eye Of The Beholder

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“We travel with the same clan over and over again, from one life to the next, until some ultimate purpose is fulfilled and we no longer need to return.”

Needs Purpose Next Return Ultimate Fulfilled Clans

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

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

Way Sometimes Reaching Manifest Ancestor Reach Out

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

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

Persons Shows Mother Birth

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Our identities are as fluid as our personal experiences are diverse.”

Identity Diversity Diverse Fluid Personal Experiences

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“I remember feeling that pieces of me were scattered around the world; I belonged to her, Mother Earth.”

World Feelings Earth Remember Mother Pieces Around The World Mother Earth

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“For some, excavating the past isn’t an adventure, it’s more akin to tearing a Band-Aid off an open wound.”

Past Adventure Band Aids Wounds Band Aid

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

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

Feelings Certain Standing Closest Reconciliation

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Lately, Mami’s eyes have been so dark, I don’t like looking into them because I’m afraid I’ll fall in.”

Has Beens Eye Fall Dark

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

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

People Space Identity Allowing Shady

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“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.”

Way Mind Heart I Can Growing Travel Window Folks Belly Globalization Captured Mcdonalds Kfc

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“This is what I know about my parents. They spent the next several years trying to forget each other, and me.”

Knows Trying Years Next Parent Forget Divorce

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Paradise is a state of being, more than just the name of a suburb or a home.”

States Home Names Paradise Suburbs

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“We aren’t encouraged to think for ourselves and ask questions. We are expected to accept what they teach us as infallible truths.”

Thinking Asks Accepting Teach Expected Infallible

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Come to think of it, maybe God is a He after all, because only a cruel force would create something this beautiful and make it inaccessible to most people”

People Thinking Beautiful Force Travel Inaccessible

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“The past is buried deep within the ground in Rabat, although the ancient walls in the old city are still standing, painted in electrifying variations of royal blue that make the winding roads look like streamlets or shallow ocean water”

Looks Stills Past Water Cities Wall Travel Ocean Standing Blue Ancient Buried Shallow Royal Variation Deep Within Ocean Water Winding Road Royal Blue

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“If Aphrodite chills at home in Cyprus for most of the year, then Fez must be the goddess’s playground”

Ifs Years Home Travel Goddess Chill Playgrounds Aphrodite Cyprus

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“To me, travel is more valuable than any stupid piece of bling money can buy”

Pieces Stupid Travel Valuable Bling

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“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.”

World Said Different Wish Travel Racism Around The World Patriarchy Xenophobia

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“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.”

Needs Soul Spiritual Grows Achieve Scene Deeper Setting Settings Elevation Zeitgeist Fodder Juncture

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Sometimes opposites attract, or so they say, but Paloma and Rocío were like arroz and mangú: they didn’t really mix well.”

Family Opposites Sisters Family Relationships Family Drama Sisterhood Hispanic Dysfunctional Families Family Saga Sisters Sibling Rivalry Latinas Latino American Latina Americans

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Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“I fall in love with Paraíso. It’s like a giant playground where I’m never scolded for running around recklessly, where I’m almost overwhelmed with the amount of attention and love I receive from Mami’s family. In New York, I’m invisible.”

Home Family Loneliness Identity Alone Paradise Isolation Coming Of Age Invisibility Paraiso Transnational

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Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“The gaping hole in her heart is amplified when she catches a glimpse of the strands of silver hair framing her once young face in the mirror.”

Stressed Self Image Immigrant Experience Rocio

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“I think Dad wanted to feel the pain, to feel his body cry, an urgent reminder that he was still alive. I pretended not to notice.”

Pain Father Alive Mortality Father And Daughter

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“If it weren’t for her setting me free, I may still be a caged bird today, holding my own daughter captive on a shit-laden perch.”

Freedom Motherhood Cycles Mothers Breaking Free Caged Bird Breaking Cycles

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Hip-hop, this thing we love that loves us back, is our lingua franca.”

Hip Hop Coming Of Age Youth Culture Counterculture Disenfranchisement Lingua Franca 80s Hip Hop

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“More than anything, this place feels familiar. I bury my hands in the hot sand and think about the embodiment of memory or, more specifically, our natural ability to carry the past in our bodies and minds. 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. I quietly thank this ancestor of mine for surviving the trip so that I could one day return.”

Spirituality Travel Memory Trekking Life Journey Spiritual Journey Ancestors Sahara Sahara Desert Journeying Ancestral Memory Ancestral Continuum Ancestral Dna

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Traveling further ingrained my desire to connect to a place other than an island that is slightly older, in a New World way, than the United States, especially after I found characteristics of my face in the faces of the people in my global community.”

New World Traveling Spiritual Journey Global Community Journeying Love Of Travel

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“In reality, Eduardo hoped the mask would make him appear vulnerable and self conscious, like a wounded animal these stupid women would fight each other over to mend.”

Vulnerability Masculinity Rivalry Playboy Masks Machismo Players

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“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.”

Race New World Race Relations Hispanic Race In America Latino American Hispanic Identity Latino American Identity Race Matters New World History

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“She looks like an empty shell of a woman with her soul hovering above her. We believe in spiritual guías in Santo Domingo. Hers is her own self. I can see Mami’s soul desperately trying to find its way back into her small body.”

Spirituality Lost Lost Innocence Spiritual Guides Mami

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“The tension between people is palpable, and the ideal of what it means to be and look American becomes a preoccupation to folks around the country, including me.”

America Race Identity Racism Status Quo Race Relations Latino American Society Identity Crisis Identity Politics Racial Tension American People Hispanics Latina Americans Latino Americans

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Listen kid, it’s just you and me now, so let’s help each other out. Always be honest with me, and show me how to be the mother and father I never had. I’ll make a mess of things sometimes, and I’m sorry in advance, but I’ll try. My word is bond.”

Mother Motherhood Mothers And Daughters Single Parenthood Young Mothers

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Hip-hop is storytelling.”

Culture Hip Hop Storytelling Storytellers Youth Culture Counterculture

Book:Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

Source: Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

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