...opinions. In some ways, all these things put together MAKE us unique in who we are. Therefore we need to embrace our differences and uniqueness. I grew up in a small community in Southern Texas where most of the individuals were of Spanish heritage. We all interacted with one another regardless of our economic status or ethnic backgrounds. My FAMILY’S background is mixed. My mother is Mexican American and my father is African American. I only experienced the Mexican part of my heritage because I was raised by my mother. I can never escape my heritage as it is a major part of who I am. My heritage is everywhere around me. It is in our names, the foods we eat, the way we dance, sing, move, and interact with each other. For example, I enjoy listening to the music, Mariachi dances, and learning how to speak Spanish fluently. I enjoy eating Spanish foods like enchiladas, tacos, and chimichangas. This will never leave who I am. There were many times when I would have conversations with others from my Spanish heritage, and they would hear me speak the language and they would comment on how I could speak Spanish really well. As we knew how to speak the same language, we already knew that there was something in common. I always assumed that anyone who spoke Spanish were of Mexican...
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...in reflecting on my life as it has transpired thus far, I find myself struck by a pattern of emptiness in my life owing to loneliness–a lack of value in my survival–due to what might be described as cultural and social incompetencies. These incompetencies, owing to my upbringing away from my extended family, as well as my continued struggles with Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and its resulting chronic depression, are not without means of improvement, however. Among these means of improvement is the upcoming OCC trip to Madrid,...
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...Mr. Bevington, Capt Goyet, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this celebration of the Hispanic Heritage Month. It is my distinct honor to speak to you today. Hispanic culture is deeply intertwined with the history of this Nation. We live on the same side of the world with the largest Spanish speaking population due to our proximity to Mexico, Central, South America and the Caribbean. So it is important to recognize the contributions of the Hispanic culture as well as other cultures to celebrate and acknowledge how the history, culture, values and traditions of the United States were and continue to be shaped by the make-up of its ever changing population profile. When I started to think about what I would say, it occurred to me that perhaps I should do a little research and review history instead of presuming I know everything about my heritage. I am glad I did because I learned many facts that challenged my own understanding of history. I want to share some of these facts with you today. On September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, observed during the week that included Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. The observance was expanded in 1989 by Congress to a month long celebration (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15), America celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Sept. 15 was chosen as the...
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...Tanya Maria Barrientos expresses her struggle of being a pure Latina who doesn’t speak Spanish. Being born in Guatemala, a Spanish speaking country, she and her family moved to the United States of America at three years old. (Barrientos, 2011) now living in Texas her parents made the decision that their children would cease speaking Spanish only to speak, read, and write English molding them into America’s Anglo culture. Barrientos set out to defy the stereotypes being placed on brown people while at the same time believing them herself. She stated “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor. It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms.” (Barrientos) Not being seen as Mexican was a compliment in her eyes while not speaking Spanish equated to being white. Clearly she was not proud of her heritage and at the age of 16 in attempt to reverse the disdain for her culture Barrientos was sent to Mexico for the summer by her father. To her surprise pride emerged but created a new dilemma. How can you be a proud Latina and not speak Spanish? She set out to learn it. After taking several Spanish classes she continued to feel laughable around native Spanish speakers. Not only did she struggle with the language but with the fact that she was now frowned upon as a Spanish woman who can’t speak the language. Barrientos eventually learned to speak Spanish and now proudly calls herself “Spanish Challenged and pura Latina.” (Barrientos) The purpose of the descriptive essay “Se...
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...of the total population. A place where a visit to your roots and culture is but a few minutes away. What you have imagined is my lovely border town- Laredo, Texas. What is outstanding here is the culture. It is unlike that of many cities in the U.S. This is because most of the residents are tied to a Hispanic heritage on way or another. I lived most of my life crossing the border often. I lived at my grandmother’s house with my parents in Nuevo Laredo, our “sister city”, when I was baby. When my sister was born we moved to Laredo. My grandmother retired from being a principal, she became our babysitter as both my parents worked long hours to pay for our newly acquired trailer home in the then outskirts of town. My grandmother had already taught me to read and write Spanish, aside from me already speaking English, before I even went to pre-kindergarten. In language is how I believe my Hispanic heritage has helped shape me the most because it was through the fact that I grew up knowing both English and Spanish that allowed me to learn to connect the two different worlds I knew and thrived in. My education was in English but as I...
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...Using Language to Reclaim and Reform Identity In her essay “Spanish Lessons,” Christine Marin describes her struggle with two language identities and how finding her voice in both Spanish and English allowed her to discover the power of language. Similarly in “Coming Into Language,” Jimmy Santiago Baca discusses how, in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, language became a powerful outlet through which his life was changed. Both essays describe situations in which language and education were used as tools to empower the authors to reclaim their respective identities. I identify with the authors’ struggle to turn language and education from sources of humiliation to platforms of empowerment. Marin describes to...
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...written by Tanya Maria Barrientos by explaining some of the main points and giving my responses to them. The first point that I would like to talk about is how Barrientos brings up the fact that people are confused when they see her in a Spanish class when her appearance and last name would give the impression that she is a full fledge Latino. Barrientos feels that she can’t hide that fact that she is from Latino descent and is expected to know the Spanish culture be able to speak the language. I myself can relate to the criticism she receives because I was born here in the United States yet my parents are immigrants from Spanish speaking countries. Those around me expect me to be able to speak fluent Spanish because of my appearance but I unfortunately cannot. Barrientos expresses her fear of being called a Mexican as it makes her feel inferior to the white race. She states “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor. It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms.” She did not want anything to do with her heritage or culture because society in the United States at the time portrayed any race other than white to be inferior. Barrientos is sent to Mexico by her father to reverse this disdain for her culture and to her surprise she becomes fascinated by it and begins to feel a form of pride. Barrientos now wants to learn as much Spanish as possible and wants to immerse herself in her heritage. The purpose of this essay is to show those that it is ok to embrace a culture...
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...racially profiled due to my color of skin; let me tell you it was not a joyful experience or one that I will ever forget. Unlike Sandi, I didn’t resist on showing my identification because I figured if I did resist or question the officer I would end up arrested or worse. In fact, like Sandi, I wish I had said, “No! I am not showing you any stinking badges, cabron!” (33) At that moment I felt as if “the law”, the officer, was my enemy instead of being someone that would protect my rights and keep me safe. Furthermore, I was also grateful for the mention of the loss of...
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...Mary Autry Mr. Vinson .W. Jaye English 101-603 Literacy Narrative 13, September 2012 Pure Bred Puerto Rican to Backwoods Southern Belle My literacy narrative is a little different. It’s not exactly how I first learned to read or write but, how I became literate in a different sense. My birthplace, San Juan, Puerto Rico, I remember only certain things. The things I remember are things you would only see on television. Nothing you would want to really imagine for yourself, loved ones or anybody else you know. For example, I remember the heat being constantly unbearable. Nothing like what we are used to here in Alabama. We are used to the season changing and look forward to summer, winter, fall, and spring. Here we deal with weather conditions for a few months and things change up again. But not in Puerto Rico: things don’t change much. Heat is Heat. Sure it gets humid, it rains, it’s sunny, but the heat is always there. I remember some horrible thing I rarely discuss with anybody because I don’t want to have to have people imagining them. I remember fusses and fights between my mother and my grandparents. It wasn’t a happy home. At age 4 I was adopted to a new family- people that couldn’t have children of their on. Adoption was the only was the only way for them to have a family. They were in the military and were stationed at a military base in Puerto Rico when unexpectedly; they got a call about me. Being 4, this was a bigger transformation for me than you would think...
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... she lost the ability to speak any Spanish. Even while talking with her parents they spoke in English. She tried asking her parents to speak to her in Spanish, but they raised her to believe that if she spoke English, she would “make it” in America. Her parents believed that if she could speak English without any sign of an accent, she would be seen as a true American, despite her obvious ethnicity. From this, she began to look at her heritage in a negative way. From pure observation she related speaking Spanish, with being poor. Between her friends and her family, she felt like she was fighting alone in the strive to be a part of her hidden culture. When she was sixteen, she realized she hated Mexico for the wrong reasons. Her father wanted to show her that she could be proud of where she comes from, as well as fitting in in America. She then discovered that she loved her culture. By the time Tanya was in college, the way people thought was different. She had noticed a big change in how the nation viewed ethnic identity. As she states in the essay, “Not all Poles speak Polish. Not all Italians speak Italian. And as this nation grows more and more Hispanic, not all Latinos will share one language.” Even though this made it harder for Tanya to find her place, it helped her become more determined to learn Spanish. She began by taking Spanish lessons and became frustrated that people automatically assumed that since she is Spanish, she should know how to speak the language...
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...life that has shattered one of her illusions about life. Two of the stories and authors featured in The Norton Reader, Aria by Richard Rodriguez and Always Living in Spanish by Marjorie Agosín seem to directly fit this quote because of their sense of losing their identity, culture and heritage when they first came to the United States. By learning the new “American” ways of life and becoming fluent in the English language both authors felt as if they were losing a sense of the person they were, because so much of their identity had been lost. In the story Aria, Rodriguez immediately notices the differences between English and his beloved Spanish language. Speaking English in the classroom wasn’t vital to Rodriguez feeling as if he had lost his identity until English became the primary language in his household because of the poor progress that he was making in school. Once Rodriguez had experienced speaking only English in his home, his whole world was changed. Not only had the new English language at first brought the feeling of losing his identity, but now it had brought about the feeling of losing his entire family’s identity. Also, the family was no longer as close-knit as they used to be because not all of the family members were able to speak English as well as the others. In the story, Always Living in Spanish by Marjorie Agosín, Agosín’s first impression of the United States is her experience in the classroom. Agosín expresses the fact that she doesn’t recognize anything...
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...These and other issues that emerged as I explored the participants’ experiences provided me with detailed insight as to why and how heritage speakers of Spanish in the US southwest pursue an education in the heritage language, in in which ways this pursuit is connected to their conceptualization of themselves as bilingual, Hispanic, Americans youths. The result was a theoretical model that captures the identity dynamics, constructs and processes, factoring into the emergence of an educational identity in heritage speakers. This model ties linguistic, affective, social, and cognitive dimensions in a flexible manner, establishing interconnections among them, and linking them to contextual...
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...identity. She was born in Guatemala but has lived in America since she was three years old. In the beginning she was somewhat embarrassed by her Hispanic heritage. Tanya felt inferior to the white people because of how she looked and because of her last name. The tone of the essay was a serious and desperate cry for help. It seemed she was speaking to anyone who could listen and relate to her. Tanya wrote from her point of view and how she felt like a “gringa” trapped in a Latina girl’s body. Tone Tanya had been through the whole situation of taking tutoring to help her develop her Spanish speaking a half dozen times already. She had become frustrated and did not know where she belonged in society. She viewed herself inferior to the others in her class and wanted others to pretend she was a white girl wanting to learn Spanish. She was struggling with her identity and spent a lot of time and money trying to find her true self. You can’t blame her for feeling that way. She saw the type of treatment her parents received when she was a child enrolling in school. All she wanted was a place in society. Audience The primary audience Tanya was speaking to would be anyone in the same situation as she was. It could be another person of Hispanic descent or any other race trying to learn a new language and accept their heritage. In the beginning she felt like she was low on the totem pole because she was considered Mexican. Towards the end of the essay she had realized that...
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... European, "Cracker", Hispanic-Latino, and Cuban. Because there are so many variations of these cultures choosing just three was difficult, but for my project I will be focusing on our African-American, Hispanic-Latino, and "Cracker" populations. During this project I will address the many and varied differences between these cultures on many different levels including personal or family differences, social differences and educational differences. I expect to gain a greater understanding about these cultures during this process and by gaining this understanding I will be better equipped to combine students from these cultures into a classroom of learners that are able to succeed on all levels of History education. Because I do teach World History having a classroom full of diverse cultures lends itself to a variety of teaching activities and extra curricular learning. Miami-Dade Community College President Eduardo J. Padron. Said it best when he said "Our classrooms are laboratories for cultural diversity and the disciplines are enriched when students contribute various cultural perspectives," It has become increasingly clear that we must get creative in culturally diverse ways in order to pull all of our students into the learning culture in equal ways. I spent several days researching the material that you are about to read. My biggest source of information was the internet, but I also spoke with several other instructors and listened to their thoughts and concerns on the matter...
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...Language serves as a sort of psychic glue through which individuals become part of a culture and society. In addition, without the cementing factor of the Spanish language, the poetic subject, like the wet cornstarch in the poem, only slips past her patrimony instead of becoming part of it. Just as women in general are alienated from the primary position of subject in the logic of patriarchal language and relegated to the objectified position of "Other," the poetic subject finds herself floating in an interstitial realm between two cultures. Cherrie Moraga, who herself is half Anglo and half Chicana, explains the dilemma of being brought up to deny the "colored" part of one's ancestry: "From all of this, I experience, daily, a huge disparity between what I was born into and what I was to become."(17) As a person of color, the poetic subject of "Refugee Ship" naturally experiences alienation from mainstream United States society. The fact that she was socialized by an Anglo mother and grew up without the Spanish language prevents her from feeling included in the Chicano community. Her fragmented self-image prevents the poetic subject from feeling truly at home in either culture. This dynamic is expressed in terms of a person in eternal exile, "a captive aboard the refugee...
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