Ask a Mexican Anything

[open_space]

Edit: After thinking about it, I started the post as a place for the controversy regarding ethnic and cultural movements in society and their polite discussion but I think if I make another it would be about other things as well, given the jolly reception, with an opening line of a theme perhaps, as we did with this one about immigration. Is there an interest in a particular theme about Mexico and Latino related things? If yes let me know in the comment section and if not, the next post will be about food. A recipe perhaps? Odd dishes of far away local markets?

--------------------------------------------------------------

Something I've noticed in the past five years is that some people are very touchy and yet curious about immigration matters; the nations involved and their culture and the corresponding implications in the societies of the nations involved, but most people I've tried engaging with are afraid of getting down to real talk to not offend, me or somebody else. I appreciate the gesture for sure given today's broad hysteria and conversations can get tough, but this I intend for such things to be discussed without them becoming personal.

Me? I like that immigration matters are brought to the fore after centuries of imperial immigrant abuse, but I also think that many of my fellow Mexicans and latinos here in the U.S seem to be enjoying too much the attention that SJWs have given them and turned capricious or they have been dumped by their apparent saviors and switched sides. They have good points but they also have blindspots --and some of their supporters magnify those with wishful thinking, that seems either self-sabotage or just ignorance about politics and economics. And even others, who used to favor the wall vehemently, now live in Puerto Vallarta or what not.

The image is the stunning sculpture Promerica by Polish American artist Stanisław Szukalski and it depicts his vision for the Americas: science and mysticism; engineering and magic; european and indigenous, working together. Oh, and when the wind hits it in the right way, the whole monument hums. He wanted it to be in the border between Texas ans Mexico where a university would be founded. He meant it as a mexican priest blessing an american engineer's blueprints but it can go both ways in today's America. It could very well be a Druid, Wiccan high priestess or Sioux medicine man blessing the code of an Ecuadorian software developer.

Ask me anything about being Mexican in the US; growing up in Mexico and it's history; Spanish language and mesoamerican esoterica; culture shock, food, art or religion; the differences between the US and Mexico; what I think about immigration policies, stereotypes. You get the idea, controversial, pleasant or just curious, I'll gladly answer it. You can just drop by and I'll listen too.

Comments

Centroamerican migration

[methylethyl]

I've heard that the massive illegal immigration of Central Americans from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador has been pretty disastrous for those countries.

How much of an effect does it have on Mexico, that so many people are using it as a thru-way on the way to the US? It's not a subject I've ever seen addressed, so... not much at all? A lot but it doesn't make the news? Do Mexicans have feelings about this? Inquiring minds want to know.

Re: Centroamerican migration

[open_space]

Thank you so much for asking this, methylethyl!

I think it has had an effect, and a big one, though it is not yet felt completely. What I think is in danger are our traditions, culture and ways of living; and an informal socio-economic safety net that provides and alternative to the miserable and low paying jobs offered by big enterprises and companies. We still plant with traditional agriculture for example, and even though most has been left for agrochemicals, it is still practiced and valued. Many local markets in the small towns are fed by that and they are a huge venue for the informal economy.

Most mexicans don't pay taxes on what they can get away with and the informal economy is one way for that. It sounds bad, but with a corrupt government --that can easily be traced back to an imposed one-- that sucks in the money instead of doing something with it, it is what the people have managed to live off. All that is in danger as the people that support it give up against a centralized system, or move to a different country. It is also why cash is how you pay, almost no one outside the big places accepts card.

That's one reason why I think homeless people here in the U.S are such an iconic archetype, there isn't any safety net and even though our net is "illegal" and "informal" it still sustains most part of the middle and lower classes from spinning downwards into a socio-economical pit very hard to get out off. Say, by just renting a place cheap and doing whatever business you want to make without bureaucratic roadblocks, or as many do, the first floor of your house is a mechanic shop or grocery and above is your house, entire concrete-cities are built like that. They aren't pretty, but they are something and its payed for mostly by the informal economy (if not, the narco economy, which is huge, related topic)

Many of these same people are also the bearers of ancient culture and knowledge. My Traditional Mexican Medicine teacher lives in one of those and depends entirely on it and the people that live there. Mayan shamans, raramuri seers, aztec healers, temazcaleros, potters, ebanists, artists, weavers, cooks. All that is being help up by that net and is the only thing left after the unrelenting European conquistadors destroyed everything else.

For what is worth, I haven't seen these points addressed or even touched upon directly and part of the vision for my life is to try to do something to change that.

Re: Centroamerican migration

[methylethyl]

Wait, so does this mean a lot of the migrants are staying in Mexico, too? Weirdly, that had never occurred to me.

I get the social safety net thing. I was blessed to be born into a very large, very local extended kin network in the Deep South, where that still means something. We live far better than our income, because there are so many things we do not pay for, but simply arrange with family in a very informal way. For example: my family drives two cars. We do not own either of them. The truck that I own... my Dad drives it, because I can't fit the baby's car seat in it. I am currently driving my brother's car, because he is working on my Dad's truck. We do not bother with switching the titles around, and we drive whichever vehicle meets our current needs-- it is the "family motor pool". It is the same for most things. My brother drops off his kid with me for a month in the summer, because single-parent childcare is hard. He is a repairman, and he gave me for free, my gently-used still-works-great washing machine. When I need a bit of extra help with the kids, my mom or sister come over to my house. When my sister needed a house, we found one cheap (needed a lot of work), and we all worked on it until she could move in. We all live better than our incomes because of this-- because we would not dream of paying for roadside assistance, a taxi, minor car repairs, a new washing machine, a repairman, childcare, etc-- no, all of those things are stuff that family does. We would be very very poor if we had to *pay* for that stuff!

My childhood was full of great-aunts and great-uncles who'd give us cookies and a sandwich if we dropped by on our bicycles :)

But over time, the more extended network of cousins and aunties... it is not holding together so well. So many have moved out of the region for better jobs, that I think a lot of family "stuff"-- stories, skills, attitudes, the things that made us more of a clan than just "relatives"-- is getting lost.

Re: Centroamerican migration

[open_space]

From Central America you mean? If yes, a lot. If not, a lot of people that go to the U.S go by seasons and come back but also a lot plan on staying.

I am happy to see the system you and your family have managed to arrange for yourself! It is exactly something like that what happens in Mexico too, most small towns are made of families like that but movement to cities and kids not wanting the same lifestyles is changing that rapidly.

Re: Centroamerican migration

[methylethyl]

Oh! From the news here, you would never know that they are also staying in Mexico, rather than just passing through. I can see where that would be a problem.

Re: Centroamerican migration

[methylethyl]

The Hondurans, Guatemalans, et al, that is.

Re: Centroamerican migration

[open_space]

Yes, there are a of of Central Americans moving to Mexico. We already have problems with Colombians, Ecuadorians and Venezuelans. For South and Central America, Mexico is the big brother, just as the U.S is for us, with the same incentives to immigrate.

Re: Centroamerican migration

[methylethyl]

Thanks-- that does give a more clear picture of the issue.