My writing covers the experiences of a growing demographic: The Puerto Rican diaspora — from a GenX Perspective.
There’s a part of me that wants to search the Internet right now to find all the Puerto Rican women my age writing and influencing and doing all the things I say I really want to do, but just can’t seem to navigate my way there. Why? My biggest excuse has been: NOT ENOUGH TIME! There’s always a client to service; money to worry about; a family thing to address; a workout to do, making sure real life is managed. Another excuse has been: NEED TO FIND LOVE before I can do anything else!
Well, no more excuses. Cuz I found love and I’ve got plenty of time to start a new search: who are the Puerto Rican GenX Writers out there right now? I’m not talking about the Millennials who are just arriving from Puerto Rico. I’m talking GenX, born in the mid 70s to the Rita Morenos, aka, the first generation of Puerto Ricans who grew up in New York.
I’m a tad bit older than Lin Manuel Miranda, who has been doing a very good job of easing the rest of America into our stories through, “In the Heights” and “Encanto.” God bless Lin Manuel, not only for telling these otherwise untold stories, but for hiring the rest of us to help tell them, thus creating pathways for more of our stories that veer away from the stereotypes. Let’s see…
- Actress Dacha Polanco, oh wait, she was born 1982 and she’s Dominican. OK. Keep searching…
- Marc Anthony? Born in 1968, but not a Puerto Rican GenX writer. Hmm.
- Javier Muñoz? Ooh! Born in 1975. Maybe he’ll write something.
If you Google search “puerto rican generation x writer,” the results are weird.
Top result is, “Hope for the Future? It’s Generational.” There is nothing in the article about Puerto Rican writers, it’s just how the different generations regard the future. OK.
At least Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez comes up — he was born in 1975 like me. I tried to interview him after he wrote the 2017 graphic novel “La Borinquena” but he wasn’t available. He’s big time. Was working on the project with La Reina Rosario Dawson — now, actually, when I think about her badassery in Kids and Grindhouse, she’s the quintessential GenX Latina. I identify with her most, but even then, she doesn’t have that suburban background that defines my story.
My conclusion? There are no Puerto Rican writers, from my generation, who have published the New York-to-Orlando experience…yet. This will make my pitch for my next project, “Model Ricans,” stronger…unless another Puerto Rican GenX writer reads this and beats me to it, or contacts me to collaborate on it. My preference these days is collaboration, so hit me up!