#qph

Lying here all alone just thinking about you Staring at my phone, watching everything you post I'm the last thing on your mind, you know I can see you dancing With him like you never dance with me

¿Qué puedo hacer, si a ti te gusta él? Yo sé que él es lindo, pero contrólate ¿Qué puedo hacer, si con él tú quieres ser infiel? Yo voy a seguir cantando hasta el amanecer

I know in the morning you'll be right back beside me I don't know why I have to worry, no need to worry, it'll be alright Yeah I tell myself it's fine every time I see you dancing With him like you never dance with me

¿Qué puedo hacer, si a ti te gusta él? Yo sé que él es lindo, pero contrólate ¿Qué puedo hacer, si con él tú quieres ser infiel? Yo voy a seguir cantando hasta el amanecer

Chorus translation:

I have never been part of the conception of a group, and seeing this process is riveting. It started with Annette Collazo, a key member at Emerge Miami, setting the eponymous meetup on an app. It quickly grew into a collection of people in every stage of adulthood, all with one common interest: to find out what’s happening in Hialeah.

We had our first meeting, an introductory meeting of sorts, two weeks ago at 100 Montaditos in Miami Lakes. We got to know each other, revealed what led us to meet with strangers in the outdoor section of a restaurant dimly lit by Christmas lights, and discussed what expectations we have of our growing neighborhood. Natives, newcomers, and nomadic visitors gather biweekly at a different Hialeah location to mingle and bring to light all the amazing things we have done, are doing, will do, could do, should be doing, and want to do in Hialeah.

The interesting thing about the group name, as we pointed out, was the parallels we found to the group. ¿Qué Pasa USA? was a hilarious bilingual show that was well-known for accurately depicting Cuban-American life. It was a cornerstone, in fact, for all Hispanic-American life. It was the first bilingual sitcom and was filmed in Miami, a predominantly Hispanic place with a large bilingual population. It featured Spanglish, a fluid, seamless mix of Spanish and English that showed its own conception on-screen, with the choppy broken English our abuelos hardly spoke and the heavily accented Everyday English our parents used to just barely get by and the fluent English that helped us express our every thought while tearing us slowly away from our native Spanish. The show was revolutionary, touching on serious topics of politics, racism, sexism, homosexuality, assimilation, and cultural identity. It was everything we needed, and everything we still seek today. It was unafraid, unapologetic, sincere, and humble. We can only hope QPH will follow in those footsteps, becoming only more inclusive of the variety of people Hialeah has to offer.

Today was our second meeting. We discussed the City Council meeting some of us attended, went over a school visit our partners were involved with, talked about upcoming events. We have political, cultural, and personal events to attend; and that’s just Thursday!! Saturday we’ll be at Art Central Miami to enjoy art, silent disco, yummy food, drinks, hookah, art raffles, couples paintings, you name it! We’re looking forward to FoodSpark in March and a special something in April.

This team seems to be wholly invested in the future of our city. And that’s the great thing about it; it’s a bunch of locals looking out for our city. We want to dig our hands in and make sure the seeds are being sown properly, so that our roots are not uplifted and our branches are strong.

Check it all out on IG: 

@miami_maryan 

@artcentralmiami

@kulturemiami

@foodspark

@omiamifestival

@emergemiami