As you can see this post is being written in English, so if you latinos out there got all excited because of the spanish in my blog's title, lo siento. I do speak Spanish (albeit poorly) but only because I learned it later in life. Although my last name is Garcia, I'm about as gringo as you can get. My whole life people would say to me, "You have a Spanish last name, why don't you speak Spanish?" I never knew quite what to say to that. I'd get that comment a lot from a family I knew growing up. The Mayhoffers. Do you suppose any of them spoke German? No. "But why not? You have a German last name but you don't speak German?"
Oh well. Garcia's almost as American as apple pie now-a-days. Did you know that Garcia is the 8th most common last name in America? Yep. It's a white name now. Ha ha. I'm sure a lot of people just got offended by that. Don't be. I don't think race --I'm sorry, ethnicity-- should matter all that much, and besides this first post, I doubt it'll be brought back up again. I'm just trying to explain my blog's name.
Yeah, that's where I'm going with all this. This rambling is leading up to the reason behind my blog name.
So you see, my mother is white and my dad is latino, hence the Garcia last name. My Grandpa Garcia claims to be Spanish, but he doesn't remember the actual relative who came from Spain. As far back as he can remember, his ancestors have all lived in Denver, Colorado. However, if you look at my Grandma Garcia's side, you'll find that her mother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico.
I said it, CHIHUAHUA! So, I have a great grandmother from Chihuahua and now you can say "Huh.. I get it." But that's not all. That's merely a factor. I also feel that if my looks were compared to an animal, they would most closely match the features of a chihuahua. Think small stature, tiny little feet, big eyes and ears, and... let's be honest here...ugliness. Got that image in your mind? Well it's me!
Oh, and the Joaquin part can be explained easily. I'm in love with Joaquin Phoenix... No, I'm just kidding! My name is Jack which equals Joaquin in Spanish. So while I am Jack the human being, I feel that I am also Joaquin the chihuahua at heart.
2 comments:
This is so true! I also grew up with people assuming that I am fluent in Spanish just because my last name is Garcia. I sometimes am even called a snob because they ASS-U-ME that I know spanish and refuse to speak it because I am above them. I have learned some spanish over the years thanks to your Uncle Valentin, mostly the wrong kind! LOL! But some very good friends summed me up in an instant by nicknaming me "coconut", brown on the outside but white on the inside! As far as I can tell us "coconuts" need to stick together!
As far as Grandpa and how far back he can remember, I believe it was either his great great grandpa or grandma that traveled here. Somewhere in that house of his in Rocky Ford, there is a book that was written by one of his great Aunts telling the story of how his family came from Switzerland to Spain and somehow ended up on covered wagons here in the good old US!
Tia Loca
From Switzerland to Spain?? I had no idea!
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