I wanted to learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month from a first-hand account. I asked one of my childhood best friends, Hannah, about her experiences being Latina. As young, carefree girls who would play for hours at the park or spend our weekends window shopping at the mall, we never gave much thought to our cultures or backgrounds.Â
September 15 to October 15 marks Hispanic Heritage Month. I hear about this yearly, but this time, I wanted to dig deeper and learn more. Though we celebrate these cultures and traditions long beyond this short period, this month allows for a richer inflection of the vibrant culture.Â
Moments like this allow me to reflect and gain a deeper understanding of the people around me that I love. I thoroughly enjoyed using this week’s article as an opportunity to learn more about a dear friend of mine who I have known for years.Â
1.) How does your heritage impact your daily life?
“I would say it does not generally have an impact on my life daily because my ethnicity is not something I am actively thinking about as I go through my day.”Â
2.) What do you value/ appreciate most about your culture?
“Something that Latino people have is such a strong value for family, and I feel this value has carried into my life. I have a large family on my dad’s side. Even though we don’t see them very often, every time that we do it is so meaningful because everyone is just immensely excited and grateful to see and be a part of the loving family that we are.”Â
3.) what is something you wish you knew more about your family?
“I wish I knew more about my grandma and how her family immigrated to Puerto Rico after she was born in Spain. She ultimately ended up in New York. I wish I knew more about my culture in general because that is something we didn’t learn much about growing up. My dad never really raised us in a household that identified as Hispanic/Latino since that wasn’t a part of my mom’s identity. Even though his career was as a Spanish teacher he never taught us to speak Spanish outside of our curriculum in high school. Not that he isn’t proud of his heritage and culture, but more to protect my sister and me from any potential hardships we could’ve faced as a minority in a small, primarily white town.”
4.) do you think your ethnicity has a big or small role in who you are?
“I think for me, ethnicity is an aspect of one’s identity they could choose to make as little or as big a role in their life as they choose. For me and my immediate family, it is not something we go out of our way to celebrate or discuss. I don’t think about being Latina often, because to me I am just Hannah either way. But I do feel a sense of gratitude for those who have come before me, especially my grandma, since she is the reason my family is here today.Â