I grew up in Alamo, between North 9th and North 10th, between Duranta and Birch. Yes I grew up in the Housing Projects. Moved to Weslaco right when I hit high school, graduated a Panther. Since then I've studied for a bit, worked and moved to Austin for the last 7 years. I wouldn't classify myself as a writer, just as a typer with a self proclaimed sense of humor, wit, and spare time to nurture it.
I keep in touch with the valley via word of mouth and technologies (Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, texts). A big chunk of my family both on my mother's and fathers side is either in The Valley or in Mexico. I have opinions and I voice them as individual opinions.
Here I hope to just accomplish to highlight overall points of interest and my thoughts on the subject. I encourage everyone to voice their opinions.
"The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium."
- Norbet Platt
Found your blog via Twitter. Look forward to reading more of your posts.
ReplyDeleteSuggestion, given your recent post on your background, perhaps you the title of your blog would be more aptly described as: "Musings of a Mexican-American-Texan".
Your post reminded me of a recent conversation that I had with an older gentleman in King City, California. I asked him if he was born in King City and he replied in perfect Spanish that he was and stated that his ancestors had actually settled in region of King City in the 1700's, therefore between then and now his family has gone from being Californios, to being Spaniards, then being Mexican and finally to that of being Americans.
That conversation and your blog post made me ponder the issue of identity. Personally, I was born in Mexico, but raised in California since he age of seven, so I'm very much American, even served in the U.S. Marines.
However, when I visited Mexico in my early twenties while in college, I was struck at how nobody, not even my closest relatives considered me to be Mexican, they all insisted that I was American, a "Pocho", "Chicano", both labels that did not fit with the perceived identity of myself.
Today, if anyone asks me a questions about my ethnicity they are likely to receive a response longer than they expect.
It's a question that I often ask of myself and get slightly different responses.
Look forward to reading more of your musings.