I was born in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, some time ago.
At two, I (was) moved to the best borough in NYC (The Bronx, yes),
as many Dominicans do, where I would live until I moved to Pittsburgh.
Naturally, Spanish was my first language. Unfortunately, my mastery of the language peaked (I think) when I was in
the ELL (english language learners) class in Kindergarten (shout out P.S. 170!) where almost everyone spoke it.
Did I switch from thinking in Spanish to English around eight?
I can understand Spanish like a native, but, when I speak, my mouth
and brain tend to function asynchronously.
I am trying to read in Spanish more these days (bought “Cien Años de Soledad” while in Bogotá recently),
and am actively seeking opportunities to speak it (outside of the Spanglish I speak to my mom).
If you have any Latin/Spanish literature recommedations, please send them!
I am also trying to learn Mandarin (进展不太顺利).
I am a proud alumnus of DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx, NYC, whose alumni have
profoundly impacted just about every facet of American culture. Clinton boasts a host of
notable alumni including James Baldwin, Sugar Ray Robinson, Stan Lee, Ralph Lauren,
The Kid Mero, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and many, many more.
Interests
I enjoy playing sports, especially football and basketball
(sorry to disappoint my fellow Dominicans),
listening to music (love Bachata though, so I’m not a complete fraud),
cooking and eating (love plátanos too),
making playlists (my greatest contribution to society to date is a Rap playlist on Spotify with 80+ likes),
making cool plots on Desmos (like this simple one),
biking (can be dangerous in Houston),
watching anime (any One Piece fans?),
going to cafés, libraries, and book stores (where much of my money goes),
meeting new people,
seeing new places, and
parenthetical statements (I hope I didn’t overdo it).
I also enjoy self-teaching (math, especially),
(the idea of) reading (I do it sometimes),
teaching, and mentoring.
I aspire to be a professor!
Random Facts
One of my high school football coaches (Coach Biggs) was an early pioneer in Hip Hop
as a member of The Soul Sonic Force who, along with Afrika Bambaataa,
made the legendary song Planet Rock which impacted the genre like few others have.
Hip Hop celebrated its 50th Anniversary on August 11th, 2023 at Yankee Stadium.
Did I mention that Hip Hop started in the Bronx?
The HBO movie The Bronx, USA was filmed in part at my high school in my
senior year where many of friends are featured (I, however, did not make the cut).
There is a neighborhood in Bogotá, Colombia called El Bronx
(not for good reasons); and in Brazil, according to Brazilian UFC fighter
Charles ‘do Bronx’ Oliveira, “Bronx” is a slang used for
favelas and poor neighborhoods.