What can i say!? hmmm i'm not like most people, I guess. I'm Odd, a bit random, and I love simple things. I like to take the time and enjoy where I am and who I am with. I wish people would slow down and see the world through my big brown eyes,maybe they would learn something or see how I see them. Then maybe they'd stop questioning every sec of their lives and just relax. I'm LuNa! All I want to do is enjoy my life and see where it takes me.
Something I’ve been asked a lot so I finally wrote it down
How does my Latino heritage influence who I am today?
All my life I have been raised to never forget who I am or where I come from. My father is from El Salvador and my mother from Puerto Rico. They both wanted a better life for their children, so that they could have all the things they never could afford. Growing up as a Latino wasn’t hard at first. When you’re in a whole community of your own people; sharing a common language, a common rhyme, everything seems to go smoothly. As a child, I saw how some people treated my father differently because he was from Central America. I never really got it when I was younger, but I think as I grew I learned to grasp what was going on but I still don’t understand as much as I would like to.
I have always been proud of what makes me who I am and I think that my culture is something that’s intertwined with how I speak, what I think, my views, and who I will grow up to be. Learning how to balance my culture with American culture was always hard because I didn’t want to lose myself in something else. I didn’t want my values or goals to change because I was living a different life then my parents. Being Latino is hard at times but I can not think of anything else I would wish to be. I have learned to be proud of my culture and to overcome all the stereotypes people have for us. Yes it was hard because even though it’s wrong. One Latino person can speak for a whole culture.
That is more or less what I had to deal with when I was meeting new people. They thought I would be one way and I really came out and shocked them. My father always told me that, “When you are making actions you’re not just doing them for yourself, your doing them for your people too. When people have no knowledge of your culture or outlooks, you will become their only source through that looking glass. So when you speak and do things, think about it, because as unfair as it may be people will judge other Hispanics on how you act.” This may sound really odd I know it was to me when I heard him say it the first time; however he was right in what he said. And so I guess how it’s impacted me is that I learned how to just overcome so many things. I learned how to hold myself up not just for me but for other people. Not losing myself with what’s going on in my community and others.
I also find that through breaking barriers on both sides I get more out of both cultures. I am a Latino American, and that means I have just as much entitlement as everyone else. I plan to show that to people and as years pass I think I’m growing better at it. I know how lucky I am but I also know that it’s not just luck that Latino’s have every time they make it somewhere. It’s the perseverance they have to get to that place in life that takes them there. You only get what you want if you show up to get it right? The biggest impact is just really learning about me and about whom I want people to see me as. Through struggles you only learn how to overcome them if you work through them. That’s something else my father taught me.
Just knowing that and having my culture intertwined with my everyday life helped a lot. Even when there was time I had problems because I wasn’t a different nationality I still learned and I am still here. I think if anything the influence of every bad and good situation that came from it just helped me a lot. I am who I am today because of what I have learned. I have learned what I did because of my culture and the people in it. To me that is so huge and great that I am able to do so. Even now I am still learning about my culture and it just never stops amazing me.
I am Blanca Maria Rodriguez and I am proud to have that name because of what is behind it. I have learned so much through that. To never base my judgment on just one person and to always be open minded about every culture because yours, as much as you love it isn’t the only one out there. I think it is a growing process and you will never fully understand it all but you try. There is always going to be music, food, and languages that you do not understand or know about. However, what I have seen and went through has just taught me better, to not be close-minded and learn all I can.
