![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/csp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/11\/community-909149_960_720.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBy Anastasiya Tsoi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I am from a place smaller than a state of Texas… where snowy mountains and hot deserts exist, where hospitality means respect, where guest are always welcomed.<\/p>\n But I am also from a place where sustainability exists on the paper, where exit visa still remains (meaning you cannot leave a country without\u202fgovernment permission), and where hosts may be punished by showing hospitality.<\/p>\n I am from a place where the literacy rate is 99%, where girls can study and go to universities, where women can have legal abortions.<\/p>\n But I am also from a place where tolerance for LGBTQ community does not exist, where yes, girls can study and go to universities but after marriage are not allowed to work and pursue their professional goals, where abortions are legal but sex is not.<\/p>\n I am from a place where culture, education, religion integrates\u202fbut at the same time contradicts one another.<\/p>\n I did my first step to do a research, and be vocal about this place not because it needed it but because I love this place from the bottom of my heart.<\/p>\n By Nicole Cruz-Merced<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m from Puerto Rico<\/p>\n I\u2019m from Ta\u00edno and African culture,<\/p>\n I\u2019m from warm weather and historic cities,<\/p>\n I\u2019m from poverty and where people starve to death,<\/p>\n I\u2019m from government corruption and no media attention.<\/p>\n I\u2019m from an island I\u2019m so proud to be from,<\/p>\n But I don\u2019t understand why it can\u2019t be the place I succeed.<\/p>\n Because of that reality,<\/p>\n I strive every day to save my home.<\/p>\n By Perla Ramirez<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m from a small island where family is important and every Sunday we cook while making fun of each other<\/p>\n I\u2019m from a community that loves to dance even when there a no lights to light up the dance floor<\/p>\n I\u2019m from a country where sadly being depressed is still considered a choice<\/p>\n I\u2019m from place that is afraid of the unknown so they paraphrase the bible to win their arguments even when they know is wrong<\/p>\n I\u2019m also from a nation that swears that racism in has been long gone, yet they elect a president that instead of condemning neo-Nazis says there were \u201cfine people on both sides\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless we have a choice to change injustices and keep the love; by first changing ourselves and teaching the new generation how to be better than us.<\/p>\n By Raphael Marinho<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m from the land where the sky is blue, the sea is green, and all the saints rest by the bay<\/p>\n I\u2019m from the place where suffering screams, despite the samba and waves<\/p>\n I\u2019m from Bahia, birth place of Brazil, where Africa still remains<\/p>\n I\u2019m from the beautiful mess where we laugh, and we sing despite the sad state<\/p>\n I\u2019m from promised new world that still reflects the horrors of yesterday.<\/p>\n I just don\u2019t get why it turned out this way<\/p>\n I hope to be another one who carries the light of a possible new day<\/p>\n Like Prometheus, who took the risk for a brighter new way<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Check out students of Community Social Psychology’s poems about their own communities. By Anastasiya Tsoi I am from a place smaller than a state of Texas… where snowy mountains and hot deserts exist, where hospitality means respect, where guest are … Continue reading