Havent made a blog post in a while!

I got really distracted getting a new job, applying to professional school, and watching the world cup. Sorry, D:

But anyways I watched the world cup pretty closely when it was going on. And for whatever reason a predicament came up that I havent seen with the world cup before. I had seen a ton of videos saying if you are living in the US and dont support the US mens national team, you should be deported.

And thats obviously just trumpoid rambling so I continued on supporting Mexico anyways. Im actually 3/4 from a Central American country, but im still 1/4 Mexican and have had family move and live in Mexico so I support them when the Central American country doesnt make it in.

But anyways whats funny is, if I were to say im from the Central American country my parents are from, my parents would be the first to say im not REALLY from there. The same thing with Mexico. So, I thought to myself should I actually support the US team since even my parents say im from there?

I think this is a pretty typical dilemma for a Latin-Americans. Youll eat a different way, talk a different way, listen to different music, watch different shows from the people around you growing up, then have people go "Oh so you must be from [insert Latino country]!" And youll go "well my parents are from there so yeah I guess I am"

But ask your family, and theres a million reasons that isnt the case. You dont speak Spanish. You speak Spanish, but with an accent. You speak Spanish fluently, but you werent born there. You were born there and speak Spanish, but you werent raised there. You were all the above, but not long enough to really internalize the culture.

I do have to admit sometimes Mexicans are more lax when it comes to whos Mexican compared to Central and South American countries. Even Mexicans who spent their whole life in Mexico and moved to the US will say youre Mexican if youre chill and can respect the culture. I do wonder if its because the Mexican in American population is seeing lots of their family identifying with Chicano culture rather than Mexican culture and are trying to reel them back in by becoming more willing to call other people Mexican.

But either way, I still came down to the question of which country to support. Because, who wants to support a coutry you dont feel as connected to, much less a country who doesnt really want you? After my own reflection, I arrived at a position that according to my understanding, is similar to what Chicanos believe. Im 100% Latino, 100% American, but really im more 100% inbetween.

I ended up supporting both 100% and gained an appreciation for Chicanos developing their own culture that I didnt have before. I dont really think of myself as Chicano but totally I think im on the bandwagon of embracing being whatever came out of a mix instead of claiming whats the bigger ingredient in it.

I understand the difference between ethnicity, race, and nationality. But when it comes to which national team you want to support, all those come into play and sometimes they conflict and it gets sorta complicated. I gave myself an easy way out by going with the inbetween that can also go both ways, but ive been enjoying it at least :P