I won't deny that, culturally, I'm white.
It presents a problem because ethnically, I'm not. I'm hispanic. My family moved to Canada when I was 2, barely 3 years old. We moved to the most WASP-ish province in the country - Prince Edward Island. For the longest time I think we were the "multicultural" group on the Island, haha. I laugh because it's more than likely true. Being hispanic, and visually different from the collective masses on P.E.I. I knew that I didn't "belong." Now, that's not to say I didn't feel like I belonged. I did. I did a bang up job of integrating myself. But, there's this saying on P.E.I. that dictates that only people born on the Island are "true" Islanders. Now, for someone whose first memories are of the rolling red hills, Anne of Green Gables and Cavendish beaches, it meant that, for all my trying, I was not a real Islander. I didn't belong. At this point in my life I've managed to say "fuck that" and when people ask me where I'm from, I say P.E.I. If growing up there, if having my first memories, and some of my best memories there, means I'm not a "true" Islander, then fuck that. I claim it and those who feel otherwise need to remove their minds from their cages. But I digress.
I grew up in a place that knew I was "different;" however, if I were to ever return to El Salvador I know the people there would tell me I'm not really one of them. I may, ethnically, be one of them, but I'm not a "true" Salvadorian. Aha! If I'm not a true Salvadorian, and I'm not a true Islander then what am I? Where do I belong?
Well. I don't have an answer for that. But I do know that culturally I'm as white as can be. Which is why today I indulged in my white-ness by drinking my favourite Starbucks beverage (Pumpkin Spice Lattés - another reason I love autumn), while browsing the books at Chapters. I found the newest one by David Sedaris and I just had to buy it. I couldn't say no. My whiteness was urging me. So I did. And it's great.
