My father is from a small town in Northern Mexico. My mother is a big city gal having grown up in the outskirts of Mexico City. They came to Portland before I was born and even fell in love in this city which is not very common. Most couples move to the U.S. together or one follows the other. This meant that for most of my childhood, I was completely oblivious to U.S. culture. Let’s just say that I didn’t listen to the Backstreet Boys until I was in college. In my house, we listened to range from Ana Gabriel to Paulina Rubio and nowhere in that was there any music or television in English.
Growing up as the eldest child, I didn't know any English because it wasn’t something I was exposed to prior to starting school. Vivid memories are coming back to me from my first day of school, I cried so much because I could not understand anyone. And when I did learn English, I was secluded into an English as Second Language classes that made me feel further alienated.
And at a certain point, I felt constrained from really excelling in school because of a belief that I wasn’t ready to join my “normal” classroom. During my 6th and 7th grade years, I was an average B and C student. My ESL teacher would always say that I couldn't handle the work that I was given so I had earned my “C” grades. At the time, my parents worked all the time, they didn’t know that I needed an advocate, so I had to be my own. I told my counselor that I was ready to be in the same classes as my other classmates. There was some hesitation but ultimately after two years of arguing with the school, I joined the average 8th-grade classes. I got a 4.0 GPA that year.
I think about those years a lot. They defined me in ways that I am still healing from and yet still I feel grateful for having had that experience. It made strong. It made me be a better advocate for myself and those around me. I wouldn’t trade my identity for the world.