Canela: Spanish for cinnamon. Among Dominicanos, a common nickname, a term of endearment (i.e. piel canela), and an ingredient in nearly every Dominican dessert.
Our Canela Pa ‘el Café series highlights and celebrates Dominican culture with a week of writing and art from Dominicans around the world.
Co-edited by Oelania Rubino and Stephanie Gaitán.
Dominican Cake
Annecy Báez
“Some women even boasted of becoming pregnant after eating one of her cakes, which became a boon for business.”
Bachata
JP Infante
“Moms mopped with Clorox, Fabuloso and sound. She cleaned the sidewalks off our tiles with Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You.’”
Down the Almendra Tree
Melissa Frias
“Mi negrita, dark everywhere except for her knees —peeled canela, dotted red —cries into her fruit.”
Voodoo Made Us
Gianfranco Fernandez
“Captain Collingwood’s men learned the term oppression; it stumbled out from their mouths and killed ten dead.”
Brujeria
Oelania Rubino
“I met The Witch when Papi took me to a colmado in Pueblo Nuevo. He would buy me chocolate and papitas as long as I didn’t tell Mami where we had gone.”
Feliz Cumpleaños
Yasmilka Clase
“film reel captures birthday wishes
hands clap in unison as they hover over me
lips pucker up against candle
listo, sopla!”
Raices
Natalie Hernandez
“I’ve made multiple sancochos with the failed relationships my heart has harbored.”
Asfixiada
Ayling Zulema Dominguez
“‘Es que tú te asfixias, hija,’ my dad says with a soft smile that divulges a degree of pity I find silly. I know that I love too damn much and too damn hard.”
Cuatro Años
Angela E. Oliva
“Mis dos criaturas crecen sin su madre
y mis brazos se marchitan y caen a pedazos.”
Sobrenatural
Stephanie Gaitán
“Mamá came to lift the curse that was placed upon Mami. ‘Te hicieron brujeria. Te echaraon un polvo en tu cama.’”
Gallería
A selection of art and photography provided by contributors to the Canela Pa’ El Café series.