My Latino Introduction

This semester I will be posting and writing more about Latino related items, mostly because I am going on a journey with my Latino Studies students at IUPUI. This week we started class with introductions of course, and then discussed Latino vs Hispanic and started in on stereotypes. It got me thinking about how my introductions usually go...

My typical introduction when someone asks if I am Latino... 

Yes I am Latino

No I am not Mexican

Yes I am an Immigrant
No I have a passport
Yes I was bitten by a monkey

No I was not born in a jungle

Yes I speak Spanish

No I am not Colombian

Yes I like tacos
No we don't eat tacos in Bolivia
Yes I learned English when I was 7
No I don't have an accent

Yes I play soccer 

No I don't like spicy food

Yes I can dance salsa

No I can't teach you, I'm not that good

Yes I get sunburns

No I was born an American

Yes my mom has red hair

No I've never been to Colombia

So you can image the types of things I would be asked growing up and imagine the other side of that introduction. Yes I hate being called Colombian, is it the only South American country people know? 

Me in Bolivia in 2003

I think we all struggle with identity growing up, always wanting to be something else, taller, bigger, stronger, blonder, smarter, faster... and while this class isn't about identity we can't ignore how it shapes the community, how others view each other and how integration happens (or doesn't) because of these perceptions of others and more importantly of ourselves. 

I wouldn't trade being a Bi-racial English as a Second Language Bolivian American Immigrant Michigander for anything in the world. I couldn't make Hoosier fit in that sentence, so lets tack that on there now as well. 

I am enjoying this class already, no major papers to grade yet so ask how I feel about it all later, but for now really enjoying the experience so far! 

And no, I am not Colombian...