La Fiesta de San Felipe
The town of San Felipe was picturesque as a postcard. Festive lights glittered from palm trees surrounding the town square, adding to the brilliance of the star-filled sky. Sounds of splashing water emanated from a fountain. The band played a lively mix of merengue and salsa. In the midst of the square, Isobel could make out a swirling sea of brightly colored skirts. Her uncle, Marco, walked her over to one of the kioscos selling café, dulces tipicos, frituras and other Puerto Rican specialties. They ordered virgin coladas and alcapurrias and joined the couples sitting on stone benches. Isobel’s eyes wandered to the Spanish Colonial-style cathedral that dominated the eastern end of the plaza. Wreaths of hibiscus and bougainvillea flowers hung on the doors. The façade was white with a soft blue trim and Renaissance-style windows that glowed from within with an unnatural red light. The building was very old and appeared to be standing guard over the plaza. Marco noticed where Isobel was staring.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but kinda creepy.” Marco looked at the church pensively. The few days he had spent in the sun since their arrival in Puerto Rico were already reflected on his skin; the bronze glow was visible evidence of his indigenous ancestry. Despite the tiny lines at the corners of his intense gray eyes, Marco looked more handsome than ever. Coming back home had definitely agreed with him.
“Hmm…actually, el Catedral de San Felipe has a very compelling history. The locals think it’s cursed by demons.”
“Stolen Moments” By Rosalina Diaz
in Tengo Sed: An Anthology of Works Celebrating Black Voices, Identity, and Personhood
About
“Stolen Moments”
by Rosalina Diaz
Set against the backdrop of Brooklyn’s Puerto Rican community in the 1980s and 1990s, Stolen Moments is a haunting coming-of-age story about trauma, memory, first love, and the emotional scars that shape a life.
As Marisa reflects on the relationships that defined her youth—from the dangerous obsession of a troubled cousin to the tenderness of a boy whose love offered her a glimpse of hope—the boundaries between past and present begin to blur. Marked by violence, grief, guilt, and longing, she struggles to reconcile the woman she has become with the wounded girl she once was.
Lyrical, intimate, and emotionally raw, Stolen Moments explores the enduring weight of loss, the complexity of survival, and the fragile moments of connection that can alter a life forever.
| About the Book: |
| Since 2015, the Tengo Sed (“I am thirsty”) Writers’ Retreats have brought together African-descended people of diverse backgrounds and across disciplines to create works in an emancipatory space of knowledge and community. For editors Dr. Yndia Lorick-Wilmot and Dr. Natasha Gordon-Chipembere, Tengo Sed is the manifestation of the bonds created within the context of global community-making, allowing for these perspectives to come to life. A blend of text and visuals in genre fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir, art, and music, Tengo Sed engages in the expansive and nuanced meanings of Blackness across the diaspora, traversing linguistic, geographic, material, and formal boundaries. The collection interrogates how African-descended individuals theorize and articulate their racial, gender, ethnic, and national identities in relation to dominant discourse. Underscored by a transnational feminist cultural studies approach, the collection builds upon the legacy of The Sisterhood—an activist-literary collective founded by Alice Walker and June Jordan—by providing a contemporary platform for Black creatives to amplify their voices. Singular and inspirational, Tengo Sed centers storytelling, self-making, and artistic practice, and contributes to ongoing dialogues on Black identity, liberation, and creative sovereignty. Pre-Order Now. Also available in Paperback: $28.95 and E-book: $14.95 University of Illinois Press Barnes & Noble Amazon |