Personal Narrative: Growing Up In El Paso

I leaned my head against the car window watching the leaves blowing around, just trying to distract myself from a slight feeling of emptiness inside of me. This feeling seemed all too familiar to me. My family and I had all of our possessions packed into boxes yet again. We were moving to a new state. At this point, up rooting our lives and starting over almost seemed more like a hobby than anything more significant. However, I have just now come to realize that what seemed like constant inconveniences in the past, have actually taught me how to be the best me with influences all around the country. Living in three different states and five homes may have been a challenge, but it provided me with memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything because those moments created the person I am today.

I believe that the situations I’ve been put through hold full responsibility for shaping me into the young, responsible, independent woman I have become. Going through my father’s deportation and having to depend on myself since I was only eight years old has had the biggest impact in my life.

My parents always wanted to give their children the life they never had. I am Mexican-American, both of my parents immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. before I was born. I have numerous relatives, including my older sister, who do not have the same opportunities I have to achieve success because they are undocumented. For them, college was only a dream that could never be attained. Being the first U.S. citizen out of my entire family affected the way I thought about life. It was expected that I would attend college because I was the only one who had access to all the resources granted to American citizens. Although, I agreed with my family, the pressure to succeed and be a role model to my younger siblings was overwhelming.

When ever you’re traveling, you dont really have an adventure if you dont try new things and go to new places then youre not having an adventure. I am going to share some of my favorite activities that I have tried when I went traveling

Being a first generation college student is a heavy load to carry due to the constant reminder of having to be a good role model for my siblings. Children of immigrants are often highly expected to excel in their academics and to be involved in extracurricular activities. His/her parent immigrated to the “Land of The Free” in order to receive a better life and to give their children a place to call home. They work from one to two jobs a week just so that we can dig through the pantry, and raid the refrigerator. We sometimes take our parents for granted unknowingly, and constantly fill our heads with a question that we all seem to ask. “How do I please my parents?”, “What do I have to do to make them happy?”. As students we should all be voicing “College!”. Yes, maybe our folks’s dreams have faded away, however that should be our motivation to aim higher; to achieve our American Dream. Throughout our years of education, our very own relatives and teachers have emphasized on the importance of receiving a higher education. I have come to realize that I should not be asking myself “How do I please my parents?”. Instead, “How do I please myself?”, “What will my lifetime goals be?”, “Will it leave my parents hard work in vain?”. Obtaining a higher education will not impact their lives, but will affect yours drastically. My American Dream has always been to become an immigration lawyer that deals with international relations or to become a professor teaching my true passion for

Before my big move to Houston about three years ago for college, it was my last summer back home in a little city called Amarillo, which is considered “West Texas,” although it’s actually located geographically north within the heart of the Texas Panhandle. I was enjoying every last bits of the time that I’ve had left with my friends and family. The last thing I could think of worrying about during that summer was a romantic relationship. My intentions were to make bittersweet memories and to have what they would call, fun. I went out almost every single weekend for the first month of my last summer and met tons of friends and I became closer to old casual friends. Within that first month of consistently going out and hanging out with all these friends that I became close to, I met a very sweet, charming, and interesting guy named Andy. Something about him caught my attention. He was silly and funny without even trying, so I took an interest in him. We started messaging each other on Facebook then texting and making polite conversations. Before I knew it, this was the starting point to a whole new friendship. When he first messaged me, as much as I hesitated to respond to him because I knew I was moving and I did not want to develop feelings just leave everything behind, I wanted to not just respond but to strike more conversations. I became curious about him and I wanted to find out more and more.

Texas born and raised means a lot of things, but for me it means diverse. As a child, I grew up in the southside of San Antonio and attended a Catholic school which contributed majorly to how I act now and has impacted how I view others. However, in the 7th grade, I moved to the Texas Hill Country and learned a plethora of contradictory views. This has led me to form my own opinions on what is right and wrong and meshed city and country life to create a well-rounded, diverse Texan.

My mind will often wander to all the places I've lived in and all those I would love to travel to, or visit again. I think of the streets of Santa Fe, how fresh it would be compared to the over 100 degree temperature of were I am now, the hot dry heat of El Paso, Texas, a place I often come back to, the soil were my roots are permanently ingrained. El Paso has grown significantly in the past 10 years alone and is now the sixth most populous city in Texas (World Population Reviw). It's far from it's days when it was widely known as “El Chuco,” or “ChucoTown,” nicknames whose origins and meaning have long been debated, but no matter how much of the new generation is unfamiliar with these terms the history lives on through the streets and current

My mother tells me that the first word I learned to say was tortilla. She tells me that I was always more at home in the kitchen watching my grandmother make food then playing with my siblings. In my family food is the most important part of your life, my grandmother always said that a good meal was a perfect way to express how you feel and who you are. Growing up down here in Hidalgo, we have to learn how to be creative in our everyday lives ,and it’s slowly shaping us into the men and women that we will be in the future.

My story actually begins here in El Paso and has continued its course here as well. I was born and raised in El Paso and have been living here ever since. The most further back I can remebr of my child hood was when I started Elementar school at Clendenin. I mostly remember how I wanted to help friends or people that I could when i was younger but as a kid you really could not do that to well. As i grew up that feeling still was there but at this time I just felt like being an architect. Everything changed when I was in middle school and around the time Halo Reach the Xbox game came out. I was at a friends house playing games late and lost track of time, it was 12 and way past my curfew. His parents had left but I did need to get back home so I left walking home.

The short answer to my race is white, but the truth is I am Swedish, Irish, English, Swiss and, of course, American. Race especially plays a part in my physical appearance which became apparent when I moved to El Paso. My physical identity in El Paso feels much different than where I was born and raised; Tampa, Florida. In El Paso, people constantly ask where I am from or if I am in the military. The way I speak has even converged to match the way people speak here. I love my adopted city and my identity continues to evolve with my changing environment.

For the past thirteen years of my life, I have grown up in one of the smaller towns of the Rio Grande Valley. I have had fierce competition and a sub-par education. However, do not let this deter you from accepting me.

The question that we might be asking ourselves is that “do we need architects in our society?” The answer is yes in my opinion because architects bring the life out of things, make people think twice of coming back to a work of art, and make things look appealing to the human eye. A very good example of architecture coming to a city is El Paso our home town. For example, downtown El Paso was a very popular place for people to go hand out and have a very nice night life. But, downtown El Paso took a turn for the worse and it started to become a very unpopular place to hang out in El Paso. I will talk about how downtown El Paso has been changing since it atmosphere went downhill.

My determination to overlook the lack of financial help that would be available to me due to being undocumented, inspired me to achieve academic excellence throughout high school. I am a motivated student always eager to learn new things. Being able to work picking blueberries and cherries aside my parents, made me appreciate the sacrifices my parents made by coming to this country in order to improve my education. I want to continue my education however possible, but with my parents helping my sister pay for college, with my brother planning to attend college, and my father sending money to Mexico to help pay for my grandma’s medications, money is not readily available. It is difficult to not worry about paying for college, however, I am determined

I was born in Glendale, California, but I have lived my entire life in an area close by known as Cypress Park. The area was and still is mainly populated by Latino Americans. Almost half of my neighbors are first generation Mexican Americans while the other half are 1.5 generation Mexican Americans who came to this country at a very young age like my father and mother. Despite the many elements of social control, there are many people in this subculture who are affiliated with gangs which creates a great sense of violence and fear. However, with hard work and perseverance, my father became a middle class United States citizen alongside with my mother. My parents hope the best for me and my brother and desire for us to both earn a college degree in order for us to live a successful and happy in life.