By Ilyse Kramer
Daisy Hernández has written eloquently and expansively about race, class, gender, and sexuality as a former editor of ColorLines Magazine, a columnist of Ms. Magazine, and editor of several anthologies. Now she has turned the focus of these topics upon herself in her new memoir, A Cup of Water Under My Bed.
A Cup of Water Under My Bed: A Memoir recounts Hernandez’s experiences growing up in New Jersey absorbing life lessons from the women in her Cuban-Colombian family, while also balancing the challenges that come the only family member to speak and write in English. Hernandez’s coming of age narrative chronicles the personal—her discovery of her bisexuality, and the professional—her experiences as a reporter for The New York Times.
The Huffington Post interviewed Daisy Hernandez on September 17 and this interview unpacks the thought process and experiences informing her memoir. As is discussed in the interview, Hernandez has a history of navigating multiple identities, and joked her new tagline is, “bicultural, bilingual, bisexual.†This lens has also informed her work as a journalist. She was nominated for a 2009 GLAAD Media for her article “Becoming a Black Man,†which gives voice to the nuanced ways that trans people of color experience race after they have transitioned.
