%20-%202.jpeg)
For MLB Roberto Clemente Day, Block Chronicles and spruce & adorn™ came together with the Pittsburgh Pirates to honor Clemente’s humanitarian spirit through an immersive experience of story, sound, scent, nature, and ritual.
Curated by Dr. Jason C. Méndez of Block Chronicles and visual artist Jenifer Schweitzer of one girl’s graphics, Stories We Carry offered people a space to pause, reflect, and connect.
Visitors entered through a festive, Puerto Rican-inspired bodega tunnel before encountering a forestry blessing ofrenda and blossoming flamboyán tree sponsored by spruce & adorn™. Through these shared rituals, visitors honored Clemente’s legacy while celebrating the people and loved ones who shaped their own lives.
The experience concluded with a cleansing ritual led by Del Caimán, inviting visitors to release something they no longer wished to carry. This final act offered a moment to honor loved ones, embrace renewal, and move forward with a lighter spirit.
Stories We Carry grew from Méndez’s evolving film and archival project, Guaraguao, which explores what it means to be Boricua through memory, place, and the experiences of Puerto Ricans across the diaspora. The project brings together poetry, film, and personal stories to explore how our connections to home shape who we are.
Beyond the bodega’s pineapple upside-down cakes, quarter waters, ballpark snacks, and free books, participants entered a reflection altar. Surrounded by images of remembrance and the familiar scents of coffee, basil, honey, and rose, they were invited to reconnect with the memory of loved ones.
Inspired by the scents of the Puerto Rican diaspora, participants were invited to write the name of a loved one whose spirit resonated with them. Written in red ink on torn white paper resembling flamboyán flowers, the names brought the tree to life throughout the evening.
Del Caimán’s cauldron of cleansing offered participants a final moment to reflect and release what they no longer wished to carry, inviting them to enter the game with a renewed sense of freedom and connection.
