Crossing The Border Without Losing Your Past Summary

The reading Crossing the Border Without Losing Your Past by Oscar Casares discusses how even though people cross the border from Mexico, they still consider themselves Mexicans. Casares makes it evident how important it is to those people crossing the border to keep their culture alive and to still practice the traditions and ways of life from their home country. I think it was interesting to read about how even though immigrants assimilate into the American culture, they are still tightly connected to their country’s origin. I do not think immigrants are given enough credit because of how much they have to adjust to a new way of life while still keeping their culture’s traditions alive. I believe that they quickly adjust because they do not have a choice due to the way Americans act towards others and just the American culture itself. In essence, immigrants have a lot of pride in who they are. Also, many

Most importantly, I wanted to understand why people are so dedicated to their heritage even though they are apart of the United States culture. Even though this does not personally impact me, I have known other people who can relate to this first-hand so I wanted to become more aware, as well as, connect with what they go through and feel. During my reading 3 placement at Morse Elementary School in Poughkeepsie, I worked with two boys who were Mexican and fluently spoke both languages. When both students presented a poster about themselves, they described many aspects of their Mexican culture and when asked to identity themselves, they said they were “Mexican.” After reading the article and having this first-hand experience, this allowed me to understand what Casares is describing. This is another reason why I selected this reading because I wanted to see the connection and if there were any similarities or