Quiana's relationships with her cousins and their role in her life.

Think about Quiara's reflections on Sterling Library at Yale and her cousin Nuchi.

Quiana describes herself as the bookend after her cousins and before their children. This placement allowed Quiana to watch as her cousins matured and often made life ending errors. The way the cousins accepted and loved Quiana even though her life seemed so structured and clean compared to many of theirs. The love that Quiana has for this messy, often unloved, bunch helped shape her in many ways.

Quiara was full of love for her cousins. The fact that several of them died so early in life was tragic for her.

I found Quiana's marveling at the richness of information available at the Yale Library and then reflecting on Yuchi, who doesn't know how to read and therefore, wouldn't be able to share in this wealth, a poignant moment.

Quiara’s cousins were both family and friends to her. She seemed very close to them.

Quiara's cousins are an interesting counterpoint where members of the same extended family, with much the same background and opportunity clearly struggle with their assimilation and use drugs and other harmful coping mechanisms when it all becomes too much. It seems Quiara was the lone exception where by the sheer force of her innate gifts and her mother's influence was able to transcend the forces pulling her in toward that dysfunctional fate that captured so many of her cousins. This is probably a good indication of the odds of rising out of poverty where the exception is rare and really a miracle.

Quiara's cousins were definitely important to her as she grew up. They were here friends and confidantes. So sad, that many of them had very challenging lives and ultimately died early. Seems like a tell tale sign of the poverty that they lived in. It is a foreign lifestyle to me, yet seemed authentic to the reality of being a minority and lower economic status.

Quiara's relationship with her cousins reminds me of mine. The great things about counsin/friends is that they know you and your life better than regular friends. They understand why you react to things the way you do, why you behave they way you do and why you are the person you are. I think they were especially important to her because her culture is such a critical part of her life and they share that culture.

Her cousins were both family and her heritage. Watching the good and the bad of their experiences was a learning experience. I think she came to value them more as her life progressed.

Her cousins meant a lot to her. She loved them but there was a sadness with their lives. They seemed to pop in and out each with different scenarios. I found I was a bit confused and at times saddened with them all.

I so related to the relationships with her cousins! Coming from a large family myself, with dozens of cousins with whom I grew up, this was a part of Quiara's reality that was totally familiar to me. Cousins share more than just our DNA, they share our pasts, our experiences, and help form us to be who we are, even as we each have our individual differences. As the saying goes, "blood is thicker than water," and having lot of cousins, and still being close to many of them, is an illustration of that for me.

Her relationship to her cousins were such an important part of her story. Losing family is always difficult. Her focus on achieving her goals and the support of her mother helped her through.