TY - JOUR AU - Garcia, Ofelia PY - 2021/03/24 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Unblocking tapones and finding pleasant places JF - Education Review JA - edrev VL - 28 IS - 0 SE - Acquired Wisdom DO - 10.14507/er.v28.3243 UR - https://edrev.asu.edu/index.php/ER/article/view/3243 SP - AB - <p><em>Tapón</em> is the word that comes to mind when I think about this piece. The tapón of my bathtub in Cuba when I was a child that prevented the water from streaming out. The tapón of the traffic jams in Puerto Rico, leaving my mother-in-law´s house to go anywhere, as the traffic stopped flowing. And the tapón I feel today, in NYC, in the midst of a pandemic that has hit poor communities of color the hardest, and as a smooth transition to a new president has been slowed down by lies and innuendos of fraud.</p><p> </p><p>I have written many academic articles, but never have I struggled with the tapón I have felt in writing this piece that urged me to take a “<em>viaje a la semilla</em>,” the title of a book by Alejo Carpentier, a Cuban author. Taking a trip ‘to the seed of it all’ is painful, and I have resisted lifting the tapón that has kept me from looking inward, linking my today with my past. I thank Sonia Nieto, a beacon and inspiration to all Latinas and all educators, for asking me to unclog memories of who I am, and how my who is related to the work in which I have engaged. In so doing, I recognize those who have been with me in the streams of my life as a woman, a student, a mother, a wife, a grandmother, a teacher, an academic.  As I have done so, I have realized more than ever that as Psalm 16 says: “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” and it has been my family, teachers, colleagues and students who have given me more than I deserve.</p><p> </p><p>[Download the PDF to read more about Dr. Garcia's journey and wisdom]</p> ER -