Another Personal Post / Bonding @ El Rio Bravo

[nosotrash]

though i am a Latina, a woman of color, i've grown up with a lot of privilege. so i'm using it to tell the story of someone i met who grew up differently

Comments

[milkisbad]

I've had a similar experience where my dad who grew on the mexico/texas border slaved away his entire childhood and made it to college. He went against his parents wishes. They were so against it they didn't even bother to drive him up to Austin or get him a bus ticket. Even if they were for him going to college they probably wouldn't have been able to pay for the simple trip up there. He had to hitchhike. He became a successful engineer and I grew up just wanting to write and major in English. I have no desire to teach or anything "practical". So I think while I may feel guilty over how hard he worked for us to have a decent life and even though sometimes I feel as if I'm doing a disservice to my family by majoring in something I love, I think in the end they want this for us. They want us to have the opportunity to be happy and major in something we like, rather than stuck in another country with very little opportunity, where you can't even fathom the idea of going to school much less even have a hobby in painting because you're

[factfarmer3000]

When I first started reading this I though it would be more about "Lalo" but not about art guilt. All I can offer are words of encouragement. Even though your parents may not say it straight out, I'm sure that deep down inside they would rather you be happy, and you said you need art for that. Or that's what I hope...my dad keeps telling me I should think of a career that pays a lot of money...which I'm not really interested in....
for the record, I love art too, but it's more of a huge hobby that I'll never ever let go of, i want to study conservation...

[nosotrash]

yeah i guess it ended being about how our stories intertwined. sorry if it was misleading, was way drunk off dollar margaritas.

[_sponsorships]

I tell my parents my degrees in Comparative Literature and Chicana/Chicano Studies will pay off, and more so when I get a PhD...they just kind of grimace. They're not so hard on me now that I'm engaged to a guerito Mechanical Engineer, whose parents grimace at the idea that he wants to pursue a PhD as opposed to working in industry. lol. I'm sure your parents, our parents, would rather us be happy than fucking miserable and depressed for the rest of our lives...

"Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen is my motivational song, I suggest it for when you're feeling down about doing what you love.

[cris_nicewelts]

This completely breaks my heart, because this is me. Except my experience is intertwines with gender role in career guilt and classism guilt.

I couldn't hope too much, I had to be realistic.