Hispanic Heritage Month Research Paper
By: Caroline Woertz
I did my research project on Gina Rodriguez. I chose to write about her because I have seen her act on many different T.V. shows, and she seems very confident with her hispanic background. Today I’m going to be telling you all about her life and where she comes from.
Gina Rodriguez was born on July 30th, 1984. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Gina has a Puerto Rican background, with both of her parents originally from Puerto Rico. At first, her father was surprised Gina wanted to be an actor. After her first stage production, Gina’s father couldn’t be any prouder.
Gina is most famous for her lead role in the hit show, “Jane the Virgin.” She makes appearances in many
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She’s overcome all the obstacles and has become very successful and inspiring.
Jane has inspired thousands with her words of wisdom. “People will say you are not attractive. People will say you are not skinny enough, not tall enough, not thick enough, not curvy enough, not white enough, not brown enough, not this enough,” Gina says. She also believes that happy people have no reason to hate anybody, and if you’re confident you know “nothing but love.” Recently, people have been commenting on Gina’s instagram, telling her how she isn’t “latina enough” because she can not speak spanish fluently. “You want to tell me I’m not Latino enough? Why don’t you stop speaking and look in the mirror and speak to yourself, because you’re telling me something that you actually probably feel about yourself. Because hurt people hurt people. ... I am as Latina as they come. And I am not defined by anybody’s definition of Latina. I don’t actually sit in a definition. I walk in my world, happily and confidently.” Gina responds to all the haters.
Jenna Ortega, who plays the role of young Jane in Jane the Virgin, says she is honored to work with someone like
Selena Quintanilla Perez was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. Selena grew up understanding Spanish, but English was her first language. At the age of five Selena saw her brother learning to play the guitar and became jealous of the attention he was getting. She picked up a songbook and began to sing. Her family quickly turned their attention to her strong and beautiful voice. In the first grade Selena excelled at a game called Jump the Brook, in which two ropes are placed side by side and each kid takes a turn jumping across.1 In middle school Selena was in honors classes and made A’s and B’s. Selena used her allowance to put clothes on layaway. As a teenager, Selena hung all of her awards on the wall next to the staircase in her family’s house. As an adult, Selena was very involved with kids. She was a spokeswoman for the D.A.R.E. Program.
Alvarez was born in New York and then moved to the Dominican Republic shortly after she was born . Later in 1960 , she immigrated back to New York and received her education in boarding schools . She has spent a majority of her life in the United States , and considers herself to be an American , yet she likes to bridge the two worlds of Latina and American culture . Most of her stories have hints of her Dominican roots but she show’s her experiences with human insight . Even though her
Rutina Wesley was born as Rutina L. Wesley on 1 February 1979, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Her nationality is American and she is of African-American ethnicity.
Latinos who were raised in the United States of America have a dual identity. They were influenced by both their parents' ancestry and culture in addition to the American culture in which they live. Growing up in between two very different cultures creates a great problem, because they cannot identify completely with either culture and are also caught between the Spanish and English languages. Further more they struggle to connect with their roots. The duality in Latino identity and their search for their own personal identity is strongly represented in their writing. The following is a quote that expresses this idea in the words of Lucha Corpi, a Latina writer: "We Chicanos are like the abandoned children of divorced cultures. We are forever longing to be loved by an absent neglectful parent - Mexico - and also to be truly accepted by the other parent - the United States. We want bicultural harmony. We need it to survive. We struggle to achieve it. That struggle keeps us alive" ( Griwold ).
Jennifer Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York on July 24, 1970. She was born in the United States to Puerto Rican Parents, Jennifer considers herself to be a Puerto Rican and she is very proud of her Hispanic heritage and culture. Her father is David Lopez, a computer specialist, and her mother Guadalupe Lopez, a Kindergarten teacher. Her parents recognized Jennifer’s talent and enthusiasm for performing and at the age of five the enrolled her in dance classes. Her mother said “Jennifer always loved to sing, but she was also a great actress and knew that she would have a bright future ahead of her.” With the support of her parents Jennifer grew up to be a very sensible girl, who is still very close to her family. When Jennifer earned her million-dollar paycheck for playing the role in the movie Selena, she bought her mom a Cadillac. Even though they saw Jennifer’s talent at the age of five, their relationship was not always understandable. Jennifer made a major decision and that was not to go to College. That decision was very disappointing to her parents who wanted her to go to law school. Her parents supported her pursuit of a career in show business, they did not wanted to be in the expense of her education. When Jennifer told her parents that she was not going to College and law school, they thought it was really stupid to go off and try to be a movie star.
Cofer uses the rhetoric appeal of ethos to establish her authority to make the argument that Latina stereotypes are just myths. Growing ...
Vigil, Ariana. 2009. “Transnational Community in Demetria Martinez's Mother Tongue”. Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 10 (1): 54-76
Selena is a very inspirational film in my opinion. Within the film we see that there is a sense of finding, understanding, and dealing with Latin identity. Selena’s father was a second generation Mexican American, in which during his time the Spanish language was not accepted and thus was punished if it was heard. Thus, Abraham having the ability to teach his kids (third generation Texans) Spanish while they were young only spoke to them in English. However, due to her talent and expectations from society, Selena learns to speak and sing phonetically in Spanish, with the help and coaching from her father, and hence she becomes very fluent in the language. Furthermore, I can say that Spanish language is one issue that arises in the Americas
Gina Valdes was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up on both sides of the U.S.A-Mexico border. Growing up on both sides of the border greatly influenced her life and her writing, since she was able to experience both traditions and customs at first hand. Crossing borders and identity are both reoccurring themes that Gina decides to interpret in her writings. The English and Spanish languages as well as both cultures weave through her life. Valdes received degrees from the English and Spanish departments at the University of California, San Diego. She has also taught both languages at various universities such as at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University. Gina Valdes is the author of two bilingual poetry collections Puentes y Fronteras (Bridges and Borders) and Comiendo Lumbre (Eating Fire) both are from the Bilingual Press. English con Salsa is a poem from one of her poetry collections where she uses all the techniques and themes she is best known for.
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
According to Anzaldua, “ Chicano Spanish is considered by the purist and by most Latinos deficient, a mutilation of Spanish”(Anzaldua 32). The Chicano Spanish versus Spanish conflict that occurs in Latino society is a prime example of people considering themselves to be right in a situation where there is not a right answer. The Latino’s who speak Spanish that they believe to be normal are disturbed by the Spanish language changing. They believe that their own views are being challenged, they believe that they are correct, and they believe that anyone who challenges their views is inferior. The people who view all other views are, in reality, just trying to make themselves look more powerful. Like in Tan’s essay, people demeaned others in order to promote their own views, therefore, gaining power over the others who they demeaned. According to Tan, “ She said they would not give her any more information(...) And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect english-- lo and behold-- we had assurances the CAT scan would be found”(Tan 2). The doctors treated Tan’s mother differently due to her use of what they considered “broken language”, leading to her being treated inadequately. People have an image of what they consider to be the right English, anyone who does not speak the right English is usually considered to be uneducated. In both Tan’s and Anzaldua’s essays, the lack of open-mindedness is one of the reasons that people want to become more powerful than others. People fail to realize that what they believe in is not always the right answer, like with stereotypes, the people are trying to gain power over others in order to make themselves seem more
group? She responded, Latinos are not united, we don’t help each other. We envy what we have (jobs, homes, cars, clothing) I see the Filipinos and Chinese, they are more united and help each other out. I see it at work, our own people try to put us down making us inferior because they hold a better job position. Latinos are gossipers, they label people without knowing the person first. “Do you think that we are different (race) and do you think that a DNA test can prove that there are different types of races? Reyna stated that every head is a different world, everyone is different in the way they think. She adds that a DNA test cannot determine if we are different. I do think that
In the essay "It’s Hard Enough Being Me," Anna Lisa Raya relates her experiences as a multicultural American at Columbia University in New York and the confusion she felt about her identity. She grew up in L.A. and mostly identified with her Mexican background, but occasionally with her Puerto Rican background as well. Upon arriving to New York however, she discovered that to everyone else, she was considered "Latina." She points out that a typical "Latina" must salsa dance, know Mexican history, and most importantly, speak Spanish. Raya argues that she doesn’t know any of these things, so how could this label apply to her? She’s caught between being a "sell-out" to her heritage, and at the same time a "spic" to Americans. She adds that trying to cope with college life and the confusion of searching for an identity is a burden. Anna Raya closes her essay by presenting a piece of advice she was given on how to deal with her identity. She was told that she should try to satisfy herself and not worry about other people’s opinions. Anna Lisa Raya’s essay is an informative account of life for a multicultural American as well as an important insight into how people of multicultural backgrounds handle the labels that are placed upon them, and the confusion it leads to in the attempt to find an identity. Searching for an identity in a society that seeks to place a label on each individual is a difficult task, especially for people of multicultural ancestry.
Later on in the movie she has her locks changed and the guy that changes them is a Spanish guy. She ends up accusing him of selling her spare keys to fellow gang members because he dressed similar and looked like the people who robbed her, she is stereotyping this man. Stereotyping is assuming that all members of a group are going to act and be the same. She fails to realize that his exterior does not reflect who he truly is. He is a hardworking father trying to make a living to keep his family safe in a world that is working against
There are a lot of different cultures in the world we live in today. Finding the place you belong and discovering your own culture can be a challenge. This is especially true when you look at culture as an individual versus culture in your family, or even within your community. I’ve always been very family oriented, so that plays a big part in who I am and how my family’s dynamic works. I believe that my family has had a huge impact on the development of my culture, and I hope that I have had the same impact on theirs.