I bought a plate of soft warm gooey, brownies from
Abuelita's bakery.

punctuation ?

I bought a plate of soft, warm, and gooey brownies from Abuelita’s bakery.

Explanation:

This is a comma in a series, describing the brownies.

Later, during her college years in the late sixties, there was a push to pronounce Third World names correctly.

Explanation:

In the narrative, Julia moved from Dominican to NY, together with her family. It was amazing that most people used to mispronounce the name of the family. For instance, when her family arrived in the immigration office, the officer would be able to mispronounce it. Julia is so eager to correct the officer from uttering the words wrongly, and she instead repeats it herself so that the officer gets the correct pronunciation.