The Current Event in Mexico City

My Mexico City- Pre Swine Flu and Now

Me and the Virgin (of Guadalupe)

Since my days as a Spanish student at the University of Tennessee, I have been intrigued by the story of la Virgen de Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and Mexico's version of the Virgin Mary.

As a Spanish student I read about the conquest of Mexico and the appearance of la Virgen to the Indian Juan Diego.

As a Spanish teacher, I teach about la Virgen each December and show the movie Guadalupe.

I've always been fascinated with stories of people who pledge to crawl so far in the Basilica on their knees if she answers their prayers or the gang members who get large, intricate tatoos of her on their backs so that la Virgen "has their backs". There is also a current television series, La Rosa de Guadalupe, that tells stories of how la Virgen is watching over her people today.

During my spring break trip to Mexico City, la Basilica de Guadalupe was one of the places I was most interested in visiting.

I went on a Thursday around noon. It was one of the busiest tourist attractions I've ever seen. I call it a tourist attraction because it was apparent that the majority of visitors were tourists like myself. However, I'm afraid "tourist attraction" doesn't quite fit because most of the people, unlike myself, were there on a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts. Those Catholic tourists who found themselves in el D.F. that day went to the Basilica to honor and pay tribute to la Virgen.

As a Christian and Protestant, I view the Basilica as a place full of Mexican culture and history. I believe that the work of Jesus Christ on the cross was enough to redeem me and guarantee me eternity with Him in Heaven. I do not believe that I need to call upon the Virgen Mary, the Virgen of Guadalupe, or any other saint in order for God to hear my prayers. I believe that the work of Jesus on the cross tore away the need to approach God by a third party as was required under Old Testament law.

While all the crosses in the Basilica show Jesus still nailed to them, I believe in a cross that is empty. According to the New Testament, Jesus was taken from that cross dead shortly after he was placed there. His body was taken to a tomb that had been given to him. It was to that same tomb that Mary Magdalene went on Sunday morning. An angel appeared at that tomb to announce that Christ had risen from the dead. I believe in an empty cross because I believe in an empty tomb.

At the Basilica, I agreed to stay for Mass out of respect for my Mexican, Catholic travel companions. Although I certainly wasn't looking for it, I did receive a spiritual revelation there. It was as if Jesus himself were asking me why I can't worship and honor him like all those around me were worshipping la Virgen.

There were thousands there that day to pay tribute to la Virgen de Guadalupe. There is no spiritual tourist attraction like that for Protestants. Most Protestants, myself included unfortunately, are hard pressed to go to church once a week, let alone travel to a site central to their faith like Mexican Catholics.

I returned from Mexico as if from another world. My experiences during one week in el D.F. have made me re-evaluate certain things about my life on this side of the border. One of the most important of those is the state of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I am now challenged to live for Him in a new, fresh way.

My Mexico Adventure

I returned from Mexico City four days ago and I'm still battling culture lag. It's taking me a few days to pick up the pace in my normal life here. I miss D.F. I'm still processing my thoughts and experience, but I plan to write more on it soon.

In the meantime, here's a video of dance lessons I got in Xochimilco, Mexico's version of Venice.

I Confess

In the spirit of the January issue of Skirt! magazine, I'm going to do some confessing of my own.

10 reasons many people would consider me uncool:

1. I like Sarah Palin. I think this clip gives a pretty accurate portrayl of the situation. I like Sarah Palin because I can more readily identify with her than Joe Biden. As a woman, I have much more in common with Sarah Palin than Hillary Clinton. Palin definitely fits in better in my neck of the woods than Clinton, and apparently others feel the same.

2. I would let Brad Paisley check me for Ticks. Country music isn't considered cool by many people, but I love his songs.

3. I don't like alcohol. I think it tastes the way I imagine motor oil would taste. Plus, I really don't like throwing up and that's definitely not my idea of fun with friends. At the risk of sounding like a public service announcement for youth, I prefer to remember where I've been and what I've done.

4. I have recently had a crush on a 17 year old vampire and a former druggie/male slut turned reformed philosopher. Guys who want relationship pointers should meet Edward Cullen and Marcus Flutie. (I hope I don't need to provide a link to Edward Cullen.)


4. I am a conservative Christian, which has a lot to do with number 1. I agree with Rick Warren's religious views, and I believe he is a good choice to deliver the invocation at the inauguration.

5. I am not a good judge of sexual orientation. I worked retail when I was in high school. I worked with one assistant manager for months and didn't realize he was gay until a co-worker told me. I went to the guy's apartment for a store party and saw a curio cabinet of Precious Moment's figurines and thought it was wierd he was keeping those for his mom. He was upset with the guy who told me. He kept it from me and an older co-worker because I was too young and innocent and she was too staid and respectable to know.

6. I am not convinced that Obama can change the world. I didn't hear him talk specifics too much. Hopefully, he can change at least a small part of our country.

7. I like to listen to George W's speeches. It's better than SNL.

8. I spent 15 minutes in lock-up. When I was working as a court interpreter, I accompanied a child protective services worker, a female who was my age, to the county jail to complete paperwork with a Spanish-speaking mother who had lost custody of her child. There were a lot of official visitors that day and the guards were out of room in the usual meeting spots, so they locked us in the church room with the woman and a walkie-talkie. After about 15 minutes, we had the paperwork complete and started trying to call a guard to let us out. It didn't work. After a panicked few minutes, I finally got a signal on my cell phone and called the jail. There line was busy. I had weak signal issues again. We began waving our arms in front of the security camera. No response. I finally got a signal again and called the court clerks office to tell them to use one of their secret numbers to call the jail and tell them to free the child protective service worker and the interpreter. Five minutes later, a jailer strolled in laughing, saying that a fellow jailer must have given us the radio with low batteries. I didn't do many jail visits after that.

9. I love fast cars. In high school I demonstrated the superior speed of Casper, my white Pontiac Sunfire, over my male friends' cars. A Pontiac Trans Am is my dream car.

10. I support Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the Dream Act. I believe that the current immigrants in this nation are not unlike those of previous generations who come here to seek a better life for themselves and their children. I do not believe that children should be condemned for the actions of their parents.

Am I totally unpopular now? Anyone else want to confess?

An American-Mexican

I have come to consider myself an American-Mexican. That’s not a typo. I am intentionally calling myself an American-Mexican instead of a Mexican-American. In the world of hyphenated identities, the first adjective refers to the ethnicity or race a person is born into or most identifies with. The second adjective refers to the new nationality or ethnicity being assumed.

I put the American first because it is my nationality, my birthplace, and my heritage. I spent the first twenty years of my life knowing very little of the world beyond our borders. Sure, I was well read, in college, and aware of current events, but I didn’t really pay attention to the every day lives of those not fortunate enough to have been born in the United States.

When I changed my major from creative writing to Spanish, it was because I wanted to be able to talk to the Latinos moving into East Tennessee. I wanted to enable communication between my fellow Americans and the Latino immigrants moving here. When I realized that real people could understand my Spanish, I didn’t really mind conjugating verbs.

Many people assume I met my husband and then learned Spanish. I was in my last semester of college when I met my husband. I was teaching an English as a Second Language class at my church and his two younger brothers were in my class. (He was in the advanced class.) We dated for a couple years while I worked as a court interpreter and began teaching high school Spanish.

Over the last five years, I have had many experiences that make me feel the need to add the Mexican part at the end of my identity label. I’ve learned how to cook Mexican food from a lady from Michoacán (and it’s hard to get much more Mexican than Michoacán). I am very comfortable with Mexican slang and tend to speak with a Mexico City dialect. I absolutely love Mexican telenovelas (soap operas). I’ve got an iPod full of real Mexican music. As evidenced by my blog at the Knoxville News Sentinel, I can more articulately support comprehensive immigration reform than most Latinos.

So I think I’ll add the subtitle to this blog and let you know a little bit more about a bicultural existence in the hills of East Tennessee.