Growing up I was always the go-to guy when it was out of both my parents reach. Reading and trying to translate government letters my parents would get in the mail, selling and trading trucks on craigslist, ordering phone cases, etc. I was about 13 and did my all to satisfy everyone's favor. A lot of the ti My parents acknowledged my intelligence and made me open to help any family member that needed it. Now, growing up in a Mexican-American household our family wasn't the smallest of families. I had a total of 17 uncles in total, 14 coming from my dad and 3 coming from my mom; with that came 18 aunts (1 Single) and about 30 cousins. I was also one of the oldest so I received many phone calls at night translating words. I didn’t mind it,
Growing up in a Mexican-American family can be very fun and crazy. Having two different perspectives on two different cultures almost daily really shapes you to become a certain way as you grow up, which is what happened to me. Ever since I was about three months old I have been taking trips to my parents home town for a month time each time we have gone. Practically growing up in both Mexico and the United States for six years has really helped me understand my cultural background and the different parts of my whole culture, such as the food, heritage, language and culture.
Although having a Mexican mother and an American father was not always socially acceptable, growing up with a different food taste, having a close-knit family, as well as regularly getting disciplined shaped how I am as a person today. I was dipped into a very different childhood most children did not grow up into.
There are about 7 billion people in the world; each one of us is different in our own way. Everyone has had different life experiences, some good and some bad. This world is full of cultures that aren’t the same. Being Mexican-American has made me who I am today because I come from a different culture. I know both of my languages, English and Spanish. Also it has built my character.
Since before I was born, my Hispanic heritage played a huge role in who I am and what I have achieved. My great-grandfather immigrated to this country with the desire to provide his family with a better future than his own. My grandpa grew up in Texas on the boarder of Mexico and traveled to Blue Island, Illinois as migrant crop worker. This desire passed down by my grandparents and my great-grandparents has played a tremendous role in propelling me to where I am today. Each generation sought to make the the lives of their children better than their own. My grandma received the opportunity to live in the country of opportunity from her father, and my grandpa paid for my mom to get an education. My mother pushed me to do my best in school and
Growing up in a marginalized minority is a difficult task because there are a lot of differences between cultures. In the Mexican American culture, family is crucial, this is where one comes when one needs someone to talk to. In my experience, I had was raised being stuck in the middle of two different cultures I had to know what my identity was through, family, school, and through my travels.
America the land of opportunities, millions of people have left their countries to look for a chance to start a new life, a new beginning. Over the last 400 years, immigrants from different parts of the world left their countries for different reasons, some for war in their homelands others for economic and social reasons. Mexican community was one of the first group of people that stablished a strong presence in the country; therefor had and still has big influence in the development of the United States economically and industrially. Besides the contributions of the Mexican Community to America, Mexican decedents had faced challenges of acceptance from the American society, in a land that once was Mexican territory.
myself did not know before I came to college. The two words are overlapped and used out of context frequently in people’s daily lives. The United States is what people call an immigrant country, there are many different ethnic and racial groups that not even the census can keep up with. All this diversity is what makes our country so different yet amazing. We are willing to embrace the many different cultures that each person has to bring. My family and I have been confused for many different ethnic groups and it is always very interesting to hear people say why they thought we were of a different ethnic group other than Mexican American. Ethnic confusion is a big deal, especially in America because of all the different identities people claim.
Sociology is the scientific study of social structure, social structure influences through culture and principles, together it produces each individual to the way they act, live and think. Due to social influences, many of our morals and values are influenced through media, parents and school. Social structure is important in our society because it affects all dimensions of human experience, it is a pattern of social interaction and over all makes us who we are. The sociological term for social structure describes society as a whole and the action in which determines individuals. The three main structures that have shaped up my social structure and impacted my life are, my ethnicity, income and religion. Being a Hispanic American Latina forever would have a impact in my life because our culture diversity and the advantage and disadvantages it is to come from a family who had to establish each of their lives all over again by moving to the United States has driven my priorities to become successful very high and not become part of statistics of staying in the middle class or in poverty.
Becoming Mexican- American has been such a great book so far! I truly favored how Sanchez focused on factors that contributed to the migration of so many across the border north to the United States during the first many years of the twentieth century. During that time, immigrants experienced groups of people trying to Americanize and Mexicanize them and their people. This is a fascinating topic, and Sanchez pulls it off really well. It makes it better because Sanchez is Mexican-American himself, the son of Mexican immigrants, and his sensitivity to the nuances of the culture are very apparent throughout the book. It is the story of the creation of the Mexican-American culture, specifically in the early 1900's in Los Angeles. In addition, also in Los Angeles, Majority of the immigrants would experience the efforts to Americanize them, which was then proceeded by counter attempts to mechanize the immigrants to maintain their loyalty and to return to Mexico. This back and forth contribution developed a Mexican American identity, which was evident in food, and clothes. For example, it was particularly evident in the
They came not knowing a lick of English, and to this day, they still don’t understand it that well. They constantly badgered me about school. Drilling me on math. Drilling me on science. Drilling me on English. They encouraged me to take higher level classes and pushed me to work hard. All because they don’t want me carrying the heavy burden they have to carry with them everyday. They don’t wish for me to work in a low paying job like they do. They don’t wish for me to struggle. They don’t wish for me to be stepped on. So I do carry around an undeniably visible aura of pressure. Pressure to do good. Pressure to do better. Pressure to be the best I can be. Obviously I can’t be Einstein, but I should listen to their advice and try.
The best part about life is that we are always given second chances in most things we do, and I am a perfectly good example to prove this statement. I was born and grew up in a small town in Colombia, about three hours away from Cartagena, one of the country’s biggest cities. Life was difficult, especially for a young boy, barely beginning his journey on earth, with very little intelligence of survival in a country that does not offer many resources or paths toward freedom. As most people know, Colombia is known around the world for its coffee and unfortunately, for its guerilla forces that control most of the country’s drug trafficking. The drug trade is one of the country’s only money-making resources. These harsh conditions created an environment making it even harder for me to be able to try to achieve my goal of becoming a successful and educated human being. There were so many factors I would have to overcome in order to attain and achieve my goals and be happy about my way of life.
My father and brothers would smile and nod along but I knew that they did not understand a single word of what I was saying. There is a huge disadvantage of growing up in the United States and being raised by my single Native American mother: I only speak English. I’ve never learned how to speak Spanish and only knew the occasional phrase like “hola, como estas?” or “donde es baño?” My Spanish teacher growing up was Dora the
Growing up in Southern California, especially Laguna Beach, people assume I have money. They think I can spend as much as I want without any repercussions. When in reality, coming from parents that came to this country with nothing, I’ve never really had money to spare. All of my families money goes either to rent or other necessities like food and electric bills. To pay for all our monthly expenses, my parents work every day of the week. Every morning they wake up and go to their respective jobs. For my dad it means waking up at 5:00 A.M and driving all the way to San Clemente to go clock in at a landscape company. Once there he spends hours doing backbreaking work planting and maintaining other's gardens. As for my mom,
Before I even started kindergarten I was already helping my Dad with his work. My mom would drop me off at a house that my dad was working on. There I would do simple jobs for him for example, tying rebar (ADD MORE SIMPLE JOBS). This was the only thing that my father would let me help with since I was still young. When I turned seven, I started helping my brother
I come from a Mexican family, sometimes seen as traditional closed-minded people, but I would consider my family open-minded. My family thinks that in order for someone to be somebody in life we need to get an education. My parents acknowledge education and see it as a priority since they noticed in their country how education was something elite people would get due to resources. For them, at a very young age they started to work in order to maintain their siblings and their families. Even though school was in mind for them, duty was not a choice. They had to do this whether they liked it or not. My father was coursing middle school in Mexico when my grandfather passed away giving him no other choice but to leave school and search for a job to maintain the family. On the other hand, my mother was not able to finish grade school and started to work at an earlier age, compared to my father. Both told me everything they had gone through, of how hard it is to keep up when a beloved has passed away. I on the other hand, have this opportunity of an education, one that in will not let go that easily. I know that in life I might encounter problems in which I will learn to rise above them. It is possible for me to achieve the things my parents were not able to do when they were young due to the opportunities the United States offers. both of my parents are living , but even though my mother is not living with me in the United States , , I manage to keep on with life thanks to the help and support of my father.