WEBVTT

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I hope I can do this without
a stand of some kind.

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"When I was born,
when I was born,

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my mother said, the sky
was turquoise blue--

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turquoise blue, como el manto
de la Virgen de Guadalupe,

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and on the mountaintops in
the distance, there was snow.

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It was November, and
the air was icy cold.

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My mother was in
the backyard cutting

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roses, huge roses, red,
white, yellow, like the roses

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in La Tilma de Juan
Diego, and the sky

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was turquoise green como
el manto de la Virgen

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de Guadalupe.

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And on the mountaintops in
the distance, there was snow.

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Then a soft, warm
wind began to blow.

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Yes, a warm wind from
the East and my mother,

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said, that I fluttered in
her womb like I had wings,

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and that was a good sign because
the East is where the sun rises

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and where everything
good begins.

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The soft, warm wind
blew over my mother,

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over her hair, her face, her
arms, her breasts, her legs.

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She took a deep breath to smell
the fragrance of the roses she

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held in her hand, and she said
that when she took a breath,

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I took one, too.

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And we both breathed
in together, then I

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got very still, like the
roses and the trees all

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around her that had dropped
their leaves to the ground.

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That's the way it is when
birth is about to begin.

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Everything is waiting
for the miracle.

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Later that day, my mother
went into the kitchen

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and made herself una taza
de manzanilla, a cup of tea

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to soothe herself
and me in the womb.

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Then my father came
home from work,

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and they called the doctor.

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And the doctor was a Black man
who had an office downtown,

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and just before
my mother lay down

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in the same bed she slept
in to give me birth,

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she looked out the
window, and the sky

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was turquoise blue como el
manto de la Virgen de Guadalupe.

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And the sun was
setting in the West.

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The rays of the setting sun
were like orange fingers

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and meeting the turquoise sky.

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Orange was my mother's
favorite color,

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and that was a good
sign because the West is

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where everything good begins.

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Then my mother lay
down in her bed.

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And when the pain got hard,
she reached over her head

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and held on to the
metal rails of her bed,

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and my father had
tears in his eyes.

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He couldn't stand
to see her pain.

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My mother said,
when I was born, I

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gave a yelp like a newborn
pup, and I was born

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into the hands of a Black man.

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He placed me gently
at my mother's side.

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And later that night,
when everyone was asleep

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and the house was
quiet, my mother

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got up very slowly
with me in her arms.

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She walked to the
window and looked out.

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The sky was black as ink, and
it shone with the biggest stars.

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In the center was the
moon, a silver disk

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shining in the sky-- a silver
disk como una medalla de la

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Virgen de Guadalupe.

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The night was so clear.

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My mother could see the
mountains on the moon,

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and the crater sunk
into the ground.

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Look, mijita, there, she said.

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There is the letter of
your name in the sky,

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and she took her finger
and traced an "S"

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in the star, Stella--

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Estella, yes.

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And look, next to it is
a letter of my name "R".

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She traced it with her finger--

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"R," Rosana.

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See, our names are written in
the heavens, mijita, and en

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cielo.

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And that was a good sign
because heaven is where God is,

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and that's where we all begin."

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[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

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