La Mala would like to publicly thank the administration, staff (especially Katie), and most of the the students of BHSEC II right in my home hood of Queens, who had me and other amazing gente represent for the school’s first community day.

We all had some really interesting discussions about the media, language, race and gender. I think one of the most amazing moments, was talking about the possibilities for all people to be media makers, even without them realizing it, as media is really just a method to send information about different aspects of identity.

Whenever I do workshops with students, it makes me feel old, jaja. Pero most importantly it makes me feel good about the next generation of leaders, artists, and activist coming up. I think one of the biggest mistakes people make with working with students is not being real, not being honest, thinking that they can’t handle it. In reality, it’s the deception that the world feeds them, including well meaning adults, that they can’t handle and that leaves them ill-prepared to interact with the bigger world.

I look forward to meeting and working with some of you again.