Monday, January 9, 2012
Am I Hispanic/Latina or not?
I was born here in the US to a mother who's family is from Honduras. She is Spanish, possibly part indigenous (her ancestry in that sense is pretty obscure) and a quarter German.She has black, curly hair, dark brown eyes and olive skin and is very thin.My father is German and British and has blond hair, fair skin, blue eyes, etc., but I am an only child who came out looking just like my mom, except my hair isnt as curly. They are married but my Dad was usually always at work, so I was basically raised by my mom, who spent every day all day talking about Honduras and being Hispanic to anyone who would listen, especially me. She spoke Spanish on the phone with her sister every day, but even though I frequently asked, would never teach Spanish to me although in school i had very good linguistic aptitude with both French and Latin.(I also took Spanish for a while, but it bugged me that my mom was no help when everyone thought i should have an advantage b/c of her, so that was that.) However, I grew up in an unsafe neighborhood where there weren't many other kids and i wasnt allowed to go outside, and as she was a stay-at home-mom (although when i was 16 she got a job as a spanish translator) she was the biggest influence on my life. Even though quite frankly she was extremely controlling and i was never a fan of the stay-at-home deal. But my point is that i feel like she is my only cultural ociation, b/c in an isolated neighboorhood and with the generally absent dad,and a mom that generally discouraged me from sports (even though for a while i was mvp for track and cross country) i dont feel like i really have much in common with the typical american "white" kids, with athletic lives, fair skin and friendly safe neighboorhoods. Yet my mom insists even with anger that since i was born here, I cannot be Hispanic. I feel like i have nothing else to identify with then! What the heck am I? lol
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