Everyone has a certain group of people they identify with because everyone has their own personal traits, background, and interests. \u00a0This means, that everyone is entitled to their own opinions.<\/p>\n
In my opinion, the best thing I ever read is “8 Confessions of My Tounge”. \u00a0This poem tells a piece of me and my life through another’s mouth.<\/p>\n
The poem is told in list form. \u00a0“One. \u00a0False comfort as you try your best to speak a tongue you don\u2019t quite grasp. \u00a0There is always a count down as you realize I am not fluent in Spanish. \u00a0You expected the waterfall, the spit that crossed the ocean; the syllable-suffocating dance and it is a dance,\u201d Noel Qui\u00f1ones says. \u201cThis moving, weaving, searching, turning your back on what you can never keep up with. I contain so much sad, brown mouth that I can\u2019t even pronounce Qui\u00f1ones without a stranger examining the air it took to learn it.\u201d \u00a0I relate so closely to this because speaking a language you don’t know to someone who knows it so well is the most vulnerable\u00a0feeling. \u00a0You’re constantly waiting for them to laugh, spit, or bluntly point out your false identity. \u00a0You always feel you’re\u00a0being judged for not knowing something you were never taught. \u00a0Especially if you were never exposed to it.<\/p>\n
Qui\u00f1ones goes on to list the second confession. \u00a0“Two. \u00a0The little lie we tell ourselves as we memorize Spanish songs without knowing the meaning. \u00a0But I\u2019m always the last one to yell \u2018Wepa, forever late to my own identity.\u201d \u00a0I myself am guilty of memorizing Spanish songs without knowing the meaning, or even correct words.<\/p>\n
People often assume I speak Spanish due to my darker skin and higher cheekbones.<\/p>\n
“Three. \u00a0Experiencing the negativity from fellow Latinxs who do speak Spanish.”<\/p>\n
So many times have I experienced the pitiful “No habla?”–parties, quinceaneras, and any other social situations. \u00a0 \u201cThey whisper of my fraud on the block and in the classroom,\u201d Qui\u00f1ones laments. \u201cBut all I have are these two false skins stitched into a name.\u201d \u00a0Even my own boyfriend\u00a0points out the fact I don’t speak Spanish. \u00a0Then when I attempt, underlined are my mistakes and American accent. \u00a0And because I do not speak Spanish, this means my ethnicity is false. \u00a0They assume I know nothing of the culture. \u00a0This is how foreigners feel. \u00a0This is humiliation. \u00a0As is this relatable statement, “Four. \u00a0That feeling when you rely on Google Translate to prove yourself.”<\/p>\n
“Five. \u00a0There\u2019s always a despairing feeling when you fake your \u201cmother tongue.\u201d \u00a0This is true to me and many others who live the life of ‘no habla’. \u00a0“This means I am not as fluent as my poems: they are imagined in Latinidad.”<\/p>\n
“Where I touch the shore and it accepts me,\u201d Qui\u00f1ones says. \u201cWhere my grandmother wasn’t spit on every day for not knowing English.\u201d \u00a0Over the years, the issue of being discriminated against for not speaking English\u00a0has not been eliminated. \u00a0However, being ridiculed for not knowing the language of your family has become more prominent.<\/p>\n
“Six. The feeling of desperately trying to teach yourself using words you hear from friends and family even though they never taught you.” \u00a0Desperately you try to pick up the language yet no one will cut you slack. \u00a0They make jokes behind your back. \u00a0If only they knew how hard you were trying. \u00a0“Mimic whatever words I stole to make myself a more Latin thing,” \u00a0Qui\u00f1ones confesses. \u00a0When he uses the word ‘stole’. \u00a0He really does mean stole<\/em>. \u00a0The feeling of guilt possesses you every time you speak those mentioned words. \u00a0It feels wrong no matter how much you remind yourself that you’re just trying to make them proud. \u00a0You feel like no matter your course of action, the pit of quicksand that is shame pulls you in.<\/p>\n \u201cMy skin, always mistaken for home. \u00a0My name, an invitation to strangers who say, \u2018Your parents should have taught you.\u2019 But my parents say it\u2019s my fault,\u201d Qui\u00f1ones spills. \u00a0In desperation, you try to understand, but you never do. \u00a0The blame–always on you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everyone has a certain group of people they identify with because everyone has their own personal traits, background, and interests. \u00a0This means, that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. In my opinion, the best thing I ever read is “8 Confessions of My Tounge”. \u00a0This poem tells a piece of me and my life … Continue reading “The Best Thing I’ve Ever Read”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}