Quotes by Raquel Cepeda

56 quotes found

Common Themes

“Hip-hop, this thing we love that loves us back, is our lingua franca.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

80s-hip-hop coming-of-age counterculture disenfranchisement

“Sometimes opposites attract, or so they say, but Paloma and Roco were like arroz and mang: they didnt really mix well.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

dysfunctional-families family family-drama family-relationships

“The hospital room was as cold as dead skin, the hallway crowded with lost souls and reeking of illness.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

father-and-daughter hospital mortality sickness

“This thing I am feeling, I’m almost certain, is the closest I’ll ever come to standing somewhere in between truth and reconciliation.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

enlightenment journey life life-journey

“If it weren’t for her setting me free, I may still be a caged bird today, holding my own daughter captive on a shit-laden perch.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

breaking-cycles breaking-free caged-bird cycles

“For some, excavating the past isn’t an adventure, it’s more akin to tearing a Band-Aid off an open wound.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

excavating-the-past forgetting forgetting-the-past history

“I wish she’d said something different, but patriarchy is as prevalent around the world as racism and xenophobia are. We can’t hide from it, not even here.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

amazigh-girl atlas-mountains morocco patriarchy

“Globalization by the way of McDonald’s and KFC has captured the hearts, the minds, and from what I can see through the window, the growing bellies of the folks here.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

globalization kfc mcdonald-s travel

“Hip-hop...has been the proverbial key that’s opened the door for me to roam this breathtaking planet.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

global-hip-hop hip-hop hiphop journey

“I fall in love with Paraíso. It’s like a giant playground where I’m never scolded for running around recklessly, where I’m almost overwhelmed with the amount of attention and love I receive from Ma...”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

alone coming-of-age family home

“Lately, Mami’s eyes have been so dark, I don’t like looking into them because I’m afraid I’ll fall in.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

darkness eyes family-relationships mami

“Alice’s razor-thin blond hair is what people in Santo Domingo call bueno, but I don’t understand how that kind of hair can be good. It doesn’t move at all, or ripple like the water in Boca Chica wh...”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

boca-chica good-hair hair hair-drama

“Listen kid, it’s just you and me now, so let’s help each other out. Always be honest with me, and show me how to be the mother and father I never had. I’ll make a mess of things sometimes, and I’m ...”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

mother motherhood mothers-and-daughters single-parenthood

“We aren’t encouraged to think for ourselves and ask questions. We are expected to accept what they teach us as infallible truths.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

coming-of-age educational-inequity educational-system infallibility

“You are meant to be, despite how you got here; you’ll see someday.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

coming-of-age divine-intervention journey-in-life spiritual-guides

“Sometimes opposites attract, or so they say, but Paloma and Rocío were like arroz and mangú: they didn’t really mix well.”

— Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

dysfunctional-families family family-drama family-relationships