I thought I would introduce myself for my first post for those

[Cleita]

who don't know me.

I was born in Chile from a Chilean mother and and American father.My ethnicity besides Latina, a mixture of Spanish and Native American, is also German, Dutch, Scottish and Irish from my father's side. I grew up bilingual but forty years of not speaking Spanish has made me a bit rusty. Until I was eighteen years old my time was divided between Chile and the USA, in San Bernardino, California where I went to school and had an opportunity to learn about the Mexican culture from my Mexican American classmates.

My father worked for forty four years in the Chuquicamata copper mine, in northern Chile, so he also spoke Spanish and was immersed in my mother's culture as well.When he retired in 1961, I was already attending college up here in the USA. Since the company wouldn't pay him his pension if he didn't return to the USA, he and my mother relocated here in Santa Monica, California. I never had the opportunity to return to Chile to visit.

Of course many bad things happened to Chile since then when Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon backed the overthrow of that Democratic nation, the assassination of President Salvadore Allende and the installation of dictator Augusto Pinochet. This new government that took over after the coup tortured, disappeared and murdered those who disagreed with them, complete with the backing of the American government. I'm glad my father died before he had to see what happened to the country he adopted in his heart at the hands of his country of birth.

[EFerrari]

1. Hey, Cleita! We used to live at Maple & 16th, across the street

from Santa Monica College. But, we've been back in San Francisco for about three years now.

My mom's family is from El Salvador and Spanish was my first language. I went to school through grad school in the Bay Area. Doug's father was an immigrant from Brazil (who just whomped Japan, btw, lol) and they lived there for a while. He doesn't speak Spanish or Portuguese but can read some of both and can understand some of each.

I have about forty two Castaneda cousins in this area and most of them are either in media or in education or the arts or all three.

I've been to El Salvador which I hated, Doug has been to Brazil which he loved. We both go to Mexico whenever we can and would like to go there when we die.

:hi:

[Cleita]

5. Santa Monica used to be a great place when it was

working class. It sure changed when they built the freeway and everyone else came in. My husband and I lived on Franklin between Santa Monica Boulevard and Broadway for fifteen years. We left when he retired to explore the USA and we never went back cause his only daughter moved up here to SLO county.

[catbert836]

2. I love Chile!

I'm not Chilean, or even Hispanic for that matter (although I do speak Spanish), but I was down in Chile two summers ago. I was impressed on how modern the country was and how well the people had recovered from the Pinochet era. Santiago is one of the greatest cities I've been to, and the people were very friendly. Same goes for Valparaiso and Viña Del Mar, unfortunately the only other cities I was able to see during my short visit. I was pleasently surprised a coupke of years ago when Bush* turned up in Santiago and there were mass protests, and just recently when Michele Bachelet, a woman and a socialist, was elected president. the latter was more surprising because Chile is the most conservative country in Latin America. I look forward to returning to Chile some day, to see the Atacama and the Patagonia.

Also, have you heard about the student strike recently down there? Some interesting developments for sure.

[Cleita]

6. Ha! You've seen more of Chile than I have. I was pretty much

in the North most of the time in the Atacama desert. I actually loved the little sea coast town I was born in, Antofagasta, although my mother was from Vina del Mar. (I wish I knew how to do the Spanish tilde over the "n".) Antofagasta doesn't seem like much on the surface but it's a quiet little gem with so many natural wonders to explore around it and a friendly population that comes from all over the world.

[catbert836]

10. I couldn't find how to do the enye

on MS Word, because my Mac version is being unbearable as usual. Sorry. My advice is to look up "espanol" on google and copy it from there.

I have heard of Antofagasta, and me and my family did originally plan to go there as part of a sojourn to the Atacama, but we were sidetracked when the ski slopes opened early. That was the real reason we went to Chile, you see.

I only saw Viña del Mar for a few hours, but I've heard that it is a lovely resort town during the summer. Of course, I was there during June, so I didn't get to see that aspect of it. All the same, it seemed like a great town.

When I go back to Chile, I think I'll make a point to go to Antofagasta. It sounds like a great place to visit.

[ugarte]

12. Para hacer la Ñ, hold down the Alt key and punch 165 on the number pad

It will be a capital, however, since the lower case code is 164 and will return you to the prior screen. In ordinary writing, however, the 164 will give you the lower case ~.

[RagingInMiami]

3. I was born in Miami to a Colombian mother

And an Anglo American father who was born in Virginia, but found a strong connection to Hispanic culture. He had lived in Cuba in 1959, then traveled to Colombia where he met my mom. They got married in Bogota and moved to Miami.

They got divorced when I was 15 and living in Colombia. I had gotten sent there because I had gotten kicked out of school in Miami. My dad ended up moving to a Cuban neighborhood in Miami where he remained until his death a few years ago.

He was the last Anglo in that neighborhood and wouldn't have thought of living anywhere else. That is why I always find it weird when I meet Anglo Americans who are so threatened by Hispanics. It is something I will never understand.

But it is also something that I will always stand up and fight for, whether it is Mexicans, Cubans, Colombians or whatever that are being stereotyped or discriminated against.

But considering that it was mostly Mexicans that were being bashed in GD over the last few months, it is why I have a Mexican flag in my signature

[Cleita]

7. Hi. You and I know what it's like to have a foot on each side

of a different culture. It puts us in a unique place where we can see the BS on both sides.

[Maestro]

4. I have a very good Chilean friend with whom

I work. Buena gente.

[Cleita]

8. Most Chileans pride themselves on that. They will always

reach out to the stranger, the wallflower or anyone outside of the group to bring them into the circle, a concept that seems to be alien in this culture.

[Cybergata]

9. To be Hispanic!

I'm really replying to all the replies to this. To be Hispanic in the United States can cover a very wide diverse group of people.

Someone mentioned being Anglo, but my anglo mother had spent so much time living in the New Mexican Hispanic culture that everyone thought she was Hispanic. She grew up in Nebraska, but felt that her life before she met my father (which meant marring New Mexico) had been boring and miserable. She rarely talked about her family history, and died when in 1971, when I was only 18 years old. I've had to dig up her families history by looking through typical genealogical sources, and her family are people to be proud of. They fought in the Civil War on the Union side, they fought as rebels in the Revolution of 1776, and they lived poor and worked hard.

Again, replying to all the wonderful people with Latin American heritage, you all are the proof of why the U.S. should eagerly open their arms to immigrants from Latin America.

My Hispanic family came to New Mexico as early as 1598 and as late as 1720. Of course New Mexico was part of Spain at the time. I love my Hispanic heritage. I have ancestors who were Mexican Native American, Pueblo ancestors, Spanish ancestors, Portuguese ancestors, Afro-Hispano ancestors, Separdic Jewish ancestors, even a Greek ancestor and one from Belgium. Being Hispanic in New Mexico means jumping on the newest gene pool that enters New Mexico the minute it enters. ;-) Until the 1960s, Hispanics in Northern New Mexico still spoke a very old version of Spanish. That is mostly gone today, but I always found it fascinating.

[Bombero1956]

11. well for those who don't know me

I am a 50 year old Puerto Rican from Massachusetts. My parents were born on the island and I was born on the mainland. My Mom came up when she was 17 years old to work in the tobacco fields in the Connecticut valley. My Dad came to Massachusetts through New Jersey to work at the local foundry. In those days there were only 3 places where a Latino could work, the foundry, the tobacco fields or the bike factory. One of my earliest memories was of having the parish priest at our church come to visit my father to inform him that all 5 Latino families that worshiped at the church were no longer welcome because the predominately Polish congregation felt we were "taking over" the church. I remember being followed in the Newberry's store because my brothers and I looked like thieves, I remember being called a Spic by the kid who sat next to me in 5th grade class and him getting mad because I didn't know it was a racial slur. I remember being only the second Latino to be hired as a firefighter and how now there are 40. I remember when there wasn't a Latino in a position of authority in our department, now there are Captains, Lieutenants and I'm the assistant Fire Marshall. Through hard work and an equal chance we have come a long way and it can only get better.

[Cybergata]

13. A firefighter....

You are a hero! My husband use to fight forest fires when he was younger. His father fought fires, his brother fought fires and even his nephew was a forest fire fighter. In my house, anyone who fights fires is a hero. :yourock:

[Bombero1956]

14. just doing my job

and proud that I can present a positive image to the younger Latino/Latinas. My younger brother is also on the force and my son and nephew recently joined another department so the next generation will on the legacy.

[EFerrari]

15. Gargoyle, I was the person of "color" in my Sunnyvale high school

because I spoke Spanish, not because I didn't speak English or because I had an accent (I didn't) or because I was actually colorful (I wasn't). Until they closed Sunnyvale High School across the tracks and then we had two Latinas who actually had some color one could be proud of.

My hood was so white that the racist across the street called my mom a "Gypsy" when he wanted to insult her. lol

Once, a rumor went 'round that my realtor mom was closing a deal with a black couple for a house on our block and the whole neighborhood somehow registered their disapproval. We were so creeped out. We didn't know we were living in KKK Central. My favorite uncle came over and "toured" the open house and with his operatic baritone, announced to the listening block that the neighborhood was much too white to trust with his equity.

Several of our neighbors fell out of their windows at that point and laughed their asses off in plain sight on their young lawns.

That was Silicon Valley in the early 60s.

:hi:

[Cleita]

16. That's funny.

I too lived in what was euphemistically called the north end of town or where the white families lived. Although I passed with no problem, my mother took to telling people she was Italian. It wasn't hard to do fifty years ago. She just got weary.

When she told people that she was from Chile back then they had no clue what she was talking about. One woman even asked her if that was in the Phillipines. When she explained that Chile was in this hemisphere on the other side of the equator, they would call her Mexican. At that time people thought Mexico extended all the way to Patagonia.

When she told people she was Italian it ended the constant explaining where she was from. When she spoke Spanish to me they thought it was Italian and we didn't tell them any differently. Fortunately the ability for Americans to travel that opened up in the early sixties changed all that.

[Bombero1956]

17. we share the same experiences

even though we live 3000 miles apart. Things weren't so different for us were they?