Have a Cup of Johanny

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In this first episode of my September series on higher education, I open up about the tug-of-war I felt as a teenager—caring for my grandmother while craving freedom, being accepted to UMass Amherst but landing at community college instead, and realizing I wasn’t ready the first time around.

This is a story about leaving and staying, guilt and grace, and the small seeds that stay with us—like the moment a professor tol...

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Why is it that the thing we resist most… is usually the thing we need most?

In this episode, I reflect on Day 9 of my 75-Day Soft Challenge and the moment I almost hit pause, just because I was “off” from work. That tiny urge to delay revealed something much deeper: the way my brain associates postponement with protection.

Through years of journaling and self-observation, I’ve learned that my resistance often points to ...

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Five comments in one day—just because I wore a mask.

In this episode, I share a fresh, real-time reflection on what happened when I returned to work after recovering from both COVID and the flu. Spoiler: it wasn’t the illness that hit hardest. It was the unsolicited opinions.

Why does someone else’s choice to take precautions trigger so much discomfort in others? Why do people feel entitled to comment on a boundary that...

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Have you ever ignored the quiet signs your body was sending until it had to scream to get your attention?

In this raw and reflective episode, I share what getting hit with both COVID and the flu taught me about self-trust, resistance, and listening to the whispers before they become breakdowns. From tracking my symptoms to unlearning the lie that pushing through is strength, I open up about the ways we gaslight our own...

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What if the key to moving forward was actually going back—to the routines, the rituals, the habits that once grounded you?

In this episode of Have a Cup of Johanny, I share how 43 taught me the power of structure, and why “winging it” wasn’t the freedom I thought it was. From journaling to morning rituals, from tracking my water intake to honoring my body's needs, I relearned the importance of showing up for mysel...

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What makes someone "deserving" of citizenship? A perfect GPA? Military service? Paying taxes and never making a mistake?

In this episode, we unpack the myth of the “Good Immigrant,” the notion that only exceptional, obedient, and productive immigrants are worthy of staying. We examine the origins of this narrative, its impact on our communities, and why it ultimately serves the interests of systems that profi...

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“Why don’t they just do it the right way?”

That question often arises in conversations about immigration, and this episode breaks it down. Because the truth is: there is no single immigration “line,” just a maze of inconsistent rules, long wait times, and constantly shifting policies that leave millions in limbo.

From family visas that take decades to asylum systems that have been digitally lock...

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Immigration detention is supposed to be civil not punishment.

 But across the U.S., immigrants are being held in jail-like conditions under a patchwork of outdated and inconsistent standards, many without ever being charged with a crime.

In this episode, Joa pulls back the curtain on a system designed to look like bureaucracy but feel like incarceration. We explore how ICE contracts with private prisons and local jails,...

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The phrase "anchor baby" slices through political discourse with cruel efficiency. You've heard it—perhaps on news channels, debate stages, or even from the mouths of those who share our heritage. It transforms a newborn child into a tactic, a weapon, a calculated move in some imagined immigration chess game.

But what if everything you've been told about birthright citizenship is fundament...

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"They knew what they were doing" - five words that cloak inhumanity in the disguise of justice. Every time I hear this phrase used to dismiss the suffering of immigrants caught in our broken system, something inside me recoils. Not just because it's callous, but because it's incomplete.

Today's episode cuts through the rhetoric to expose one of the most persistent and harmful myths ab...

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The smoke is already in your lungs, even if your house isn't on fire yet. This powerful metaphor frames our deep dive into disassociation—that subtle, pervasive mindset that whispers "if it's not happening to me, I don't care." While our brains naturally create psychological distance from suffering as a protective mechanism, this episode challenges us to recognize how this distancing doesn&apo...

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The words we speak reveal the fears we carry. When fellow Latinos say "I did it the legal way" or "they're not like us," what's really happening beneath these statements? This raw, unflinching exploration of internalized anti-immigrant attitudes within Latino communities pulls back the curtain on our community's most uncomfortable truth: sometimes we become the very border patrol we ...

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Words have the power to reshape how we see each other. They can strip away humanity or restore it, depending on how we wield them. This raw, urgent episode dives deep into how language becomes the first battleground where human dignity is won or lost.

When certain words keep appearing—invasion, flood, illegals, infestation—they aren't random choices. They're calculated terms designed to frame people...

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Have you ever felt that sinking feeling of anxiety when things aren't going as planned? That's exactly what happened to me at Latina Fest, standing at my author table watching people walk by without glancing at my books. My stomach tightened as those insidious thoughts crept in: "Maybe I won't sell anything today. This was a waste of time."

But then something magical happened – a micr...

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The journey of radical self-acceptance often begins in the most unexpected ways. For me, it started with a grandmother's stern warning: "You'll get a hump if you keep walking with your head down." What began as fear—fear of adding a hunchback to my already-different appearance with a lazy eye—eventually transformed into something powerful and profound.

Growing up with a visible difference ...

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Raw, tender, and profoundly honest—this episode peels back the layers of maternal relationships that shape not just our lives, but the stories we tell. 

"I was raised by women who loved me and hurt me, and that's who I wrote." With these words, I invite you into the emotional core of "The Ordinary Bruja," revealing how Josefina and Mama Belén emerged from my own experiences with the c...

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A thoughtless comment about Dominican identity became the catalyst for an unexpected journey into memory, heritage, and the stories we choose to forget. What began as a simple observation about how Dominicans often embrace their Spanish roots while minimizing African and Taíno influences sparked a firestorm of criticism that changed everything about my writing and my understanding of cultural identity.

The ba...

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Magic doesn't always arrive with a flash and fanfare. Sometimes it emerges quietly from our darkest moments, when we're hiding from the world and even from ourselves.

During the silence of pandemic lockdown, when the world outside my window fell eerily still, I found myself drawn to create something that could bridge the isolation. That's when Marisol—a curvilicious Latina bruja reluctant to le...

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Have you been pouring from an empty cup? This raw, unfiltered conversation dives deep into what it truly means to find your way back to yourself—and it's not the Instagram-worthy journey you might expect.

Forget the sage-burning rituals and silk robes. Real self-reclamation happens on bathroom floors at midnight when no one's watching. It's about finally hearing that whisper inside that's ...