Category: Language

Language, Mexican Parenting

No Sabo

For a generation that likely grew up being told that being bilingual was important and necessary, but who’s own parents may not have been fully bilingual themselves, this act of self-affirmation is a symbol of embracing their true selves and challenging the stigma that in order to be fully Latino one must be fully bilingual. It’s their way of saying, language is not the definition of identity, and not the measure by which we should be criticized or judged on how connected we are to our cultural heritage.

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Language

Grit

It’s getting no, and not taking it for an answer.
It’s being told that you can’t, and figuring out how to do it anyway.
It’s being willing to work.
It’s being willing to sacrifice.

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Daily Living, Dichos / Refranes

¿Eres o te haces?

We don’t want to tell people about our family problems, the drinking, the mental illness, the trauma, the sense of sadness, and the feeling of loneliness we carry around with us all the time. Because as soon as the camera is pointed in our direction we’re smiling and posing ourselves to make sure the digital version of our lives is enviable and worth piquing the curiosity of others. We want to put our best foot forward always, even if the world around us is shattering to pieces. We’ve been trained to air our dirty laundry at home. To not give people a reason to second guess us as human beings, to not challenge the status quo because it could make the difference between getting that next opportunity in our careers or not. “Everything online is out there forever. You can’t take it back.” In doing so, however, we’re also denying ourselves the opportunity to be truly genuine with one another. More importantly, we’re failing to learn from each other and our respective mistakes.

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