THE OEI BULLETIN

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we release this bulletin to honor and uplift those who are a part of the Hispanic and Latine communities at Porter’s and beyond. This bulletin discusses the importance of media representation for marginalized groups, the journey of civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, and a book recommendation for The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. We are also grateful to Dari Rosario and Ivana

Rodal Fernandez’s contributions as the guest writers of the month. In Dari’s article, she introduces herself to the Porter’s community and shares her experience as a Dominican-American growing up in New York, and Ivana shares a brief overview of Latin American dancing. At last, we hope everyone enjoyed participating in BLA/HOLA meetings and continues to take time to hear from those within the community even past Hispanic Heritage Month.

Who is Dari?

By Dari Rosario

When people think of home, you may think of the place where your parents live or where you spend your time after school. The word home for me I is in a different place. Home is the Dominican Republic.

This is my immediate family. They have sacrificed the most to allow me to accomplish my dream. My grandparents (in the middle) came to America and left my mother and uncle at home to be able to create a foundation for them to come to. They worked day and night in jobs that did not pay them enough just to be able to bring their children to something more than what they had in our country. When I was born my family became the village who raised me and never let me miss out on anything growing up. I did everything I could to make them proud and as a thank you for everything they had sacrificed. My family gave me the opportunity to go to college and throughout the way they each helped fund the goal of me being the first generation hispanic college graduate of my family.

This is part of my family. Although we may look like many, we were always there for one another. In the center is my great grandmother. She was an inspiration of mine. She always reminded me whether I was here in New York or back home visiting her at home “Trata de ser mejor que el que hizo el trabajo ante de ti” (Try to be better than the person who did the work before you). These words still continue to play in my mind in everything I do no matter how big or small.

The girl in this picture was a girl who did not understand what her family did for her. She knew that her family moved away from “the farm” and came to New York City. But she never understood why they did that. Fast forward to high school graduation, I realized that they had left home for me to be able to have the future they never had. As a Dominican-American, I was able to have the same opportunities as people here in the US and also give a chance for people of my country to learn how they can also have the same opportunities as I had.