Saturday, October 4, 2008

I Didn't Know...


Actress Alexis Bledel is half Mexican and half Argentinian. She grew up speaking only Spanish, and "picked up" English by going to school.
She actually managed to surprise her fellow Latina, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-star, America Ferrera by suddenly speaking Spanish during an interview.
America Ferrera on the other hand, has been known to say that she grew up in a mostly Jewish neighborhood where she she attended "52 bar mitzvahs and not a single quinceaƱera." she is still learning to speak Spanish now.

I find race, ethnicity, and culture really interesting.
Our similar stories have led us all to be so different. When you take into account the journey that lead to our complex genetic backgrounds, and then subsequently, the loss of cultural identity (to different degrees) due to the desire of many just to "belong" in the country they now call home, it really is a wonder that people still presume to know anything about someone else just by looking at them. We are all "everything" and "nothing", and this becomes more true everyday.

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