In case you missed it, Bad Bunny performed at this year’s Super Bowl. As soon as the halftime show started, I felt energy course through me. My TV screen came alive with the celebration of Puerto Rican life. Here were tall grasses showing field workers; casitas in San Juan; bodegas; dancing; a wedding!; Ricky Martin; Lady Gaga; splashes of color. . .there was so much to unpack as the singer glided through fictional representations of community.
I was pleasantly surprised by the upbeat, Latin pop music vibe. I didn’t know much about Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio before that day. Last week, during a research project lesson for seniors, I helped a student find database articles about the singer. The morning of the Super Bowl, I looked him up on Spotify and liked what I heard. I had expected rap music (which I happen to enjoy, too), and was intrigued by the flowing Spanish lyrics.
His performance reminded me not only of the island of Puerto Rico that I’ve come to love from visits there, but of the places and stories I’ve learned about from the books I’ve read. It dawned on me, especially after coming into work on Monday and rehashing the performance with my colleagues, that people who appreciated books were more likely to be supporters of the Bad Bunny halftime show and the Latino props.
I tell my students often: when you get lost in a book, you escape your reality and enter into another world. As a reader, I’ve been immersed in the humid air of El Yunque Rain Forest; the sand of Sardinera Beach; the historic walls of San Cristobal. There are so many books celebrating Latin American culture, not only ones set in Puerto Rico. A few years ago, I highlighted some of these titles during Hispanic Heritage Month.
I continue to dive into novels filled with details of other cultures. Iran, Ukraine, Croatia, Japan, Uruguay, Haiti, India, Israel. . .the list goes on and on. The more I read about other people’s cultures and their complex histories, the more I feel connected to them as a human. Characters’ struggles to flee Iran or North Korea become mine. Walks down Stradun with friends seem real. The heartbreak that streams off of the pages after Hurricane Tomas weighs on me.
Not only does reading allow us to inhabit the lives of people in far away lands, it also lets us relate to those in our own towns and cities. Whether it’s a Puerto Rican American running a bodega in New York City or a young woman speaking on the news about her escape from Iran, I have context for these immigrants’ lives through the stories and nonfiction accounts I’ve read. Our minds are like canvases; the accumulated knowledge and experiences are the paint that illustrates the world around us. With every new book we read, another layer of color is added.
The joy and festivities of the Super Bowl halftime show left a nostalgic yearning in me. I look back to a time, not that long ago, when dancing and fun was something to watch with pleasure and not a political statement to pick apart. Though many complained that the lyrics were all in Spanish, I didn’t mind. Because he didn’t showcase his words, Bad Bunny brought something more important to the stage. A feeling of unity. He embraced the viewers through movement and emotion, inviting us all into his world.
During the finale, the performers walked down the aisle with flags from all different countries. This was a reminder. America is a nation of immigrants, a place where we all bring pieces of our history and culture to the table. The sooner we get back to that realization, the better for all of us.
Books and reading are channels into this vast universe. As educator Kathy G. Short points out, “As we read stories set in different cultural contexts, our understanding of diverse perspectives and ways of thinking are expanded” (Short 2015). Through reading, we can embrace the motto on the football that Bad Bunny held up at the end of the show: “Together, We Are America.”
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