Who am I? Where do I fit in? What is family? What is enough?

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These are the questions I have asked myself time and time again and I’m not alone in that. We are often pulled in so many different directions with society telling us who we are and what we have to do to be a part of it. If we look a certain way, we’re the “nanny”, the “housekeeper”, the “valet”, the “janitor.” If we speak Spanish, somehow, we are uneducated. <insert confused face> If we are the engineer, the teacher, the lawyer, the doctor it is met with such surprise and an attempt to find out how we were able to get where we are. And while we’re at it, so what, I’m the janitor, I’m also freaking brilliant. Why is there so much judgment and ism?

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And now we add an additional layer of being both a United Statesian and a Venezuelan (insert any country here). What do we embrace? Can I be both? How? Well, Lana led Latina Pride Parades in the 6th grade. I did reports on Venezuela and bribed my friends with arepas. But now, does that make us “un-American”? …..or MORE American? Wait, was it enough?? Am I Latina enough?? My Spanish is awful, I can’t dance the Joropo…and people do keep asking me “what are you?”

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Wait!….now I can get my DNA and know exactly, to the 1%, what I am??!! What does this mean?? Who am I?? What am I?? And does my DNA actually make me what I am??

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I’m exhausted.

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Diana Burbano opens the can of worms for us and starts a real conversation on what it means to be Latine, bi-racial, and family. She explores the vastly different experiences two sisters from the same household can have simply based on what they look like. She asks about the generational trauma passed down in our genes; the torture, pain, and horror experienced by our ancestors. It swims in our bodies.

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And now let’s add the layer about women. The caregiver, the lover, the forgotten, the taken for granted. Diana beautifully captures the reality so many of us live with – We. Do. It. All. And so often we are overlooked, decisions made for us, without us, “for our benefit.” The colonization of our lives without us realizing it.  

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At this point you might be thinking….racism, misogyny, colonization, identity….this is a lot for one person…..and it is….but it’s also what we travel with every day. Sitting down with this amazing cast, I knew I wasn’t alone. It’s a lot to unpack. But it needs unpacking. We need to have these discussions so we can leave the oversized baggage that doesn’t serve us and bring instead a carry-on of love.

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As in life, a lot happens quickly in this play whether we’re ready for it or not. It’s one thing after another and it’s all connected. That is the feeling I want us to have as we journey with these sisters. Even as they have separate experiences, their worlds and lives are interwoven with one moment leading into the next as we watch them come together in and out of the middle to share, fight, cry and love.

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I know my family is my family. The ones that share the same blood AND the ones that don’t. The ones I grew up with AND the ones I met later. The ones I was given AND the ones I chose. It’s all love. You know what else…I can make hallacas and apple pie. I can listen to Daddy Yankee and Taylor Swift. I can speak Spanish AND English. I can have my own show, run my own production company, take care of my loved ones and binge-watch Bridgerton. I am all the things, but I don’t have to be anything. I am enough.

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Thank you Diana.