by Teresa | Jun 15, 2026 | Cultural Communication, Language Acquisition
What image does the word barrio evoke in one’s mind? For some Americans, the image that materializes is the “hood” as depicted in movies—a deteriorating, working?class neighborhood run, supposedly, by young men who don’t attend school or work. Absent parents. Gang...
by Teresa | Mar 26, 2026 | Books, Cultural Experience
Some of my sweetest childhood memories are of being a little “fly on the wall,” tucked into a corner at family gatherings, invisible but completely enthralled. I loved listening to the women—mis abuelas, tías, comadres, and vecinas—who formed the protective web of my...
by Teresa | Feb 26, 2026 | Civic Engagement, Cultural Experience
Small bureaucratic hurdles can silence real voters. Here’s why the SAVE America Act risks doing just that. During my undergraduate and graduate studies, I learned that something as small as a missing hyphen could create outsized consequences. In college, my surname...
by Teresa | Feb 24, 2026 | Books, Cultural Experience
“No sabes la suerte que tienes por ser güera,” mi abuela would exclaim when I was young, usually after I complained about the nickname mi familia had given me, “la güera”. She was right. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the “luck”—what I now recognize as...
by Teresa | Jan 13, 2026 | Books, The Culturist's POV, Translations
Next to writing, reading has always been one of my greatest joys. The first book I remember loving as a young reader was a graphic novel adaptation of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It was a Spanish edition, and Tom and Huck became mis amigos—from where else...
