Support them if you can. We need to preserve these legacy institutions listening at the grassroots for all our songs.

…and by doing so made me believe I had something to say, that someone was listening.

They’ve been doing this for the past 50 years, a struggle at times to stay afloat, operating on shoestring budgets, a labor of love and of fierce and talented muse editors and volunteers.

Back when Calyx was founded (1976), publication wasn’t a given for women of color or with divergent perspectives. Glass ceilings still existed in the literary pantheons. Calyx was one of the first magazines to publish my poetry (1982)…

I didn’t want to go home, this place is magical. If I go to heaven—the jury is still out on this one—one of its neighborhoods will be Salem!

A visit also to an exhibit of Diablos Ecológicos, based on those traditional “devils,” (Diablos Cojuelos) come out on the streets of the D.R. during carnival. Luis Riveras makes his with the community using recycled materials.

Adding to the fun was a visit to Casa de Abuela installation, where we met the curators as well as the director of Punto Urban Art Museum, responsible for all the murals around the neighborhood on subsidized housing.

My conversation on stage with Dr. Keja Valens was like a meeting of old friends to share our stories, told and untold. I also highly recommend picking up a copy of her book, “Culinary Colonialism, Caribbean Cookbooks, and Recipes of National Independence.”

The Salem rep, Manny Cruz, showed up to give me an official welcome—he shares the same name and surname as one of the protagonists in my novel!

An added blessing, which I ascribe to Judy’s poems, the skies finally opened and sent down rain to ease our drought on our way home from the reading.

I’ve been reading and admiring her poems for years and so glad The Central Eye is now available to order at your local bookstore or at www.onionriverpress.com/books/p/the-... so I can share my affection for her work with others.

The occasion was a reading and conversation about my novel The Cemetery of Untold Stories. True to the themes of the novel, we created community by listening and talking about stories.

“We are all in this story together,” as one of the characters notes.

We also visited the Dominican Consulate in Boston with our friend Leonidas Valenzuela where we were warmly welcomed by Yadires Nova-Salcedo, Dominican Cultural Liaison in New England, and Bethania Rodríguez, Vice Consul.

Although I’m unable to go due to prior commitments, Dedé’s memoir is essential reading. Attached are a couple of pictures during her and Minou’s visits to Vermont many years ago, in my garden. I hope you will attend.

And she is indeed Julia Alvarez. She said when she would visit her mom who lived in Washington Heights and give her name, Dominicans would tell her how proud they were of her work!