Neither Here Nor From There

This anthology, Ni de aquí, ni de allá, aptly titled by Dalia Mariscal-Cantor—one of our brilliant teen Witty Writers—is a Spanish expression used often to describe the feeling of being in between cultures. Mexican-American actor and producer Edward James Olmos, in reference to his role as Selena's father in the 1997 film Selena, elaborated on this phrase perfectly: "We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time! It's exhausting." Most of us have a hyphen in between our ethnic identities. For example, I am Filipino-American, with roots from Spain, China, and the western coast of the Philippine island of Luzon. In my first novel, Groovy Girl, the 8-year-old protagonist calls herself an "in-betweener"—not too smart, not too dumb, not too ghetto, and not too refined. In present day's society—which, I lamentably admit, is polarized on so many levels—if we're too much of anything, or too little of something else, we don't belong. Edward Wald, one of our adult Witty Writers, who has made his way from Moscow to Park City, with 15 cities in between, says he belongs everywhere. However, to belong, don't we need to change who we are? Absolutely not. One of the first questions I had posed to each of our writers was "How did you get here?" And, you might be wondering, "Why is that cable car climbing a mountain on the cover of this book?" The journey might be, or might have been, "exhausting"—exhilarating, terrifying, discouraging, and breathtaking all at once—but we must always be who we are, with open eyes, every step of the way. I invite you to sneak a peek at what this devoted group of writers has left behind. I'm certain their works will inspire you to follow suit, whether by way of written or spoken word. —Maritza Roño Witty Writers Workshop's original facilitator, editor of this anthology