Living in the Border

I was born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico but moved to Weslaco, Texas when I was 6yrs old. This is my life.

[mexicanamericanlife]

Altars that some of my family have prepared.

[mexicanamericanlife]

Bilingual life

I’m currently studying for a bilingual exam in hopes of getting a bilingual teaching certificate. but the struggle is real. I used to be so good at Spanish but now even when i talk to my mom I make so many pauses because i forget words. I would always get annoyed when people would speak texmex, but that’s literally me right now. I actually should be studying right now, but instead of procrastinating. I hate that about myself. UGH!!!!

[fyeahsupermanandloislane]

Happy Halloween (10/31, All Hallows Eve) and Day of the Dead (10/31-11/2, Día de Muertos)!

[mexicanamericanlife]

My aunt's Dia de Muertos altar. ❤😇💀

[mexicanamericanlife]

My armature dia de muertos altar.

Next year I'll add pictures. 😇

[mexicanamericanlife]

Altar de Dia de Muertos.

En la tienda Guajardo en Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas.

[openblogtomyabusivemother]

I'm Mexican-American.

But my father was ashamed of his heritage so he denied it and robbed me of it in the process. 😔

Yesterday was the first day I ever said this aloud to anyone.

I never told anyone before then that I'm Mexican-American and that my Mexican-American father pretended he was white. It's not like I haven't known it my whole life, but there's something about telling everyone, saying it aloud so everyone can hear that makes it so much more real and today I feel so much more sad about the fact that he felt like he had to do that. It's really heartbreaking that he lives in a society that got so down on him for not being white that he felt that he had to deny who he really was in order to have value. 💔

When my father of color decided to pretend he was white, did he think about what he was taking from me?

I wish this were a measurable thing because I often wonder, how much of his willingness to abuse me came from the deep damage of others so willing to abuse him...

[mexicanamericanlife]

Los Muertos Bailan

Dia de los muertos festival in Edinburg, Texas

[mexicanamericanlife]

Dia de los Muertos Altars

In Alamo, Tx

[mcnuggyy]

I’ve always wanted to do a series of my favorite Mexican/Mexican-American singers from my childhood so heres the first three in my series!

Selena, Chente, and JuanGa! 

[badass-bharat-deafmuslim-artista]

Stunning photos from Vogue of traditional Mexican women equestrian riders in the sport of Escaramuza (rodeo sport). Article by Mariel Cruz, Photos by Devin Doyle. 

Last year, photographer Devin Doyle, who’d spent two years photographing high school rodeo culture in the United States, became curious as to what the Mexican equivalent might look like. After all, he says, “It’s the same land, the same ranching culture.” What he found was an exciting competitive equestrian sport performed by women dressed in stunning traditional costumes, a sport directly inspired by the Adelitas—the female soldiers who fought in the Mexican Revolution.

Escaramuza, an event within the larger rodeo-like sport known as charrería (now recognized as Mexico’s national sport) is comprised of teams of up to 16 women (though only eight can compete at a time) performing a series of routines inside a lienzo charro, or stadium, at breakneck galloping speeds—all while riding sidesaddle.

[mexicanamericanlife]

My aunt at my grandpa's rancho. Tamaulipas.

[mexicanamericanlife]

Currently obsessed with her art work!

[chieftrashcloud]

“The New American Gothic” Criselda Vasquez

[mexicanamericanlife]

This is beautiful. I can totally relate to this with my family.

[gogomrbrown]

I learned in a Latin Studies class (with a chill white dude professor) that when the Europeans first saw Aztec cities they were stunned by the grid. The Aztecs had city planning and that there was no rational lay out to European cities at the time. No organization.

[punkrockradio]

When the Spanish first arrived in Tenochtitlan (now downtown mexico city) they thought they were dreaming. They had arrived from incredibly unsanitary medieval Europe to a city five times the size of that century’s london with a working sewage system, artificial “floating gardens” (chinampas), a grid system, and aqueducts providing fresh water. Which wasn’t even for drinking! Water from the aqueducts was used for washing and bathing- they preferred using nearby mountain springs for drinking. Hygiene was a huge part if their culture, most people bathed twice a day while the king bathed at least four times a day. Located on an island in the middle of a lake, they used advanced causeways to allow access to the mainland that could be cut off to let canoes through or to defend the city. The Spanish saw their buildings and towers and thought they were rising out of the water. The city was one of the most advanced societies at the time.

Anyone who thinks that Native Americans were the savages instead of the filthy, disease ridden colonizers who appeared on their land is a damn fool.

[robotsandfrippary]

They’ve also recently discovered a lost Native American city in Kansas called Etzanoa It rivals the size of Cahokia, which was very large as well.

[mexicanamericanlife]

Feliz 16 de Septiembre. From my beautiful niece.

[mexicanamericanlife]

A grocery store in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas.