Friday, December 12, 2003

I did fifth year of grade school at Woodland Hills Elementary, a predominately anglo school. My classmates and I were the few Latino students there. We were all recent immigrants. Some were from El Salvador, others from Guatemala, and the rest of us were Mexicans. But even among Mexicans, I was “El Mexicano” — the Mexican — nickname that I bore with pride. Well, okay, to a certain someone I was “Mexican Burrito.” That’s what a white girl called me when one of my classmates told her I liked her. Heh.

Our being different brought problems to the school. Along with big, freckled-face Fernando Toledo, Jehova’s Witness Roberto Garcia, Salvadorean Jorge Sifontes, and others, I battled the forces of evil — the white boys in the adjoining classrooms. We’d fight in the restrooms, and mad-dog one another outside of it. Our teachers only wanted to know one thing: “Why?!”

My class was known for more than starting fights, though. I recall that a dance festival was held in the playground. Other classes did their dances, but none of them drew as much attention as when we danced “El Jarabe Tapatio,” a Mexican folk dance. The audience was ours.

Another thing I remember of my fifth grade school-year is that our teacher, Mrs. Luvitsi, would have us come to the front of the room so that we could either tell jokes or sing. I did both. Yes, I was talented. Just as I do now, I’d tell jokes that nobody would get (in other words, unfunny). I’d end my jokes asking, “Did you guys get it?” Surprise, surprise, they’d say “no…” I’d head back to my seat, shrugging, and saying in a whiny voice, “Well neither did I, but you’re the ones who insisted on me telling it!” Heh, that last bit always made them laugh, as if I had wasted their time telling them a long story just to deliver that line.

As to the songs we sang, they were mostly by “Los Tigres del Norte.” I’m pretty sure I knew most of their songs. This was perhaps how I came to be known as “El Mexicano” — back then, there was not a band more Mexican than “Los Tigres del Norte,” and me knowing their music made me the most Mexican of the Mexicans in my class.

This brings me to a song by “Los Tigres del Norte.” Many undocumented immigrants can relate to it. It’s their situation in music form. Many undocumented immigrants may have more money now that they are living in the U. S., than they did in their own country, but they still want to go back. They can’t return to it, however, because that would mean they’d have to risk their lives to re-enter the USA. Returning to USA is unavoidable, as they can bring thousands of dollars with them back to Mexico, but money vanishes. They have no choice but to remain living here, in what they consider their golden cage.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.