The Latino Generation by Mario T. García

Author:Mario T. García [García, Mario T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, American, Hispanic American Studies, History, United States, 21st Century
ISBN: 9781469614120
Google: qSKiAwAAQBAJ
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Publisher: UNC Press Books
Published: 2014-05-12T02:58:37+00:00

David Guerra graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2004. He is an actor, director, and teaching and performing artist in Los Angeles.

GABRIELA FERNÁNDEZ

I don’t know much about my father’s family in Mexico. He comes from a pueblo or small town called Purépero in Michoacán. He was born in 1951. He’s the oldest of thirteen or fourteen children. It’s sad to say that I don’t know my father’s family as well as I should. My father’s name is Artemio. I know very little about my paternal grandfather. I only met him once, when I was very little. My understanding is that my paternal grandfather wasn’t around much; he would stay a while with the family but would then leave for another period of time. In the meantime, the family got bigger and bigger. My dad and his siblings were raised by my grandmother and two aunts, though I’m still not sure if they were sisters of my grandmother or my grandfather. I never really asked.

What’s funny is that I also don’t know much about my dad’s life in Mexico. I think that he didn’t even finish elementary school. I don’t think he liked school very much. My dad doesn’t talk a lot about his early life. As a boy he did odd jobs to help his mother. I remember him telling me of a time when he worked making shoes when he was just a boy and being a complete vago [good-for-nothing] and being out on the street or the cerro [hills] with his friends. He’s told us he used to give his mom and aunts a headache because he would get himself into so much trouble sometimes.

On my mother’s side, I know much more. She was also born in Purépero in 1956. I grew up with my mother’s family. We actually have some French background. Part of my mother’s family name is Sahurat, which is French. My mother’s name is María Leticia. We have blue-eyed and green-eyed children in the family because of that French influence. Most of us are güeritas or light-skinned. As a kid I was blond, but as I got older, my hair got darker and I am now a brunette. I found out about the French ancestry when I had to do a family tree in junior high. My dad is darker, but I don’t know much about his ancestry.

My mother is the fifth of ten children. I think both of my grandmothers had miscarriages, although I’m not sure how many.

My maternal grandfather was a truck driver or trailero, as they were called. He traveled a lot carrying large loads of livestock, especially puercos or pork. Although he died when I was in second grade, I remember him fondly. Everyone loved him.

Both of my parents grew up not having much but having just enough to get by. They weren’t poor, but they didn’t have lots of luxuries, as I recall. My mother tells the story of her and her siblings along

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