Puerto Rico, the US, PR, the United States, blurring the separation the Atlantic Ocean attempts to do to my blood. I’m a rope in a tug of war. I’m the border. I’m two places at once and yet neither of them entirely. If neither feels like mine, then how can it be sad?

Or mayb, that’s exactly why it is.

The girl with the light skin, brown eyes, and straight, dark-brown hair, who speaks better English than Spanish. I realize that, deep down, I’m not that different. Maybe I do belong after all.

I am una mestiza.

At just four years old, Selys Rivera’s life had already changed forever. As her biological parents separated, she had to leave the comforts of her Puerto Rican homeland for the unknown landscape waiting for her in Massachusetts.

In An Unconscious Mestiza: A Collection of Memoir Stories, Selys Rivera openly shares her mental health challenges and grief as she tries to figure out what being Puerto Rican, American, and a (cisgender) woman means to her. Her shattered youth and move to a new culture created the challenges that she faces in these minutes as the listener shares the stories that unfold into an intricate mosaic of a victorious life.

Powerful and relatable, Selys Rivera’s memoirist debut is a reminder that just a little love, forgiveness, acceptance, and faith can go a long way toward healing and a true sense of wholeness.