welcome

BIENVENIDOS.

WITAJ.

WILLKOMMEN. 

City-hopping during my college years opened my eyes to a universal truth - we're all jumbled up, probably for the better. Japanese-Peruvians and Lithuanian-Mexicans are just the tip of the hyphenated iceberg. Bi/multiracial people are proliferating like nuclear weapons.

A Mexican/Polish/German hybrid (1/2, 1/4 & 1/4), I've always felt the need to choose between my two halves. Between the brown and the white, between the traditional and the assimilated. Being biracial implies a degree of self-acceptance but I've yet to reach that state of melting-pot nirvana.

Bombarded from all sides to identify as 'white' or Mexican-American, carving out a hybrid identity becomes nearly impossible. I've always felt more Mexican-American and I'm constantly asked to apologize for it. But shit is getting ridiculous. So, I'm done begging people to understand who I am. No more taking sides or defending my identity. A full-blooded mongrel, I live at an intersection. You're free to visit if you like.


Welcome to the borderlands.

the Mission

The purpose of this blog is fourfold:

1.  to explore Latin@/Chican@ culture, history & contemporary with a focus on identity 
2. to share my experiences as a biracial (or often, just white/just Latina) person
3. to create a space for biracial, multiethnic, multiracial, mixed race, mixed culture, of color etc.  people  to unpack/manage/accept their identities & share their stories
4. to critique & dissect what it means to be multicultural in a 'globalized world'

Less-heavy posts in the works. If you'd like to share your experience as a person of mixed heritage or person of color, email me at npduda@gmail.com.