Maria Lopez,
Baltimore, MD.

I remember one time I was really sick and was rushed to the ER, while registering the nurse told me “you have very good English,” which I responded as “probably because I was born here.” I may have been 13 or 14. In high school, one of the lunch ladies who in the afternoon worked in the office one day asked me “Maria, why are you taller than most Latinos?” I often asked people if I had an accent growing up. I wanted to know if I had that thick accent that most Latinos have. In school, I did not identify with the other Latino students, most of them were still in ESOL classes while I was not, they spoke in Spanish to each other while I wasn’t comfortable speaking in Spanish and they were mostly Mexican I didn’t want to be confused as being Mexican. Because I have the most Latino name people probably think that I grew up eating Pupusas and Pollo con Tajadas (Honduran plate – Fried Chicken with fried banana chips) because I’m Honduran & Salvadoran, but I also grew up eating pizza, Chinese food, Popeye’s. I was raised on Donna Summer, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, CCR, John Denver as well as Julio Iglesias, Marco Antonio Solis, Marisela, Selena.