Why I’ve Started Only Reading In Spanish

I am not fluent in Spanish. I know that will probably surprise some people who know me. It sure surprised my mother when I told her earlier this month in Spanish. Yes, I told my mother in Spanish that I don’t know Spanish. Confused? So am I.

I pass the American eye and ear test for someone who is fluent in Spanish. I can translate most things and I am usually called upon to read the rare Spanish word in my classes. My Spanish was good enough to score a high grade on my NYS Regents. However, I haven’t had any formal training in Spanish. My classroom has been my mother’s home and earlier this year I left it.

Now I live with two non-Spanish speaking Puerto Ricans and my Filipino girlfriend. I didn’t realize the shock to the system that not hearing Spanish at home would be. If I were to rank the languages heard in my apartment, the list would go: English, Japanese,  Korean, and then Spanish. I love my new apartment but it doesn’t feel like home. Something was missing. I had lost something and I wasn’t quite sure what.

Then I realized that there was a huge hole in my life where my Spanish used to be. It’s not just a case of not hearing Spanish at home anymore. I wasn’t using it. I didn’t have a place to use it in my daily life.  I used to think that my language was something that would never leave me. Now, I realize that languages can die. Like any relationship, it will end, if you don’t set time aside to dedicate to it.

Revolution

 Una mano

más una mano
no son dos manos
Son manos unidas
Une tu mano
a nuestras manos
para que el mundo
no esté en pocas manos
sino en todas las manos
-Gonzalo Arango

-Brayan De Los Rios Guisao