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<rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><description></description><title>Digital Vaiven</title><generator>Tumblr (3.0; @digitalvaiven)</generator><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/</link><item><title>the work of Generationswhat do we receive?
what do we filter?at La Perla, San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/0477dc4e3ee0fd1d21327e7465bb0de3/tumblr_inline_p6j88x0xzu1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;the work of Generations&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;what do we receive?&lt;br/&gt;
what do we filter?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172500453055</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172500453055</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 20:34:24 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of real life....</title><description>&lt;iframe width="400" height="225"  id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pQV6Eevg3V8?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&amp;wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of real life. Replicating lived experience on the screen, virtual reality can be accessed by putting on a set of compatible goggles and physically looking around through a lens. Whole worlds are created in the screen and set in devices like the Oculus Rift or a Google Cardboard for VR access in your phone. Either way, virtual reality is a constructed world to make you feel as if you are somewhere entirely different than your own physical space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Virtual reality, in its marketing, brands presence. The idea of needing to put on a device in order to feel and to experience creates questions on viewership, voyeurism, and the versatility of story. Virtual reality is a space constructed and curated by a developer, acting as an extension of our reality outside of the goggles. However, virtual reality is still reality. It is still real by virtue of existing. Just like we engage with our world–without VR headsets–within a set of parameters and rules, we engage with virtual reality in its own set of constraints. Colonial spaces can be seen as virtual spaces, where the parameters in which they exist in has been set by a developer. This developer is a collection of larger structures of institution that have a grasp on these spaces. And, because of the constant experimentation of spaces and body on the island, the digital identity of colonialism is in this configuration. In virtual reality, changing worlds is as easy as modifying a code. This has drastic consequences sometimes. A change can mean the whole space collapsing in on itself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This 360 film was taken in Bayamón, where my great-grandmother lives in her small home with my uncle. Here, when the goggles are slipped on, you can turn all the way around to see the pictures on the walls, what is playing on the television, see my uncle, and face my great-grandmother as she giggles in her nightgown. You are feeling as if you are in her small house with her, standing in front of her as she shouts about her earrings in Spanish. You are also aware of your physical body, knowing that you are actually &lt;i&gt;not &lt;/i&gt;with my great-grandmother in Puerto Rico standing in her living room. But do you smile when she laughs? Do you try to see what is on the television? Do you try to make out the faces on the wall? The 360 film makes you feel like you are experiencing the space in spite not being there. This particular experience of virtual reality still perpetuates actions and thoughts we practice in the physical world. Sometimes the experience breaks: you reach out your hand to touch great-grandma’s hands, you try to walk towards my uncle who is curled in bed. Maybe you try to get a closer look at the photos on the wall. What has been created is a space that is constrained by its medium. It is not the physical place that you are experiencing but the representation of a space that has been recorded with a device. The restraints of your experience with the 360 film, however, does not make the space any less real.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/856d02bcb9ee8e040a4347e2014bac70/tumblr_inline_p6ium4Rxc21rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;at Isla Verde.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172491363370</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172491363370</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:39:51 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at El Morro in San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/523068773b6ee1485c5e215ae5cb38e3/tumblr_inline_p6iu0iJayo1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;at El Morro in San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490969460</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490969460</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:26:59 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>

the way spirits speak to me must be a glitch. must be where history seeps into this plane of...</title><description>&lt;figure data-orig-width="3024" data-orig-height="3024" class="tmblr-full"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/4cf6d6707e43cb5c5ebbfb43411274ee/tumblr_inline_p6ityxC6R51rr8mem_540.jpg" alt="image" data-orig-width="3024" data-orig-height="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;

the way spirits speak to me must be a glitch. must be where history seeps into this plane of existence with universe-steeped information that spills into my veins like god-giving water. this was always meant to be. i was in the code all along, but i had to carve this feeling out of some type of computational error. the way you whisper into my ear was never supposed to be. but here we are.

&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;at San Juan.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490939115</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490939115</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:25:56 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>

she resorts to paper to break the code.she resorts to paper cuts to remind herself that she...</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/e0cfcdeb5d5e74dabd645a7627b443d5/tumblr_inline_p6itxkre9R1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;

she resorts to paper to break the code.&lt;br/&gt;she resorts to paper cuts to remind herself that she bleeds.&lt;br/&gt;she looks to the night sky for answers, as if the algorithm had long been written in constellations.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;she writes to heal. she writes to escape. she writes to look for paper cuts.&lt;/i&gt;

&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;at El Morro in San Juan.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490929245</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490929245</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:25:35 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at El Morro in San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/795f9dc7611c324e327b8c65f32ed4e5/tumblr_inline_p6itwxqeL11rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;at El Morro in San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490906720</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490906720</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:24:48 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at La Perla, San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/328343bf650529185cdf1a9969fe6013/tumblr_inline_p6itues9yR1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490861625</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490861625</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:23:25 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/002e32440aafc7dcc0a75d20c0ef30dd/tumblr_inline_p6itryFiK61rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;at San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490837695</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490837695</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:22:35 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>Spaces that continue to exist under colonial rule are simulations and is suspended in algorithm....</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/9306f02fecc41f50fabe9211b9d3686b/tumblr_inline_p6ito5mCv91rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spaces that continue to exist under colonial rule are simulations and is suspended in algorithm. This algorithm, a kind of computer code, is constructed in Puerto Rico through abolishing language, change of infrastructure, the experimentation of bodies, and the criminalizing of on-island nationalism by the United States&amp;rsquo; government. An &lt;i&gt;algorithm &lt;/i&gt;is a set of rules that perform data processing for computers. When &lt;i&gt;algorithm &lt;/i&gt;is used here, I mean that colonial spaces have their own sets of rules that help to parse through the data of the space. That space is coded in histories that can be understood as historically having been wired together to create the island. And, what people take pride in is influenced by the deliberate wiring of place. The algorithm is created in the oppressive systems that were placed to create, in reiteration, an entirely new island with every re-wiring.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="482" data-orig-width="640"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/9a8fcaffe793d0cd618888eb7270136d/tumblr_inline_p6itok7CIb1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="482" data-orig-width="640"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;(from &lt;a href="http://www.ign.com/images/games/the-sims-3-mac-864764/4fa6cb32cdc388ed13f378d7"&gt;IGN.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Colonial identity acts as a simulation that is suspended in a coded language and algorithm. This algorithm is constructed through the coded language of nationalism, identity, and omitted histories. We can think about Puerto Rico as an oppressive &lt;i&gt;The Sims&lt;/i&gt; game. This is not to make light of the gravity of colonies, but this is to better understand Baudrillard&amp;rsquo;s work and virtual embodiment in relationship to imperialism. &lt;i&gt;The Sims&lt;/i&gt;, launched in 2000 by Electronic Arts, has published not only a main series of games but various spin-offs and downloadable content throughout its run. It is under the genre of &amp;ldquo;life simulation&amp;rdquo; in gaming. The player would create virtual people called &amp;ldquo;Sims&amp;rdquo; and build houses, guide their lifestyles and choices, dress them, and basically replicate real life as closely as possible. It is a type of sandbox game, with no clear goals or narrative to be played. If left alone, the game, technically, can run itself, with the individual &amp;ldquo;Sims&amp;rdquo; roaming and completing their own tasks as they see fit. However, often in these moments of granting &amp;ldquo;agency&amp;rdquo; to a &amp;ldquo;Sim,&amp;rdquo; there would be some disaster waiting on the screen. Whether it is an oven on fire, a flood, a burglary, all things that are coded in gameplay, a Sim may not even react. Often, when left alone, a &amp;ldquo;Sim&amp;rdquo; would just do the bare essentials: eat, sleep, sometimes use the bathroom, and go to work. In a strange way, this has become a metaphor in which we can describe colonial identity. &lt;i&gt;The Sims&lt;/i&gt;, in spite the illusion of free will, are still restrained in a world where their infrastructure is either controlled by a more powerful user (the player) or the code of the game. Colonial identity, whether controlled by governments or left alone, is still victim to the code of a space. As avatars&amp;ndash;virtual people&amp;ndash;in that space, the navigation of code is distinct to constructed identity.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490789295</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490789295</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:20:59 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at La Perla, San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/8374b7afec19d6c821b9b12a1e092a06/tumblr_inline_p6iti8Rjho1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490639385</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490639385</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:16:05 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>&amp;ldquo;In &amp;lsquo;A Manifesto for Cyborgs,&amp;rsquo; Donna Haraway argues forcefully that we face a...</title><description>&lt;figure data-orig-width="3024" data-orig-height="4032" class="tmblr-full"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/0a98f4aea76beb8ab2f7e1e944c4f1f7/tumblr_inline_p6itfxQZSi1rr8mem_540.jpg" alt="image" data-orig-width="3024" data-orig-height="4032"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;In &amp;lsquo;A Manifesto for Cyborgs,&amp;rsquo; Donna Haraway argues forcefully that we face a transformed landscape that requires fundamentally new politics&amp;rdquo; (Briggs 199).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Briggs calls out research methods rooted in bias in &amp;ldquo;Ghosts, Cyborgs and Why Puerto Rico,&amp;rdquo; especially in moments where identity is boiled down to statistics and research questions. These numbers and charts come from preconceived notions of those who are doing the research. Who is asking the question? Why? What is the question we should &lt;i&gt;really &lt;/i&gt;be asking? And how does all of this ultimately create a space in which stereotype and assumption is the standard? Puerto Rico cannot turn to either the U.S. or itself to look for the idea of &amp;ldquo;nation&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;identity.&amp;rdquo; Laura Briggs states that &lt;i&gt;Reproducing Empire,&lt;/i&gt; along with its epilogue, &amp;ldquo;has been an effort to fill these gaps&amp;hellip;it is an attempt to tell the story of &amp;quot;development&amp;rdquo; in light of what came before and after&amp;hellip;&amp;ldquo; (Briggs 199). However, what if we imagine this idea of &amp;quot;identity&amp;rdquo; as what lives in those gaps?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The islander Puerto Rican&amp;rsquo;s conscience has been shaped in these missing gaps of history. It has been redacted, corrected, erased, and rewritten in these gaps. According to Briggs, it is shoveled from a tomb of historical oppression and experimentation to extract truth. I would argue, though, that this is where true identity is revealed: not with who shovels the tomb to reveal the skeleton of history nor with what the skeleton clutches, but rather the story lies with the act of digging. Like Nayyirah Waheed&amp;rsquo;s&lt;i&gt; salt.&lt;/i&gt;, it is not the skeleton of the poem that tells a story but, rather, how the discovery of the skeleton and registering that it is a skeleton becomes narrative. The reader realizes story in the decision to dig and create the hole where the skeleton lies. Identity lies in the movement of the dirt as it is lifted out of the hole onto another pile to reveal the skeleton and to cause a sweat that drips off the tomb raiding reader.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490620190</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490620190</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:15:26 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at La Perla, San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/ea089a7a12df8b52fe3707e785464639/tumblr_inline_p6itd4A35b1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490541720</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490541720</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:12:50 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at La Perla, San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/99fb082ede9ded832b1e5454573cacc2/tumblr_inline_p6itcgG6MS1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490530485</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490530485</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:12:26 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at La Perla, San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/c1860dcc59aa47a0a5f0965d997d5677/tumblr_inline_p6itbsAOAl1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490519070</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490519070</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:12:04 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>

i heard they were burying grandmothers in the backyardi heard they found their babies in the...</title><description>&lt;figure data-orig-width="3024" data-orig-height="3024" class="tmblr-full"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/1fa7c9200dcdf9eadc7533e9c02f87d3/tumblr_inline_p6it9hbdfP1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-width="3024" data-orig-height="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;

i heard they were burying grandmothers in the backyard&lt;br/&gt;i heard they found their babies in the waters&lt;br/&gt;i heard the morgues were full&lt;br/&gt;and that the sick lay in the heat of packed emergency rooms&lt;br/&gt;waiting for death to boil them alive under&lt;br/&gt;an unforgiving white-hot sun&lt;br/&gt;i heard that you have no water&lt;br/&gt;that you&amp;rsquo;ve been using the water from the floods&lt;br/&gt;to flush your toilet&lt;br/&gt;i heard that your roof was ripped open&lt;br/&gt;and heard the hurricane strip my heart&lt;br/&gt;out of my ribs&lt;br/&gt;taking veins and muscle along with it&lt;br/&gt;leaving me nothing but the bones of a mourner&lt;br/&gt;i heard that we&amp;rsquo;re ghosts now&lt;br/&gt;forgotten&lt;br/&gt;as fleeting as the chirp of a coqui&lt;br/&gt;i heard your roof rip&lt;br/&gt;along with your smile&lt;br/&gt;i heard you mourn for tu patria&lt;br/&gt;i heard your lips fall to the ground&lt;br/&gt;in a kiss, trying to speak to the land and ask why&lt;br/&gt;i did not hear you cry, though&lt;br/&gt;i am reminded in this moment that&lt;br/&gt;RESILIENCE was a genetic mutation&lt;br/&gt;inherited&lt;br/&gt;from daughter to daughter to daughters who grew up too fast&lt;br/&gt;we don&amp;rsquo;t talk about it&lt;br/&gt;i did not hear that Carlos Santana song&lt;br/&gt;and the riffs of his guitar&lt;br/&gt;as if strings, too, cry&lt;br/&gt;Maria, Maria&lt;br/&gt;you look like the people who wrecked me&lt;br/&gt;they exist in memory and in the way&lt;br/&gt;i cry out&lt;br/&gt;&amp;ldquo;WHAT WILL YOU TO DO TO ME THIS TIME?&amp;rdquo;&lt;br/&gt;i heard you scream when you met the land&lt;br/&gt;it was shrill, it flooded the streets&lt;br/&gt;you have good people fishing through your wailing&lt;br/&gt;to find grandmothers&lt;br/&gt;that i heard they&amp;rsquo;ll bury in the backyard&lt;br/&gt;i heard they are dead because of you&lt;br/&gt;i died along with them&lt;br/&gt;i heard you cry&lt;br/&gt;i heard you cry, Maria&lt;br/&gt;i heard you cry&lt;br/&gt;with agua negra pouring out your mouth&lt;br/&gt;and the devil lends a claw&lt;br/&gt;to wipe bile off our chin&lt;br/&gt;and the devil whispers &amp;ldquo;you ask too much&amp;rdquo;&lt;br/&gt;when he caresses your cheek&lt;br/&gt;when all we ask for is a coffin&lt;br/&gt;that can hold the baby found floating&lt;br/&gt;in the dirty bath water of San Juan&lt;br/&gt;the devil has always existed&lt;br/&gt;i know because he was there when&lt;br/&gt;they buried grandmother in the backyard&lt;br/&gt;he placed a flamboyan&amp;rsquo;s flower&lt;br/&gt;on the mound of wet dirt&lt;br/&gt;because he heard, too&lt;br/&gt;the devil heard, too&lt;br/&gt;and he laughed a laugh that sounded like&lt;br/&gt;when coquis do not chirp anymore&lt;br/&gt;i heard the devil tried to cry&lt;br/&gt;i heard the devil try to cry&lt;br/&gt;but i heard he had no water, too

&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;at La Perla, San Juan.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490505905</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490505905</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:11:35 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>

to do:1. honor ghosts2. honor the glitch3. be the glitch

polaroid of great-grandman Matilde, 99,...</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/719eb69561431f183bcfe30f66fc0981/tumblr_inline_p6it72tQj21rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;

to do:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;1. honor ghosts&lt;br/&gt;2. honor the glitch&lt;br/&gt;3. be the glitch

&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;polaroid of great-grandman Matilde, 99, in Bayamón.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490456155</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490456155</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:10:04 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>

i can stand in love, but you gotta stand here too

at San...</title><description>
&lt;video  id='embed-5e793ec71a54c861873042' class='crt-video crt-skin-default' width='400' height='400' poster='https://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_p6it66mdrH1x9drv5_smart1.jpg' preload='none' muted data-crt-video data-crt-options='{"autoheight":null,"duration":25,"hdUrl":false,"filmstrip":{"url":"https://78.media.tumblr.com/previews/tumblr_p6it66mdrH1x9drv5_filmstrip.jpg","width":"200","height":"200"}}' crossOrigin='anonymous' &gt;
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&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;

i can stand in love, but you gotta stand here too

&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;at San Juan.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490419353</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490419353</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:08:44 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>The constant political tension of Puerto Rico&amp;rsquo;s indecision of statehood, commonwealth, or...</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="4032"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/84f349f0dc7a996f2b9d7a46329737fe/tumblr_inline_p6it3qQw3m1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="4032"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;The constant political tension of Puerto Rico&amp;rsquo;s indecision of statehood, commonwealth, or being an independent sovereign nation is as torrid as the island&amp;rsquo;s conception (Poblete, 10). The continuous conversation of the island&amp;rsquo;s status perpetuates a lack of identity through a label. The gravity of this adds divisions that creates even more of a puzzle-like identity for Puerto Ricans. There is a people split between what they want to be, how they want to become, and who they want to be (Briggs, 196). This is all rooted in the island&amp;rsquo;s notions of colonialism, as there are communities of people who would rather emulate America&amp;rsquo;s government than anything else. There are people who are in the other end of the spectrum and would rather rebuild the space as an antithesis of American imperialism.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The puzzle-like identity is only made more real with the development of sugar plantations in Puerto Rico in the early 1800s. The exploitation of people brought to the plantations along with the physical change of the land creates a configuration of both people and space. Now, sugar cane is no longer grown in Puerto Rico because it was rapidly mass harvest by West African slaves brought to the Caribbean. There is a saying in Puerto Rico about this: &amp;ldquo;all the coffee is made with blood and sugar,&amp;rdquo; a recognition of the lives lost under the work conditions of these plantations. (Poblete, 91)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Liminal space is created through configuration, through a history of constant physical change. Whether that being is an island, a collective identity, or an individual, I cannot deny how constant alteration has fabricated my understanding of my Puerto Rican identity. This also has forced me to understand that, in spite of its fabrication, it is still me. Not only does Puerto Rico struggle with defining itself as a physical space, but the space itself has gone through so much change that the changes become what is defining its history, The act of changing a space is what becomes important, not what was changed in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;at San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490382940</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490382940</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:07:33 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>at San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="4032"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/936aa7d1ace9b5271755ddde5894f142/tumblr_inline_p6it30ghQK1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="4032"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;at San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490361950</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490361950</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:06:49 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>Museum of Art and History at San Juan.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"&gt;&lt;img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/8a51ddad7844b15631607254103ff0a8/tumblr_inline_p6it1eCBRv1rr8mem_540.jpg" data-orig-height="3024" data-orig-width="3024"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Museum of Art and History at San Juan.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490350810</link><guid>https://digitalvaiven.tumblr.com/post/172490350810</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2018 15:06:24 -0400</pubDate></item></channel></rss>