<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
    xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
	<channel>
<title>Marta&#x27;s Blog</title><link>https://martavmartinez.net/index.html</link><description>My Story</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><language>en</language><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2026</dc:rights><dc:date>2026-12-31T21:41:45-05:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
<sy:updateBase>2000-01-01T12:00+00:00</sy:updateBase>
<lastBuildDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 09:54:28 -0400</lastBuildDate><item><title>Rethinking What We Choose to Honor</title><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><dc:subject>My Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2026-12-31T21:41:45-05:00</dc:date><link>https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/eac4f3727ab20e3221527ada47711ec6-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/eac4f3727ab20e3221527ada47711ec6-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[(null)]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I Mourn the Loss</title><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><category>6) I Mourn the Loss</category><dc:date>2026-12-31T17:03:40-05:00</dc:date><link>https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/60b35a8a7724591d40548f428dcb2e16-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/60b35a8a7724591d40548f428dcb2e16-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I didn&rsquo;t fully understand just how much until I found two boxes completely filled with ephemera about her&mdash;newspaper clippings, programs from events my mother had attended (unbeknownst to any of my sisters), and newspapers, all carefully saved and preserved. 

...I remember the day she came home from the hairdresser and hearing my father&rsquo;s loud exclamations as she told him how much it had cost to get her hair to look just like Jackie&rsquo;s. 

...What I remember most from that time were the conversations between my mother and Yolanda as they talked about how deeply they felt for Jackie Kennedy: her pillbox hat and pink suit splattered with the President&rsquo;s blood; her composure during the long hours in the Capitol rotunda; and the strength she showed as a mother guiding her children through unimaginable loss.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Learning What Was Missing</title><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><category>1) Learning What Was Missing</category><dc:date>2026-11-01T09:36:29-05:00</dc:date><link>https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/c1f3f58375b23a275bdedec325534379-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/c1f3f58375b23a275bdedec325534379-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[When I started to meet people and they asked where I was from, the questions came quickly about my accent, about hats (Texas 10-gallon hats and sombreros!), and about Mexico. 

...During the first couple of months, when the temperatures began to drop, the cold cut through the thin windbreaker I brought from home, my idea of a &ldquo;warm coat.&rdquo; 

...Food has become a thread in my story because as I learn later in my oral history work, food is how one finally knows not just where they are, but what is missing.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Realizing We Were Here</title><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><category>2) Realizing We Were Here</category><dc:date>2026-10-01T09:39:18-04:00</dc:date><link>https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/458dc8cdcd9cdc36eaa8c6ff3df108ca-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/458dc8cdcd9cdc36eaa8c6ff3df108ca-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Through that show, I met Gioconda Salazar and for the first time, I realized that Latinos did exist in Rhode Island&mdash;even if I hadn&rsquo;t yet found them in my daily life. 

...There were very few of us then&mdash;fewer still who had arrived directly from Mexico, carrying our own foodways and histories, not filtered through somewhere else first but, from a border city, like me.


...I also saw signs in Spanish and for the first time since leaving El Paso, something settled in my body and started to feel closer &hellip; to home.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Proof&#x2c; Continuity&#x2c; and What Remains</title><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><category>3) Proof &#x26; Continuity</category><dc:date>2026-09-06T09:53:57-04:00</dc:date><link>https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/050d04fed55732e4380622fd5ae17864-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/050d04fed55732e4380622fd5ae17864-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[He dreamed of opening a tortiller&iacute;a so the tortillas could be fresh&mdash;so he wouldn&rsquo;t have to drive every weekend to New York to bring fresh ones back. 

...And that mattered deeply to me because Enrique was the first person who satisfied both things I had been searching for since college: real Mexican food and, most importantly, a Mexican presence. 

...When I first arrived, there were no tortillas and no Mexicans that I could find, now there were not just one, but two young Mexicans stepping into public life, shaping the future.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>What I Was Really Missing</title><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><category>4) What I Was Really Missing</category><dc:date>2026-08-30T05:02:20-04:00</dc:date><link>https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/f827fd0e5f248b63c8cb4aa74566479c-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/f827fd0e5f248b63c8cb4aa74566479c-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In that moment, I realized that I didn&rsquo;t want that to be anyone&rsquo;s introduction to tortillas, so I wouldn&rsquo;t let the others taste them.


...He had moved from New York in the early 1990s and had dreamed of opening a tortiller&iacute;a so the tortillas could be fresh and so he wouldn&rsquo;t have to keep driving to New York to bring them to Rhode Island. 

...Later I sat with Rosalyn Tavarez&mdash;who played me on stage&mdash;and I asked her to reflect about being in the play. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>How La Broa&#x27; Began</title><dc:creator>Marta V. Martinez</dc:creator><category>5) How La Broa&#x27; Began</category><dc:date>2026-07-30T05:56:34-04:00</dc:date><link>https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/ecefacf7e98f0f34d0a063cbd2fef898-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://martavmartinez.net/MartaVsBlog_files/ecefacf7e98f0f34d0a063cbd2fef898-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[During that time, he was introduced to my oral history practice&mdash;the interviews, the collections, and the long process of documenting Latino history in Rhode Island through lived experience rather than official records.


...Through that conversation, my own life story began to intersect more clearly with the stories I had been collecting for years: the history of Broad Street, of storefronts and kitchens, of radio stations, theaters, protests, and everyday life.


...It carries the voices of people who built community along Broad Street and beyond&mdash;people whose stories rarely appear in traditional histories, but whose presence has shaped Rhode Island in lasting ways.
]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
</rss>