Zambrero Essay

Ever since fourth grade, one of my best friends have been Taylor Elam. Over the years that we’ve been friends we’ve had some jokes. My mom loves Mexican food; Taylor used to not like mexican food very much. Whenever our families would go out to eat, my mom would suggest something mexican. Whenever mexican was suggested by my mom, Taylor would respond “of course Hope wants mexican,” and whenever someone would ask where we were going to eat Taylor would say, “Hope wants mexican!” which we would always laugh about.

Imagine standing among a crowd of adoring fans cheering on a famous singer that is dancing and twirling on stage. This is what many of Selena Quintanilla fans experienced at her lively concerts. Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican - American singer that was on the verge of stardom before being tragically shot. She inspired many people and was a beloved idol. Selena Quintanilla is an influential person because of her upbringing, her singing legacy, her humanitarian work, and her death.

I am going to tell you about a famous, yet kinda eerie celebration that takes place in mexico. This is a tradition celebrated by the Mexican Natives, most Mexican Americans (including myself) don’t even acknowledge this day, unless they happen to be visiting mexico at the time of this event.

     Francisco Pizarro was a conquistador born in Trujillo, Spain in about 1471. His father, Gonzalo Pizarro, was an infantry captain and he taught Francisco how to fight at an early age. Francisco Pizarro never learned to read and write but he was full of adventure.

Keeping up with the Mexican culture was their menu. All the recipes are from the family passed down over many years. The original El Banditos was opened in 1969 in Des Moines, IA showing off their unique recipes and style. Everything is handmade and many ingredients are from local vendors around here. Their menu consisted of classic Mexican dishes such as chips and salsa or guacamole, tacos, enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, soups, and much more. They also served Mexican style breakfast food which I have not seen before which I found very interesting. In addition to a colorful menu of food, they

Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican-American singer that dramatically impacted the world of Tejano music. “Selena transformed Tejano music from a local genre performed on a circuit of small venues into an international form that expressed the aspirations of many in the latino community,” affirms The Nineties in America. She was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas and died on March 31, 1995 in Corpus Christi, Texas. The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture states that, “she [Selena] was widely popular with Latino audiences, especially young women, who looked to her as a role model.” Although, Selena had a short life that did not prevent her from becoming a legend.

Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. It is not an independence day for Mexico like most unknowledgeable people think. Mexican Independence Day is celebrated on the 15th of September. Mexico declared independence from Spain on the 24th of August 1821. Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday either. Mexico and the United States savor this holiday because it is the day where Mexican peasants/ commoners defeated the French and Mexican traitor army that double them in size in Puebla, Mexico one hundred miles away from Mexico city on the 5th of May, 1862.

When thinking of New York City, more often than not, the first things one visualizes is the beautiful skyline, the bright lights, and Times Square. But without a second glance, one might miss one of the important things about the city. New York is the most heavily Dominican populated city in the United States. It’s ironic that the first non-native American to migrate to and reside on what is today New York City, was from Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic. Throughout history, Dominicans have migrated to the US in search of economic opportunity. This is the factor that influences nearly every immigrant group that migrates to the US in history. In the early 1900s, The United States and the Dominican Republic had a very close diplomatic relationship, to the point where the President considered annexation. At one point, the United States completely controlled the Sugar industry, one of the country’s most profitable markets.

Discrimination has been the brawn of injustices done to people of color. Most don't know of the Chicano struggle in the United Stated for the past four to six generations. Chicanos in America were forced to face chaos, poverty, and pain. Chicano, by Richard Vasquez is a perfect example of how Mexican Americans and Chicanos were treated in America during the 90's. Although Chicanos faced a burdensome life in America, lots of customs and culture immigrated to America with them, which has fabricated the Chicano Culture. The book Chicano profoundly demonstrates how hard it was for a Mexican family to immigrate to America. Once Chicanos started a life in America, it was very hard to get out of it. Mexicans were not socially accepted because

Emiliano Zapata, born on August 8, 1879, in the village of Anenecuilco, Morelos (Mexico), Emiliano Zapata was of mestizo heritage and the son of a peasant medier, (a sharecropper or owner of a small plot of land). From the age of eighteen, after the death of his father, he had to support his mother and three sisters and managed to do so very successfully. The little farm prospered enough to allow Zapata to augment the already respectable status he had in his native village. In September of 1909, the residents of Anenecuilco elected Emiliano Zapata president of the village's "defense committee," an age-old group charged with defending the community's interests. In this position, it was Zapata's duty to represent his village's

Mexico is bordered by the United States on the north, the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on the east, and Guatemala and Belize on the south. It is characterized by an extraordinary diversity in topography and climate and is crossed by two major mountain chains, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental. The high central plateau between these two mountain ranges historically funneled most of the human population toward the center of this region. Mexico features volcanic peaks, snow-capped mountains, tropical rain forests, and internationally famous beaches. Mexico City is an enormous metropolitan area and dominates the rest of the country's culture, economy, and politics. Nearly

Mark Danner, an editor for the New York Times magazine, recounts in The Massacre at El Mozote a horrific crime against humanity committed by a branch of the Salvadorian army. He gives multiple points of views and cites numerous eye witnesses to try and piece together something that has been tucked away by the government at the time. In December, of 1981, news reports were leaked to major newspapers in the united states about an atrocity committed and a total massacre of a hamlet in El Salvador, known as El Mozote, or the Thicket. At first, the account was of over a thousand civilians, women men and children with no guerrilla affiliation were massacred. Danner pieces together the testimonies of the survivors, and interviews with

“A place where we appreciate tradition, but are not bound by it. A place where creativity and experimentation thrive. A place where fresh ingredients are prepared and hand crafted into delicious meals right before your eyes. At Qdoba, we believe perfection is achieved through skilled cooks, an open grill, and a friendly atmosphere.”—Qdoba’s Mission Statement.

A quilombo is a settlement founded by runaway slaves of African descent, the most famous of these communities was Palmares. This free territory was established in the 1600s and lasted about eighty-nine years, which is longer than any other quilombo in Brazil. In 1984, the director Carlos Diegues brought this overlooked history back into mainstream consciousness with his film Quilombo. The main historical topic covered in this film is the spirit and resistance of African people once they were separated from their homeland and subjected into slavery. History often portrays these kidnapped Africans as helpless and submissive but they did not give up their freedom quickly or silently. Diegues created this film not just to highlight the

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz was a woman far beyond her years. Living in a time when society was dominated by men, she disregarded the fact that women during this time were forced to be uncurious objects, whose highest achievement in life was to give birth. Her relentless pursuit to attain knowledge and defy her culture's standards for women is illustrated throughout her writings. In the readings, ("Response to the Most Illustrious Poetess Sor Filotes de la Cruz, the three "Romances" and the "Redondillas"), she spills out her beliefs, feelings and pain in forms of symbolic devices and irony in attempt to erase the differences between men and women as intellectual beings, as well as to argue for a woman's right to pursue