Lots of dance, food and fun
Note: If you can’t see the slide show, please click here.
The 2013 Hispanic Heritage Fiesta was a huge success thanks to friends, advocates, supporters, dedicated sponsors and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who always joins us to celebrate.
Here is a round-up of the award winners and a detailed muchas gracias to the sponsors who help make it all possible.
Be sure to check out the photo slide show and make plans for next year’s fiesta!
My Hispanic Roots, My American Dream
As part of the annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration, High School students from Middle Tennessee are invited to participate in an essay contest for young writers.
The purpose of this contest is to listen to the voices of young people reflecting on the theme “My Hispanic Roots, My American Dream.”
We would like to thank the Heritage teachers of Metro Nashville Public Schools for encouraging their students to submit essays, and for all they do to celebrate our roots.
In the Honorable Mention category, two essays stood out with their poetic and powerful messages. They came from: Miriam Becerra and Melody A. Montoya Martínez.
Miriam Becerra
Miriam is a senior at Glencliff High School who was a summer intern at Conexión Américas. In her essay, Miriam tells of living with her Abuelita in Mexico, an Abuelita who sang “Duermete, Mi Niña” to her each night during the years Miriam’s parents were in the United States.
Loving her grandmother, but longing her for parents, Miriam writes of learning how she would soon be joining her parents “On the Other Side,” which captures the experience of so many young Latinos in Middle Tennessee, who have endured separation from family, on both sides of the border.
Miriam wrote:
“So one day almost out of the blue almost as if La Virgen Maria had heard my prayers, mi abuelita tells me my mother has asked to take me with her. Yes, I admit I was scared, scared of that unknown world. The one where everyone spoke and looked different, had distinct customs and was far. As a matter a fact, I would hear my aunts say something that at that time I didn’t understand,” You’re sending her to the other side.”
That scared me the most. What was the other side? The other side of what? The answer to that would come years later when I would become older and wiser. Weeks passed and before I knew it I was on the other side, as they say, still not sure of what that meant. The faces of my mother and father were blinking in front of me now and their hands reaching out to me.”
Melody A. Montoya Martínez
Melody, a senior at Antioch High School — originally from Hidalgo, Mexico — wrote a powerful essay about her roots in a place that, despite being full of hardship, has given her inspiration and strength to pursue dreams in America and to help others through example and deed.
“El sueño Americano consiste de una lista de deseos. Deseos gigantes y posibles, pero si todos tenemos alas y no sabemos volar eso es lo que serán por siempre, deseos, aspiraciones. Hay que practicar, levantar vuelo, planear, y si nos caemos no dejar de tener el valor de volverlo a intentar.”
In translation: “The American dream consists of a list of desires. Giant and possible desires, but if we all have wings, but do not know how to fly, that is what they always will be, desires and aspirations. One must practice, give wing, plan and if we fall, not give up the courage to try again.”
Elia Pérez
First Place winner Elia is a senior at Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet School
A judge called Elia’s essay “dark, sophisticated, poetic and literary” — all at the same time. Her essay was mature and honestly raw in describing the daily realities of Latinos in Middle Tennessee.
Elia wrote:
“The American dream: a web of lies and deception coated with the broken dreams and hopes of those brave enough to try and pursue it. They tell us that life is better on the other side but it never is. The door is shut in our face, they laugh and they grin as they see us come in. The love of all that we hold dear is all that we have and still they rant and they rage as they cut our wage, no one is ever happy to see the alien; but they forget that they made us that way, alien.
We leave our countries, our families and everything we know behind in order to follow our dream: the American dream. We do this just as many others have done; just as the first wave of immigrants from Western Europe did, just as the second wave form Eastern Europe did and just as the third wave from Latin America does now. They were once discriminated against, called names and made to suffer because of something they couldn’t control, their birth place. But now they are American. So will we be, one day.”
She ends with:
“I belong nowhere and everywhere. … I have learned that I cannot pretend to be American nor can I pretend to be Mexican just because I was raised as the first and born as the latter. I must be neither and both all at once in order to be me.
Orgullo Hispano Award
The Orgullo Hispano, or Hispanic Pride, Award recognizes Unsung Heroes in our community: Latino adults or young people who have been persistently working to better their immediate community –neighborhood, school, workplace, nonprofit or civic organization.
Each of the winners received two round-trip airline tickets from Southwest Air, a sponsor of our Hispanic Heritage celebration. They are Luz Belleza-Binns and Anne Moctezuma-Galicia.
Luz Belleza-Binns
Her name came to us via Ruben de Peña, who won this award last year. We love it when good is passed forward. Luz, a native of Peru, is a Program Coordinator with Metro Social Services, working in the Metro School system with immigrant families who have both typical and children with disabilities. She also serves on several community boards and is known as a passionate and engaged community advocate for families and children, especially children with special needs and the homeless.
Ruben wrote: “Through her hard work and dedication as a social worker with Metro Social Services and her many volunteer hours, she has directly and indirectly touched thousands of lives (mainly Latinos) in our community over the years.
“She is very compassionate and is always available to assist anyone in need. When the assistance level is beyond her control, she finds a way to connect families with the adequate resources.”
Anne Moctezuma-Galicia
Anne Moctezuma-Galicia, a Spanish teacher at MLK Magnet School in Nashville, was nominated as an Unsung Hero by Laura Thielen Clemmons, who teaches Spanish with Anne at the school. Four years ago, Anne was a student teacher in Laura’s class.
Laura said she witnesses Anne, a native of Mexico, living her passion and broadening cultural appreciation at school in a variety of ways.
Laura told us that Anne:
- Inspired students to practice, learn, and perform a choreographed dance for the annual Heritage Day Performance;
- Works with the Latin Achievers through the YMCA, helping Hispanic students prepare for the possibility of college;
- Co-manages the Spanish Club at MLK, which also has encouraged several faculty members to participate. Anne’s influence has helped students see adults who value language learning and cultural appreciation.
Anne is a quiet but extremely influential voice for Hispanic issues and raising cultural awareness.
Amiga We Love: Kaki Friskics-Warren
Kaki, who also received two round-trip tickets from Southwest Air, served on the Board of Directors of Conexión Américas during the critical time the organization began to imagine Casa Azafrán. Kaki’s understanding of hospitality is seen in her role on the Board of Justice for Our Neighbors (a Casa Azafran partner), in her care for people who have been incarcerated and in her desire to keep improving her Spanish. She has extended her welcoming spirit to Latino families both through her work with Conexión Américas and in her personal life, where she has expanded the definition of what it means to be family.
Kaki’s award read:
In recognition of her unwavering servant leadership on behalf of immigrant families and her vital role in making Casa Azafrán a reality.
