Angie Cruz
Angie Cruz was conceived in Dominican Republic and born in 1972 in New York City's Washington Heights. She continued to travel to and from, every summer, until she was sixteen years old. She went to La Guardia High School concentrating on Visual Arts and by default decided to follow a path in Fashion Design at Fashion Institute of Technology. During those four years of college, she worked as a salesperson, manager and then window designer in an upscale Madison Ave. boutique. In 1993, four of her children stories were featured on BET's Story Porch. Soon after, she gave up her fashionista lifestyle to become a full-time college student at SUNY Binghamton where her love affair with literature and history began. She graduated from the NYU, MFA program in 1999. Her passion for literature fueled her desire to be active in community. In 1997, she co-founded WILL: Women In Literature & Letters with Adelina Anthony and Marta Lucia, an organization that produced readings, workshops, and a conference using literature as a tool to build community and transform society. In 2000, WILL was put on hold due to lack of resources and the women's desire to make more time to write. Angie Cruz has contributed shorter works to numerous periodicals including Latina Magazine, Callaloo and New York Times. She has won awards for her writing and/or activist work such as The New York Foundation of The Arts Fellowship, Barbara Deming Award, Yaddo, and The Camargo Fellowship. She published two novels, Soledad and Let It Rain Coffee. She currently is working on the screenplay for Soledad, optioned by Nueva York Productions and working on her third novel.
“I remember back to a time when I could walk on the beach without a pass from a hotel. When I was too young to fear getting raped, or hurt or lost.”
“I want to forget everything and start again.”
“He talked to me like he did when I was a child, when his voice was clear and melodic, his hair still dark, when he had only wrinkles around his eyes. He held my hand and patted it softly with every word, as if his words could be tattooed in my veins. He said trees grow up because they want to get closer to the stars. He said everybody is the center of their own world and yet they're just a speck in the universe. He said it's everyone's responsibility to not be afraid to love and to be loved. He told me that I was beautiful, that creating me was a good enough reason to live. He said every time he drank he was destroying a part of himself. We're afraid life is so short, we try to take from it as much as we can. We forget everything we need will come in due time. He said people need to have faith they will be taken care of, that people are part of this earth and the earth always gives us what we need.”
“Maybe if i just lie under the sun long enough I will melt like an ice cube and all my sadness will evaporate into the air so i can start again.”
“...in our lifetimes we have so much to survive.”
“I want to let myself die and live in dreams.”