Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the contributions and strong influence of Hispanic people on American culture. The month-long celebration started on Sept. 15 and ends on Oct. 15, and includes special dates like Mexican Independence on Sept. 16 and Chilean Independence on Sept. 18.
Part of M-A’s diversity is its strong community of Latino staff. The M-A Chronicle spoke with some of them to learn more about the parts of their culture they love most.
An important part of Hispanic culture, one with wide appeal, is the food. With the amount of love that goes into each dish, traditional food often comes with a side serving of nostalgic memories. Spanish teacher Maribel Maldonado’s all-time favorite food is caldo de res, a type of beef stew. Maldonado identifies as a Mexican-American, or Chicana. “It’s my favorite because my paternal grandma would make it all the time and she made the best caldo de res,” Maldonado said. “It’s best eaten with Mexican rice, a cold Coca Cola glass bottle from Mexico, and some fresh homemade tortillas. That is the best meal that anyone can eat.”
Math teacher Carlos Martínez—who identifies as Salvadoran, Mexican, and American— said that conchas, a type of sweet bread, and pupusas, a traditional Salvadoran dish, bring him back to his childhood. “I grew up with my mom making me pupusas because she’s Salvadorian. My dad used to pick me up from school on rainy days, and we would always go to the panaderia bakery,” Martínez said.
Flores similarly relates food to family, an important connection in Hispanic culture. “Anything my mom makes, but mostly enchiladas, are my number one, with a close runner up of red pozole,” she said.
Martinez’s favorite part about his heritage is how warm and welcoming it is. “Now that I’m older, I understand how loving older generations are,” he said. “My parents and their friends are always nice and giving hugs, and always feeding you, which is how they show their love.”
Maldonado enjoys all aspects of being Hispanic. “My favorite part of my culture is everything: family traditions like piñata at birthday parties or the variety of music, from banda to mariachi to Spanish pop like Maná. The cultural traditions at home of always looking out for each other and being really close with family is also something that’s really important to me,” she said.
Identifying as a Chicana also comes with its own separate uniqueness. “I identify as Mexican American and I’ve really been embracing Chicanismo and just having my own identity,” Maldonado said. “For me, that means honoring my parent’s roots, their sacrifices, and their dreams as well as blending them with my own roots and my own dreams.”
Maldonado chooses to express her culture in the classroom as a Spanish teacher. “When my students walk in, they are listening to Spanish music. I try to play a variety of music,” she said. “I try to teach the culture to my students as a Chicana teacher. One of the important parts of my classroom is that I want my students to feel proud of their culture and to express themselves however fits their identity.”
One way that Martínez expresses his culture is through classroom decor, “such as cultural posters, flags, and being proud of speaking Spanish with students,” he said.
Flores expresses her combination of cultures by using “Spanglish,” a mix of English and Spanish. “For me, it’s always been Spanglish because my brain just works in bilingual ways. I’m slowly diving into poetry, like expressing myself through all the cultural things coming my way,” she said.
Throughout the many generations of Hispanic communities, the meaning of being Hispanic has changed, but the value of pride has remained constant. “The word Hispanic is so interesting,” Maldonado said. “It’s something we learn about in Spanish IV, because people identify as Hispanic, Latina, and Chicana. I identify as all of that, so when they say, ‘What does Hispanic mean to me?’ to me, it means I speak Spanish. It’s important that people learn Spanish––and that’s why it’s the career I chose.”
“It also means I want my family and kids to be proud of their heritage,” Maldonado added. “My son is at an immersion school where he’s learning Spanish because that’s important to me. I want my kids to understand and really connect with their roots. I hope they continue that as they get older.”
For Flores, being Hispanic means both beauty and pain. “Not pain in a dark way, but there have been a lot of struggles that my people have gone through, both for my family in Mexico and in being immigrants to this country that was once also Mexico. For me, understanding my history has been really important.”
Similar to Maldonado, Flores chose to study Spanish in college because she wanted to study pieces of herself. “I got to study abroad in Spain and Mexico. It was very interesting to be in those countries and identify primarily as a Mexicana, that was a time where I got to know more about myself, a lot of my culture and history wasn’t taught to me at my school. I got to discover myself through my own experiences.”
When growing up in a predominantly Spanish-speaking community, Martínez didn’t realize the significance of being Hispanic. “It wasn’t until I went to college that I was outside my bubble and I felt for the first time I was a minority,” he said. “It’s transformed now that I’m in the Bay Area. I feel very proud of who I am and being able to live in an affluent space with a lot of resources that I didn’t have growing up. How I navigated through high school and college to where I am, knowing that adults around me where I live now, they had more of an upperhand in terms of resources that I did not have. Being Hispanic makes me feel proud and powerful.”
Martínez enjoys the focus on cultural events here at M-A that make everyone feel safe in a place where they can thrive. “I like how much emphasis we put into Hispanic Heritage Month just because it really highlights how incredible that heritage is. Not just the food, the music is so great and fun, we have great public figures who helped shape and give confidence to people my age and younger generations,” he said. “Although in some places we are minorities, we have a lot of potential and it’s nice to see students tap into their potential and be successful.”
M-A will celebrate the end of Hispanic Heritage Month at lunch on the Green on Oct. 16.
