It is no secret that the places we come from, our stories and our experiences draw us inextricably together. In telling her stories and helping others to tell their own, Dr. Rossy Lima finds the connection of community she believes all people need.
As a professor of Spanish and linguistics at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, an internationally celebrated poet in multiple languages and a steadfast advocate for Latin American literary arts, Lima has dedicated her life and passion to the human tradition of storytelling to foster connection. She recalls the seed of oral tradition and crafting stories planted in her earliest memories, with her mother standing in their kitchen, reciting excerpts of books or poems she had committed to memory.
Sometimes our communities find us, but as Lima traces in her work, we are more compelled to seek out or cultivate our own communities in the many places we call home. Since immigrating at age 13 to the United States from Veracruz, Mexico, along with her mother and two younger siblings, Lima remembers the risk and resulting isolation of her mother uprooting their entire life to afford her children better opportunities.
“I think [my experience of emigration] opened my empathy in a way that I can now understand other people when they’re going through different forms of isolation, because I can relate to that,” Lima said of her early days in the U.S. as a middle schooler.
Throughout her undergraduate career and life in the Rio Grande Valley, Lima found herself in pursuit of community through creative projects like zines and art exhibits, something that ultimately led her to her most steadfast companions—namely her husband, Gerald.
“I really admire when people are not afraid of doing things for the first time,” she said. “I look for those individuals.”
Lima self-identifies as a pragmatist with a penchant for optimism—a quality that has led her through a myriad of academic accomplishments such as a B.A. in Spanish literature, an M.A. in literature and linguistics and a Ph.D. in Spanish linguistics and applied linguistics, as well as countless projects and programs which she spearheads. As the executive director of the Latino Book Review, Lima has advocated and acquired funding for literacy development in marginalized communities with a dedicated lens toward improving diversity, equity and inclusion.
Lima, along with her husband, went on to co-found the Center for Latin American Traditions, Innovation and Resilience (CLATIR) and Jade Publishing to foster more appreciation and representation for diverse Latin American works in wider culture. In her work with CLATIR, or Centro Latir, Lima partnered with her husband and brother, Arturo, to open a non-profit dedicated to three main pillars: education, culture and service.
By providing opportunities for enrichment and connection within the community, as well as filling potential gaps in resources, CLATIR aims to empower youth by lending safe spaces for them to succeed. As an educator and advocate, Lima cites the goal of making education accessible and inclusive as the driving factor behind much of her work.
“I never saw myself reflected in the books at school. Even at the library, I remember reading David Copperfield and To Kill a Mockingbird and thinking, ‘This is cool, but what does it have to do with me?’ I was always hungry for those stories that reflected my experience, my culture, something that would allow me to comment,” she said.
Lima describes her desire to publish diverse authors through Jade Publishing in conjunction with giving a spotlight to these works through the Latino Book Review as giving the gift of connection in the community; highlighting that, although our experiences are unique, more often than not we find granules of relation and connectivity in the stories we hear.
Her personal works of poetry have been celebrated internationally and acclaimed for their themes on the immigrant experience, the complexity of identity and self-exploration through cultural connection. Her book of poetry Migrare Mutare received the honor of being adapted into an opera, set to the music of Venezuelan composer Reinaldo Moya and sung by soprano Elena Villalón at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 2022. Lima recalls this experience with a mix of surrealism and humility.
“I see myself as a vessel. Yes, I [wrote] these poems, but these poems are a forest, one from the way I am experiencing the world around me,” Lima said. “But ultimately, I feel that I am just transporting these words that resonate with other people. And they resonate with them, not because they are mine, but because for some reason or in some way, I connected with them.”
Between plans to publish her future works, publishing the work of other artists and a full teaching schedule, Lima traces the path to purpose and joy in the connective tissue of art and community. Her curiosity and eye for opportunity shine through even in the quiet moments between projects, currently citing a desire to contribute more toward social justice and equity efforts.
In everything she does, Lima draws back on her multitude of experiences as an immigrant starting from scratch, the sustained networks of support she has found as the true source of her resilience and her intuitive ability to create community wherever she goes. While her work in the community has just begun, others may already find themselves forging connections and finding opportunities in the spaces she dared to envision.
