As a mixed-race Latina, almost all of my writing exists on the border. Gloria Anzaldúa is one of the first writers that I've read that felt like it was written with me in mind. I was so happy to see that her writing was inspiring this issue because it is so deeply personal to me and impacts a lot of my writing. Each of the poems I have selected to submit deals intimately with my relationship with my heritage, which very closely relates to and is in conversation with the theme of borderlands.

Lúcia is a junior at Barnard majoring in English with a concentration in American Literature. As a mixed-race Latina, she is interested in finding the artistic balance between honoring her roots and understanding the white-washed tendencies of the United States. Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera was the first book she read coming into Barnard that felt like it addressed these concerns that drive a lot of her writing. Heritage and ethnicity are a deeply personal source for her poetry and she hopes to shine a light on the conflicting views of many mixed heritage individuals when the prevailing mindset on heritage in the United States doesn’t make room for people who live on the border.