LA CULTURA METICHE

On Saturday, a friend who is a very cool guy, a DJ who spins trendy pop music, invited me to a house party where he would be DJing. He said, "Ro, it's a house party." From my experience, house parties consisted of your typical red plastic cups, beer cans, a room full of sweaty people in casual attire, having random conversations about every topic imaginable.          I invited my friend Daisey so as to not show up solo and I consider her what we call a ‘ro-dawg’ Someone who is basically your wing man or wing woman, your partner in crime. She was excited to hang out with a new group of people and decided she’d come. Before arriving, we stopped at a nearby liquor store to pick up some beer. We thought a 12 pack of Modelo Especial would be good to share with our new potential friends.          Upon arriving, we were greeted outside by my DJ friend. He was dressed similar to us, in jeans, sneakers and a leathe...

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...