What's an MFA for? Multicultural Storytelling and Black History Month
- Teresita "Angela" Terga
- Feb 17
- 8 min read
What's an MFA for?
Spyderwoman, based on the book, "Spiderwoman, An amazon Legend," by T.A. Terga, is amulticultural book that brings us all together on the quest for a higher consciousness once you become aware.
Click here is you are looking to adapt a story to screenplay or to a book. https://www.angelaterga.com/service-form
You don't have to get an MFA to be a writer or a filmmaker. But when you're in a situation where you don't know anyone who can pull you in or are in a polace ot where you can get sposure, your only way seems to be the MFA.
SPYDERWOMAN EPISODE I SCRIPT 11-24-12 -- CHARACTER REPORT FOR "ATTENDANT."
In order of Appearance
ATTENDANT speaks (2) times (1%) for a total of 19 words (1%).
ATTENDANT interacts most with ERIKA.
SCENES & DIALOGUE:
Scene 30: INT - SHOE SHOP - DAY
P.16
ATTENDANT: Maybe, I'm not sure. The hair is different. I've seen her here with another woman.
ATTENDANT: Jamaican, 50
Read the script here:
I recently committed another social blunder. I said, "I have an MFA" to someone I had just met, and immediately regretted it. How could I? The person probably thought, and rightly so, that I was a snob, showing off, or trying to establish superiority. However, I intended as a point of conversation and a call for help.
You see, having an MFA is a tragic thing. It means that you choose to give up comfort for the sake of art. It means you care so much about something that you are willing to give up safety and security to have the opportunity to figure out what you want to say to the world.
A Master's in Fine Arts may not be the best choice for an immigrant, single teacher, with no connections. Chances of ever making it in the art world are minimal for those like me; only one out of thousands makes it, and less than 10 percent of the world arttists make it as artists.
Submitting yourself to the perils and vicissitudes of a Master's in Fine Arts program is excruciating.
As a multicultural (Cuban-Venezuelan-American) member of the labor class, (Teacher) middle-aged student, I was not as versed in mainstream culture (TV shows, Movies, Authors, Books, Fashion trends, Music). To pull comparable stories from, I had a fragmented view of the world.
As someone whose development from childhood to adulthood was shared with three different cultures, I have more points of view, more perspectives to add to the pool of ideas–too many to sift through.
But my world was richer because of that, and that's one of the reasons why I believe in the power of my stories to tell a truth from the heart, outside in and the inside out. I was all and none. I didn't need to choose. I am whole as I am, blended—not fragmented. A witness to social stress, sexual molestation, immigration, loss of country, loss of identity, but at the same time, able to create a new, unique self regardless of where and how.
Getting an MFA is a real tragedy.
I felt so bad when I introduced myself, saying, "I have an MFA," and immediately, I was ashamed of my outburst. It was a Freudian slip. It was an embarrassing moment that prompted this blog.
I didn't mean it as a "hey, I'm so glad that I have an MFA," but hey, "I'm here struggling to survive after an MFA. Help! Please!"
Have I done enough? Have I shown that an MFA lives in me? Activity books and journals, children's books (the first one is out), a novel in three versions, 5 screenplays, 2 biopics, 2 adaptations, a poetry book, and a publisher of 12 books with 3 authors.
Wow! Who's an MFA for? What do you want to achieve with one? Why hop on that? Did you think it would launch your artistic career? What career? There are no careers for artists. It's swim or sink in an ocean full of abandoned drafts.
Instead of saying: I have a publishing company that sells fiction, non-fiction, journals, activity books, and I also work as a Peace Education Art Workshop facilitator, which is a mouthful. I could have just said, "Hello, I'm glad to meet you. Tell me about yourself."
I could have said part of what I just mentioned. Or, I could have said, "I am retired, disabled, and stuck in this town."
On another occasion, I had said something to the effect that I am Cuban, when in reality I don't consider myself "Cuban." I lived in Venezuela longer than in Cuba. I have lived in the US the most, I am multicultural, I taught school in South Florida for 22 years. How could I not be?
Miami is a multicultural hub for Latin America. Venezuela was a multicultural hub for European immigrants in the 70s-80s
what is multicultural storytelling literacy— not just literature?
Here’s a full ~1,200-word blog written in an educational yet personal voice, placing you clearly among multicultural storytellers, aligned with Black History Month, and ending with a clear call to action for angelaterga.com and camp1.org.
Memoirs of a “Mad” Teacher Who Left Education to Pursue Her Dreams
As her students said she should.
This month, as we celebrate Black History, I find myself reflecting not only on the stories we tell, but on how we learn to read the world itself. I left formal education because I believed — and still believe — that learning does not belong solely to institutions. It lives in people, memory, culture, resistance, and imagination. As someone who writes multicultural stories, I place myself among multicultural storytellers — listeners first, narrators second — committed to a literacy that goes beyond bookshelves.
When I took a leap of faith, I bet on myself. I bet on the American dream. I bet on getting an education that supports your dream. I bet on starting the journey of a thousand times a thousand miles with the first step and will never stop.
Multicultural storytelling matters because it reminds us that we come from the same mother — humanity — and that our differences are not fractures, but languages of love.
What Is Multicultural Literacy — Not Just Literature?
Multicultural literacy is the ability to read, interpret, and ethically engage with cultures beyond one’s own. It goes further than consuming diverse books; it is about understanding power, history, voice, silence, and survival.
Paulo Freire, in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, argued that true literacy is not about decoding words, but about reading the world — recognizing systems of oppression and imagining liberation through dialogue and consciousness (Freire, 1970).
Multicultural literacy asks:
Who gets to tell the story?
Whose voices were erased?
How does my perspective limit or expand my understanding?
As a former teacher, I learned that students don’t disengage because they dislike learning — they disengage when learning refuses to see them. Multicultural literacy restores that seeing.
How Does Society Benefit From Multicultural Literacy?
A society fluent in multicultural literacy is less fearful, more creative, and more just. When people understand each other’s histories and cultural contexts, conflict shifts into conversation.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed education should combine intelligence with character, warning that “the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically” (King, The Purpose of Education).
Multicultural literacy:
Reduces xenophobia and racial bias
Strengthens democratic participation
Encourages empathy-based leadership
Builds cross-cultural problem solving
We see this in movements for civil rights, decolonization, and global peace — all fueled by people who could imagine a world larger than their own upbringing.
Stories shape policy. Stories shape belonging. Stories shape who gets protected.
How Is Multicultural Literacy Learned?
Multicultural literacy is learned through exposure, humility, and practice — not memorization.
bell hooks, in Teaching to Transgress, describes education as a practice of freedom, rooted in lived experience, dialogue, and mutual respect (hooks, 1994).
Multicultural literacy is learned when:
Children see themselves reflected in stories
Adults are willing to unlearn harmful narratives
Communities tell their own stories
Art, film, and oral history are valued as knowledge
I learned it not only in classrooms, but in kitchens, libraries, protests, community centers, and conversations with students whose lives challenged every curriculum I was handed.
Multicultural literacy grows when we stop asking, “Is this academic enough?” and start asking, “Is this human enough?”
The Most Popular Multicultural Books of the 21st Century (Millennials and Up)
Books have been a gateway for millennials and Gen Z to access voices once excluded from mainstream publishing.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah explores race, migration, and identity with sharp honesty, reshaping how a generation discusses Blackness and belonging (Adichie).
Other influential multicultural books include:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
These books didn’t just sell well — they changed conversations, classrooms, and publishing norms.
As a storyteller, I don’t see these books as trends. I see them as proof that readers are hungry for truth.
The Most Popular Multicultural Movies of the 21st Century
Film has become one of the most powerful vehicles for multicultural literacy — especially for audiences who may never pick up a book.
Jordan Peele’s Get Out used horror to expose racial anxiety and liberal complicity, proving that social critique can thrive in popular cinema (Peele).
Other landmark multicultural films include:
Black Panther — Afrofuturism and global Black identity
Coco — cultural memory and ancestral honor
Moonlight — Black masculinity, queerness, and vulnerability
Everything Everywhere All at Once — immigrant identity and generational trauma
Slumdog Millionaire — resilience within global inequality
These films invite audiences to feel before they judge, which is the heart of literacy.
They don’t ask permission to exist. They insist on it.
Give to CAMP’s Conscious Arts Media Production Funds
For Community Involvement in Multicultural Literacy and Peace Education
Nelson Mandela famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Mandela).
At CAMP, we believe art, storytelling, and literacy are forms of peace education. Conscious arts media projects:
Amplify marginalized voices
Support youth literacy coaching
Foster cross-cultural dialogue
Build creative confidence and critical thinking
This is why community-funded storytelling matters. When we invest in local voices, we invest in collective healing.
Conclusion: Why I Left — and Why I’m Still Teaching
I didn’t leave education because I stopped believing in it.
I left because I believe learning should be alive, inclusive, and liberating.
Multicultural literacy is not a luxury or a seasonal topic. It is a lifelong practice that reminds us we belong to each other — across race, language, borders, and memory.
If this resonates with you, I invite you to take action:
👉 Visit angelaterga.com to explore multicultural storytelling and educational work
👉 Visit camp1.org to donate and support conscious arts, literacy coaching, and peace education in our communities
Together, we can fund stories that don’t just entertain —
they teach, heal, and transform.
Just say the word 🌍✨
Purchase our books here:
Sandcastles
Poetry from 1978 to 2016 - self-reflections of a woman. Awareness of self. Going beyond time and place to other worlds. But walking back and grounding.
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