For our second poetry workshop, we headed to another local coffee shop (Bandera Coffee Co.) in Harlingen, Texas. Our guest facilitator was Xicano scholar, Dr. Christian Ramirez, from the University of Illinois and a UTRGV Mexican American Studies program alumni. His research engages the cross-cultural exchange and rebellions forged by Indigenous and African peoples in colonial Veracruz. Through his research, Dr. Ramirez examines multiple ways Afro-Indigenous peoples institutionally and epistemologically carved out routes to freedom in the 17th and 18th century. He hopes to use these themes to navigate Craft Cultura's workshops and broader political work.