A day at the beach...

I love feeling the hot sun caressing my skin while a fresh breeze passes by to cool me down, the sound of the palm tree branches dancing to the sounds of the roaring sea, while the sand molds to my body as I lay taking it all in and when I am ready, I submerge myself into the salty warm waters and look up at the fluffy clouds in the sky who are so respectfully staying far enough to not disrupt my date with the sun but close to enough to allow me to admire them. I love the beach.

Black is Beautiful: Hair and the Identity Struggle in the Dominican Republic

I wrote this piece for a conference I participated in Dakar, Senegal on January 2011.

I come from the Dominican Republic, a country that has been plagued with the worst kind of self-hate and racism in the world. This is a big statement, but I say it because it is what I live and feel everyday since I returned there—I migrated when I was 4 years old and moved back 18 years later. I am trusting my experience, as James Baldwin, an African American writer once wrote, confiding in the fact that it is my own and relevant to me.

My mother relaxed my hair when I was 9 years old and I continued to do it every 2-3 months until the age of 23. I remember describing how I felt right after a relaxer was applied as feeling clean, more beautiful, and feeling like a huge weight was taken off of my shoulders. My entire life I was socialized to believe that the opposite of relaxed hair was dirty, ugly, and heavy. Finally after spending thousands of dollars on hair products (US$10 for relaxer every two months, an average of $25 for salon visits every two weeks and countless hair products), wasting endless hours at the salon, and enduring painful burns from the relaxer and blow dryers, I said, “No more!”

Deciding to go natural was not an easy process. I cried, I felt like a boy, I felt ugly, I felt less of a women. I realized that like any process, these were just a series of steps that I had to overcome. The feelings that arose gave me a slap in the face, allowing me to deconstruct the origins of these feelings of inferiority based on my natural hair and question their validity.

Many Dominicans who criticize me, see themselves in me and when they reject me they in turn reject themselves. They don’t want to be African, they don’t want to be black, and so when I embrace these things they become afraid because I am them. I am also considered a rebel and a revolutionary for not conforming to what has been determined as beautiful. No one asked my opinion when beauty norms were created.  Why is fair skin and long silky straight hair beautiful when I wasn’t born like that and why is being natural revolutionary?

I wish that when we talked about hair, it would be just that, hair—an accessory to the body and nothing else.   Pablo Freire, a Brazilian scholar once wrote, “Without a sense of identity, there can be no real struggle.” Until we recognize, love and value our history, our skin color, our hair, ourselves, this fight will be long and painful. Black is beautiful.   

A new kind of fight is born in the Dominican Republic

The article bellow is in Spanish and written by a young activist, Heury Perez. In summation, the article brings to light to the new era of peaceful activism that has developed in the past few years in the Dominican Republic.

Una nueva forma de protesta nace en República Dominicana.

Recuerdo aquellas manifestaciones de descontento del pueblo dominicano tirado a las calles quemando gomas, ensuciando sus calles y enfrentándose con palos y piedras a las fuerzas policiales que ultimaban de algún balazo uno que otro huelguista, este tipo de manifestaciones estériles que no resolvían ni ayudaban a la solución del conflicto por el que se luchaba. Esta  ha sido desplazada por una nueva forma de protesta y manifestaciones con mejore resultados dando fruto a victorias del pueblo frente a los abusos de las autoridades actuales que pretenden hacer lo que quieran con nuestro país.

Ejemplo de estas nuevas formas de lucha libres de violencia y orientada a la razón    elevando la masa activista dominicana a nuevos niveles de madures dentro de la lucha, como son las Manifestaciones en contra de la cementera en los haitises, el juicio moral por el desayuno escolar contra Alejandrina German y  el 4% por la educación, por mencionar algunas de las victorias que por medio de esta nueva era de manifestaciones el pueblo dominicano ha logrado.

Cabe señalar que a diferencia de la quema de gomas y el paro laboral que afecta más al pueblo que protesta, esta lucha se orienta más a la unificación de la gente y  no solo de sectores pequeño que eran amedrentados con violencia por las autoridades haciendo caso omiso a  sus reclamos.

Es simple y evidente “la unión hace la fuerza”, este tipo de protesta nos invita a los dominicanos acostumbrados a resolver los problemas colectivos de forma individual, (si no funciona la luz compro un inversor, si no llega el agua cabo un pozo de agua, etc.) a que nos unamos para solucionar en el colectivo y unidos los problemas que nos afectan a todos.

“Pensemos diferente y hagamos la diferencia por un mejor país”

No bajemos la guardia que aún queda mucho por que luchar.

Heury Perez

Jarabacoa

Jarabacoa

Jarabacoa is a wonderful place. I was first in Puerto Plata, a small beach town in the northwestern part of the county for work. I left there at around 5:30am to La Vega to catch the bus to my destination. Well, I got there at 8:00am and the 8:30am bus was already full, the next bus to Jarabacoa would maybe leave at 11:30am if there was a bus available. But do not fear, the motoconchos and local transportation services are here! So that is exactly what I did, I hopped on a motoconcho, he took me to the local bus stop and in less than an hour I was in Jarabacoa.

I didn’t know where I was going to spend the night or where I had to go to experience the outdoorsy adventure that I wanted, all I knew was that Jarabacoa had mountains and rivers. I told the bus driver to drop me off at the center of the town, I figured it would be a good place to start, and no I didn’t have a map of Jarabacoa with me, I did however, have a map of the country, I figured that would be enough.

I decided to walk down to the stop of the original bus that I was going to take; it is a national company so I imagined I could find some kind of information there. I immediately came across two white Americans and said, “I know this may sound really random, but where are you two staying tonight?” They looked at me like I had four heads, but nonetheless they tried to help.  Like good ol’ tourist they took out their Lonely Planet book and showed me where they would spend the night. It was a really pricy hotel. NOTE to self: never ask tourist where they are staying, it is probably way over priced and not really worth the money, but hey I needed to start somewhere.  

I am in the Dominican Republic, so I was sure that a “buscon” (hustler) would appear at any moment, and so in a matter of minutes he did. His name was Antonio and although I knew that he was after my small stash, he was very nice and extremely helpful. This guy got me in contact with this ranch that offered all kinds of nature adventures, got me a local spot to spend the night with a picturesque view for like RD$500 pesos (USD$14), and finally took me to the very cool ranch where I would meet Anthony and Tony. Yes, in one day I met Antonio, Anthony and Tony, I guess we can deduce that this is a popular name up in the mountains of Jarabacoa?

Anthony was the 16 year old in charge of taking me horseback ridding for 2 hours to the Salto de Jimenoa (a small water fall). Yes you read it correctly, a 2 hour horse ride! My butt and back were killing me! It was definitely worth its price of RD$750 pesos (USD$21). Of course what I mean to say is that the horse ride, the yummy buffet lunch, and the access to the pool were all worth that price, I find it hard to put a price on nature, going through a breathtaking greenery to arrive at a waterfall is simply priceless or at least it should be.

Tony was the waiter at the restaurant in the ranch. He was really sweet to me. You see lunch, water, coffee, and tea were all included in the buffet, but you had to pay for other refreshments. I wanted a natural juice and although they didn’t have any, Tony went out of his way to find me some. He came to my table with a glass of “jugo de carambola” or star fruit juice. It was so delicious and something completely new to me. He would come by my table every so often to check up on me and even told me that if I didn’t like what was being offered in the buffet, he would go and get me something else. It began to rain and of course I asked for some hot chocolate, probably some of the best I’ve had in a long time. All in all, my trip was a great one, in less than 24 hours I was able to hike, horseback ride, eat, and just enjoy life. I did this all by myself, but I look forward to sharing Jarabacoa with loved ones and friends.

Hello, I am a Palm Tree

Playa Bonita in Las Terrenas

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Pine trees in the Dominican Republic