Let’s talk about my Mexican-American identity crisis. So quick summary on how I got here, my parents were immigrants who moved from Mexico to America in the 1990s to start a new life when they were about to have me. So while my ethnicity is Mexican my nationality has always been American. Growing up I always felt really distant from my crane background I’m not sure when it started but for as long as I can remember I’ve always felt kind of disconnected from it. It didn’t really helped that we lived in a super white area so there weren’t many Mexicans to talk to. I remember my dad would always be like “why don’t you have more Mexican friends.” And keep saying something like “I don’t know dad you kind of kind of didn’t give me a whole lot to work with here”.
I’d like to mention that despite growing up in an area with very little diversity, I was never bully specifically for being Mexican. Aside from the occasional and Mexican jokes for what I can remember nobody has ever gone out of their way to make me feel isolated for my race. The amount of times I heard something like “Your English is really good I don’t hear an accent” is crazy. I still get comments like that from time to time and here’s my secret, ever since I was a child my English has always been significantly better than my Spanish. I spoke only English at school and at home and since I didn’t really have other Mexican friends there was rarely ever a time I have to use Spanish. This resulted in years with me being comfortable with responding to my parents in English even if they were using Spanish. I think they assumed that if they kept speaking Spanish I’d eventually pick it up and master the grammar vocab but that never really happened. Sure I’m still figuring out how to deal with this but in the end I still will be the person I always will be from now to the end.
Diogo: This is a very good beginning. I am proud of you! I think I can understand you because I often did not feel connected to those strange Chinese relatives who used to visit us. I was not fluent in Chinese. And I also grew up in a predominiantly white area. English is my best language, too.
SO — do you feel alienated by your MExican family or relatives? What level of Spanish do you speak? Does language make a barrier between you and the rest of your Mexican family?
Another point. I totally agree. Why can’t white Americans get it? We Americans are of every cultural ethnic background and we all speak perfect English.
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I will inject some ideas into your writing piece:
Let’s talk about my Mexican-American identity crisis. [Good — You clearly identify the two worlds] So quick summary on how I got here, my parents were immigrants who moved from Mexico to America in the 1990s to start a new life when they were about to have me. So while my ethnicity is Mexican my nationality has always been American. [Good — Clearly explained] Growing up I always felt really distant from my crane background I’m not sure when it started but for as long as I can remember I’ve always felt kind of disconnected from it. It didn’t really helped that we lived in a super white area so there weren’t many Mexicans to talk to. I remember my dad would always be like “why don’t you have more Mexican friends.” And keep saying something like “I don’t know dad you kind of kind of didn’t give me a whole lot to work with here”.
I’d like to mention that despite growing up in an area with very little diversity, I was never bully specifically for being Mexican. Aside from the occasional and Mexican jokes for what I can remember nobody has ever gone out of their way to make me feel isolated for my race. The amount of times I heard something like “Your English is really good I don’t hear an accent” is crazy.[here is a good place to create a scene. Who said this to you? Where were you? What was the situation? How did you answer that person? DRAMATIZE this scene from your memory and make it come alive.] I still get comments like that from time to time and here’s my secret, ever since I was a child my English has always been significantly better than my Spanish. I spoke only English at school and at home and since I didn’t really have other Mexican friends there was rarely ever a time I have to use Spanish. This resulted in years with me being comfortable with responding to my parents in English even if they were using Spanish. I think they assumed that if they kept speaking Spanish I’d eventually pick it up and master the grammar vocab but that never really happened. Sure I’m still figuring out how to deal with this but in the end I still will be the person I always will be from now to the end.
NOW in order to move forward with this piece of writing, you need to do more than just tell me. You need to SHOW me with a few well selected scenes and dialogue. Think back into your memory. Are there scenes in your life where you felt you were operating between two different worlds, the Mexican world and the American world? OR the Mexican Diogo and the American Diogo?
Think about how Amy Tan spoke Chinglish with her mom and Standard English with her professional writers. Think about how she SHOWED us the scene of helping her mother with the NYC stock broker. The dialogue that made us laugh about how she had to pretend to be her Mom to help navigate herself and her Mom in the American world. She didn’t just tell me she often had to speak English for her mom; she SHOWED ME that she was operating between two different worlds: Chinese and American. T.
Think about your life as a movie and look back and view it: IS there a scene from your life that best exemplifies your dual worlds? Can you describe this scene or this event vividly and show me what people were saying? What was the setting? place? situation? Who were the people there? Ok to show some family members speaking Spanish language to make these two different worlds come alive for your reader.
Look at the example post from Student Amadou. It might help you.