My Spanish Father

My grandfather, Cosmo Damiano Depinto was born on May 15, 1939 in the small town of Molfetta, Italy. He is the son of Nicoletta Depinto, his mother, who was one of three siblings. Her two sisters were named Lina and Giovanna. His mother had a full time job as a seamstress. His grandmother was responsible for making fishing nets. His grandfather, Orazio, had a similar profession in the fishing industry and and worked as a local fisherman. But unfortunately he passed away when a mine blew up while he was fishing in his boat after World War I (1914-1918).

Since the moment my oldest brothers moved to the United States my family knew we could not be apart from each other. Four years past, enough time to finally go start a new life with my brothers in the U.S. In between those four years I was born, my sisters would always talk about my unknown brother to me. Then they told me we were going to move. I was barely two years when we came to the U.S. It was February 25, 2004 when we said goodbye to my grandparents, mom and dads family. It was a long ride from Mexico City to Nogales, when we arrived in Nogales my brothers friend, Alejandro was waiting for us in a minivan. Alejandro told us that the toughest part was coming. He said we had to split up, my sisters and dad was going to walk through the

My grandmother was born in Guatemala into a struggling family of seven. In Guatemala, kids are often forced to leave school and start working to help provide for their family´s food and shelter. Similarly, my grandmother was not able to complete her education. Instead, she had to take care of her siblings, providing for their basic needs. As she grew up, she had three kids, including my father, and needed to find a way to give them a better life.

My grandparents were both born and raised in Cidra, Puerto Rico and so were their three children. They wanted to start a new beginning. Though the exact date is forgotten my grandparents moved to Cleveland, Ohio sometime in 1989. My grandparents were very poor when they lived in Puerto Rico since there were not many job opportunities and barely any resources, my grandparents could barely make ends meet.They wanted to give their children to have more opportunities and resources that they didn't have when they were younger, so they decided to leave their home in Cidra. They choose to move to Cleveland because they already had some family down here such as brothers, sisters, and even cousins.When my grandparents got to Cleveland they already knew they made the right decision for their family, Cleveland gave them a more stable life then what they had in Puerto Rico. There were better-educated schools in Cleveland for their children unlike in Puerto Rico, the food in Cleveland was way more affordable, medicine as well, and it was easier to find jobs that paid well.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was born in Jalapa, Veracruz Mexico, on February 21, 1794. He belongs to a “criollo” middle class family. His parents were from Spain. He was a Mexican politician and military leader who was President of Mexico eleven times from 1833 to 1855. He was president officially six times, and unofficially five more. He was also a disastrous president of Mexico because he lost Texas and much more of the current American west in the United States. However, by far he was an important figure of his generation in the Mexican history. Many people love him during his first years of president, and he was remembered for two major conflicts, the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 during the Texas Revolution, and as a restored Mexican leader during the Mexican-American War in 1847 (tshaonline.org).

It was the first Sunday of December morning when my father asked me to take some boxes to the basement, I had never been down there, as a kid I always thought it was scary, but know as a 19-year-old guy, how could I say no. I went downstairs with a couple of boxes, but could not find any place to put them. The area was a mess, so I decided that I would organize every box that was there. While I was organizing, I notice this one box hidden in the back, so, I decided to open it. Inside the box, there was a newspaper and a couple of burnt pictures. Therefore, I decided to read the article, I could not understand much, it was an 18 years old newspaper, but it talked about a burning house with two twin babies, It said that one had been saved with no harm while the other one was rescued later on with severe burn mark. It was a miracle that other baby had survived, they called him miracle Carlos, and his brother Richard. I stood there for a second before my brain processed

In the early 1500’s, people traveled their whole lifetime, all across the world, just to find two things, gold and property. Gold, the world basically revolved around it and you would do anything to just get your hands on it. It determined who you were in life, your social status and what kind of life you lived. You also wanted to own as much property as you could for multiple reasons. Having more land, led to more people, creating bigger cities, dominant armies, and basically power to one. Starting out with very small possessions and little to accompany him in his journey, Hernando Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, traveled halfway across the world searching for these

Born in Colombia in 1949. The son of Benilda Lopes De Casteneda a prostitute along with twelve others siblings. His father Midardo Reyes was shot and killed before Pedro was born. Pedro grew up in a very poor life full of political violence and with neither of his parents support.

1492 was the year that Christopher Columbus, the Spanish conquistador, came to the “New World” and explored it which to be later colonized by Spain, France, and mostly England to establish the soon to be, colonial America. In time, when colonists arrived in the New England region ruled by Britain their lives were being controlled by many factors consisting of religion, wealth, social status, race, conflicts with other colonists/Indians and gender. In the book, Everyday Life in Early America, written by David Freeman Hawke, it is argued that these immigrants were colonists that were forced to adapt to a new way of life. The author, Hawke, believed these colonists living in the New England region or the Chesapeake region could not really

On May 15, 2017 I interviewed Guillermo Trujillo, my father, about what it means to be American to him. Guillermo, born in a town called Moyotepec in Morelos, Mexico, is a father of three and happily married. He is a big fan of the Dallas Cowboys which is a professional football team. He is really a fun and loving man who on his free time likes to go out and eat different things and obviously loves to spend time with his family.

My mother is Carolina Aguilar de Reyna, she was born in June 8th 1973 in the city of Mexicali, Baja California. She was the last daughter of her biological father. They four kids two girls and two boys. Then my grand married another man and had another girl and another boy making them six in total. When my mother was born, her biological father started to get sick. Shortly after my mother became two years old, her father died with a disease that was never determined. My mother to this day does not have great feel because she never got to know him. My mother told me that when she was little she liked hearing about her father and she said she would have liked to know him. When I was

the next morning as we are packing for the trip back to Mexico, i went outside to say my goodbyes to my friends. But they were already on the bus going to school. I felt my heart dropped remembering about school. I went back inside to finish packing. mama and papa were in the back of the tent discussing about our trip. we walked to the train station and bought our tickets. soon after it was time to board. sitting by mama i could see tears running down her cheeks. at that second i felt like we are never coming back

“I remember thinking; I’m a Negro and a Puerto Rican. Suppose I approach this white lady in this deserted subway station late at night? What would she say? What would be the first reaction of this white American woman?” Jesus Colon was a writer for a newspaper, who had been taking a train back home late at night, and had come across a white woman who was struggling to get on and off the subway with three children and a large suitcase. Jesus contemplated offering help, but wondered if she would be prejudiced and refuse his help because of the color of his skin. Because of society’s views on the behavior of older black men, Jesus decided not to be courteous, and ignored her in fear that she would scream or think he had bad intentions. Once he

Nothing interesting ever happened to me except for mi abuelo. Me and him will always see each other over the weekends, that is when he told me stories of his friends, how he met my grandma, his regrets, from his proudest to saddest moments, how my parents are the best thing I can get even though I did not realize it then. Even when I didn’t have time to go over to his house I called to check on him and just tell him how I was doing at school and that I will visit him when I have time. By the time I turned 12, I moved here to Laredo, TX because of all the violence that was occurring in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Even though mi abuelo lived just across the river I started losing contact with him, but I always remembered him and his “lessons”.

My family began with Maria Santos Rodriguez Aguilar, my grandma, and Ruben Dario Sevilla Garcia, my grandpa. She was from San Luis Potosi, Mexico and he was from Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. They later met in Tampico, when she started working for his aunt and they ended up hanging out and talking a lot. Time passed, and they got married in the year 1983. They ended up having five children together. The first child that they had, meaning the oldest, was my mother, Dolores Andrea Sevilla Rodriguez.