Dia del Amor y la Amistad

“Do you know my hermano Edwin Aponte?” I responded in the negative to my PhD cohort companion, Stacey Floyd-Thomas. “He’s a grad student here at Temple who just finished his comps and is teaching in another city. You two need to meet. You can maybe write something together.” The thought of another Latino at Temple University excited me. 

This is how I first heard of Edwin Aponte. We met a few months later when he passed through Philly. We sat by one of the many food trucks surrounding the campus and ended up speaking for hours about our scholarships and our commitment to the Latine community. He provided helpful hints on how to survive Temple’s politics. Over the next few years, as he finished and defended his dissertation and as I finished my course work and took my comps, we got to know each other quite well. He was among the few Latine scholars that I knew. Remember, this was years before HTI was ever established.  

Today, HTI provides a crucial space for Latine scholars to build community, to mentor each other, to produce scholarship in conjunto. Before HTI, being a Latine scholar at institutions where often we were the only one made the academic journey lonesome. Many Latine scholars today do not have the added roadblocks which many of us faced during a pre-HTI era. 

Soon, Edwin and I were sharing each other’s academic accomplishments and setbacks, someone to celebrate with, and someone with whom to cry into our cervezas.  Shortly after I graduated, Orbis approached us to discuss writing a textbook on Hispanic Theologies. It was my first book project and the first time working with Edwin. Since then, we have published another book and revised that initial project. We went from friends to compadres. Almost thirty years later, with more snow on the roof, we continue to be each other confidantes. I am a better scholar because of him, and his insights.