Sticking Out in America
Originally published, September 2004 A few years ago I spent the summer in Mexico. For six weeks I studied the Spanish language and Mexican culture at a school in Cuernavaca while living with a Mexican family. Along with a group of other students from my university I explored the ruins of great ancient empires in places like Teotihuacan, Tepotzlan and Zihuatanejo. In my free time, I spent lots of time in the Zocalos, or town squares, of villages around the state of Morelos observing the rhythm of life and trying not to stick out like a sore thumb amidst all the indigenous people. I'm over six feet tall, blond, with blue eyes. So I towered among most, and because of my light features was usually being stared at by passersby, forced to participate, unable to be an unidentified observer. My host family - mi primo y mi mamá mexicana - Mexico, summer 1998 I was just as interested in watching folks on the street as they were in watching me, but I had an entire population to diffu...