At no point did I think superheroes would become such a huge part of my life.
我从没想过超级英雄会成为我生命中如此重要的一部分。
As a kid, I looked at them, and I saw everything I wasn't.
小时候当我看他们时，我觉得我什么都不是。
They had big muscles, supermodel good looks, and phenomenal cosmic powers. And me?
他们有大块的肌肉，超模一样好看的长相，以及异于常人的无尽力量。而我呢？
I kind of looked like this, except shorter and with frizzier hair, and I never felt powerful.
我看起来像这样，除了长得矮和一头卷发，我从未觉得自己强大。
I was always just one big ball of nervous, soft energy,
我曾只是一个紧张的、软弱的一个大球，
and superheroes, much like the bullies at school, didn't seem to have a lot of room for that, for me.
而超级英雄，像是学校中的地痞流氓，对我来说，貌似没有太多的位置。
So I stayed away. And besides, who needs superheroes when you're surrounded by Puerto Rican women from the Bronx?
所以，我远离他们。另外，当你周围都是来自布朗克斯区的波多黎各妇女时，谁还需要超级英雄？
My tías were cops and paramedics, my abuelas were seamstresses and sold jewelry up the street,
我的阿姨们是警察和医护人员，我的外婆是裁缝，奶奶沿街售卖珠宝，
and my mom got her master's degree in education and taught kindergarten in New York City public schools for over 30 years.
而我妈妈有教育学的硕士学位，并且在纽约的公立学校的幼儿园教授有30多年之久。
So my superheroes were sitting around the dinner table with me.
所以我的超级英雄一直都陪我围坐餐桌前。
And I don't know how much time you've spent with Puerto Rican women from the Bronx,
我不知道你们有多少时间和来自布朗克斯的波多黎各妇女一起相处过，
but we're also some of the world's greatest storytellers.
但是我们都是这个世界上最伟大的故事讲述者。
And I'd sit there at my grandmother's dining room table
我经常会坐在外婆家的餐桌旁，
and I'd listen to the women in my family tell these wild, rambunctious tales about navigating their lives in the Bronx.
听着我们家族的女人讲述那些关于她们在布朗克斯区生活中狂野的故事。
And I wanted to be them so bad. But I wasn't tough like them either.
我很想成为她们。但我却不像她们那样坚强。
So mostly, I listened, and I soaked it in,
所以多数时候，我只是倾听，并沉浸于其中，
and I found myself gravitating to the soft threads in their stories, and I wrote those down.
我发现我被故事中的柔软思绪所吸引，所以我把它们写下来。
The funny, the goofy, the gentle -- those were my in to storytelling,
有趣的、傻傻的、温柔的，这就是我讲故事的方式，
so much so that I wrote a young-adult novel called "Juliet Takes a Breath,"
内容如此之多以至于我写了一本叫做《朱丽叶喘口气》的青少年小说，
about a chubby, queer Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx navigating sexuality, family and identity.
这是关于一个来自布朗克斯区丰满的波多黎各酷儿女孩，她正探索自己的性取向、家庭和身份。
And on the strength of "Juliet,"
拜《朱丽叶》所赐，
Marvel Comics tapped me to write the solo series for their first-ever Latina lesbian superhero, America Chavez. Yeah!
漫威漫画委托我为他们第一任拉丁美洲裔女同超级英雄单独写一个系列，艾美莉卡·查韦斯。是的！
Listen, OK. Created by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta for the Marvel miniseries "Vengeance,"
听着。乔·凯西和尼克·德拉戈塔为漫威的迷你系列《复仇》创造了她，
America Chavez has been in the Marvel Universe for over seven years.
艾美莉卡·查韦斯已经在漫威宇宙中存在超过7年时间了。
She's tough, Latina, and she's so strong that she can punch portals into other dimensions. I know, right?
她是顽强的拉丁裔女人，她强大到可以打出穿越其他维度空间之门。我知道，对吧？
And people were so excited, because finally, someone who shared her identities
人们非常激动，因为，最终有个与她相同身份的人，
queer and Latina -- would be writing her story. And I saw that, right?
酷儿和拉丁裔--来书写她的故事。我也看到那点，对吧？
And also, when I looked at America, I saw a young Latina in survival mode.
当我看着艾美莉卡时，我看到一个年轻的拉丁裔女性在求生存。
See, because her moms had sacrificed themselves to the universe when she was a kid, and she'd been on her own ever since.
瞧，因为她的妈妈在艾美莉卡孩提时牺牲自己来挽救宇宙，从那以后她都靠自己。
No wonder she had to be tough. And that link, that link of having to be tough, that rested heavy with me.
难怪她必须坚强。这个原因，这种让她坚强的原因确实让我很沉痛。
Like I said, I'm from the Bronx, and the Bronx is tough,
如我所说，我来自布朗克斯，布朗克斯这个地方很强悍，
tough like walking past sidewalk memorials and dodging cop towers on your way to the train type of tough.
强悍就比如是在去乘火车的路上，要走过人行道纪念碑和躲避警察塔一样的强悍。
When stuff happens that's bad, people are like,
当坏的事情发生时，人们通常说，
"Yo, you gotta keep it moving. You gotta keep trucking. Don't cry. Don't let it get to you."
“你得动起来，你得继续前进。别哭，别让这事情影响到你。”
And my mom and my tías and my abuelas, I never saw them take a moment to rest or to invest in self-care.
我的妈妈，阿姨还有我的外婆和奶奶，我从未见到她们休息片刻或者为自己的健康投资。
And their soft? It never left the house.
而她们的柔弱？从未离开过家门。
And so that was the first thing that I wanted to give to America,
所以这是我要给艾美莉卡的第一件东西，
the thing that I wished I'd been able to give to my abuelas and my tías,
也是我希望我曾可以给我的外婆和姑姑的东西，
the thing that I'm trying to give to my mom now: permission to be soft.
也正是我现在想传达给我妈妈的东西：可以变柔和些。
Like, it's OK to sit in silence and go on a journey just to discover yourself,
就像，你完全可以沉默地坐着，可以出去旅行只为发现你自己，
and your pain will make you crumble and you will fall and you will need to ask people for help,
你的疼痛会让你崩溃，让你摔倒，你需要向他人寻求帮助，
and that's OK, and that being vulnerable is good for us.
这都是可以的，有时脆弱对我们来说是有好处的。
But see, I didn't come to all this compassion and healing stuff like, you know, out of nowhere,
但是，我并非平白无故就想出这些有同情心和治愈的东西，
and so when it came to America's story, I wanted to give her the space to be human, to mess up, and to find soft on her own.
所以，当谈到艾美莉卡的故事时，我想要给她空间，让她可以更人性，可以把事情弄糟，并发现自己的柔软之处。
So she kind of had to quit her day job. You know what I'm saying?
所以她不得不辞掉工作。你们知道我要说什么了吗？
I had to give her a superhero sabbatical, and the first thing I did was enroll her in Justice Sonia Sotomayor University.
我必须要给她一个超级英雄的假期，我做的第一件事是让她上索尼娅·索托马约尔大学。
Because where else would she feel safe and represented and liberated
难道还有其它地方更能让她感受到安全、尊敬和自由，
but a university dedicated to the first Puerto Rican woman nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States?
相比起这所为了纪念第一位被提名为美国最高法院法官的波多黎各妇女而建的大学？
And her first class is "Intergalactic Revolutionaries and You," and America is so excited,
她的第一课是“银河系革命和你”，艾美莉卡很激动，
she's ready to show off her strength, she's ready to show off her portal-punching skills,
她也准备好了展示自己的力量，她也摆好了自己能够打出传送门的技能，
and I stripped that safety net from her right away.
但我立刻剥去了她身上那层安全网。

And I limited her powers, and I changed up her location and shook up her world,
我限制她的力量，然后我改变她的位置并且重组她的世界，
because that is what college is like, especially if you're alone.
因为大学里就是这样，特别是当你孤身一人时。
But I didn't want America to be alone for long,
但是我不想艾美莉卡一直孤单，
and so in a homework assignment gone totally wrong, she lands on a battlefield with the X-Men.
所以在一次搞砸了家庭作业后，她和X战警一起上了战场。
Because, when I was in college, the Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas was my mentor,
因为，当我在大学时，牧师凯利·布朗·道格拉斯是我的导师，
and I knew that America Chavez needed one, too.
我知道艾美莉卡也需要一个导师。
And who better to mentor America Chavez than Storm,
对艾美莉卡来说，还有比暴风女更好的导师吗？
the first black female superhero and one of the most powerful members of the X-Men? Nobody, that's who.
她是第一位黑人女性超级英雄，同样也是X战警中最强大的成员。还有谁？没人。
And Storm teaches America how to quiet her mind inside of a star portal,
暴风女教导艾美莉卡如何在一扇星际之门中平静自己的心灵，
and when America quiets her mind, she opens up the dimensions, and in that silence, she can listen for anything and anyone.
当艾美莉卡静下心时，她打开了多维空间，在那种静寂中，她可以倾听任何事情、任何人。
And no one has ever offered her silence and deep reflection as a way to be powerful.
没人曾告诉她静寂和禅定可以让一个人强大。
And at first, she rejects it, but with Storm's encouragement, it clicks,
一开始，她拒绝它，但是在暴风女的鼓励下，她成功了，
and America quiets the world around her, and she leans into a deep vulnerability.
艾美莉卡让她周遭的世界平静下来，她陷入了深深的脆弱中。
I mean, her and Storm even hug. I know.
我是说，她和暴风女甚至拥抱。我知道。
And that's because my mentors loved me enough to encourage me to investigate myself and my ancestors,
那是因为我的导师特别欣赏我，并鼓励我探寻我自己和我的祖先，
and when you're 19, how do you even know what that means?
当你只有19岁的时，你怎么会知道那是什么意思？
I didn't learn about the history of my people in college.
我并没有在大学中学到我们族人的历史。
I learned about the history of my people sitting on my grandmother's lap
我是在我奶奶的的膝上了解到的，
when she pulled out the photo album and she named everyone that was here and everyone still left on the island.
我外婆会拿出来相册，说出移民到这里的和留在岛上的人的名字。
So obviously, I had to crash-land a grandma on America Chavez,
所以，显然，我需要给艾美莉卡紧急空降一个外婆，
and not just any grandma -- a big, strong, luchador grandma,
不是个普通外婆--得是个强壮高大的圣斗士外婆，
one that loved her enough to take her to the ancestral plane,
一个足够爱她并会把她带回祖先星球的外婆，
where America Chavez could see the history of her people play out in the skies above.
在那个星球上，艾美莉卡在天空的呈现中看到了她族人的历史。
And America gets to see Planeta Fuertona, the birth planet of her grandmother,
也看到了Fuertona行星，她外婆诞生的星球，
and she sees it get invaded, and she sees her grandmother and her mom flee.
她看到了这个星球被入侵，她看到了自己的妈妈和外婆逃亡。
And she also sees the joy that they experience when their new homeland accepts them openly and offers them tremendous care.
她看到了母亲和外婆在新的家园受欢迎并且得到极大帮助时，她们所享受的欢乐。
She gets to see great pain met with even greater compassion, and that's right alongside the tremendous strength of her family.
她看到巨大的痛苦遇到更巨大的同情，这与她家庭的力量相辅相成。
And so everywhere that I could, right, I wrote her little love notes for her and for all the other queer kids of color trying to be magnificent.
所以，在任何地方我都会给她写下爱的小纸条，献给她还有其它想要变杰出的有色种族的酷儿孩子们。
Like, when you lose yourself, dig deep into your ancestry, because you will find the pieces there.
就像，当你迷失自己时，不如深入探寻你的先辈们，因为你将在那里找到片段。
And also, reminders that soft is not a pass to duck, to hide, to be silent, to cower.
同时记得，柔不是逃避的通行证，也不是躲避、沉默和畏缩的理由。
Soft is also a push to hold ourselves accountable.
柔同样也是让我们坚守责任心的一种推动力。
Kind of like when America lands in World War II and comes face-to-face with Hitler,
有点像艾美莉卡在二战时面对面遇到希特勒，
and she knocks him the hell out ... just like Captain America did in 1941,
她把他打晕了...就像美国队长在1941年干的那样，
and who knew we'd need America Chavez to punch Nazis in 2018.
谁知道我们在2018年也需要艾美莉卡来打击纳粹。
And even that, that justified act kind of wrecks her a little bit, so I made sure that she linked up with her best friend,
甚至那样的的正当行为，让她有点崩溃，所以我确保她和她最好的朋友有联系，
and they talk feelings and they go on a road trip and they sing "Just a Girl" by No Doubt at the top of their lungs.
她们经常聊天，去公路旅行，她们吼破嗓门地唱着No Doubt乐队的“Just a Girl”。
And when Midas, a sinister corporation, takes control of Sotomayor, threatens to ban portals and almost kills America
当麦迪斯，一个邪恶的公司，控制了索托马约尔大学，威胁要禁止传送门并且差点杀死了艾美莉卡，
her ancestors reach for her ... because they know that she needs to heal.
是她的祖先找到她，因为他们知道她需要他们的治愈。
And it is that burst of care, that healing, that gives her the fuel to defeat Midas and reclaim herself.
正是这种关怀，这种治愈给了她能量去打败麦迪斯并找回她自己。
See, because that myth of having to go it alone and having to be tough ... doesn't serve us.
瞧，那个必须独自上路，必须独自坚强的神话并不适合我们。
America Chavez is a whole superhero, and she still needed a team of support to help her find herself.
艾美莉卡·查韦斯是一个超级英雄，但她仍需要一个支持她的团队来帮助找到自己。
And she needed that gentleness, the type of gentleness that is rooted in compassion and still very much invested in justice and liberation.
她需要那份温柔，这份温柔，它扎根于同情心之中，但也注重正义和自由。
Because it's in that space where softness and vulnerability meet strength that we transcend our everyday selves,
因为正是在那个空间，柔和脆弱遇到了力量，一起让我们超越了日常自我，
that we become something greater, something majestic, maybe even something super. Thank you.
让我们变得更伟大、更崇高，甚至成为某种超级英雄。谢谢。