Dear Latina/Hispanic New Yorkers,
If you have lived in New York your whole life, then you probably don't think of your childhood as anything different than any other Hispanic/Latina in this country. However for those who have moved to other states for college and such, jut like our cultural and ethnic diversity within the community, our American geography also separates our experiences as well. So here is a list of some of the unique things Latina/Hispanic New Yorkers have to deal with.
1) Your Bodegas where either run by Dominicans, Ecuadorians, or Indians. In that specific order.
2) You got called "mami" on many an occasion by un acosador.
3) And if you were tall, you knew you could swish them them with a stomp of your foot.
4) You couldn't leave the house without this.
5) You had to live in a one bedroom apartment with eight people.
--but this is what it felt like.
6) Arroz con Lentejas was breakfast, lunch, and dinner
7) You went to many a quinceƱeras, because through sunshine and snow storms that's when you thought you were going to find your own novio.
8) Gentrification of your neighborhood is real.
9) You Put Takis in everything, especially your bacon egg and cheese on a roll.
10) Your parents always complained that it was too cold, even though it wasn't even January yet.
11) Your white friends would always be amazed that you went back to your home country every summer, though it's not like you left the family house by yourself, ever.
12) You always had to calculate that hour it takes to get home before the sun goes down, and hopefully God was on your side to not have train delay.
13) Your mama put this all over you every night because the heater never worked.
14) You were always in charge of taking care of the kids at every single party.
Even ones you didn't know who they belonged to.
15) You loved JLo as a kid, because you wanted to be Jenny from the Block. Plus she was living proof to your parents that Spanglish was fine right?
16) Aventura was your life.
17) You hated the Latinas from Jersey acting like they from the Bronx.
18) If you lived in a predominately Dominican neighborhood and you weren't Dominican, you're Spanish assimilated.
19) It's Chonga not Chola
Pero Like got it right.
