Reading all of your thoughts makes me
wonder what my children will feel. I guess I come from a completely different
side. My parents are (of what we know) of Irish, Scottish, and American Indian
descent. I have no relatives that I know from
size=2 color=navy face=Arial>Mexico
size=2 color=navy face=Arial> but my husband is from
size=2 color=navy face=Arial>Mexico
size=2 color=navy face=Arial>. Before we were married I had to confront some beliefs and
feelings that were very ingrained in me that I never knew I had. I struggled
with the idea that the man I loved and wanted to share my life with was from
size=2 color=navy face=Arial>Mexico
size=2 color=navy face=Arial>. I am embarrassed to say I felt that way. The term Mexican to me
was always kind of a derogative term. Early on when we were just dating I even
wished he was from another part of the world that sounded more exotic. I was a
missionary and learned Spanish and I was comfortable helping families but that
was were my comfort zone ended. Time teaches you many things. I wondered
whether the differences I thought we had were too wide for us to be able to
gap. Remembering my thoughts makes me understand the prejudices that we
sometimes come across. I find myself wanting to find out more about my husbands
ancestors to be able to teach my children how proud they should be of both of
their heritages. I don’t ever want them to be ashamed because there is
nothing to be ashamed about. I want them to feel as you do and to know of their
people and why they can proud. We speak both Spanish and English in the home
because I want them to be able to speak to all of their family members and
relatives both here an in Mexico. I have been able to completely overcome the
thoughts I had because I have learned from my husband. He has taught me that
what I once thought made one better than another doesn’t exist and that
we are all trying to succeed in this life. I never want my children to think
one heritage is better than another. I hope that I will be able to tell them
who their ancestors were on both sides. Interestingly enough one of the things
I enjoy the most is our differences.

Jessica Castaneda

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----

From: ranchos@...m
[mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Alicia Carrillo

Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006
10:56 AM

To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [ranchos]
class=GramE>Who are we? was Re: double surnames

style='font-size:12.0pt'> 

style='font-size:12.0pt'>ORALE CARNALITA: ROSALINDA

style='font-size:12.0pt'>Sabes me dio mucho gusto saber que tu eres una de
los/as descendientes del movimiento CHICANO de los 60's. I, too like your father
was there in the middle of the
face="Times New Roman">borlote.  We in those
years came up with the name of chicano/a to identify ourselves as mexicanos de
aca.
color=black face="Times New Roman">Theres
is noting wrong about the term chicano, however it needs to be explained why it
came to be...
style='color:#FF007F;font-style:italic'>



Alberto
Duarte <albertodua@...> wrote:

style='font-size:10.0pt'>Good write up... face="Courier New">

I have in the past felt that same way as you have

written.  And this is the reason I enjoy and
indulge

in genealogy--to learn who I am and where I came
from.



Alberto Duarte Prieto

Santa Maria, California



--- lareina2@... wrote:





---------------------------------

The issues of acculturation and assimiliation run
deep

and are painful in this land of multiethnic and

multicultural groups.  What do I call
myself?  Who am

I?  Much of the pain of the generation that
follows

the immigrant one often causes much confusion, and

sometimes, self-hatred and denial of
ancestry.  How

can I call myself a Mexican when I can speak only
a

rudimentary Spanish and only visited the
birthplace of

my grandma and great-grandma once?  When I
visit

Mexico, I recognize its beauty and its
devastation,

and when I land in the United States, I am happy
to

drive my sedan, go inside my condo, and turn on my
tv

to "Law and Order."  Both my
parents are of Mexican

descent, but both were born in the US.  On my
mom's

side, both my grandparents were born in the US as

well.  When my maternal grandfather was
offered the

opportunity to visit deep into Mexico (not Juarez
or

Tijuana), he said, "My parents left Mexico
for a

reason.  Why would I want to
return?"  His practical

Texan mind did not yearn for the land of his

ancestors.



I remember as a child growing up that my father

instilled a deep pride of my Mexican
ancestry.  He was

a young man during the Chicano Movement, and even

attended the Moratorium in 1970.  I have
never had a

negative attitude about the word Chicano/Chicana,
but

as a child of the '80s, I never saw the need to be
as

political as my father.  I have often told
him that I

will fight in marches if I need to, but my fight

against prejudice and racism is fought in the

classroom, where I expose my students to

Mexican-American literature and topics.  For
years I

have often felt like a traitor, however.  I
see the

struggles of the new immigrants, but I do not truly

understand, having been raised in middle-class

suburbia.   I feel uncomfortable when
speaking

Spanish, for the words do not come easily to me in

front of an audience as they do when I am
alone.  I

see people as individuals. and have often
overlooked

the ethnic/racial backgrounds of people.  I
have had

friends of all ethnicities, as well people whom I
have

disliked from my own culture.  And then a
student will

ask me "what does a Mexican know about
teaching

English?" and I remember that I am
different.  Yet

none of this answers the question of "who am
I?"  To

paraphrase Edward James Olmos in the movie
"Selena,"

"we have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans
and more

American than the Americans."  So how
can I say I am

American, when I hear a beautiful Mexican song and
my

heart sings along and I love to indulge in a big
bowl

of menudo with extra tripe?   



I'm sorry for rambling, but I do not fit totally
in

either culture.  I came to genealogy as a
path for a

better understanding of who my family is and was,
and

where they came from and for health reasons-- and
I've

discovered that I am the Spanish, I am the
indigenous;

I am the slave, I am the slave-owner.  I am
the

conqueror and the conquered.  To hate the
Spanish is

to hate a part of myself.  To deny my indigenous

background is to deny myself.  To reject the
American

is to reject myself.  I am all of these, and
yet none

of these, entirely.  We all must come to our
own level

of acceptance or rejection of who we are and from

where we come.  I think much of my feelings
are

well-stated in this famous poem by Rodolfo
"Corky"

Gonzales, "I am Joaquin":  


href="http://members.cox.net/mechademoh/I_Am_Joaquin.html">http://members.cox.net/mechademoh/I_Am_Joaquin.html
.

Look especially at the last stanza, and my
favorite

lines are at the beginning, "I am Joaquin/
Lost in a

world of confusion..."



I taught a Chicano/Chicana lit course, and as I
told

my students, Chicanos/Chicanas, Mexican-Americans,

Latinos, Hispanics, Americans of Mexican descent,

Spanish, Americans, none of these labels tell us
and

everyone around us who we are.  Each
emphasizes a

small part of the total sum of our culture and

customs.  Each of these terms are fraught
with all of

the love and hate we feel about others and about

ourselves.  So in the end, there is no
answer.  We can

search for the "truth", but I have found
that to be

elusive.



So, as I end my ruminations, let me just say that
I

have learned to accept all who created me, and all
who

influence me.  I love the Mexican culture,
and I

appreciate the country I was born in and where I
live.





Well, thanks for reading this far.  I hope we
all can

shed some light on this most important
subject.  



Rosalinda Ruiz

Southern California





-----Original Message-----

From: Arturo Ramos

Sent: Jan 12, 2006 11:55 AM

To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [ranchos] Re: double surnames



Erlinda:



The whole Chicano vs. Mexican-American vs. Latin@
vs.

Hispanic debate

is a very contentious one in the United
States.  I

think that all of

those terms are very politically laden such that
there

is no single

one that everyone would agree with.  There is
an

interesting episode

where the renowned author Sandra Cisneros balked
at

being featured in

Hispanic magazine because of such a
disagreement.  She

agreed only

after the magazine agreed to show her on the cover
in

a profile shot

with a fake tatoo reading "LATINA"
across her arm.



There is an interesting article on this:




href="http://www.hispanicmagazine.com/2000/dec/Features/latino.html">http://www.hispanicmagazine.com/2000/dec/Features/latino.html



I suppose that if you want to designate
descendancy

from peoples of

Mexico, Mexican or Mexican-American would be the
most

precise.  I

will leave my commentary at that lest I get myself
in

trouble.



Interesting thing though, I have run across
documents

where the

indigenous peoples of the area around Colotlan and

Totatiche would

refer to the indigenous colonizers from the south

(Tlaxcaltecs,

Otomis and Huastecs) as "mexicanos"
designating that

they spoke the

Mexican language (i.e. nahuatl) and they did not

consider themselves

as such, since they spoke a different (Tepehuan)

language.  One of

these references appears in an interview with one
of

the last

tepehuan speakers in Azqueltan, Jalisco in 1912!



I think that the term Mexican to designate all of
the

ethinicities of

Mexico was probably not adopted until after

independence.  I imagine

that those of pure Spanish descent would not consider

themselved

Mexican before that, especially when the term

specifically refered to

the nahuatl-speakers of central Mexico.





--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Erlinda

Castanon-Long"

<longsjourney@y...> wrote:

>

> I want to thank everyone for the input on
double

surnames and y

versus

> de... I had forgotten that I use a double
surname

too!  I felt I

> didn't want to give up my Hispanic maiden
name so

just hyphenated

it

> with my married name.  That makes me Castanon-Long,

I guess in

Latin

> America that would make me Castanon y Long
... I

found at the

family

> reunion that most of my female cousins from
my

generation did the

> same.  Many of us did not marry Hispanic
but would

have kept our

> maiden name regardless. Just like someone
said, it's

a matter of

> family pride..

>

> One more question.. which is 'politically'
correct

to designate our

> nationality of origin if we or our ancestors
were

from Mexico...

> Hispanic, Latino, Mexican-American or

American-Mexican?  I find I

> really upset some people when I call myself

Hispanic. I'm told that

> excludes my Indio blood... People ask me what
my

nationality is

> because I'm just brown enough to not be Anglo
but

have light green

> eyes, my sister get's the same thing and she
has

blue eyes and

> freckles. I still laugh when told I don't
look like

a Mexican...

what

> does a Mexican look like!!!!

>

> Linda in Everett

>

















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