WRITE...REFLECT...REIMAGINE
Write…Reflect…Reimagine Ⓡ is the official podcast of Casa de María Publisher, an independent publishing house committed to amplifying diverse and underrepresented voices.
This podcast series is a sanctuary for emerging and established marginalized writers, poets, and screenwriters seeking both inspiration and practical strategies to navigate the publishing world.
Each episode features powerful conversations with published authors, visionary poets, and industry professionals who have carved their own path in a system that often overlooks their stories.
Listeners will gain access to behind-the-scenes insight, creative routines, and actionable advice—from writing residencies to manuscript pitching, self-publishing, traditional routes, and everything in between.
WRITE...REFLECT...REIMAGINE
From Hands to Page: Art into Writing with Lisa Valle
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In this episode of Write… Reflect… Reimagine, I sit down at Casa de María Publisher's headquarters in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, for a deeply personal conversation with Nuyorican artist, artisan, and cultural anthropologist Lisa Valle.
Together, we reflect on what it means to create with our hands, to carry memory through art, and to navigate identity across Borikén and the Diaspora.
Lisa shares the stories behind her powerful installation work featured in Arte de Tierra y Mar at Boricua College in New York City, including pieces like La Planta de Mi Abuela, Childhood’s End, and In My Skin. Through her work, she explores ancestry, healing, body image, and the realities of gender-based violence and erasure.
This conversation also marks a new chapter in her journey. As Lisa joins the Casa de María Publisher writing retreat, she begins to transition from visual storytelling into written narrative, exploring what it means to trust her voice on the page.
Together, we explore:
• What it means to create through the hands as a form of storytelling.
• Art as a space for memory, witnessing, and healing.
• The responsibility of socially conscious art.
• Navigating Borikén identity as a Nuyorican artist.
• The vulnerability of transitioning from artist to writer.
Welcome to Casa de Maria. This is a space for writers, artists, and cultural storytellers who believe that our words carry memory, meaning, and responsibility. Here we gather to reflect on craft, honored lived experience, and explore ethical pathways to publishing and creative growth. I am your host, Dr. Vin Malus Caval, founder of Casa de Maria Publisher. And I am grateful you are here.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to Write, Reflect, Reimagine. Today I'm here at Casa de Maria in this Castita country cottage space in Toalta, Puerto Rico, and I'm excited to sit for a writer's conversation with today's awesome guest. Now, before I introduce her, I want to take a moment to reflect on the power that conversations can hold. There's just something powerful about conversations with people that you have created shared memories with. That dialogue carries a different kind of depth. It is shaped by what has been experienced together. And these conversations emerge from time spent in places that stay with you and from the people who have helped you encounter those places with greater clarity. Lisa Valle is one of those people in my journey here in Puerto Rico during a time when I have been building and establishing La Casa de Maria Publisher home site with my bare hands. Now, in many ways, that is something we share: a relationship to creation that begins in the hands, in shaping and building, and forming and understanding that what we carry is not only expressed, but made. Lisa Valle is a New York artist, artisan, and cultural anthropologist whose work draws from Borinquen, from ancestry and from the stories carried across generations. Her socially conscious work raises awareness about violence against women and the realities of erasure and genocide in Puerto Rico. Currently, Lisa is presenting a six-week art installation at Boricwa College in New York City as part of their Women's History Month exhibition, Alte de Tierraimal, where her work continues to explore memory, identity, and cultural continuity. In one of my favorite pieces that she has an exhibition titled In My Skin, she moves beyond the traditional art form by using her own body as a part of the painting and this creative process to reflect a journey toward self-acceptance, healing, and the unlearning of imposed ideals of the body. Now, Lisa is also a social weaver. She just has a way of creating connection that feels both grounded and expansive, drawing people into community through like a shared love for the island. I've experienced that firsthand, whether it's been being welcomed into a spaces through her personal relationships, like visiting her friend in Rincon or moving through artisan fairs in the Rincon Plaza and running into other fellow artisans to learn about their own art journey. I've just been floored by the lovely connection that I've made with her friends. Being in those artistic spaces where creativity and community are happening all at once, wow, that's just a gift. And Lisa creates connection in a way that feels organic and intentional. I've met friends that live in different corners of the island, from the far west coast to the fellow artisans that live in Ceiba and Dorado. They have become a part of my friendship quilt here on the island, and for that I am deeply grateful. Now, right now, Lisa is not only a podcast guest at Casa de Maria Publisher, she has also walked alongside me in Puerto Rico in ways that have expanded how I experienced this archipelago. Now, through those shared moments, I have learned to slow down, to pay attention, and to encounter the island with a deeper sense of awareness, not just as a place, but as something living, carrying memory, history, and presence. Those experiences have shaped how I hold this work here at Casa de Maria Publisher, and they have influenced how I create space for others to arrive, to reflect, and to engage the island with intention. There are experiences that stay with you, like sitting near the river and allowing everything to slow down, or standing in front of Taino petroglyphs at La Piedra Escrita along the Rio Saliente and feeling history as something present, not far away. Placing my calloused hands into the water, hands that have been overworked, carrying heavy cement blocks and using power tools, and just releasing that tension in the water of the physical labor. Feeling that cool water and silently seeking healing and comfort. Going to the foothills of Hayuya for an indigenous festival and setting our sights on visiting the local Hayuya Museum for the indigenous celebrations. I will never forget standing at La Tumba del Indio with such quiet reverence, feeling like a curious child climbing the long and high steps in La Plaza of that town where artisans labored to create mosaic steps that shared the different names of each town of Puerto Rico Pueblos like Ayuya, Yauco, Guanica, Yabacoa, Toalta. And in those moments, culture is not something studied, it is something lived. And we've moved through the island together in ways that feel both expansive and grounding. Collecting clay where the river meets the ocean in the salt flats of Cabo Rojo, watching the waves along the coast of Isabella, walking the trails of El Yunke, learning the presence of medicinal plants within the rainforest. And then there are the quieter moments. Lisa has seen Casa de Maria in its making. She's witnessed the construction work I carried out with my own hands at different phases, some of them neat and some of them sloppy. And before the space became what it is now, she saw the vision. She's also sat with me at the writer's circle fire pit where conversations opened in a different way, where she has shared her future art projects and the places that she still feels called to explore across Bodinquang. What she brings is not just artistry, she brings perspective about this archipelago and how I share that history. As fellow New Yorkans who have rematriated to Puerto Rico, she's connected me to community, and for that I am deeply grateful. Building community here in a way that feels intentional and connected is because of her initiative and her work here. Her presence has extended into the vision of Casa de Maria. She's been a very thoughtful resource in shaping our three-day writing retreats, helping to inform how we create space for writers to experience the island with care, reflection, and purpose. And now Lisa Valle steps into a new chapter. She will be joining us for the writing retreat, where she will begin translating her visual storytelling into written narrative. And she is moving toward contributing to La Casa de Maria Anthology, exploring what it means to write from her artistic journey and her experiences across Puerto Rico. This conversation lives in that transition from working with your hands to writing with intention, from what you've experienced to what you are ready to name. Lisa, welcome. I am so glad that you're here with us today.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much, Vinma. I am very, very grateful and I would just like to say thank you for all that you've done for me and for allowing me to have this space and to open up your space for me to be able to come in and experience La Casa de Maria. I'm also grateful to have seen the transformation because I believe that just hearing your story is not the same as actually living part of it with you. So when you make accomplishments in Casa de Maria, it's like an accomplishment as well. My name is Lisa Christina Valle. I am a mother, a grandmother. I'm an indigenous artist that I work in crochet. I do all kinds of several different mixed medias, but I focus on crochet. And up until just recently, I was making emotional support animals that were helping people with sensory issues, which I have myself, anxiety, all kinds of things to help calm the soul and the spirit. I've also made sense, natural sense. I'm I'm gearing more towards natural products and natural ingredients in my things because I believe that the chemicals are affecting the way we think, the way we live, the way we breathe. And it also is clouding our judgment. And we need to detox and purge. So I've been making all kinds of oils and lotions and hair products and also jewelry. And the jewelry is honoring my ancestry, my indigenous ancestry from Bodhi King, but it's also honoring who I see myself becoming as a person.
SPEAKER_01Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. Earlier, we both spoke about creating with our hands. Now, for you, what does it mean to work with your hands as a form of storytelling?
SPEAKER_02That's a very good question. I had never thought of that before because when I decided to look into maybe writing a book, I thought I've never I've written poems, I've written short stories, but I've never thought about myself as a writer. But then again, before just recently, I never thought of myself as an artist. I thought of myself as a crafter, of somebody who dabbled in the arts but not actually embraced the art and called myself an artist, and that has changed. I've even rebranded my company to make it labors of love arts instead of crafts. So for me, working with my hands is crafting my own reality by being able to find something and put things together. It's about connection, it's about healing, it's about keeping my mind centered and to really focus on producing rather than just consuming. And I also make it a point to use, well, sometimes I make it a point to use what I have on hand. But if anybody who creates, they know that they know that buying things, buying things for your art and actually making things are two separate hobbies. So I think it's very important that now I understand that I don't necessarily have to write a story, that my art and my work are storytelling through my hands.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I love that. Thank you so much. You know, you definitely are helping to uncover what this means for you, not only as an artist, but also as a writer. You learned crochet at a very young age. Um, what did that early experience give you beyond the skill itself?
SPEAKER_02So in my life, I wasn't really encouraged to do many artistic things. But my aunt Margaret, who's been an extreme, amazing mentor and beacon in my life, sat down one day and she gave me a hook and some yarn and she says, We're gonna make some booties. And I asked her, Titi, what do we do? And she says, You just follow me. And I asked her, is there a pattern, a way? She goes, No, you just whatever you feel, you just make it. And to this day, that's how I do my things. I may follow a pattern, but I can't follow it completely. I use it more as a guideline and I put wherever I think it needs to go, and it it manifests into something beautiful, and I can see my vision coming through that. And my Aunt Margaret was also a person that, with all the havoc and all the mayhem that I experienced in my childhood, was able to give me a guiding, safe space and something else to do with my time, except maybe run the streets or get into trouble.
SPEAKER_01I remember that piece where you um kind of make a tri you make a tribute for um Titi. Can I call her Titi? Titi Margaret Margaret. Um now I want to talk about your pieces. Like, for example, there was one called in the piece La Planta de mi abuela. You work with memory, absence, and what was probably never asked. What was it like to create from something that remains unanswered?
SPEAKER_02So the backstory is my abuelita passed away when I was eleven, and I lived a lot of time, I spent a lot of time living with her when I was younger. So I was with her so much time and so many times. And while she never told me she loved me, I know she did because she would clean for me and cook for me. And to this day, most of the memories I have are her in the kitchen cleaning or feeding us. So it's very hard for me to actually say that I knew my grandmother that way. I never really got a chance to ask her who she was, what she felt, how she thought about herself, or even what she stood for. All I knew is that she was taught to take whatever she took, make it into whatever she could make it into, and survive on the bare minimum. So when her biggest joys were her plants, and those were the pathos that I'm pretty sure if you've been in a boring aborigua household, you've seen them. They take up the whole entire house, they run through everywhere. They're sort of a vine. So for me, this vine was my connection to my abuela, and I was able to, it's a shadow box with her photo with a crocheted vine inside because this is what reminds me of my abuela, and this is basically what I can know of her, what I know from my own memory without having to have asked her, which I wish I could have. And I definitely encourage anyone that has their elders, their grandparents to slow down, take the time, and listen to what they're saying because their stories are our history. And it's important to get that before they're no longer here.
SPEAKER_01Abuelita's are so special to us, and you have really dived into your artwork, sharing all those components that have right informed your artwork, and family has been a part of that. Memory with family has been a part of it in your childhood. Um, talking about your childhood, there was a piece that you shared, and this piece, Cole, titled Childhood Ends, um, this piece marks a moment where your sense of safety shifted. How did you approach returning to that memory as an artist?
SPEAKER_02The piece that you're referring to, Childhood End, is about my friend Jessica Guzman, who was murdered when she was 10 years old. We were friends. I was friends with her brother. She lived in my neighborhood, the Castle Hill neighborhood, the projects. And this piece is a shadow box with a photo of a stylized photo of her, the photo that they had above her casket. She had a clothes casket. And they had her photo in her communion outfit. So I took the photo, stylized it into a painting, added it to a shadow box, and I surrounded it with paper flowers and tul. So it to be as a funerary bow, but also it's purple in the color of the domestic violence colors that signifies our fight against it. And it was, this piece was especially difficult for me as they just renamed a street about after her and they put her mural back up. So this piece brought about more of how my childhood, the only thing in my childhood that I had that was safe was my neighborhood. We hung out with everyone. We ran, you know, we ran around, we were able to come and go freely, and we never had a problem as long as we were home before those lights came on. But after Jessica was taken, and while her killer was still at large, we lost all our freedom. We lost our security. Our neighborhood just became a hunting ground. We didn't know who was the killer, so we were scared of everything. And that was a big blow to us, being that we were such a tight-knit community at that time.
SPEAKER_01Seems like your work is about it's a form of remembrance, a form of witnessing how you had that lost sense of safety and just that marker in your life that clearly, like you said, with an end of your childhood. Um, using this artwork and being able to write about it has been a process for you because in installations you have your piece and then you have a description of your pieces. One of the pieces that I particularly uh was impressed by, and I even spoke about it in the intro, was titled In My Skin, where you use your own body as a part of the creative process. What does it mean to create from the body, not just about it?
SPEAKER_02This piece was especially poignant for me because I've always been told I was either too skinny or too fat or too white or too black. I've never actually fit in with my family's either side. So this piece was more about me coming to terms with who I am, my changing body. I'm a mother of five children. I've birthed them, nourished them, fed them with this body. So I've gone through my ups and downs of being too fat, too skinny. But really, what is that anyway? Of too fat, too skinny. So this was the idea that I had in my head. I was also encouraged by my mentor, Spencer Martel, that when she told me that she had back in the 70s used her body as a paintbrush, and it stuck in my head as an idea of, well, this is something to bring back. So the whole process was fun for me. And, you know, I had to wait till my son wasn't home. So I wouldn't traumatize him. And the whole process of mixing the paint, smearing myself with the paint, placing myself against the canvas. It was all very freeing and very fun, but it was also something that I had to come to terms with of accepting the imperfections of not only my artwork, but of my body. And it was also a way of decolonizing the ideas I had about what was a perfect body or like what signified anything that, you know, the the ideas of how we're supposed to look in order to please people. But now I'm pretty much wanting to just please myself and I'm happy in my skin, especially as I approach 50 in about a month. And this is all things that the changes in my life and my body are something I'm coming to terms with. And I'm really grateful for the way this photo came out.
SPEAKER_01I love the way you wanted to kind of. Bring back that medium of using your body as a paintbrush and seeing how this has kind of uh helped you unlearn what you believe were very imposed ideals of what body uh imaging should be. How has your art helped you reshape that relationship with yourself?
SPEAKER_02I think I'm able to have a more positive outlook on who I am and who not who I'm supposed to be, because I'm not supposed to be anybody but who I am in the moment because honestly, I'm not the same person that I was five, ten years ago, five months ago, even five days ago. I'm actually in a constant change, and it's the environment, everything affects who I am and what I'm becoming. And it's also just given me a chance to express how I feel without having to dwell and having to re-traumatize myself with old ideas and the visions of what we consider perfect beauty be via the media, or you know, all these social media platforms are really causing us to look at our bodies and be very critical of ourselves. And it's does it doesn't happen to me as much anymore because I'm comfortable in my skin. And that was the whole idea of this artwork. It was just wonderful.
SPEAKER_01I love the way you framed your work as not only art, but as social political art. It's kind of like a practice for you to be able to you see it evolving over time and trying to use this as a tool to inform. And behind that are so many stories of you having conversations with women after your exhibit and just feeling like it was so affirming to have, even if one person react and feel seen, it was powerful. I love that about that conversation. Um, one of the other things that I love about your work, you talked about a very difficult topic and you handle it with such grace. I know that's not easy about Jessica and that violent situation and how you held space in your social political art as a form of remembrance and holding memory for her. You know, your work raises awareness about violence, violence against women, and broader histories of erasure. How do you hold that responsibility as an artist?
SPEAKER_02So, first and foremost, I was asked to present this artwork by my mentor and my spiritual gro my spiritual godmother Esperanza Martel, who last year explained to me that I was going to be part of an exhibit celebrating her 80th birthday, which is in April 23rd, and she asked me to be a part of this installation that is called Alter de Tierra Imal, and it is now being shown at the Boricwa College in the Bronx, and it runs until April 23rd. And I was basically told that this was gonna be an exhibit where I was going to debut my art. So being a being an indigenous artist, I know a lot about erasure as our people from Boricing were erased. We suffered a paper genocide since we didn't have what they would call true history, no written word. Our stories were lost until a resurgence happened many years ago, and now we're starting to reclaim that history. So my pieces are also incorporate that in the indigenous stories that were lost, and I'm trying to recreate something to pass on to our future generations and even the generations that are before me that didn't understand any of this. So this was very important when I decided to do this kind of work. And it's also speaking up for basically giving voice to the voiceless because women who suffer from domestic violence, gender-based violence, they're taught to be quiet. They're taught to stay silent. And most of them are afraid because of the whole climate, the whole climate of victim shaming. They're afraid to speak their truth, being that they will know what were you wearing? What did you do? How did you cause this? So for me, this exhibit about the domestic violence, about gender-based violence, was so important to make these women feel seen, to make them feel heard, and to make them know, let them know that they are not alone. And one of my pieces focuses on that. It's called Why We Fight. It's a crochet quilt, well, a crochet throw that incorporates the granny stitch, which is a square stitch that continues and it just makes different patterns, different square patterns, but it starts in purple, which is the color of domestic violence and gender-based violence, femicide, and it has another layer of black, which is the color of mourning for those that we've lost, and even for what we've lost, being exposed to this patriarchal gender-based violence. And the last layer is red, which signifies the MMIW, which is the missing and murdered indigenous women, which goes and brings awareness about our Indigenous women that are being murdered, raped, disappeared, and not even making it to the mainstream because they simply don't matter as a collective group. So for me, it's this is all about, like I said, giving voice to the voiceless. And also, I've made it a point to make my art about comfort, about safety, about making people feel comfortable, to help people with anxiety and all kinds of set of sensory issues. And now I've gearing my artwork to be uncomfortable, to make people think about topics and situations that they don't want to speak about. But very, very, it's very important that we speak about them because if you do not bring awareness to this, you will definitely keep on repeating what was going on. And the the quilt is the throw is so important because it also features names of people that are close to me that have been victims or actually know that are survivors of gender-based violence, domestic violence. And it also shows I have a pin with the names, and it also shows that there are three generations of women myself, my mother, and my granddaughter, my grandmother, who who knows how far that goes back. But it's sad enough to see that for three generations we've all experienced this kind of violence, and it needs to end with me. So that awareness is important. But not only that, but there's also incorporated into this throw are droplets of red beads that signify droplets of blood for the blood that was shed by these women.
SPEAKER_01Wow, your work it carries a lot, it carries a lot of pain, injustice. How do you care for yourself in that process of creating this social political practice?
SPEAKER_02So during this process, it was very important for me to stay grounded and to realize that while I'm working on my art, I'm also working on the art of being vulnerable and also sharing my story, which is something I haven't always done. I've always felt that people didn't need to know that much about me. For when people know about you, they have ammunition against you. However, I now realize that once you own your story, there's no one to use it against you. Once you own it and once you you know what you've gone through, there is nothing that anyone can say that can hurt you with your own story because you're the one telling it. So it's very important for me to stay grounded in the fact that my art is my therapy. So while I'm creating, while I'm putting all my love and all my grief into it, I care for myself by just being present and also taking the time to do things like walking on the beach or breathing the air or seeing a flower. It's just little things that you do. And also, I offer myself the grace that I would offer anyone else that is going through a similar situation because we're so hard on ourselves, and it's easier for us to be kind to someone else. But when it comes to giving ourselves that grace, it's a little difficult. So for that, I would say to myself, how would you react if somebody came to you with this story? And I would treat myself the way I would treat somebody that shared that with me.
SPEAKER_01You sound very grounded and present and intentional about carving out time to care for yourself in this process. I know that a part of that care is being able to carve out time in the year for you to visit Borinquen, Puerto Rico, and be inspired. And that informs not only your artwork, but now it's helping to inform and inspire your writing. You know, we've experienced this island together in very intentional ways. Um, how have your travels across Puerto Rico shaped your understanding of your own identity?
SPEAKER_02So I was born in the diaspora in New York City and and the and I live in the Bronx currently. So for me, this was a very important, it's very important for me to get back to the island because I've only before a couple of years ago, I had only visited the island maybe two or three times. I've seen only what I was shown because I didn't have a chance to explore. And I decided that I wanted to see places that were important to indigenous indigenous people. I've seen the Utuado and Haduya, the indigenous petroglyphs. And for me, it's important to find that history because my grandmother, who was born on this island, and my father who were born on this island, are constantly telling me that I've seen more of this island than they have, and they were born here. So for me, I feel like it's recapturing that history, that ancestry. And not only am I able to share with others, I'm able to share with the people who make me who I am, who were born here that didn't know half the things that I'm learning about this island. So it's really very important to come and see not just San Juan or not just the places where tourists come, but to see the real, the real spaces, waterfalls, rainforests, rivers, cultural artists' walk, just things that you wouldn't necessarily get to see if you were just coming in a tour with a tourist view. So I come to really experience my culture, the island, and just dive into places where basically no one else will go. So for myself and also for you, Vilma, I also want to show you that even though you live on this island, that you can still have a fresh eye when it comes to different places. And there are so many places that we haven't seen yet that are on our list, but we're gonna keep searching and we will keep growing.
SPEAKER_01Oh, thank you. I I have to say, it's been quite an experience rematriating almost two years here in Puerto Rico from um from the mainland. And I will say that I let's let's reframe that from the continental US, it's not the mainland. And what does it mean to you to move between New York and Borinquen as a New Eurekan artist?
SPEAKER_02So for me, it is what I wouldn't say a culture shock, but it's very different to from being over there in the diaspora. We all sort of stick together. If you're boricwa, you're boricwa, and it means that we all come from the same place and we all have a shared culture and a shared experience. However, when you come to the island, it's sort of the people from here don't necessarily accept us as people they say we're, you know, de allá versus de aquí, and it's very difficult to differentiate, you know, our strong identity from New York and then come here and feel like we're not accepted and we're not in like we're not involved. Even the indigenous population on the island don't regard us as indigenous, or it's the same as being in the mainland of continental US where native people don't see us as native. It's sort of like a struggle to carve out our identity while we're still trying to recreate it, reimagine it. So it's really difficult to go in from in between both. It's very difficult to deal with that internal racism and to have to re maintain positivity when doing so because there are a lot of people on this island that don't know half about their history, the struggles, and about the movement in New York and in this in the continental US, the movement for independence, for you know, food security. They they don't know half the things that we know. And we're fighting for an island that they say we don't belong to, yet we are doing more work for this island than most that are living here.
SPEAKER_01It seems like sometimes you have different camps, right, or schools of thought. And um I think the nature, the human nature is sometimes to be polarized. And what I'm hearing about your work is that you just want to bring people in, bring them to a fold, to take notice, to be intentional about the messages, to avoid the erasure, and to be able to bring these powerful stories in not only visual form, but what excites me is that you're here at Casa de Maria to explore now your next calling is to begin to write them, you know. So what uh is something that's calling you now to begin to write?
SPEAKER_02So, what's calling me now is inspiration. So I've been inspired by you. I've been inspired by a lot of our Boricua artists that are coming with coming up with their stories and being at Casa de Maria and experiencing the work that you've done here and being part of your story. You know, I've I've been here on what you would say, not the ground floor, but I've come in and I've seen the work and, you know, hearing your stories and being part of them and living them are two different things. I can appreciate your work from afar, but when I actually walk the grounds of Casa de Maria and I stay in the room that you've prepared for me, and I'm sitting on the porch that you've made just an oasis here, a paradise by the fire pit. It's something that inspires me. And it also makes me believe that I can bring my own story to light. So what's in me at the moment is to write about my journey through my artwork, through the people I've met, through the people like you that have inspired me to tell my story and to maybe just share with everyone what I'm feeling to hopefully inspire someone else.
SPEAKER_01What feels different though about telling your story through writing compared to working with your hands?
SPEAKER_02So it would be the vulnerability that comes with the written word. So I can present you a piece of artwork, and art is very um, you know, anyone can perceive it differently. Everyone has their own perception. Everybody can say, oh, well, you know, I get the gist, but they can read their own meaning into it. So if I'm what I plan to do is write about the process of creating my art and what I had to go through and what I had, I had to refeel, so in some cases, re-traumatize myself in order to feel it, to heal it and get through the process. So I feel like this time it's not just me painting you a pretty picture. It's me telling you the low-down, dirty details of the process and the feelings behind it. So it's more of the vulnerability that I am going through that you're gonna see just the naked truth of how I how I arrived to this story and how I'm going through it. So that's gonna be a bigger process for me.
SPEAKER_01One of our goals here at Casa de Maria Publisher is writing is at your time, right? And whatever you're ready to share and disclose. And one of the challenges, and I've I've worked with authors, memoirists who talk about, you know, are in the middle of writing their personal narratives or their memoir, you know, how do you decide what to share? I just want to encourage you, Lisa, that it is it's what you feel you're certain about and what feels more comfortable. It's your transition as a writer. And um, I know that you mentioned you're thinking about contributing to La Casa de Maria Anthology and what story, what story feels ready to be written for you right now.
SPEAKER_02So in the past couple of days, I've had a few experiences that were new to me on the island and new to me in life in general. So there was a an in like not going to say an incident, but a funny experience I had on the beach, and I'm thinking something along the lines of a children's book about a very scrappy lovable crab. So I think that's gonna be in the works, and I'm very excited about it. So I feel like this is gonna be sort of like a not inching my way, but something that's going to remind me of a very positive experience I've had here, and also how the trajectory of my life and my art is taking and where it'll eventually end up, who knows? However, I feel like it's on an upturn, and I think that it's gonna be something amazing. So I'm I'm thinking that's gonna be in the works.
SPEAKER_01Well, you are definitely in great company. I actually was consulting with an author, a published author who's now actually changing genres. So excited about going into a children's book. So one of the most exciting things about this journey is that you're not alone. That our goal here is to create community among authors and writers. And uh, but the this three-day retreat is about creating a beautiful incubation for you. I know that when we went to one of on day one of our retreat, as we were enjoying in Mohru, you know, writing is reflecting. So that's our first step. Sometimes think, I don't have a pencil in my hand. That's part of the journey. Writing is not an event, it's a process. And so you are working on that process of reflecting, refining, kind of shaping in your mind what you would like to explore, almost kind of sometimes giving ourselves permission to be intentional about the direction. So I want to encourage you that you're not alone in that journey. And trusting your voice on that page is a part of that process. Now, uh, I will say, what does it what does it look like for you now that you're trusting your voice on the page the way you were trusting your hands in the art.
SPEAKER_02For me, it looks like I'm going to be, like you said, I'm going to be in very good company. And being at La Casa de Maria, La Casa de Maria Publishers, I know that I'm in good company. I know that the women that have paved the way for me are by my side. And whether it's with the podcast or whether it's with a beautifully curated experience of flying a kite in San Juan just to break up that mental struggle of trying to push myself so hard. It was just a freeing activity of actually getting the kite up in the air and the process of navigating it and just doing things that you wouldn't think would tie into writing, but they're so freeing. And it's just, it's a wonderfully curated experience that it couldn't have gone better if we had actually planned to end up where we ended up. I know it's curated by you, but I didn't expect to be flying a kite. I wasn't really sure. So that was fun to just go and do it. And it just made me think about how as this kite is taking flight and you start very, very intentionally, you start by trying to keep it on a short string, but eventually you get the confidence to let it fly. And the higher it goes, the more confident you feel about the fact that it's up in the air. It just feels like you can do anything at that point. So I think that's the feeling I want to take into my writing.
SPEAKER_01And as the curator, I was being mindful about giving you your space. And now that you had that movement break, getting back to another position and just diving in, thinking more about your next steps. So uh keeping, you know, almost holding each other accountable too as writing, as writers in a writing community. It takes time, and so we are being very intentional. Wait till day two of the writer's writers treat, my goodness, and day three, where it continues. So we are literally a throwstone away from the writer's circle, and uh I love that place because it's such a space very close to our mango tree, our logo, which is about reflecting, stopping, taking inventory stock. What does it mean for you today to carry Boring within you right now?
SPEAKER_02It's very important that I take my homeland with me because every time I come here, I learn something new, I see something different. I you know, I just learned that on this property there are at least three or four types of hibiscus on the property. And not only that, but when I woke up early this morning, I noticed that hibiscus sleep at night. So for me, it was just wonderful to understand that this beautiful flowering plant closes up at night to rest, recharge. To be safe and then blooms with the sun, and it's the healing rays that wake it up. For me, that's just completely the idea of restorative rest and taking care of yourself and actually being in a space that's gonna foster that. So I'm really excited to, as I said, learn more about the island, but also to incorporate that in my writing because I'm really very, very intent on showing people that no se tiene que nacer el aquí to be the aquí, body king lives in your heart. You don't have to be born here. It's born in you. And you bring that back and you take it wherever you go.
SPEAKER_01Well, I love that we are creating that beautiful incubating space where I know that one of our conversations that we had at the writer's uh fire pit was that the challenges of life is in the way, we get distracted and having that time. You've made an investment, a writer's investment for yourself to be able to find this space. And we are excited. We can't wait to see your contribution to the anthology, being able to bring that. But I want to assure you that it's at your pace, it's when you're ready. You know, I want to thank you for sharing your voice, all about your work, your journey in this space. There's just something powerful about sitting in a conversation with someone whose story is not only told, but lived. And today I feel so present in every part of everything you've shared. As we sit here at La Casa de Maria, you hear the coquis, a throwstone away from the writer's pit. Um, this space has just been shaped by hands, by intention and by reflection. It feels especially meaningful to witness this moment here with you as you transition from artist to writer, from working with your hands to shaping those experiences now into language. We're so excited and we want to assure you that Casa de Maria Publisher is here to support you and to our listeners. I want to thank you for being with us in this conversation today as we write, reflect, and reimagine. Do you have any closing words for us, Lisa?
SPEAKER_02I just want to say I'm very grateful for this whole experience and to actually be in a space that just a couple of years ago was nothing but an empty shell, and it's been brought to life by your very hands and the struggle. And I know it hasn't been easy, but I'm so grateful to be a part of this. And every accomplishment that you have here is not only an accomplishment for you, but I embrace it as an accomplishment. I celebrate it with you, I celebrate you. And I know that I don't think that I could have gotten this kind of experience in a hotel in someplace that is not just Gampo life. It's just so beautiful. And I just, I'm so grateful that I was, I'm able to be a part of this. And I can't wait to see what comes next and what develops here. And I look forward to seeing every improvement to Casa de Maria. And I I just, it's just wonderful to be on this journey, having read your book halfway through. It's very important that I state that reading a book about someone when you personally know them is a lot more difficult than just breezing through a book with somebody that you don't know. It's you're sharing their experiences. So for me, the heart of the advocate actually ties into so much of what I'm going through in the house, what I'm what I'm experiencing with your space, with your life, with your journey. And I feel like it's just, I feel like I'm on that journey with you while still on my own path. So I'm so appreciative to everything that you've done and what you can what you continue to do to help women like me find their voice and find their story so that we can share with other women.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much, uh, Lisa. There are just not enough words. I always try to be prepared for these interviews with follow-up questions and trying to keep myself together. One of another uh conference conversation I had with an author just brought me to tears. I really have been buckling down on this one, trying to keep it together. But that's the power of conversation, conversation and shared moments and shared memory. And so we can't wait to read your beautiful contribution at the Casa de Maria Anthology, and we'll share more information about your great work, Labor of Love, Labor of Love Arts. I love the way you rebranded and decided to make that yours. Um, not just seeing yourself as a person who does crafts, but also as an artist. And now you're gonna have a new title as author. We're so excited. Thank you again for joining us today, and I want to thank our listeners for locking in to write, reflect, reimagine.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for spending this time with me. If today's conversation resonated, I invite you to explore our free webinars, writing retreats in Puerto Rico, and our curated anthologies at Casa de Maria Publisher. Your voice matters. Your story deserves care. Until next time, write with intention and courage. Pen your passion. Publish your promise at Casa de Maria Publisher.
SPEAKER_02So for me, this exhibit about the domestic violence, about gender-based violence, was so important to make these women feel seen, to make them feel heard, and to make them know, let them know that they are not alone. And one of my pieces focuses on that. It's called Why We Fight. It's a crochet quilt, well, a crochet throw that incorporates the granny stitch, which is a square stitch that continues and it just makes different patterns, different square patterns, but it starts in purple, which is the color of domestic violence and gender-based violence, femicide, and it has another layer of black, which is the color of mourning for those that we've lost, and even for what we've lost, being exposed to this patriarchal gender-based violence. And the last layer is red, which signifies the MMIW, which is the missing and murdered indigenous women, which goes and brings awareness about our Indigenous women that are being murdered, raped, disappeared, and not even making it to the mainstream because they simply don't matter as a collective group. So for me, it's this is all about, like I said, giving voice to the voiceless. And also, I've made it a point to make my art about comfort, about safety, about making people feel comfortable, to help people with anxiety and all kinds of sensory issues. And now I've gearing my artwork to be uncomfortable, to make people think about topics and situations that they don't want to speak about. But very, very, it's very important that we speak about them because if you do not bring awareness to this, you will definitely keep on repeating what was going on. And the the quilt is the throw is so important because it also features names of people that are close to me that have been victims or actually know that are survivors of gender-based violence, domestic violence. And it also shows I have a pin with the names, and it also shows that there are three generations of women: myself, my mother, and my granddaughter, my grandmother, who who knows how far that goes back. But it's sad enough to see that for three generations we've all experienced this kind of violence, and it needs to end with me. So that awareness is important. But not only that, but there's also incorporated into this throw are droplets, red beads that signify droplets of blood for the blood that was shed by these women.
SPEAKER_01Wow, your work it carries a lot. It carries a lot of pain, injustice. How do you care for yourself in that process of creating this social political practice?
SPEAKER_02So during this process, it was very important for me to stay grounded and to realize that while I'm working on my art, I'm also working on the art of being vulnerable and also sharing my story, which is something I haven't always done. I've always felt that people didn't need to know that much about me. For when people know about you, they have ammunition against you. However, I now realize that once you own your story, there's no one to use it against you. Once you own it and once you you know what you've gone through, there is nothing that anyone can say that can hurt you with your own story because you're the one telling it. So it's very important for me to stay grounded in the fact that my art is my therapy. So while I'm creating, while I'm putting all my love and all my grief into it, I care for myself by just being present and also taking the time to do things like walking on the beach or breathing the air or seeing a flower. It's just little things that you do. And also, I offer myself the grace that I would offer anyone else that is going through a similar situation because we're so hard on ourselves. And it's easier for us to be kind to someone else. But when it comes to giving ourselves that grace, it's a little difficult. So for that, I would say to myself, how would you react if somebody came to you with this story? And I would treat myself the way I would treat somebody that shared that with me.
SPEAKER_01You sound very grounded and present and intentional about carving out time to care for yourself in this process. I know that a part of that care is being able to carve out time in the year for you to visit Burinken, Puerto Rico, and be inspired. And that informs not only your artwork, but now it's helping to inform and inspire your writing. You know, we've experienced this island together in very intentional ways. Um, how have your travels across Puerto Rico shaped your understanding of your own identity?
SPEAKER_02So I was born in the diaspora in New York City, and and the and I live in the Bronx currently. So for me, this was a very important, it's very important for me to get back to the island because I've only before a couple of years ago, I had only visited the island maybe two or three times. I've seen only what I was shown because I didn't have a chance to explore. And I decided that I wanted to see places that were important to indigenous, indigenous people. I've seen the Utuado and Haduya, the indigenous petroglyphs. And for me, it's important to find that history because my grandmother, who was born on this island, and my father who were born on this island, are constantly telling me that I've seen more of this island than they have, and they were born here. So for me, I feel like it's recapturing that history, that ancestry. And not only am I able to share with others, I'm able to share with the people who made me who I am, who were born here that didn't know half the things that I'm learning about this island. So it's really very important to come and see not just San Juan or not just the places where tourists come, but to see the real, the real spaces, waterfalls, rainforests, rivers, cultural artists' walk, just things that you wouldn't necessarily get to see if you were just coming in a tour with a tourist view. So I come to really experience my culture, the island, and just dive into places where basically no one else will go. So for myself and also for you, Vilma, I also want to show you that even though you live on this island, that you can still have a fresh eye when it comes to different places. And there are so many places that we haven't seen yet that are on our list, but we're gonna keep searching and we will keep growing.
SPEAKER_01Oh, thank you. I I have to say, it's been quite an experience rematriating almost two years here in Puerto Rico from um from the mainlands. And I will say that I let's let's reframe that from the continental US, it's not the mainland. And what does it mean to you to move between New York and Borinking as a New Eurekan artist?
SPEAKER_02So for me, it is what I wouldn't say a culture shock, but it's very different to from being over there in the diaspora. We all sort of stick together. If you're boricwa, you're boricwa, and it means that we all come from the same place and we all have a shared culture and a shared experience. However, when you come to the island, it's sort of the people from here don't necessarily accept us as people they say we're, you know, de allá versus de aquí, and it's very difficult to differentiate, you know, our strong identity from New York and then come here and feel like we're not accepted and we're not in like we're not involved. Even the indigenous population on the island don't regard us as indigenous, or it's the same as being in the mainland of continental US where native people don't see us as native. It's sort of like a struggle to carve out our identity while we're still trying to recreate it, reimagine it. So it's really difficult to go in from in between both. It's very difficult to deal with that internal racism and to have to maintain positivity when doing so because there are a lot of people on this island that don't know half about their history, the struggles, and about the movement in New York and in this in the continental US, the movement for independence, for you know, food security. They they don't know half the things that we know. And we're fighting for an island that they say we don't belong to, yet we are doing more work for this island than most that are living here.
SPEAKER_01It seems like sometimes you have different camps, right, or schools of thought. And um I think the nature, the human nature is sometimes to be polarized. And what I'm hearing about your work is that you just want to bring people in, bring them to a fold, to take notice, to be intentional about the messages, to avoid the erasure, and to be able to bring these powerful stories in not only visual form, but what excites me is that you're here at Casa de Maria to explore now your next calling is to begin to write them, you know. So what uh is something that's calling you now to begin to write?
SPEAKER_02So, what's calling me now is inspiration. So I've been inspired by you. I've been inspired by a lot of our boricwa artists that are coming with coming up with their stories and being at Casa de Maria and experiencing the work that you've done here and being part of your story. You know, I've I've been here on what you would say, not the ground floor, but I've come in and I've seen the work and you know, hearing your stories and being part of them and living them are two different things. I can appreciate your work from afar, but when I actually walk the grounds of Casa de Maria and I stay in the room that you've prepared for me, and I'm sitting on the porch that you've made just an oasis here, a paradise by the fire pit. It's something that inspires me. And it also makes me believe that I can bring my own story to light. So what's in me at the moment is to write about my journey through my artwork, through the people I've met, through the people like you that have inspired me to tell my story and to maybe just share with everyone what I'm feeling to hopefully inspire someone else.
SPEAKER_01What feels different, though, about telling your story through writing compared to working with your hands?
SPEAKER_02So it would be the vulnerability that comes with the written word. So I can present you a piece of artwork, and art is very um, you know, anyone can perceive it differently. Everyone has their own perception. Everybody can say, oh, well, you know, I get the gist, but they can read their own meaning into it. So if I'm what I plan to do is write about the process of creating my art and what I had to go through and what I had, I had to refeel, so in some cases, re-traumatize myself in order to feel it, to heal it and get through the process. So I feel like this time it's not just me painting you a pretty picture. It's me telling you the low-down, dirty details of the process and the feelings behind it. So it's more of the vulnerability that I am going through that you're gonna see just the naked truth of how I how I arrived to this story and how I'm going through it. So that's gonna be a bigger process for me.
SPEAKER_01One of our goals here at Casa de Maria Publisher is writing is at your time, right? And whatever you're ready to share and disclose. And one of the challenges, and I've I've worked with authors, memorists who talk about, you know, are in the middle of writing their personal narratives or their memoir, you know, how do you decide what to share? I just want to encourage you, Lisa, that it is it's what you feel you're certain about and what feels more comfortable. It's your transition as a writer. And um, I know that you mentioned you're thinking about contributing to La Casa de Maria anthology and what story, what story feels ready to be written for you right now?
SPEAKER_02So in the past couple of days, I've had a few experiences that were new to me on the island and new to me in life in general. So there was an in like not going to say an incident, but a funny experience I had on the beach. And I'm thinking something along the lines of a children's book about a very scrappy lovable crab. So I think that's gonna be in the works. And I'm very excited about it. So I feel like this is gonna be sort of like a not inching my way, but something that's going to remind me of a very positive experience I've had here and also how the trajectory of my life and my art is taking and where it I'll eventually end up, who knows? However, I feel like it's on an upturn and I think that it's gonna be something amazing. So I'm I'm thinking that's gonna be in the works.
SPEAKER_01Well, you are definitely in great company. I actually was consulting with an author, a published author who's now actually changing genres. So excited about going into a children's book. So one of the most exciting things about this journey is that you're not alone. That our goal here is to create community among authors and writers. And uh, but the this three-day retreat is about creating a beautiful incubation for you. I know that when we went to one of on day one of our retreat, as we were enjoying in Mohru, you know, writing is reflecting. So that's our first step. Sometimes think, I don't have a pencil in my hand. That's part of the journey. Writing is not an event, it's a process. And so you are working on that process of reflecting, refining, kind of shaping in your mind what you would like to explore, almost kind of sometimes giving ourselves permission to be intentional about the direction. So I want to encourage you that you're not alone in that journey. And trusting your voice on that page is a part of that process. Now, uh I will say, what does it what does it look like for you now that you're trusting your voice on the page the way you were trusting your hands in the art?
SPEAKER_02For me, it looks like I'm going to be, like you said, I'm going to be in very good company. And being at La Casa de Maria, La Casa de Maria Publishers, I know that I'm in good company. I know that the women that have paved the way for me are by my side. And whether it's with the podcast or whether it's with a beautifully curated experience of flying a kite in San Juan, just to break up that mental struggle of trying to push myself so hard. It was just a freeing activity of actually getting the kite up in the air and the process of navigating it and just doing things that you wouldn't think would tie into writing, but they're so freeing. And it's just, it's a wonderfully curated experience that it couldn't have gone better if we had actually planned to end up where we ended up. I know it's curated by you, but I didn't expect to be flying a kite. I wasn't really sure. So that was fun to just go and do it. And it's just made me think about how as this kite is taking flight and you start very, very intentionally, you start by trying to keep it on a short string, but eventually you get the confidence to let it fly. And the higher it goes, the more confident you feel about the fact that it's up in the air. It just feels like you can do anything at that point. So I think that's the feeling I want to take into my writing.
SPEAKER_01And as the curator, I was being mindful about giving you your space. And now that you had that movement break, getting back to another position and just diving in, thinking more about your next step. So uh keeping, you know, almost holding each other accountable too, as writing, as writers in a writing community. It takes time, and so we are being very intentional. Wait till day two of the writers, writers treat, my goodness, and day three, where it continues. So we are literally a throwstone away from the writer's circle. And uh I love that place because it's such a space very close to our mango tree, our logo, which is about reflecting, stopping, taking inventory stock. What does it mean for you today to carry Boring within you right now?
SPEAKER_02It's very important that I take my homeland with me because every time I come here, I learn something new, I see something different. I you know, I just learned that on this property there are at least three or four types of hibiscus on the property. And not only that, but when I woke up early this morning, I noticed that hibiscus sleep at night. So for me, it was just wonderful to understand that this beautiful flowering plant closes up at night to rest, recharge, to be safe, and then blooms with the sun and it's the healing rays that wake it up. For me, that's just completely the idea of restorative rest and taking care of yourself and actually being in a space that's gonna foster that. So I'm really excited to, as I said, learn more about the island, but also to incorporate that in my writing because I'm really very, very intent on showing people that no se tiene que na ser el aki to be the aquí, body king lives in your heart. You don't have to be born here, it's born in you. And you bring that back and you take it wherever you go.
SPEAKER_01Well, I love that we are creating that beautiful incubating space where I know that one of our conversations that we had at the writer's uh fire fire pit was that the challenges of life is in the way, we get distracted and having that time. You've made an investment, a writer's investment for yourself to be able to find this space. And we are excited. We can't wait to see your contribution to the anthology, being able to bring that. But I want to assure you that it's at your pace, it's when you're ready. You know, I want to thank you for sharing your voice, about your work, your journey in this space. There's just something powerful about sitting in a conversation with someone whose story is not only told, but lived. And today I feel so present in every part of everything you've shared. As we sit here at La Casa de Maria, you hear the coquis, a throwstone away from the writer's pit. Um, this space has just been shaped by hands, by intention and by reflection. It feels especially meaningful to witness this moment here with you as you transition from artist to writer, from working with your hands to shaping those experiences now into language. We're so excited and we want to assure you that Casa de Maria Publisher is here to support you and to our listeners. I want to thank you for being with us in this conversation today as we write, reflect, and reimagine. Do you have any closing words for us, Lisa?
SPEAKER_02I just want to say I'm very grateful for this whole experience and to actually be in a space that just a couple of years ago was nothing but an empty shell, and it's been brought to life by your very hands and the struggle. And I know it hasn't been easy, but I'm so grateful to be a part of this. And every accomplishment that you have here is not only an accomplishment for you, but I embrace it as an accomplishment. I celebrate it with you, I celebrate you. And I know that I don't think that I could have gotten this kind of experience in a hotel in someplace that is not just Gampo life, it's just so beautiful. And I just I'm so grateful that I was I'm able to be a part of this, and I can't wait to see what comes next and what develops here. And I look forward to seeing every improvement to Casa de Maria. And I I just, it's just wonderful to be on this journey, having read your book halfway through. It's very important that I state that reading a book about someone when you personally know them is a lot more difficult than just breezing through a book with somebody that you don't know. It's so you're sharing their experiences. So for me, the Heart of the Advocate actually ties into so much of what I'm going through in the house, what I'm what I'm experiencing with your space, with your life, with your journey. And I feel like it's just, I feel like I'm on that journey with you while still on my own path. So I'm so appreciative to everything that you've done and what you can sit what you continue to do to help women like me find their voice and find their story so that we can share with other women.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much, uh, Lisa. There are just not enough words. I always try to be prepared for these interviews with uh follow up questions and trying to keep myself together. One of another uh conference conversation I had with an author just brought me to tears. I really have been buckling down on this one, trying to keep it together.
