Minisode: Take Up Space

NARRATION
Hey there! We’ve got another Timestorm minisode. By now, you know the Ventura twins have been using Heredity, a genealogy website that helps them discover a lot about their family tree.

Since last we checked in with them, the twins have been in contact with a teenage cousin named Melba, who is adopted. She finds Alexa and Beni while searching for her birth relatives on Heredity. Melba has been documenting her experience by posting videos about her journey online. Listen in as the twins hear one of Melba’s video posts and learn about another ancestor in their family tree.

2018. THE VENTURA HOME. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MUSIC: HOME TRANSITION.

BENI tapes sheets of paper on the wall.

ALEXA
Uh, Beni? You sure Ma gave you permission to tape up all this paper?

BENI
She’s the one who gave me the tape.

ALEXA
Yeah, but did she know you were going to cover the entire wall?

BENI
Here. This goes under Manolo.

BENI hands ALEXA a paper. ALEXA puts it on the wall.

BENI
Can you move it over a little? No, the other way. Yeah. No, no, no, no—that’s too much! Yeah, right there. Good.

ALEXA
So picky.

BENI
I just want to make sure it lines up the right way.

ALEXA tapes the paper to the wall. There's a notification on the computer. BENI sits in the office chair and clicks the mouse.

BENI
Hey, there’s new message on Ma’s Heredity account. It’s from that girl Melba. Ah, here we go: Hi fam! I posted a new video you might be interested in. Here's the link.

MUSIC: MELBA’S VIDEO THEME MUSIC.

MELBA
(Through computer speakers) Hey, hey! What's up? It's Melba with another video about my search for my biological familia.

Switch to MELBA’s perspective.

MELBA
Quick recap for the newbies. I'm adopted. I've got this really amazing forever family. Not perfect, but they love me, and I love them. And they’ve always kept it real. They didn’t change my birth name. They make sure I know about my Puerto Rican culture. And they don’t hide anything from me. Like, I've always known that my biological parents died when I was a baby.

Once I turned eighteen a few months ago, I just started wondering about relatives I might have out there. So, I took one of those DNA genetics tests. I even signed up for a Heredity account. Remember how in my last video, I told you all that a woman contacted me saying her grandmother was penpals with my great-grandmother? Well, in today's mail, I got this packet of letters. I'll hold them close so you can see. Super old paper. Right? So, I started reading the letters and...it's like she wrote them for me.

Listen to this one: Dear penpal Amy in Albany, Your Spanish improves with each letter you write...

ELBITA
Dear pen pal Amy in Albany, Your Spanish improves with each letter you write! I hope the same is true of my English in my letters. I can't imagine what it's like to walk to school in the snow.

I want to share something that happened at school that was truly unfair. It began last week when Leonardo, a boy in my class, stepped on my spectacles, smashing them in two. That night, my father shouted to the high heavens that it would take him “a year to save up for another pair!”

The next day, I asked Señora Rodriguez to let me sit in the front of the classroom, so I could see properly. But then today, without warning, she switched my seat to the back again.

I stayed after class and begged Señora Rodriguez to let me sit up front since it was the only way to view her and the chalkboard. She said I wasn't the only one who had trouble seeing in class. That a student complained my hair blocked his sight. Then she smiled and said, I'm sure your type of hair is difficult to manage. Perhaps using a few pins would keep it from taking up so much space.

MELBA
I'm sure your type of hair is difficult to manage. Perhaps using a few pins would keep it from taking up so much space.

I gotta pause here. My great-grandmother wrote this in nineteen forty-three. But it’s basically describing what it's like for me to go to school now. No lie—last week, my senior studies teacher gave me some “advice” about my hair. She said my braids might send the wrong message in the professional world.

How it is that my great-grandmother in nineteen forty-three and me over here in twenty eighteen—both of us were told our hair is a problem? Look, I'm gonna get close to the camera 'cause I'm talking to all my girls with curly, kinky, frizzy hair. With braids, dreadlocks, and twists. With big, high, wide hair. If you've been told your hair doesn't follow the “rules”—well, just know those aren’t your rules. For real. And my great-grandmother knew this. Listen to the rest of the letter: In that moment, I realized something about Señora Rodriguez's classroom...

ELBITA
In that moment, I realized something about Señora Rodriguez's classroom. How the girls who let their hair take up space all sit in the back. Had I always been so focused on my studies, it took Leonardo breaking my spectacles to make me see how unfair things were? Not only for me, but for my classmates. I will go to school tomorrow and I will stand next to the front row of desks where I can see. And I will wear a dress with a wide skirt, one that takes up plenty of space. And I will not care what Leonardo or Señora Rodriguez think of me.

I look forward to your next letter. Your pen pal, Maria Elbita in Loiza.

MELBA
Your pen pal, Maria Elbita in Loiza.

Maria Elbita. My great-grandmother. She kicked butt. I’m named after her. Melba is short for—

MELBA’S MOM
Maria Elba!

MELBA
(laughs) Maria Elba.

MELBA’S MOM
Vieni. É ora di cena, amore mio.

MELBA
Be right there! (Through computer speakers) And for the record, my Italian-American mom and Mexican-American dad who adopted me? They kick butt, too. Time for family dinner. Peace out.

MUSIC: MELBA’S VIDEO THEME MUSIC.

BENI clicks the window closed.

ALEXA
Melba’s pretty cool.

BENI
And so was Elbita.

ALEXA walks over to the wall.

ALEXA
There’s Maria Elbita Martinez. Melba’s great-grandmother. (she taps the paper) Whoa! And ours, too!

BENI
You’re right!

ALEXA
Look at everyone spread out on the wall. I like seeing them all at the same time.

BENI
And Idrissa’s at the top.

ALEXA
As Gabriel. Huh. I’ve got an idea.

ALEXA grabs a marker. BENI rolls the office chair closer.

BENI
Ooh! I know what you’re thinking! Gabriel Lopez should be—

ALEXA/BENI
(ALEXA writes/BENI types) Idrissa Gabriel Lopez.

ALEXA
I think he would have been proud.

BENI
Of us?

ALEXA
Elbita. And Melba. All of us.

CREDITS

MUSIC: THEME SONG - "IN THE TIMESTORM"

NARRATION
This minisode of Timestorm was written by, me, Dania Ramos with audio engineering, sound design, and original music by Michael Aquino.

The role of Alexa Ventura was played by Leilany Figueroa. Beni Ventura was played by Claudio Venancio. Melba and Elbita were played by Brissae Valdes. Additional voice by Donatella Nesti.

Timestorm is produced by Cocotazo Media and is a proud member of TRAX. If you enjoy the show, ask your parents to subscribe to Timestorm on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or the Kids Listen App.

Timestorm is produced in Essex County, New Jersey, which is situated on the traditional territory of the Leni Lenape people. As always, thanks for listening.

ATABEY
Witness. Find. Remember.