At Pequeñas Ligas, A "Constant Reminder" Turns 25

Peter Noble and Gloribell Lopez. Danielle Campbell Photos.

Gloribell Lopez leaned over a page, looking down at her poem “I Know” as if it was an old friend. I can tell you the stories/I can speak of the tales/And boy will you laugh/You might even cry, she began. The words may have been 25 years old, but she could feel them moving through her. I can tell you 'bout life/In its strangest forms/Life in its uncertainty, its rarity/Oh and you'll laugh. 

As she read, her sons Joaquin and Mateo Blasavage sat, listening intently: the two had never heard their mom's work firsthand. Around them, the room was quiet, reverent. Lopez was home, and savoring every moment of it 

On a recent Saturday, Lopez joined Fair Haven community champion Peter Noble at Pequeñas Ligas Hispanas de New Haven at 257 Grand Ave. for the 25th anniversary of Constant Reminder, a book of poetry and prose that the organization published in 1998. Written over several years in the 1990s, the book showcases work by a then-teenage Lopez, who grew up within walking distance of the Grand Avenue site.

To date, it is the only book the organization has ever published. Noble, who is still a cultural institution in the neighborhood, edited the work.  

Their interview will be rebroadcast on Pequeñas Ligas’ low-power radio station, 103.5 FM, which the organization shares with the New Haven Independent, during its MUSA (Musicians, Songwriters & Artists) program. The goals of the series are to promote Puerto Rican and Latin American culture and to develop, nurture, and support a creative community of artists of all ages.

As she sat down with Noble, Lopez reflected on her youth in Fair Haven, which instilled in her a deep and ongoing love of the community. During her childhood, she moved around the neighborhood, never too far from Grand Avenue. Between moves—Lloyd Street, Pine Street, Saltonstall, Blatchley and Quinnipiac Avenues—Noble and Centro San Jose remained constants in her life.

“They really did see something in me that I didn't see in myself,” she said. “And so, it was very special tonight to go back in time 25 years and think about all of the things that I struggled with as a teenager and how I was able to get through all that, especially with this community. I mean, Fair Haven, New Haven. It really does take a village to raise a child and so I'm so grateful to my community because that's what they did.”

Tracing the neighborhood’s contours, she and Noble recalled businesses that no longer exist, including a Subway that always smelled of fresh bread and yeasted, baking dough (several of the independent bakeries and restaurants that now line the avenue, making it a self-sustaining business district, are slightly newer). Growing up, she said, she didn’t think that much about the role Fair Haven would play in her future. Since then, it has remained core to her identity. 

Jason Martinez, a junior at New Haven Academy, reads the poem "Heartbreak" from the book.

Lopez was pursuing her undergraduate degree, studying sociology at Boston College, by the time the book was released after three years of delays. But she started the process while she was in high school, and Fair Haven was very much shaping who she was. As she and Noble chatted, the two flowed from the editing process to talking about the stories, poems, and mixed creative forms that now comprise the collection.    

They looked at a number of works that are autobiographical, such as her essay “Education Was the Deviant.” Inspired by her freshman year at Boston College—Lopez had never been in schools that weren’t primarily Black and Latino, so Boston was a culture shock—it follows her time in a class titled “Deviance and Social Control,” taught by sociologist Stephen Pfohl. 

“It was a huge auditorium,” she remembered. “I get in there. I sit down. We're waiting for the professor. And we're waiting and we're waiting and all of a sudden, this man shows up. And he's got spiky blue and pink hair, a leather jacket with chains, ripped jeans, and no shoes. And this is Boston in the fall and he's barefoot. And he walks through the front of the auditorium. And clearly, he must be the sound guy, or maybe he's going to set up the projector. No, he is our professor.”

That moment made her think about “what's normal and what's accepted and who decides what's normal,” she said. She added that her college experiences wouldn’t have been documented had the book not been delayed—it allowed her to fit in more pieces of her life, and showed her development as a young thinker in real time.

Top: Joaquin Blasavage, son of Gloribell asks his mother a question about her book. Bottom: Lopez signs copies. 

Though her college-era works were more in-depth and focused than those based on her experiences as a young adult, Noble noted, many of the works simply showed the maturity of her work at a young age. One of them, for instance, is her poem “I Know.” 

During the conversation, Noble probed Lopez about the processes behind each of her works, having her read several aloud. At one point, he opened the invitation up to fellow members of the audience, who had been attentively hanging on to each word. Jason Martinez, a student of Pequeñas Ligas’ guitar and songwriting program, read her poem “Heartbreak.” When her son Joaquin read an untitled piece from her book, Lopez admitted that she was a little verklempt. 

“This is the first time that my kids were involved—and aww man! It brought me to tears to hear my son recite one of my poems,” she said. “That's never happened. So that was a very special moment for me that I'll never forget.”

After moving through the entire book, the two shared a moment of appreciation. Lopez gave Noble a plaque with a poem he had never heard and said how grateful she is for his leadership, his presence, and all he had done for her. As the night ended with an intimate book signing, he reflected on how special it is for him to see a former student return with so much to give back to the community. 

“Presenting an author that grew up right here  … we hope that the kids that were here have been inspired by it and that they can share,” Noble said. “And that she and I will continue our mission to promote it so that kids get inspired by it.”