There’s a scene in Decade of Fire when Vivian describes this one fire. It ravaged the home of her elementary school friend. She remembers the night and going to school the next day. Her friend never came back. Her voice is soft as she explains that her research discovered the authorities let the tragedy play out in the South Bronx. That moment is etched in mind and heart. In person, Vivian’s demeanor is this all-around compassion of a listener, an observer, a mother, a sister, a caregiver, a mentor, a fighter. And yet, in her warrior spirit, there’s this surrender, and she looks at you straight in the eye. Very moving.
Since meeting Vivian last fall, I’ve been telling her that Puerto Rico needed her story. We have not been taught there what happened here and here what happened there. Hurricane Maria connected to love, and it showed it. But there is still so much we don’t know about each other and ourselves as puertrriqueños. We’re now struggling to match years of misunderstanding, misconceptions, assumptions, collective memories. And we need all our stories to help us along.
I spoke with Vivan last Saturday about her trip/presentation of Decade of Fire in Puerto Rico. Filmmaker Eli Jacobs Fantuzzi helped make the tour happen. The Decade of Fire team paid/covered the expenses of hosting screenings and the group went to Loiza (COPI), Toa Baja (escuela rescatada), Mayaguez (Taller Libertá) and Peñuelas (activistas del campamento contra las cenizas de Peñuelas), Rio Piedras (near UPI La Gestoría).
Vivian thought no one would attend the Peñuelas screening but, “People came from everywhere. It was packed. People came out, and those people were so tired, I’m generalizing, but they were focused on organizing and fighting for their neighborhood. They talked about being arrested 10 to 15 times to get these petroleum companies down. A spirit of fighting every day. They are luchadores. Tough fighters. And they still came out. The fighters recognized the fighters from the Bronx. People cried. They got the film, and they loved the film. It was almost an all-nighter. It was amazing.” In La Gestoría in Rio Piedras, the film screened in a wall off the street, and it stopped pedestrians and traffic.
Vivian sees the clashing misconceptions. The notion that those who left forgot about the ones who stayed. And the misunderstanding that not all Puerto Ricans that left did not do much better than those who stayed. “We are both victims, and history has not taught us. Not enough space or knowledge to support each other around that.”
I’m headed to nowhere now. Been thinking of Vivian Vázquez, Neyda Martínez, Cecilia Aldarondo, Nadia Hallgren, Paloma Suau, Gisela Rosario, Sandra Guzmán, Ines Mongíl, Rosadel Varela, Mariem Pérez…
Watch: Memories of a Penitent Heart (una belleza) by Cecilia Aldarondo | Cinema Tropical now streaming
To check-out and get: Edgardo Miranda-Rodríguez | La Boriqueña stuff
Sol