Carol, I loved hearing about your research and results. You are a true inspiration to me and to others. I enjoyed our having coffee after doing research. Marge:)
On Jan 20, 2006, at 9:02 AM, Carol Turner wrote:
My story - I always wondered why do I live in Kansas?
Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's wasn't easy
at times. My paternal grandparents were here by 1916
and my maternal in the early 1920's in the state of
KS. In doing my research and going back in time, I
found many stories that touched my heart of what my
grandparents had sacrificed, suffered and what their
lives were like when they first got here...it wasn't
easy. My parents were told they couldn't speak
Spanish in school and that we need to try to "fit in"
with the others. I went from Mexican to being a
Chicana to being Mexican American or Hispanic is what
they call us now. We lived on the Westside Community
until I was 4 and then moved to Rosedale in KS which
at that time was predominately Anglo. They sent me to
St. Agnes and I grew up in this community and
basically still in this community. Things change over
the years, St. Agnes is now 35% Hispanic and the
numbers are going up. We have more Hispanic
celebrations now in in the City because of the growth
of the Hispanic population.
Being married to an Anglo, I felt the need in my 30's
and 40's to embrace my culture which lead me to
research our family history, volunteer my time at the
Hispanic Heritage booth at the Fiestas, support our
Hispanic veterans here in KC among many other meetings
or groups I have some involvement in. However I would
have to say doing our research has brought me to
embracing our culture because we our embracing our
ancestors and their stories. Well I guess I need to
journal more so someone can read these stories of how
I feel...I doubt my kids will save my emails. - Carol
Muro Turner
--- Emilie Garcia <auntyemfaustus@...> wrote:
> Alicia,
>
> Your story of growing up in a multi-ethnic community
> sounds so much like mine. My husband and I were
> brought to San Jose as small children in 1947, me
> from New Mexico and my husband from El Paso, TX, and
> we grew up in an Italian neighborhood (the old Goose
> Town area -that flooded often---near Sacred Heart
> church--between Willow Street and Alma Street), went
> to school with Japanese and Filipinos; I later
> worked with new Cuban and Vietnamese immigrants when
> our country opened up to refugees from those
> countries. I still feel close to Italian and
> Japanese culture, and remember fondly all their
> customs and festivals there in the Valley. Perhaps
> that is why we learned everything Italian, and we
> consider it our second adopted ethnicity. Although
> not all the Italians initially were friendly to us,
> they more than the Anglos eventually embraced us due
> to being Catholic, and the similarity between our
> languages. We know of some of those Italians who
> snubbed not only Mexicans but their own people and
> even dropped the final vowel at the end of their
> surname to make it sound more Anglo--Diridondi
> became Diridon). That is very sad in a culture that
> is normally very family-oriented and proud of their
> ethnicity, as are the other groups I mentioned.
>
> Emilie Garcia
> Port Orchard, WA --
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Alicia Carrillo<mailto:alliecar@...>
>
> To:
>
ranchos@yahoogroups.com<mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com>
>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10:38 PM
> Subject: [ranchos] Cultural Identity
>
>
> Linda,
>
> Just to put in my dos centavos. I personally could
> not tell anyone else how or what they should tell
> someone their nationality is, each one of us is
> responsible for that very personal reply.
> From a personal persepctive If I were US born I
> would say I was a US citizen and only if I chose to
> go into more detail would I feel compelled to tell
> anyone anything other than that.
> I was not US born and was born in Mexico and
> brought here when I was two. Most people don't think
> of asking when I am alone but when with my husband
> who is moreno they might ask. We then both reply
> that we are Mexican if asked. Whenever we go to
> restaurants, hardware store, grocery store or any
> other place where we interface with Mexicans or
> latinos we always go out of our way to speak spanish
> or to deal with them in our first language. Aside
> from making us feel better as well as making them
> feel good that they are spoken to in their language,
> we get preferential treatment. Occasionaly we are
> mistaken regarding their ethnichity or sometimes
> some people who are of Mexican/Latino descent and do
> not speak spanish will get offended that we spoke to
> them in Spanish.
>
> Again, I don't believe there are any hard fast
> rules. I am more than happy to say that I am
> Mexican, my oldest daughter is not so happy about
> it. We know that she would rather not let people
> know she is Mexican. Her name is Cristina Maria and
> she puts it down as Christina Marie. Nothing we can
> do about that, it is her choice. Our middle daughter
> I think straddles the fence, sometimes Mexican and
> sometimes not and our son the youngest embraces his
> Mexican heritage. So you see, to each his own, who
> am I to dictate what they should say and how they
> should feel. Of course I would rather they were
> proud of their ancestry and their heritage but that
> is not always the case.
> I personally feel such pride in my people,
> language, food, music, family, land etc that
> sometimes I can feel it bursting inside of me. Just
> like with anything in life there are certain things
> where I do not feel pride, when I see the culture of
> heavy drinking, spousal abuse and ignorance but
> those are things I despise in any culture be they
> Mexican, American or otherwise.
>
> If we each get comfortable with who we are, we may
> not feel the need to explain it. If we do need to
> explain it do so in a way that feels right for you
> and don't let anyone dictate to you who you should
> be and how you should say it.
>
> Our culture is not the only one struggling with
> these issues it happens in all cultures. I have a
> very dear friend who is American born of Italian
> immigrant parents. Her parents were Peach and Almond
> ranchers in the Central Valley of California. They
> worked very hard all their lives to raise their two
> children a boy and a girl. They gave them both a
> very good education and they lived very comfortably
> in an old farmhouse in Modesto. The son grew up to
> be a local politician in Modesto and was always
> ashamed of his parents and distanced himself from
> them as much as possible. The daughter embraced her
> Italian ethnicity to the max.
>
> When the parents died they owned much land along
> with the old farmhouse. Because of the estrangement
> from the son and daughter-in law everything was left
> to the daughter. The father died first with
> Parkinson's disease and in his will he had left
> everything to his wife so she could leave it to the
> son upon her death, after all he was the only living
> male heir.
>
> The son would not be caught dead with his father
> in public. His dad was a farmer till the day he
> died, rough hardworking hands, flannel shirts, jeans
> and workboots. He made his own wine which the son
> would not drink.
>
> Keep in mind that the son had been favored over
> the daughter most of his life because he was the
> only male heir but ultimately when the mother had a
> stroke and just before she died she transferred all
> her assets to her daughter to do with as she
> pleased. The daughter has two children a son and a
> daughter. Her daughter who is tall and beautiful was
> sent to Italy before finishing high school to model
> in Milan. Upon her return she attached herself to
> her uncle because he had more prestige and she
> assumed would soon have more money as the
> grandmother was very ill and near death. They all
> assumed they would inherit big bucks..........boy
> were they wrong. My girlfriend who is the happiest
> Italian I know and who does not really need the
> money had the last laugh. She always attended the
> Italian Feasts with her mother in the church and
> Italian clubs, family events etc. and has never felt
> anything but pride in being who she is. Of my
> girlfriend's two children her son is like her and
> her daughter is like the brother.....go figure, so
> you see Linda, it happens in all cultures.
>
> I know I made this too long but all my life most
> of my friends have been of different ethnicities. Of
> my dearest friends one is Italian, the other
> Japanese, Vietnamese, East Indian, Persian and
> Chinese. I have always been told by all of them and
> by many other people that I am very accepting of
> their accent, language, foods and traditions. When I
> was still working they always came to me for advice
> and for assistance with issues that were new or
> different to them. I guess that comes from being an
> immigrant myself and having to assist family who was
> coming in from Mexico as an interpreter, filling out
> forms and documents and as a child even going to
> court and to doctors appointments with them as an
> interpreter. I grew to know them as people first and
> secondly as immigrants.
>
> Ya Basta.....I will stop now............Alicia
>
> Edward Serros <ed@...> wrote:
> --- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Erlinda
> Castanon-Long"
> <longsjourney@y...> wrote:
> >
> > I want to thank everyone for the input on
> double surnames...Many of
> us did not marry Hispanic but would have kept
> our
> > maiden name regardless. Just like someone
> said, it's a matter of
> > family pride..
> >
> > One more question.. which is 'politically'
> correct to designate our
> > nationality of origin if we or our ancestors
> were from Mexico...
> > Hispanic, Latino, Mexican-American or
> American-Mexican? I find I
> > really upset some people when I call myself
> Hispanic. I'm told that
> > excludes my Indio blood... People ask me what
> my nationality is
> > because I'm just brown enough to not be Anglo
> but have light green
> > eyes, my sister get's the same thing and she
> has blue eyes and
> > freckles. I still laugh when told I don't look
> like a Mexican... what
> > does a Mexican look like!!!!
> >
> > Linda in Everett
>
> Linda,
>
=== message truncated ===
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