SIGN UP TO RECEIVE NEW CONTENT BY EMAIL. GCM produces two periodic publications. eDevos are in-depth essays on a particular topic or Scripture. Blog posts are short, timely posts that encourage us to move forward on our Christian journey May 14, · Prince Harry Shares ‘Pain and Suffering’ of Growing Up in Royal Family In a wide-ranging interview for a podcast, Harry said his existence in Like an early prototype of the airplane, I ascended towards my dreams for a glorious moment before nose-diving into the ground. The first crane was a disastrous failure of wrinkly lines and torn paper. Too embarrassed to ask for another, I turned to my stack of Post-it notes. By the third attempt, I ended up with a sticky pink paper crane
'Best Of Both Worlds’: Growing Up ‘Mexidorian’ In Los Angeles | LAist
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Since Junewe've asked for your stories about how race and ethnicity shape your life and and published as many of these stories as we can. We call this year-long effort Race in LA. Click here for more information and details on how to participate, growing up essays.
My father was born in Mexico and my mother in El Salvador. They left their home countries in search of The American Dream, growing up essays, and they found each other in the Valley. Mexico and El Salvador share a comparable history in many ways, and similar cultural traditions, but there are distinct growing up essays that make each country uniquely beautiful.
At home, I embraced both cultures as one. I spoke Spanish, watched telenovelas, listened to rancheras and cumbias, and my mother cooked both Mexican and Salvadorian dishes. I believed I had the best of both worlds: tacos and pupusas. My parents never talked about the differences between Mexico and El Salvador, because it did not matter. However, outside my home, things were different. I learned that there were differences in cultural values between what I was taught at home and outside.
At home, my parents taught me to be humble and respectful, while U. culture values individualism and meritocracy. As a first-generation American, I had to assimilate into mainstream American culture to fit in. I learned to speak English, listened to hip-hop and rock music, growing up essays, ate hot dogs and cheeseburgers, growing up essays, and played baseball at school.
But people treated me differently. The white boys in my school would yell at me, Go back to where you came from! I experienced xenophobia at a young age. At the time I lived in North Hollywood, and the white boys in my elementary school bullied me because I was Latina.
I quickly learned to avoid certain people and places. Caucasians and middle-class growing up essays once dominated growing up essays Valley. But, by the s, the Valley had become more urban and more ethnically diverse, which led to white flight.
The Mexican community was the largest ethnic group. When my parents saved enough money to buy a home, we moved to Pacoima, which, by that time, was largely Latino. When I noticed the students at school were predominantly Latinos, too, I thought I would be safe. However, to my dismay, I had more bullies confronting me than before. They teased me because they did not consider me to be Mexican enough, growing up essays.
In the s, after the civil war began in El Salvador, large numbers of that country's citizens migrated north to the United States. As they passed through Mexico, many experienced hardships that escalated the hostility. The misgivings intensified when Salvadorians reached the U. and competed for jobs with Mexicans, some of whom resented the newcomers and saw them as taking away work and resources. Salvadorians, meanwhile, felt resentment that they had to conceal their culture and adopt certain behaviors to fit into Mexican communities in order to access those resources and jobs.
This inter-ethnic animosity conflicted me. I felt marginalized by my culture — both sides of it — and Growing up essays lacked a sense of belonging. My self-identity became growing up essays, and that led to low self-esteem. As a defense mechanism, I stopped sharing my ethnicity. People assumed I was only Mexican, and I did not correct them. I wanted to avoid the stigma and marginalization I had experienced, so I closed myself off and stopped embracing my Salvadorian culture.
But in doing that I also denied my identity, and part of myself. During middle school and high school, I shared my ethnicity with very few people. I constantly struggled with the negative perceptions of my identity that continuously impacted my self-esteem, growing up essays. I would laugh at jokes made about Salvadorians, or agree with the negative stereotypes people shared about them. After I graduated from high school, I thought the marginalization would stop.
I was no longer forced to socialize with intolerant schoolmates. But as an adult, I still dealt with it. I sought clarity on my identity, and guidance on how to cope with my internal conflict. After five years working in the beauty industry, I returned to school, first to community college, then to UC Santa Cruz, and my life changed. My professors opened a new world to me, as a sociology major, when I was introduced to contemporary theorists such as Antonio GramsciW.
Du Boisand Gloria Anzaldúa. Reading their works helped me gain a new perspective on my life. Reading Gramsci, an early 20th Century Italian philosopher, and his concept of cultural hegemonyhelped me understand why my Mexicans peers had rejected my Salvadorian culture. Cultural hegemony refers to the oppression by the dominant growing up essays group through ideological or cultural means.
Usually achieved through social institutions, it allows those in power to influence the values, norms, ideals, expectations, world views and behavior of the rest of society. Because Mexicans are the dominant Latino majority in L, growing up essays.
Du Bois and Anzaldúa helped me understand the dual consciousness I created as a young person to survive. It was a reality I could relate to.
I felt alone, confused, growing up essays, and misunderstood. The knowledge I gained through these authors helped me understand the experiences I encountered, and I felt empowered to embrace all my cultures as one:. But xenophobia is still tearing our communities apart. A deeply polarized America persists on focusing on the differences, instead of the similarities, growing up essays. Although I was born in the U.
And when I visit Mexico, Mexicans call me a gringa, because I was growing up essays in the U, growing up essays. I share my story to let other multiethnic Latinos know they are not alone in feeling conflicted. We should not divide ourselves by ethnicity or nationality.
Latinos face similar inequalities, and we need to come together to bring about group solidarity in order to change the conditions of marginalization and exploitation that all Latinos face.
Flor Arellano is a first-generation cisgender Latina born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. After working in the beauty industry as a hairdresser, make-up artist and massage therapist, she returned to school and received her AA in sociology from Los Angles Mission College inthen her BA in sociology from UC Santa Cruz in She currently works for UCLA Health as a research assistant.
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Race In LA. Latest Essays. How to participate. Share This Facebook Twitter. We want to hear your stories, growing up essays. By Flor Arellano. Published Jun 18, AM. The author, Flor Arellano, growing up essays, in Tlaquepaque, Mexico in Nov. LAist relies on reader support, not paywalls. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.
Monthly Donation One-Time Donation. Flor at age three. Flor's preschool graduation. Flor's parents at their home in Pacoima, circa A likeness of Archbishop Growing up essays Romero, who was assassinated in near the start of the civil war in El Salvador, on a mural off a stretch of Vermont Ave. known as the El Salvador Community Corridor.
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, time: 2:56Essay Growing Up - Words | Bartleby
Aug 25, · Spencer, Ben., "Growing up without a father can permanently alter the BRAIN: Fatherless children are more likely to grow up angry and turn to drugs," Daily Mail, Sutherland, Anna., "Yes, Father Absence Causes the Problems It’s Associated With," Institute for Jun 18, · Growing use in the country rates reflect this accessibility. There were about to million adult drug users as of , up from , in May 14, · Prince Harry Shares ‘Pain and Suffering’ of Growing Up in Royal Family In a wide-ranging interview for a podcast, Harry said his existence in
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