Hola, mi gente. ¿Cómo están? Mi nombre es Albamar, me pueden decir Alba. El canal se llama
"seriela". Estamos aquí para hablar de libros, algunos de ellos en español desde Puerto Rico.  Hello, my
name is Albamar. You may call me Alba.
The channel name is "seriela". We're
here to talk about books and some of
them in Spanish from Puerto Rico. Hello
to the new subscribers; we'll talk about
that a little bit later. I'm here to do
my weekend reads because I missed the
Friday reads and talk about what I've
decided to read for CaribAthon and
what I've been doing to continue to
decolonize my mind. Oh, let me put on
the timer - you know I usually do the
timer thing. I'm going to link
all the awesome videos and articles and
resources that I found during this past
week in my attempt to decolonize my mind.
I just want to remind you that if
you're looking for black booktubers
Belinda has a database. I will link
that down below.
Don't miss Jessie at Bowties & Books.
Their video is very impactful. So is
Lauren's at The Novel Lush. I got to see the
Town-Hall Meeting with Erica at The
Broken Spine and Ashley from The Bookish
Realm. I'm learning a lot about what I
did not know about YouTube's algorithms
and how subscribing really does
nothing if the viewer is not going to
watch the video. That's what I learned
this past week. You know I'm of a
different generation. I'm learning a lot
of things. I'm learning a lot of jargon:
like, for example, "stan" - help me out, people.
"Stan", "palate", "moving the goalposts"...
So, what am I doing to really engage with
the channels to which I subscribe? 
This past week I decided that instead of
walking and listening to music while I
walk - no, I'm going to be listening to the
Booktube channels that I've subscribed
to and I walk with my phone and I listen
to the Booktube channels. That's what
I've been doing.
Oh! I'm going to link the one that I
just saw this morning with Angela Davis
and Jane Elliott. Jane Elliott of the
famous blue eye/brown eye experiment?
That was an awesome video. I
will also link to - I think they're two -
Blackoutathon 2.5 I think it is?
Check it out. And there's a Blackout
Buddy Read of two books: White Fragility
and the other one I will link here
Okay.
I also saw... I will link Karen Hunter's
interview with Dr. Robin DiAngelo -
Dr. Robin D'Angelo of White Fragility,
which is sold out, I know. She recommends
Dr. Eddie Moore's 21-day Racial Equity
Challenge which also helps to decolonize
the mind - you know, building habits?
I even put it down in my bullet
journal.
I...I was having trouble downloading it
and stuff, so I just, you know, used what I
had in in my stash of stickers and I
made my own 21-day challenge grid here.
There are things to do, like:
Listen, Read, Watch, Notice, Connect, Engage,
Act - as long as we're talking about Act I
will link Sarah at Hardcover Hearts,
she talks about action a lot - and Reflect
and Stay Inspired. And when you go to the
website of The 21-day Racial Equality
Challenge, they give activities and
suggestions for each one of those things.
Awesome resource. Okay, five more
minutes
and we're done. I started... because we
have to start at home, right? I started
with ¿Cómo piensa el colonizado?
a book of caricatures by local Puerto
Rican artist Jesús Ortiz Torres and I
will link just two of the best examples
of his caricatures over here, in which he
depicts what he thinks the colonized
mind... the salient characteristics of the
colonized mind.
I have to warn people: this is
not this is not a PG-13 book, no. There
are some salacious parts,
there's nudity, ...he can be very
crude... he has people using pampers...
In Puerto Rico, here in Puerto Rico,
in the circles which I frequent, you know,
the ones who protest and march are very
conscious of the fact that there is a
colonized mind, that we have been
colonized and it affects our way of
thinking and looking at life. But
sometimes people within our own group
will use it as an insult:
"What can you expect of these people? You
colonized people. What can you
expect?" No. I've learned that that is not
the attitude to assume when talking
about colonization and the effects that
it has on our minds. Same thing with
racism. We in Puerto Rico have been
brought up in an atmosphere.. it's like
being a fish in water and colonization
is that water and we are the fish and
there's no point in criticizing the fish
because of the water and that's just
something that I want to point out: that
racism is part of what we have been
brought up with and it's up to us, once
we realize, to begin the process and it's
a process of decolonization and a
process of confronting racism
and that's why just 21 days is not going
to cut it. I know that - you know - it's the
beginning of a very long process of
decolonization of the mind and ridding
ourselves, myself, of vestiges of racism,
vestiges of patriarchy. How many times
have we heard, here in Puerto Rico,
charges against women for raising
"machistas" - for raising chauvinist men? Why?
Because that's what we were brought up
with. That is what surrounds us
in our culture. So it's up to me to
become even more aware, everyday, of those
things, oppressive manifestations, that
surround me. And that's why
intersectionality is so important.
Because it manifests in all sorts of
ways. Ok, gotta go to the books. That was
in Puerto Rico. Then I continued with
Stamped from the Beginning - I will link it
up here cuz I left it somewhere else -
Stamped from the Beginning. I've continued
reading that with Jen from Remembered
Reads. I had to go back and reread - reread
the whole part that had to do with
Thomas Jefferson because it still
boggles my mind how Jefferson could be
simultaneously anti-slavery according,
you know, to his pronouncements,
anti-slavery and anti abolition at the
same time.
That's what... that's what's been inherited.
Then I continued with Don Quixote, of
course. And as it turns out, Sancho Panza
is now the governor of this island.. [Phone gave out]
I'm back! I was talking about Don
Quixote...  the island's name is
Barataria. As it turns out, Barataria is
the title of Juan Lopez Bauzá... Puerto Rican
author of my favorite, one of my favorite
favorite books: El resplandor de Luzbella.
One of his back titles is called Barataria.
So you know that's coming up soon.
That was Don Quixote. Then, I've
decided on my CaribAthon books. I
started already with Cuentos dominicanos,
the first story by Juan Bosch, who used to
be the president of the Dominican
Republic and that story was very... that
first story... very powerful, evocative
language. I was surprised by the
topic and by the ending. Juan Bosch.
Hope to continue with it soon. And then
Annie John - I selected Annie John because I
can finish that one soon, too - and Wide
Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.
Those are my selections for CaribAthon.
But, if I can, I will continue with Julia
Alvarez - In the Time of the Butterflies,
En el tiempo de las mariposas - if I can.
Because I have a lot of other things
that I have been reading. I am insisting
on Saramago. I started and
I really missed him... I missed his sense of
humor, his sarcasm, his satire. I've
gotten to the part in which he's
describing a day in the life of Joseph
and Mary - and his powers of observation
and imagination are something else. I'm
really enjoying it. I missed him.
We have a buddy read of The
Bully Pulpit. We've finished, I
finished, the first four chapters - The
Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William
Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of
Journalism. Very interesting. Very
interesting discussions, too, on Voxer that
we're having. I have to thank Jen at
Remembered Reads for organizing that. I
started Team of Rivals, also by Doris
Kearns Goodwin and I'm realizing why
it's the favorite of a lot of people,
especially if you like the underdog,
which I do. I think that's it. Oh,
no! I have a buddy read with Faith of
Faith&books, of John Adams by David
McCullough. I'm getting to see
Thomas Jefferson from Doris Kearns... no...
that's Thomas Jefferson from Kendi's point
of view and from David McCullough's
point of view. Very interesting. Okay, so
that's it people.
No more time. Please take care of
yourselves wherever you are,
whatever you're doing, take care of
yourselves, please. Keep on reading. Cuídense a mucho, mi gente.
Sigan leyendo. Los quiero mucho.
Adiós.
