Every once in a while, things bubble up to the surface in our culture. Whether art, music, or politics, that thing rises above the cultural sea level and we all see it.

It’s a pretty big deal when this happens specifically with respect to representation.

What do I mean?

I mean, that when a culture that is not part of the mainstream is held up so that it can be seen by the entire culture, that that is a HUGE moment.

Moana and Coco are great examples. But so is Vivo, by Lin Manuel Miranda, which you can see on Netflix.

Vivo is a kaleidoscope of Latinidad, of Latino culture, specifically the islands from which many immigrants in Miami come from; Cuba, Puerto Rico, & The Dominican Republic, just to name a few.

But no country is left out, at one point Miranda sings as the voice of Vivo, the cute little monkey and the movie’s protagonist, “Tango like an Argentinian,” which of course caught my ear.

But this animated cultural offering is exactly that - a chance for everyone else to understand something outside their experience, even if the package it comes in is a cute, musical, bilingual monkey.

In watching Vivo a jillion times in the last few weeks, it’s resonated with me that these moments are sooooooo incredibly huge for diversifying, broadening, and enriching what the mainstream culture actually is.

It’s also huge for those of us who identify with cultures outside the mainstream, and it’s even more incumbent on us all to be more conversant once these cultural icebergs float above the surface long enough for us all to catch a good glimpse.

What cultural icebergs have you seen lately? What questions should you ask that you haven’t yet?

What’s more, how can we all be better at seeing those icebergs all around us? And what does their buoyancy mean for where we are going?