In the beginning .....

I don't know who said but some writer must have said it somewhere: all great stories have to start with a premise. A premise that will draw in a reader and keep them buried within the pages of the story or in this case, a blog. So where to begin is always a good question. In my case, maybe I should start to talk about who I am .... the whole character introduction thing. I'm hispanic and already this will be a topic of conversation in another posting. My mother was born in Mexico and emigrated to the States when she was only about 2 or 3. My father's family is from New Mexico and has been there since New Mexico was part of Spain; in fact, in that sense, I am 10th generation New Mexican. Now this inevitably will beg the question of what am I? Am I Mexican? Am I Hispano? Am I American? And how does the way in which one refers to himself affect his life, choices, sense of being, etc..

To start with, I refer to myself as Hispanic. I find a sense of comraderie with other people from other Hispanic culture. I feel empathy with the plight of not only Mexicans, but with Colombianos, Peruvians, Argentines, and so on. I like the thought of different Hispanic cultures uniting to make a huge mixing pot of language, food, traditions and the like. I can dance to the cumbia but also to salsa or bailanto. Its all as one to me, which is a hard concept for some to grasp. Some will tell me that I can only be aligned with one, but are there really any such rules? Can you not be American and Mexican and still be proud of the accomplishments of an actor from say the Dominican Republic when he wins an Oscar? It is an interesting dilema. I often wonder if I examine this sort of question simply to validate what I think or if it is truly to discover more about myself.