Category: Spanish

Since You Asked, Latino or Hispanic?

Posted in Azteca, Central America, conquistadors, Cortez, Cuba, driver's license, French, Gold Rush, government, Hispanic, immigrants, Italian, Latino, passport, Puerto Rico, race, South America, Spain, Spanish, VenezuelaLeave a comment

(re-run) Have you ever noticed when filling out a form for any government thing, like a driver’s license or a passport, that the form will ask you to check a box regarding your race?  If you haven’t read all the choices, please do so next time. There is a box for Hispanic and another box… Continue reading Since You Asked, Latino or Hispanic?

A Corny Tale

Posted in boyfriend, braces, Europe, farm, GMO, Iowa, memoir, Nebraska, Pioneer Seed, Pioneer seed corn, smut, Spanish, spiders, summer, tornadoLeave a comment

(re-run) Knee -high by the 4th of July It all started with a post on Facebook, showing how your average American doesn’t know how to shuck corn. If you are from Iowa in the 60’s, then you know how. We weren’t well off. As a matter of fact, people would give us bags of food,… Continue reading A Corny Tale

The Longest Day of my Life

Posted in antique, boyfriend, California, clueless, friends, memoir, moving, neighbors, relationships, school, Spanish, trucks1 Comment

(re-run) Today is the anniversary of the longest day of my life. Fourteen years ago, the movers showed up at 7:00 a.m. I had expected them at 8:00. They had a medium-sized truck. There was no way everything would fit. I had the Suburban and the Subaru, but they were already packed to the gills.… Continue reading The Longest Day of my Life

Show Me the Numbers!

Posted in Baby Boomer, Beatriz at Dinner, family, gangs, generation, Guatemala, Hispanic, immigrants, immigration, majority, pension, Spanish, teacher, U.S. Census, wedding5 Comments

(re-run) At a recent wedding rehearsal dinner, I sat across from a well-off, pension-receiving white guy who started a conversation about immigration. Sorry for him that he did not know he was sitting across from a Spanish teacher/book author who has studied and followed Hispanic cultures for most of my life. And I’m old. To… Continue reading Show Me the Numbers!

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Posted in dating, English, high school, Home Ec, humor, Iowa, memoir, middle school, Nebraska, problem, self-fulfilling prophecy, small town, Spanish, student, teacher, teaching, typewriters2 Comments

(re-run) It was a few days before the kids would come – 7th and 8th graders. I left my job as a high school Spanish teacher and would now be teaching English to middle schoolers.  It was a way to get out of a podunk town in Nebraska and into a big city in Iowa… Continue reading Self-fulfilling Prophecy

My Fake-Coffee Half Hour

Posted in blog, blog posts, coffee, Diet Coke, Facebook, GERD, humor, memoir, names, relationships, Spanish, Spanish class, stomach, stomach issues, wineLeave a comment

(re-run) It’s funny how a person’s perception of what is good changes with the circumstances. I used to look forward to my can of Diet Coke every day until I reached my mid-forties. Then the stuff became too hard on my stomach, and I gave it up. I used to look forward to my cup… Continue reading My Fake-Coffee Half Hour

Challenger Explosion and Subbing in San Diego

Posted in baby, California, English as a Foreign Language, ESL, memoir, Mexico, newlywed, Ramona, space shuttle, Spanish, Spanish class, teacher, teaching, TijuanaLeave a comment

(re-run) It was a Tuesday, my third week of substitute teaching in Ramona, California.  The Middle School Spanish teacher before me had left in October after a former student told her therapist that he had sexually molested her while on his high school track team. The teacher was terminated, and the string of substitute teachers… Continue reading Challenger Explosion and Subbing in San Diego

The Navajo in the Room

Posted in Abraham Lincoln, aunt, Christmas, college professor, cousins, German, grandma, grandpa, grandparents, Iowa, multicultural, Native Americans, Navajo, New Mexico, racism, Shiprock College, Spanish, Thanksgiving, uncle, World War IILeave a comment

My mother’s brother was a college professor at Shiprock College (now renamed Diné College) in New Mexico.  He met and married my aunt Grace, a Navajo woman.  This was exciting news in my all-white Iowa family. Uncle Jim was coming to town with his new bride. Uncle Jim was tall and slim, and had a… Continue reading The Navajo in the Room

My Life in Dogs

Posted in adopting, animal rescue, college, dogs, farm, farm house, memoir, Nebraska, Omaha, pet, roommate, sleepover, small town, Spanish, superintendent, teachingLeave a comment

(re-run) It was a dogless childhood for me, until I was thirteen. I had asked. My sisters had asked. It wasn’t until our younger brother came home from school and said that somebody in his third-grade class was giving away a perfectly good dog and could he keep it? It happened so fast. I was… Continue reading My Life in Dogs

Black Jamaicans or African Americans?

Posted in Blacks, Central Americans, Cuba, history, Jamaicans, Jeopardy, Kamala Harris, memoir, North Americans, Portuguese, slavery, South America, Spanish, teacher, textbooks3 Comments

(re-run) Someone on Facebook said that Kamala Harris isn’t really African-American because her black father was from Jamaica. Here’s a news flash. Blacks in Jamaica are descendants of slaves, just as blacks from Venezuela, Brazil, Barbados, anywhere in the Americas are, as well. Jeopardy the other night had an answer that said: 40% of all… Continue reading Black Jamaicans or African Americans?