“Mommy, when Mrs. [Teacher] was talking to us about the Southwest region, she called the Rio Grande, Rio Grand. I told her it’s pronounced Rio Gran-de, not Grand, and she said, ‘Well, yes, if you were Mexican or Spanish, you’d say it like that, but if you’re American, we say Grand.’ I didn’t say anything […]
multicultural
Are Stereotypes Necessary to Understand Our World?
“Generalizations are necessary to understand the world we live in.” The above statement was from a tweet I received the other day in response to my article about ¡Q’Viva! The Chosen. My article focused on how the show is highlighting Latinos in a positive way and I wrote that they’re sharing Latino culture on TV […]
On Being Told to Go Back
When we moved to Florida from Puerto Rico, I was eight years old and already one month into third grade. I left behind the private Catholic school that had just begun to accept girls as students that year and came to a standard public school in the city of Orlando. My first day at this […]
What Does Being Latina Mean to Me?
This post was first published on October 7, 2009. Since I’m speaking today on a panel titled “Latinas in Social Media” at the BlogHer 2010 conference and exploring how being Latina influences our social media interactions, I thought this post was timely. I’ve been asked a difficult question. I was asked to write about what […]
Curly Hair is Beautiful Too! How Everyday Conversations Become Life Lessons in Our House.
Baby girl: “Daddy, you need a haircut.” Husband: “Do I?” Baby girl: “Yes, but not too much. Just a little off the top. You don’t want to be bald because then people would laugh at you.” Husband (after some laughter): “Well baby, I don’t really care if people laugh at me. If they laugh at […]
