Elenamary

I am in San Antonio right now for the Hispanic Dental Conference. No, I am not going to be a dentist but I do work with the Dental Clinic for Spanish speaking people without health insurance in Columbus. I am really looking forward to the presentations.

It has been amazing for me here. As a Xicana of the North seeing Xicanos in the South is always an experience. There are raza t-shirts everywhere for sale, “Viva Zapata” “Hecho en Mexico” etc. There are Chicanos everywhere, people speaking in Spanish and Spanglish. Our taxi cab driver today was from El Valle (”The valle includes cities like McAllen, Harlingen, and Brownsville” ). The driver was telling our group about El Valle when one of my friends I am traveling with asked what the population of El Valle is. My friend having never heard of el Valle thought it was a city…quite understandable. To me it is very exciting because the only experience or connection I’ve ever had to el Valle was when I was unionizing migrant farm workers and they would tell me about it. Of course are cab driver had also been a migrant farm worker in Iowa.

To me el Valle is, as I explained to my “special gentlemen friend“, is where you find the true Chicano. The Chicano who struggles with both “borders”, constantly crossing an imaginary line. And then my special gentleman friend questioned me “Does a Chicano of the North not also have a struggle? Are they not a true Chicano? Don’t they also struggle between cultures?” He was absolutely right. I should have never said “true Chicano“. This is one of the things that I adore about my special gentleman friend. He questions me. He forces me to evaluate statements I make, defend them, analyze them, and does it all with patience and knowledge. El Oso asked me if there was anyone whose politics I do agree with. No, there isn’t, no one 100%, which is fine by me. But my special friend challenges me like I’ve never been challenged. Our politics often don’t agree but he is educated in his arguments, willing to learn, and accepting of other views. Dear lord I’ve fallen hard.