Francis Mateo moves between languages the way a dancer shifts across a stage, deliberate, rhythmic, and full of purpose. His poetry, often bilingual, captures the spirit of Dominican life in Washington Heights with a clarity that feels both intimate and epic. Whether performing with the band La Sovietika or bringing his words to life on the theater stage, Mateo’s art is a testament to survival, memory, and the power of storytelling.

The border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti is more than a line in the soil. It is a wound cauterized by silence, reopened by every racialized deportation, every denial of identity, every unspoken legacy of the 1937 Parsley Massacre that killed as many as 30,000 Haitians and Black Dominicans. Through the voices of writers and activists, this piece explores how memory, literature, and solidarity are reshaping the narrative and healing the scars of history on Hispaniola

A recent literary event in New York sparked important conversations about cultural appropriation and Latinx identity. Attendees reflected on the tension between cultural appreciation and appropriation, emphasizing the need for authentic representation and respect for lived experiences.