Both of my biological parents are Mexican. I was adopted by a Mexican man and a Polish-American woman. They divorced and I was raised by my white adoptive mother. I do not speak Spanish and was not exposed to Mexican culture very much while growing up. Because of the language barrier and my light skin I am never perceived as being Hispanic. I am perceived as 'ethnic' and 'exotic-looking' by whites and as white by people of color. In short, I am a light-skinned mono-racial (Mexican) woman that was trans-racially adopted and who grew up living the life of a slightly exotic-looking, working-class, Polish-Amercan white girl.

Among many other things I am a write, performance artist and activist and have done much autobiographical writing in the past year about the complexities of racial identity including a one-woman show called "Catholicism & Sour Cream." (When looking for the commonalities between Mexican and Polish culture those were the two I came up with!) I would like to share some of this writing with the site but don't have the time or space to do it all here. Perhaps I will add updates now and then or post some in other areas of the website.

I am currently working on my Masters degree at New York University's School of Individualized Study. I have created my own concentration of study which is a combination of inter-disciplinary arts-in-education, political theatre and performance art. I will be working on my thesis this coming year which will focus on the racial identities of multi-cultural/multi-racial Americans. It is a Performance Thesis which means it will include some sort of performance piece as a culmination of the research and written thesis. I hope to collaborate with a group of multi-cultural/racial artists of various disciplines to create this piece. (Let me know if any of you are from the vicinity of NYC!)

I am interested in speaking with other members of this site who are using creative means to explore their own identity issues as well as people who have done a lot of research in cultural studies and on racial alliances. Because I feel that my life experience has been more that of a white person than of a Latina I feel that in order for me to do my part in combating racism I need to examine the ways I may have used white priveledge in my life. In recognizing this, I can truly work towards becoming a 'white' ally. Simultaneousy I have begun to explore my Mexican roots and the own internalized racism I have suffered as a result of culture of assimilation so prevalent in this country.

Adult Personal Stories.

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