I am a Mexican-American woman born to immigrants from Michoacan, Mexico — speaking Spanish and identifying as Mexican for most of my life has been central to every part of me.  It has been more recently that I have identified as a Chicana because my childhood was spent going back and forth from Northern California and Michoacan — for most of my life I identified as being Mexican not Mexican-American.  Speaking Spanish in my home was necessary because my mother did not speak English.  I was the translator.  There was a functional need for me to speak Spanish in my home but I loved being able to watch the evening news on Telemundo when I was a teenager, followed by  1 or 2 telenovelas.  My ability to speak Spanish connected me with my family in Mexico and a large Spanish-speaking community in California.  Early in my professional life my Spanish literacy abilities allowed me to work as a translator at the Arizona State Museum where I translated documents written by Spanish soldiers, describing first contact, used by scholars in Europe and the United States.  Today I am a Spanish Teacher where I try to impart some of my passion for language, academics, social causes and a love of life-long learning to my high school students.