Category — Mexico

I’ve never considered myself a tree-hugger (but I might literally try it one day just for fun). However, I am socially aware of the damage we cause to our dear mother earth and it does bother me. With all the media coverage on large oil spills, natural disasters, corporate greed and their neglect of toxic waste and contamination, and even the societies that have to cleanup the mess and aftermath of war, we somehow think that our empty bag of tasty potato chips was meant to decorate the beach, the sidewalk, parks, and any other public space.

One of my all-time favorite highway signs in the US is the one that says “Litter and it will hurt”. I never knew if it was meant to be a threat to me personally, or to point out the consequences on the environment. Perhaps the government intentionally made it vague and left it open to interpretation for a reason…to make us think. With all these green movements picking up momentum, I won’t be surprised if one day a “Green Gestapo” with a large police stick will be ready to pound you the moment you throw your gum wrapper out the car window.

I have made an effort to hold people accountable for their reckless disposal of garbage in my presence. Sometimes it’s the stink eye, the cara de fuchi, and when I feel talkative, a question or two to let the person know someone is always watching. I can create awkward moments really well You can’t just throw your beverage can out the public bus window and act like nothing happened! In the words of Ice Cube, “you better check yo self before you break yo self.”… suckafish!

“You gotta be kidding me…”

That was my first reaction the first time I was exposed to a vagina monologue several years ago in the US. It was edgy, provocative and insightful. I couldn’t believe it. If it was liberating for me to hear them, I can’t imagine how liberating it must have been for Eve Ensler to write them.

I must admit that my initial shock to these monologues almost kept me from seeing their purpose. I was being bombarded with explicit and graphic truths that were not my own but truths of many women who survived rape, domestic violence, and/or dealing with other sexuality issues important to women today. Culturally speaking, it makes sense why a movement like this originated in the US. But that’s the beautiful thing about a movement, that once it picks up momentum, there’s no telling how many people it will empower and where it will end up. Even in places like Mexico where topics like this are still discomforting to talk about in public. This discomfort is not a direct result of “machismo” in Mexican culture either. The discomfort stems from the realization that the elephant in the room is tired of being quiet and is now tapping on our shoulders for attention. With a word  like”vagina” in its title, it’s getting all the attention it sought out. Luckily for promoters, vagina is spelled the same way in Spanish

Everybody on this earth has a story of struggle to tell. Who gets to hear that story is what makes it special. Not everybody goes public about it and sometimes a person’s story never gets told, which is pretty unfortunate. Not too long ago I became acquainted with a 21 year-old who grew up in the US ALL of his life. If I could describe him accurately, he is like the Mexican Bart Simpson but fluent in Spanish and English and his skin is not yellow. We’ll call him Hamilton in order to preserve his anonymity.

The last time I met someone like Hamilton in Mexico, they were on vacation during Spring Break and enjoying the great weather and beaches this country has to offer. Hamilton, however, was on indefinite “vacation”. All his life he lived in the US and was told by his parents he was born in San Diego. When it came time to apply for jobs it didn’t occur to him to ask for his social security card until his job prospect requested it. Like any American kid, you ask your parents for the card and that’s what he did.  “Actually, you weren’t born in San Diego. You were born in Tijuana.” That’s how they broke the news to him. No big deal right? His parents are citizens and they can just “sponsor” him and “fix” his legal status. Not exactly.

With the strict immigration laws in place, people like Hamilton, who literally have lived their entire life in the US since they were babies, are struggling to legalize even though their parents are from the US. Why Hamilton’s parents never fully carried out the paperwork to legalize him is still a mystery to him. Perhaps they did process his application but something went wrong along the way. Either way, it’s pretty messed up that it was never settled, and like he put it, “my parents screwed me over.” When they finally did get the paperwork in order and processed his application, he had to go through the US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. That is proper procedure for Mexican nationals over 18 years old.

To make a long story short, his immigration application was denied because he admitted to experimenting with weed and other substances as a teenager. It has been years since he’s touched any drug and now he has to wait a few years in Mexico before he can prove to them that he is not at risk of becoming a drug addict in the US. Pretty extreme if you ask me, but as everybody knows, governments are no joke. What’s sad is that he is no different than those US born citizens he hung out with (which I’m sure experimented with drugs as well). That is the beauty of birth rights. It takes a lot to put an American in that kind of situation that Hamilton is in. Probably would have to be an exiled American that joined the Taliban and who suddenly had a change of heart and is looking to return to the US.

Moral of the story? If you’re an American and you have your kid outside the US, don’t forget to submit the proper documentation to process your son or daughter’s citizenship before they turn 18 and face an international “time-out” punishment in a country they don’t know.

I always find it interesting how measuring and quantifying your own language skills and speaking abilities can be so subjective. I find it amusing to see people inflate their fluency with a very high percentage when reality says otherwise. Often times, employers in Mexico ask how well you can speak English as it is becoming more than an asset in the workplace. “What percent do you know?” Some people have the huevos to say 100% while they can barely hold a conversation with me in English! Well, if your English is considered 100%, then I’m quadrilingual (English, Spanish, Ebonics and Spanglish). That’s right sucka fish. I keepz it real por vida vato loco!

OK, my point is the following: just because an exam says you can speak a language doesn’t mean you really can. But failing a language exam doesn’t mean you can’t speak the language either. Perhaps you need five or six beers in order to get that fluency out but would give the wrong impression of you at the test center. Besides, we all know how some language exams can measure your understanding of culture, idioms and rules of the language rather than actual fluency.

I could write a dissertation about the pride that pumps through every Mexican’s heart. During World Cup time, this pride boils with so much passion that our Latino Heat actually contributes to the global warming problem we are facing today. I once witnessed an amazing and unique Mexican moment in Mexico while heading over to my best friend’s house to watch a regular FIFA Mexican Selection Team game. Because I was running a little late (surprise!), I missed the first few minutes of the first half. Every house I passed on the way there had their TV set on the same channel, watching the same game, with the volume all the way up. Their hearts were beating in rhythm, eyes glued to the screen, and crying babies turned silent as they learned the ways of becoming a loyal fan. It was poetry at its greatest to the point where a manly tear almost came out of my eye.

It is this emotion that Sam’s Club wanted to capitalize on in more ways than one. Sam’s Club recently had a promotion where if you purchased a big screen TV and Mexico made it to their 5th game  (the quarter final match) during the World Cup and won, the TV you bought would be on their wallet. People ate it up and contributed to record sales throughout many Sam’s Clubs in Mexico. The first thing that entered my mind was, “Oh no you didn’t!” Sam’s club was looking at the historical stats and realized Mexico has never made it past the quarterfinals and used those odds for business. But the point of the point of the point of the point is… they are essentially betting and counting on Mexico to lose! But Payazaro, a free big screen TV!!! When you play with our emotions like that Señor Sam, you better recognize and know the Aztec gods will make you pay!

I was once told the following: “Business is business my friends.” OK, chido. Maybe history is stacked against Mexico, but it was just yesterday when they defeated Italy–the defending World Cup Champions. Beware Sam’s Club, there is always a first time for everything…

Race, ethnicity and identity in the US is so entrenched in the culture that it is difficult not to think about the political term “minority”. Everywhere you go, people are talking about it, it’s on the news, you can feel it and smell it in the air. As much as it can cause fights between two or more different ethnic/racial groups, the term can also bring people together (whether they like it or not). It definitely blurred the ethnic tensions between Blacks, Asians, and Latinos at my college. As an ethnic minority, you came to realize that you needed to come together, foster and celebrate each others’ culture when the rest of the predominately white campus found itself in a bind to promote their own without coming off as racist or ethnocentric. That in itself is an interesting phenomenon that will change with time and as generations become more bi/multi-racial. Either way, the term minority inevitably became part of your identity.

It’s an amazing feeling when you separate yourself from an environment that is so tense when it comes to talking about race and ethnicity. Moving to Mexico made me part of the majority group, and surprisingly, it was disappointing. I thought majority groups went around talking to each other about their superiority. Even behind closed doors, to my surprise, nothing happened. You have to remember, being part of the majority is new to me.

Having adopted the term “minority” in the US allowed me to identify with the Mexican indigenous groups. Obviously not to the extent and at the same level as one who belongs to the actual group, but more at the level of heritage pride. Afterall, that’s a huge part of the Chicano culture and the images they bombard you with in paintings, low-rider cars, and literature in the US. Interestingly enough, indigenous people in Mexico are marginalized in more ways than people will believe. Generally speaking, in my opinion, the treatment and views Mexicans (in Mexico) give and have towards indigenous groups is worse than the treatment and views that the Native Americans are subject to in the US. Why? There are more mestizos (a person of European and indigenous ancestry) than there are actual Iberian (a person of Spanish, Portuguese or Basque–essentially white–ancestry) Mexicans. To view an indigenous community that is ACTUALLY (genetically speaking) part of your heritage, history, and culture as inferior to you is a disgrace. Though it does not justify the treatment and views of Native Americans in the US, the connection I just pointed out does not exist between Whites and Native Americans.

Anywho, though I may not be a minority by my ethnic makeup, I am one through the cultural assimilation and experience I had in the US. The implications of this difference are not felt as much when you come for a 1 month vacation compared to when you actually move down and live here for many years or the rest of your life. Once people know the extent of your stay, they will treat you accordingly. How so? Well, the idea vacationing in Mexico is that you come down for fun and to have a break from your home country (whether or not you were actually born there). Mexicans know that you can care less if you said “bloques” instead of “cuadras” (street blocks). In short, they will let things like that slide… But if you’re in a situation like mine where your stay has been extended to an indefinite amount of time, by default, you’re included as a local and called out for your foreigner ways at the same time. Any grammatical or pronunciation error may fly in the US, but in México, te la pelas And that’s not even the tip of the ice berg…

Everyone knows that the war on drugs in Mexico has intensified over the last couple of years. What Mexican school teachers did not anticipate was the increase in popularity of “Narco” as a career choice among their students.

At a recent carne asada, the topic of young student’s career aspirations came up. An aunt of mine, who recently retired after teaching 30+ years in the Mexican public school system, discussed her struggle with disrespectful students who lost interest in their education because their highly coveted Narco lifestyle does not require it. How do kids between the ages of 5 and 13 get exposed to this idea? Who is to blame? Parents. That’s right, not the news or media, but parents. It’s time to take responsibility and ownership of what information is being fed to kids these days.

When I asked my little 2 year old cousin if he preferred a Bible or a gun, there was no hesitation and he quickly shouted “pistola!” (translation: gun). Where did he get this idea? Pistola is a three syllable word and is much harder to pronounce than Biblia so it can’t be that. Do people around him walk around with guns all day? Well, maybe in some ranchos, but for the most part, eh no! I know what you’re thinking, most kids his age want weapons instead of books. Well, as the new movie “The Book of Eli” will attest, The Bible is a weapon. So shouldn’t my little cousin’s parents be giving him Bibles and books for Christmas? I think so.

Think about it. Why do kids want guns? To defend themselves. To deter and/or hurt that which is making them feel attacked. What is a Mexican child’s biggest fear? El Chupacabras, El Cucui and somewhere in between there is La Llorona. A gun is not gonna do anything to them. A traditional Mexican will persinar (make the sign of the cross from the forehead down to the chest and across the shoulders in order to bless oneself) before facing a villain, dueling an opponent, or plain and simply when asking for protection and blessings from up above. Who primarily does this? Bible exposed adults. So why are they not teaching this to their kids from a very young age? They’re not seeing the connection between a child’s desire for guns and their vulnerability to become Narcos. Yes it’s a stretch, but work with me…

I know anti-Christians and atheists are probably thinking I’m crazy. This post is not about promoting a religion or imposing religious views. Let’s look at the big picture here because many of you are concerned about your jobs and immigration policy. My American peeps, would you rather have Bible loving Christian immigrants crossing your border or gun loving maniacs? Exactly. The US would never impose a “War on Bibles” on Mexico and Colombia. Well, at least not yet. Instead of spending millions of dollars trying to confiscate guns and imprisoning Narcos, the US government could invest that in printing and giving away Bibles (just don’t let kids know they’re free or else they won’t appreciate their Christmas present as much). At the end of the day, these Narcos are gonna get one in prison anyways so why not get it to them before they become convicted criminals. It would only take about 5 percent of what the US government is spending on the war on drugs to accomplish this goal. The rest of the money can actually go into creating jobs and reducing the US budget deficit. ‘Nuff said.