{"id":3326,"date":"2024-03-19T13:20:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T17:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?p=3326"},"modified":"2024-03-19T13:20:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T17:20:05","slug":"maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Maritza Rivera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Joyce Sampson<\/p>\n

Maritza Rivera is best known around the D.C. metro area as a thoughtful storyteller, spoken word artist and a tireless advocate for Latino writers of African descent. Born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico in a Spanish-speaking household, she moved to Maryland, courtesy of the U.S. Army, where she served as a soldier. Rockville has been her home since 1994.<\/p>\n

Now 70, Rivera is living her dream. Writing has been her passion since childhood, but it was only after she settled in Montgomery County and haunted the local arts scene that she had a chance to perform at a poetry jam for the first time. Seduced by the applause, Rivera was hooked.<\/p>\n

Since then, she has received accolades from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County to an International Writing Fellowship in Brazil. Last year, she co-edited the \u201cDiaspora Caf\u00e9: DC AfroLatinX Poetry Anthology\u201d and translated a poetry collection by Alberto Roblest from Spanish into English.<\/p>\n

That she doesn\u2019t look Puerto Rican is a common refrain, she muses. \u201cWhat does a Puerto Rican look like?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Afro-Latino community hails from the Caribbean, Central and South America to Mexico, she says, which accounts for the group\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n

Rivera created the Mariposa Poetry Reading Series (1999-2002) to nurture local writers with whom she shares a common bond. The Mariposa Poetry Retreat is back in business after the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down.<\/p>\n

Some say that her reach goes beyond a single demographic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMariposa welcomed every stripe of person, although the original emphasis was on Latins and African Americans initially. She made a home for all poetry lovers. Her gatherings were a mix of every nationality and race,\u201d says Grace Cavalieri, Maryland\u2019s 10th poet laureate and producer of \u201cThe Poet and the Poem,\u201d a podcast on public radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaritza has been a major force in giving a platform for all poets and widening the opportunities for more writers to be heard and seen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joyce Sampson Maritza Rivera is best known around the D.C. metro area as a thoughtful storyteller, spoken word artist and a tireless advocate for Latino writers of African descent. Born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico in a Spanish-speaking household, she moved to Maryland, courtesy of the U.S. Army, where she served […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":3327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like? - Montgomery Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like? - Montgomery Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Joyce Sampson Maritza Rivera is best known around the D.C. metro area as a thoughtful storyteller, spoken word artist and a tireless advocate for Latino writers of African descent. Born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico in a Spanish-speaking household, she moved to Maryland, courtesy of the U.S. Army, where she served […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Montgomery Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-19T17:20:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"994\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1325\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joyce Sampson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joyce Sampson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/\",\"name\":\"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like? - Montgomery Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-19T17:20:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-19T17:20:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/076fa960c7d8f523cc8b2cd3b889c918\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg\",\"width\":994,\"height\":1325},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Montgomery Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/076fa960c7d8f523cc8b2cd3b889c918\",\"name\":\"Joyce Sampson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0374053862b6f0b148544b955108833?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0374053862b6f0b148544b955108833?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joyce Sampson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/author\/joyce-sampson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like? - Montgomery Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like? - Montgomery Magazine","og_description":"By Joyce Sampson Maritza Rivera is best known around the D.C. metro area as a thoughtful storyteller, spoken word artist and a tireless advocate for Latino writers of African descent. Born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico in a Spanish-speaking household, she moved to Maryland, courtesy of the U.S. Army, where she served […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/","og_site_name":"Montgomery Magazine","article_published_time":"2024-03-19T17:20:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":994,"height":1325,"url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joyce Sampson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joyce Sampson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/","name":"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like? - Montgomery Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-19T17:20:05+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-19T17:20:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/076fa960c7d8f523cc8b2cd3b889c918"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Feature-Women-of-Strength-MARITZA-RIVERA.jpg","width":994,"height":1325},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/maritza-rivera-what-does-a-puerto-rican-look-like\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Maritza Rivera What Does a Puerto Rican Look Like?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/","name":"Montgomery Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/076fa960c7d8f523cc8b2cd3b889c918","name":"Joyce Sampson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0374053862b6f0b148544b955108833?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0374053862b6f0b148544b955108833?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joyce Sampson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/author\/joyce-sampson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3328,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions\/3328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}