When I think of Portland I think about high school, about the amazing diverse people I met who are out doing wonderful things. But I also think about when I came here. I moved from Pasadena, California to Portland, Oregon almost 13 years ago. Living in Pasadena I never felt like an outsider because there was always someone who spoke Spanish too. When I moved to Oregon I didn't realize what I was leaving behind, my comfort. I remember having to take a reading test to figure out if my English was good enough to not be in ESL The thing I remember most is not being able to say Island, it's funny now, but I was just nervous.
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I feel like my experience has been different than most because of my light colored skin and weird colored hair. I don't usually get people speaking to me in Spanish but rather people speaking about me. It's pretty funny because it's usually about my hair. The drastic change from moving to raining almost every day from burning my skin off, I also moved to more English and less Spanish. As cheesy at it sounds I always found my place at church. There were people who I could speak to and they knew me, they saw me. I got treated the same as everyone else. Later on, I found my place with my friends one of whom I am hugging in this picture.
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I am proud of where I come from because running through my blood is the blood of people who have resisted and persisted. When I was maybe 10 years old my dad was taken away by ICE. That day scares me constantly because I'm afraid my mom, uncles, aunts, or even grandma will be taken as well, and maybe they won't be as lucky as my dad. There will always be downsides to everything, but an upside to being Latinx is the community we build and keep. There is something that brings us all together and we don't always feel alone. My favorite is when people ask me if I speak Spanish at my job and I am able to assist them in the language they need.
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Whenever someone asks me what I am I proudly say, Mexican. Viva Mexico!