Elle Madelyn

I have come to discover (and embrace) my American-ness. This relationship is complicated. You can read about this evolution here and here.

Yet, my becoming Americano isn’t a journey that is solely positive. Becoming Americano has come with, and still comes with, relentless pain, a pain that I must contend with as a Latino, as a child of immigrants, as someone who has experienced poverty, and as someone who is often times invisible. Yes, I have come to obtain positions of privilege, as I am now a person who holds 2 degrees and now working on a third. I have come to benefit as an inhabitant of the first world at the expense of those in the third. Even so, this breaking from the cocoon, rather early, has presented a truth too many never acknowledge.

There is a US flag hanging in my living room. The flag is upside…