LA CULTURA METICHE

A few weeks before my Papa passed, I was sitting with him in his room at home. He had been bedridden for so many months with leukemia that every conversation we had had become more and more precious to my existence. I know he was suffering and I know he was in pain. More than anything, I was aware that he was frustrated. He was frustrated with being disabled. He was frustrated with being incapable of talking for long periods of time. He was uncomfortable and sad.  He looked at me, very deeply, and said, "Mija, never buy a house. This is probably the best way I am going to save you a lot of pain."  I was so confused. What did the house have to do w/ my pain?  He continued, "You're never fully going to enjoy it. You're going to work all your life for it and you're going to suffer. You're going to be chained to it and if you have to wait to retire to enjoy it, what is the point?"  This was such a poignant conversation between me and my old man. He was s...

    As a Latino, have you ever noticed that when you go home and visit your family, you hardly leave empty handed? Whether you're asked to indulge in a cafecito or a tesito de canela, you're always treated like royalty. Latinos love to cater to their guests and make sure they are not thirsty or hungry. When visiting my Mom, she immediately names all the items she has to offer me. She'll say, "Mija, I have a few tamales there if you'd like to warm them up." or "I made chorizo con huevo, you can have a torta. Or also, a bit of birria is left. I know how much you like it!"     This is true of aunts and grandmothers. They always want to make you feel at home with the special delicacies they happened to prepare. If they made it a few days ago, they will tell you that it should taste even better now that a few days have passed and the condiments have reached their true flavor.     I find that no matter how old we get, whenever we come home, we are...

When my Mom turned 50,  she wanted a traditional Mexican outfit and all she wanted to do was dance all day. Perhaps throughout most of her adult life, she dreamed of being a folkloric dancer. So, she went out and bought the perfect outfit and shoes. We threw her a big party. She danced the entire day away. I loved that she was able to have that moment to check something off the list. She wanted to be someone else for one day and she was able to do that. Mom, you're a greatest dancer.  Sigue celebrando!

The above is a very common phrase heard around in the Latino community. Perhaps, you’ve heard your sister tell you this when she wanted to let you know she couldn’t read your mind about something. Maybe you said this when you were frustrated about the things people don’t say and keep to themselves. Recently, I watched a movie entitled, “ The Bucket List ” which stars Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson as what IMDB describes as: “Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.” The theme song of this movie is from John Mayer: “Say” This song really resonates with me. The lyrics are pretty simple and they are direct. The repeating chorus implores the listener to: “ Say what you need to say. ” While inspiring and beautiful, this isn’t always the case with Latinos . I do not know how Non-Latinos communicate and divulge things to each other. Whether they write letters, notes or emails only on certain occasions when...

          A few nights ago, I was thinking, "Wow -- I have a BIG family." My childhood life was loud, crazy and full of " Mami! Mami! " It made me laugh to think about how my Mom used to call out all of my sisters' names until she found the one she meant to call something like this: "Andrea! I mean - Anna! no no, Lucy! Roci!" There were too many little girls in our house and she'd have to go through the list of us to call the correct one up. Que risa, no ?         Also, there can be many repeated names in your family. Kinda like in that movie "Goodfellas." There's a scene when the family is being introduced and all the wives' names are Marie. What I've noticed about most Latino families is that we are extremely proud of our kids and want to name them after a notable relative who passed or maybe after our own names.         This is why we have Jose, Jr. or Miguel, Jr. or Francisco el Gra...

        During the cold and flu season, you begin to see those wonderful ads for Tylenol Cold & Flu, Mucinex, Robitussin and the like. As a Latina , I grew up on Vick's Vaporub, Arnica , and teas of different kinds. My Mom always recommended tea for any physical ailment I had. If I had a headache, she'd say, " Tomate un te. Un te de manzanilla te va a relajar. " Chamolile tea will relax you. If I had digestive issues, she'd say, " Tomate un te de menta ." Drink peppermint tea. Soon, I had a collection of teas for everything. I remember around the time I was 15, she'd sent me out to the front yard to bring in yerbabuena , which is spearmint. This herb is known to be much milder than peppermint, also to help with stomach issues. I always found it interesting that my Mom made it a point to plant it in her garden. She also grew chiles and cilantro. Why did she do this? It goes back to bringing a piece of home to this foreign new home that she had. S...