Iveliz Explains It All

Note: These pages contain the poems “Second Chances,” “Who Can You Trust?” “Back It Up,” “Cause Listen,” “ISBI,” “Not My Job,” “Dad Thinks He’s Funny,” and “Still. I Can’t Complain.”

Iveliz (pronounced “EE-VEH-LEASE”) Margarita Snow Medina is 12, and she’s starting seventh grade. Her mother, Mami, gives her a journal to spur her “creativity,” but Iveliz believes the real reason for the journal is the arrival of Mimi. Mimi lives in Puerto Rico, and she has Alzheimer’s disease. Due to her illness and the aftereffects of Hurricane Maria in 2017, Mimi comes to Baltimore, Maryland, to stay with Iveliz and Mami in their apartment. Mimi’s Alzheimer’s disease triggers Iveliz, and Mami hopes the journal will bolster Iveliz’s mental health. Iveliz has a history of “panic attacks,” but her teachers think she’s simply a liar, and Mami believes she’s acting dramatic—“una dramatica.”

Iveliz’s school does a canned food drive for Puerto Rico, and Iveliz gives a presentation about Puerto Rico. It’s a United States territory, so Mami and Mimi, both being from Puerto Rico, are United States citizens. When Jessica and Justin G. hear Iveliz telling Amir—her best friend from Afghanistan—about Mimi’s arrival, Jessica presents Mimi as an immigrant.