Yaissa Jimenez
Where are you from? Where are you now?
I am from the Dominican Republic, born and raised in a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city, the neighborhood of "Los mina". I am still in my country but soon I will be in NY for a while.
When and how did you heed the first callings of literature & poetry? Was there a specific writer or literary work that swept you off your feet?
In my case, I remember starting to write poems when I was 6 years old. I have a poet uncle, but my mother and my noisy neighbors were the ones who recited stories to me and rhymed them, I think. Thanks to their voices, I understood that there is something called poetry and that something made me fall in love. The first thing I read were small books from "Vanguardia del Pueblo", the first initiative and political school of Professor Juan Boch, my parents were part of the Vanguardia study circles and I secretly began to read that, knowing that I did not understand anything, until I understood.
Your resumé admirably threads through the creative arts as actress, music critic, performer, writer, music video vixen, and educator. In 2010, you starred in the comedy series, Jodíos en serie, as 'Carla'. What was that experience like, and how did it set the stage for your dive into your future endeavors?
The performance in my case is a beautiful coincidence that feeds my need for poetic and narrative performance. I don't consider myself an actress. I have actress friends who give their skin in what they do, they give themselves completely to the process and I respect that a lot, because I know that process well. They indulge in the process like I do the writing process. But I like acting as part of that group of disciplines that feed me.
I write to write, it is rare but I think that the more places you use to write: articles, essays, novels, gossip, tweets, instagrams, well-articulated comments, musical reviews, non-pamphlet pamphlets etc. I think the more you train the pulse. I train my pulse with everything I do, from cooking (I love cooking), acting, and everything I can think of.
Leopoldo Minaya, Rita Indiana, Junot Diaz, Julia Alvarez...and Yaissa Jimenez. Just a few names from a long list of powerful writers from La Republica Dominicana. What is it about this Caribbean nation that spawns such literary royalty? How does it feel to be recognized in the same breath as these names?
For me it is a dream to see myself together with those names, I continue to be and will always be the little face of Los Mina who gets excited about everything, and I'm proud of it. RD is "la real mata" of stories and inspiration. The magical realism of this island is inexhaustible. It's even hard to tell what is magical realism and what is real when you live here, when you feel how it feels here. The magic of the Caribbean is inexhaustible because the Caribbean is inexhaustible. It gives you information every day. Also, we have forgotten a lot about what our own is really and because of this accumulation we have an excellent number of stories, ¡con lo buche lleno’ de de to’”. I like to know that I am so abundant, and I think that those of us who are writing from and through this region also like it.
Ritual Papaya, published in 2018, garnered much attention & praise from literary critics for your sharp, refreshing explorations of Afro-mysticism, and celebrations of blackness & feminism. How necessary is it to amplify these perspectives & topics for the Dominican diaspora?
Distance is very aggressive, so I'm not usually too harsh with this because I know that the diaspora is very concerned about how distance affects them. That's why I believe in the literature to help with this, both from the diaspora to the DR, and from the DR to the diaspora. The second being an incredibly necessary perspective because it is from the field of study. Nations are not a territory; nations are people and the good thing is that people do not remain silent. They create things, they don't stop doing. Art in general and literature as a very effective form of transmission will help to make distances less rough. You have to read Caribbean stories in Spanish, in English, in Creole, in Spanglish, in French. We must share. Translate us. And read us in the original languages, while you can. The Dominican blackness, which we deny so much on our island, is inseparable from our reality, although we insist on eliminating it, everyday it grows stronger. And feminism, with the exception that now the DR is talking more about Afro-feminism than anything else, is an unstoppable revolution. Both themes cross me, and as they cross me, they are part of what I do and what we do. And I love hearing those impressions of 'Ritual Papaya'.
As an educator of creative writing connecting with youth in a cybernetic world where platforms are often limited to 140 characters, subject to WiFi signal lags, and confined to unforgiving algorithms, I'm sure you see much optimistic promise for the writers & poets of tomorrow. But I'm sure the challenges are there. How do you render a successful response that is, at best, as natural as possible?
To be honest with you, my answer may not be very complex and may be a bit motherly because I adore my ex-students and they gave me a lot of hope. I see the future with a certain degree of optimism, thanks to them.
The situation of social networks and everything that entails, scares me, without a doubt. But I think it's simpler than we think to give our students tools of common sense and critical analysis, they will reach conclusions for their good if we allow them to think and guide that critical and deep thinking in class. They have a lot to say, so you have to let them speak. Networks can be allies, but since they are not safe spaces for them, we must tell them that they are not, warn them that these places cannot replace their critical thinking, that these tools should work for them, not they work for those tools. And they will know how to solve it, with the proper guidance, supervision and support, they will solve it, I even think better than us. Our brain is stronger. You have to be clear about that. Critical thinking and questioning everything.
Relatedly, are you worried that the next generation of writers and their words are doomed to lose their human-ness from excessively depositing their work into a digital void, where emotions are policed & regulated by artificial intelligence? Do you worry tomorrow's literary hopes are LOL-ing themselves into a creative dystopia, or is this a thread in the fabric of the CaribePunk aesthetic that is to be embraced?
Tied to the previous answer, I have hope, because every day I see someone doing something new and wonderful with the new tools. So, I also see people doing horrible things with those same tools. And I also see indifferent people without knowing that both situations affect them. Just as we are fighting and solving it, little by little "chin by chin", they will solve it. A specialized audience is even much more possible these days. Reaching them effectively takes time, and now they want to do it very quickly. That is something from the past that new technologies should take into account: things take their time and they will understand it, either with difficult situations or through thinking about it, they will understand that a harmonious union of the new and those lessons from the past , it is a very good key.
Speaking of CaribePunk, how would you define this term? Who else in your opinion identifies & embodies this movement?
Until now, that term is used by me and Pedro Cabiya (my editor for the Zemi Book publishing house, Puerto Rico). It is a term that speaks of how rough the Caribbean is and how calm they think it is. There is a lot of calm, but only when the Caribbean decides. The Caribbean has a "meladaganaria" soul and is like Santa Marta "Malcriado". That's why Caribe Punk. Because everything they speak outside the Caribbean does not resemble this region and minimizes the strength and the indescribable that these places are.
Besides reading & writing, what makes Yaissa happy?
Many things. Cook. Eat. Pleasure in many of its forms. Having a list of things I want to do and feeling that life is not going to give me for it (that makes you feel life a lot). Music, in all its forms.
If a cadre of extraterrestrials walked up to your front door and asked for 3 albums to listen to for their intergalactic travels, what would you recommend?
Hard. “Tiempos” Ruben Blades. "Anillo de compromiso" Chavela Vargas. "Forever young "Nina Simone. "Ilevitable" Ileana Cabra. "For musicians only" Dizzy Gillespie. "El abayarde" Tego Calderón. "Brasileiro" Sérgio Mendes. This question is a torture! I actually want to put some 100 in there.
Has the COVID-19 lockdown inspired you creatively?
To me, not at all. The situation actually blocked my brain. Just a month ago and something I'm getting my real creative rhythm back.
What advice would you give to a young person from the diaspora who wants to do what you do?
Connect. Connect with your voice, first. Then with the voices that want to understand. The space they want to observe. Don't just stick to your head, explore, play games, have fun, don't push yourself to be who others want you to be. That they investigate with great curiosity and that they double the curiosity the older they are. Make this a process because the most important thing is the process. From this accumulation of tools, very good things will come out for them and for their writing.