Another week has gone by, marking the ticking of the clock as December blazes on, the last breaths of autumn exhaling their final farewells, and after a quite surprising, beautiful week, I'm chiming in, and sharing the reason I write.
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to two Puerto Rican parents, getting a law degree plus an MBA (my mom), and my dad was beginning his medical residency. Hardworking really, isn't quite the word befitting these two professionals, and aside from all the challenges, and later on, ruptures, they braved the world, left the beloved island they grew up in, and ventured forth into the wilds of Lake Eerie.
When I was born, my mom spoke both English and Spanish to me, and after a few years, after they finished, and having my brother, they moved back to the island.
So...why? Why share this biographical data, lol...
My beginnings were of adventure, change, and never quite fitting into "one box" . I was in between friend groups, between cultures, between languages all the time, and never quite "fitting in".
Then...the page began. I was about eight or nine, and I started writing short stories, poems, and essays. I started teaching myself French and Italian, also being in a music school after regular school four to five days a week, and my imagination, and my heart, found a place to explore new worlds, and create characters I could be, as I crafted stories about people meeting each other, friends, death, culture, and who I could be. The possibilities that I wrote, that no one put on me, the freedom to become, and share, and dream...
And now I find myself here, after many years of education, travel, lessons," failures", mistakes, lol, curves, bumps on the road, and ...growth. The road takes us to where we endeavor to go, but the traveling makes us into who we will need to become to get there.
Why do you do it? What crafted you, if you want to share, from your past, to become a writer?
Cheers, and fa la la la la....la la....la...la.
Felicidades!
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You've read mine already, but I wanted to comment on this beautiful journey! How inspiring your story is! Never fitting into the box .. I can absolutely relate. Here's to being not-so-box shaped!
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Elle Bolan Obrigada : ) Here's to being, living, and giving from our truth, unabashedly and purely.
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It's great to hear your writing journey, Juliana Philippi. I started writing at an early age too. I think the first time I wrote a story was when our elementary school teacher had the class write a short story and make a cover with construction paper. I mainly write because I love to, I have stories to tell, and it's fun.
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Maurice Vaughan Oh my goodness I remember construction paper, throwback! I love that. It's amazing how the little, mundane things when we were kids really shape us into artists. Kudos to the elementary school teachers who inspired and guided us all : )
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You're right, Juliana Philippi. And just talking about construction paper brought back memories. Definitely kudos to the elementary school teachers who inspired and guided us all. Teachers deserve more love and recognition (theme for a story).
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Maurice Vaughan Yes they do. And yeah! Interesting...lots of ideas for new screenplays piling up!
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This is beautiful, Juliana Philippi. There’s such a quiet confidence in the way you trace your beginnings, not as a straight line, but as movement, between places, languages, cultures, identities. That sense of being “in between” feels like such a natural birthplace for a writer. When you don’t fully fit one box, the page becomes the place where you get to build your own.
I love how you describe writing as freedom, the freedom to become, to explore possibilities without expectation or permission. That idea of the page as a space where no one tells you who you’re supposed to be feels especially resonant, particularly for those shaped by multiple worlds.
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Ashley Renee Smith Thank you, that means a lot to me. Exactly that, we get to be free : )
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Juliana Philippi Thank you for sharing, it's lovely to get to know you. That idea of not fitting in is exactly why my Peruvian mother did not teach me or my sister Spanish. I completely understand her reasoning considering she experienced racism at work but it's a whole side of myself that's not explored. I remember english was my favorite subject in high school and I grew up loving movies but had no notion of screenwriting until I was much older.
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Marie Hatten You're very welcome. I've really never shared this until now, I always share about my journey more in the things I have overcome, but I know these beginnings, our core histories, shape us so. I understand, completely, why women especially in that generation didn't teach Spanish to their kids, I've heard this around the USA, a lot. I loved languages too in school! They were my safe place, I would ace them, lol, I love the sounds and freedom of speaking and writing, and movies...they were everything to me growing up. Thank you, Mattie, for sharing too : )
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My pleasure Juliana Philippi , great way to get to know each other.
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Recorde aquelas histórias que escreveu quando era jovem; nelas, encontrará tudo o que precisa para revitalizar a sua identidade. No passado reside o futuro, e nele cegamo-nos tanto que aquilo que amamos não consegue florescer. Para um escritor.
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Juliana Philippi Thank you for sharing your incredible journey through life and your professional experiences across cultures, friendships, and family. It's truly inspiring! and Amazing!. Best wishes!
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Vamsi Tankala Ah, thank you Vamsi! Best wishes to you as well, I am so happy it inspired you !
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Gregory Baker Obrigada Gregory! I love you wrote this in Portuguese, I will translate a bit of it for the rest of us: "I remember those stories I wrote when I was younger: in them I find everything I need to revitalize my, our, identities. Our past lives in the future, and vice versa, and sometimes we are so blinded, that that which we love, does not bloom." Sim, exactamente. Yes, it's all here, time is not linear, it is all here, in the...Present. The present moment, is the Present, every moment, we have a gift, to create our life, and it's all at the same time.
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Juliana Phillipi
Thank you for your reply glad you enjoy my presumptive ideas. For just simplicity and damn good writing I read the works of Sarramago he has the past present future gift no punctuation just straight streaming conscience. From the Ground up, All of the Names, The Blind. Many more, so there is the art of the mind and the power of the word. Marcel Proust too, À la recherche du temps perdu, though its long and tedious but thats real time travel not the other stuff. Thats the human and that is what will count in time future.
T.S.Eliot wrote in the four Quartets.
"Time past is perhaps time future.
If all time is eternally presentAll time is unredeemable.
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable."
Eliot is exploring the philosophical idea that past, present, and future are not separate linear segments, but rather intrinsically linked and potentially co-existent within an eternal present moment. This concept is central to the spiritual and philosophical themes of the poems.“Time present and time past / Are both perhaps present in time future,” suggesting a fluidity.
He goes on to tell us...
Footfalls echo through memory down the path we never trod
Thus into the rose garden my words echo in your mind
Yet distubing the dust from a bowl of rose leaves i do not know
Other forms inhabit the garden
Quick said the bird go!
Said the bird human kind cannot bear very much reality.
I write from memory so it may be a bit off.
Thank you and let me know how your time travels go
I have two works of fiction published that do ok. You can do the same. Bon Noite Senora.