December 2020 - Betrayal and Acrimony

December 28, 2020December 30, 2020

Something to declare

Santiago was the firstborn of eight children to an extremely toxic mother. She debased, beat, terrorized, and ridiculed her sons daily. Santiago grew up to be just as narcissistic as his mother. Like his mother, by the age of eighteen, Santiago had three children, born in the same year, by three different women. He has eleven children with seven different women, while solely financially providing for his youngest two children. Every other child never received any monetary or emotional support. His older children envied the youngest two, given they are the ones he had a vested interest in. Fiscally, Santiago did very well for himself however, he began to lose his fortune due to the drinking. Indiscretions were rampant in the marriage. Physical abuse of his wife was a staple and how he maintained total control. Santiago’s affaire with the bottle superseded all things. When he tired of running the streets and returned home, no one was spared of his vitriolic nature. The years of abuse manifested in excessive weight gain in his wife. She had gastric bypass surgery as a means of reinventing herself. While home recovering from the surgery, Santiago beats her, fearing she may finally leave. His youngest daughter is effortlessly striking, coquette. As she walks down the street, there is no shortage, in the awe of men. Habitually, Valentina was debased, ridiculed, and terrorized by the man responsible for loving and protecting her. No wonder, She lacks any motivation beyond being a kept woman even if it means grave degradation. Her lifestyle may seem foreign to many although this is how Valentina was groomed. Santiago projected the hollowness he felt within onto his daughter and she believed him.

December 21, 2020

Collateral damage of the immigrant

Fara’s parents informed her, she was solely going to Haiti for summer vacation. Fast forward two months and Fara is being fitted for school uniforms, that is how Fara realized she was not returning to Brooklyn. This event forever changed Fara’s outlook on life. While in Haiti, Fara resided with an auntie who treated her well. Fara never wanted for material things, rather she grappled with feelings of abandonment which were elusive to articulate, as a seven-year-old. Friendships in her life tended to be seasonal. She never allowed anyone to become too close for fear of things ending. The slightest infraction in a friendship or relationship is grounds for ending the alliance. Fara is hypervigilant about protecting herself. During winter and summer breaks Fara returned to Brooklyn and was reunited with her family. Fara’s older siblings lost themselves with the wrong crowd. As a consequence, Fara’s parents reasoned sending her to Haiti would allow her to be raised in a different environment, as well as foster a fresh mindset, and it worked. Between the ages of seven and thirteen Fara resided in Haiti. Once her parents decided to bring Fara back to Brooklyn permanently, irreparable damage had ensued. Fara was riddled with resentment toward her mother. It took years for her mother to grasp the gravity of Fara’s feelings of being disenfranchised.

December 14, 2020December 24, 2020

Laborinto de mi Vida

On a cold winter nite, December 21st, 1957, Genova arrived in New York City from La Republica Dominicana. Thirty-two years old and with just enough money to rent a furnished room in the upper west side. In the ’60s the upper west side was a far cry from what it is today. No command of the English language, “una mano atras y otra alante” as said in Spanish, “not a pot to pee in.” What Genova lacked in financial resources, she overcompensated with gumption. Getting acclimated to American culture was quite jarring coming from a culture in which everyone knows their neighbors, and customarily treated with warmth, dignity, and seen. Genova was consumed by upward mobility. The first task was securing the resources to purchase a house back home, so all six of her children can once again live together under one roof. Within three years the mission was accomplished. Although her children were keenly aware of their mothers’ sacrifices, being apart weighed heavily on them. Having graduated from the third grade, Genova was relegated to working in factories as a seamstress, potato peeler, kitchen of restaurants to name a few. With savings from multiple jobs, she moved into a five-bedroom apartment in Sugar Hill, Harlem. She rented the bedrooms to other newly arrived immigrants, which paid her rent and provided surplus. Genova offered cooking services to the boarders for an additional fee. Aside from boarders, cooking services, she provided baby-sitting services as well. As a child, she would tell adults premonitions despite her pious mother frowning on this gift. While in Harlem far away from her mother’s disapproval, she visited a local botanica and purchased a deck of tarot cards and taught herself how to read the cards. She has always been intrinsically connected to her sixth sense. Once she started providing tarot services business soared. People learned of her through word of mouth. Walking into her living room closely resembled a waiting room in a doctor’s office. Well-heeled individuals, from all walks of life, ranging from a journalist, wife of a physician, big-time drug dealers, and countless others as repeat customers. Genova even had customers who spoke no Spanish and had friends translate readings, as customers kept notes in a journal. She had customers calling from as far as Peru for readings. Genova also prepared Banos’ when clients required spiritual cleansing. Banos’ consisted of various hojas among other ingredients. Banos’ ranged in price between $100 and $200, the business was fruitful. Working incessantly, numerous side hustles, living below her means, she managed to purchase additional homes in La Republic Dominicana, as rental properties. Single handed securing visas and permanent residency for all six of her children to join her in America.

December 7, 2020April 9, 2021

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT

Leonora looked like the stereotypical Latina. Waist-length curly hair, hourglass figure, inherited from the ancestors. Beautiful smile, all-around a looker. A very personable and sweet girl. A ton of fun to be around. Leonora recently completed her master’s in nursing, single, and living her very best life. Leonora was 27 and beginning to feel the pressures of not being engaged or married unlike many of her sorority sisters. Leonora had a lover, whom she worshipped and delighted in his nectar. She and her lover were involved well beyond the expiration date of the average affair. Her lover would call her late into the night when he was certain his wife was asleep and they would speak for hours. Leonora’s family was entirely against the relationship given Mateo was married although keeping appearances superseded how they felt about him. There was nothing Leonora’s family could do to sway her into ending things with her lover. The constant familial scrutiny only compelled her to keep the relationship a secret and pretend it was over. Leonora met Solano through her childhood friend. Solano had done exceptionally well for himself in investment banking and by all appearances had quite the future ahead of him and was ready for marriage. Upon meeting Leonora, Solano was immediately smitten, within six months they were engaged. Throughout the courtship, Leonora maintained allegiance to Solano. A wedding was planned while no attention to detail was spared. The wedding was scheduled at a cathedral with a year-long waitlist. The veil alone was 100 feet long. Two hundred and fifty guests confirmed. White Beach, Boracay Aklan, Philippines was confirmed as the honeymoon destination. The evening before the nuptials, Leonora was nowhere to be found. She had decided to spend the evening with her lover.