humanity
Humanity begins at home.
Shish Kabob
Meynardo and Lourdes Mendoza were the epitome of the American Dream. Immigrating (legally) from the Philippines during the Lyndon B Johnson era to America with nothing in their pocket except their medical degrees. Heck, they didn't even know each other yet when they began their residencies at that small hospital in Queens, NY. They were terribly homesick for their families, friends and culture but they knew that their success meant that their poor families back home would survive. Eventually Meynardo Mendoza would meet Lourdes Arquiza during their shifts at the hospital. They quickly fell in love and got married. Lulu (Lourdes nickname) soon became pregnant. Mey (Meynardo's nickname) was overjoyed with Lulu with the thought of the birth of their first son in America. What would the name the boy? They didn't want their first born to feel out of place at school with a typical Filipino first name like Carlos or Mario. They wanted a typical American name. One day while Mey and Lulu were at a greeting card store, they saw a rack with minitature license plates displaying childrens names on them. Presumably to be put on the back of a new bicycle. Thats when they saw it! "Melvin". Mey was a huge fan of 40's and 50's music as well the movies from the same period. Melvin was the first name of show business trifecta Mel Torme who acted, sang and composed. "Melvin Mendoza, what a great name"! they both agreed. Mind you, this is New York in the 60's. Melvin was far from being typical especially later on in little Melvin Mendoza life. Mey and Lulu started acheiving success in their medical careers and decided it was time to leave their little one bedroom basement apartment in Jamaica, Queens and head to the country life of Long Island (well, it was kinda the country in the early 70's). They bought a new construction 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath home in Suffolk County with plans to move their own parents from the Philippines in with them. They purchased the home for $30,000. It was a normal tradition for the grandparents to move in to help take care of the grand children while the parents are working. As Melvin began nursery school (pre-school) he quickly learned that his name definitlely did not blend in. The neigborhood that his family moved to was mostly of Italian and Jewish families. "Hi, my name is Melvin" was usually followed by snickering and laughter. "What? Your name is Smellvin"? many of the kids would joke. The next question was always "Are you Chinese or Japanese"? Unfortunatley, most kids at that time had never heard of another country named Philippines. Melvin had a hard time making friends back then. Who wants to play with an Oriental kid with a werid name. Then it happened. An unassuming extremely thin boy with thick glasses named Abe said "I'll play with you" Melvin and Abe found an empty table full of Lincoln Logs to build an imaginary fort. Little did they know that this friendship would eventually span over 50 years. Later that evening, Melvin walked into the kitchen. Lulu and Lola (grandmother in Filipino) were placing large amounts of beef peices into a large pan to be marinated over night for Shish Kabob for the weekend barbecue. All the relatives that immigrated after Mey and Lulu were roadtripping from Queens to Long Island for one of many Mendoza back yard get togethers. Melvin was excited to tell about his new best friend Abe. Before he could get the word out, Melvin's mother said, "All your Tita's (aunts), Tito's (uncles) and cousins are coming in this weekend for the barbecue to celebrate that your going to have a baby brother and he is going to have an American name just like you! His name will be Maynard!
By Mel Mendoza5 years ago in Families
Body art challenge
I got pregnant when I was just 15 years old, by all accounts just a baby myself-now raising a baby. My son and I have lived through very many trials together and in all honesty grew up together with only having 15 years to separate us in age.
By Karen McConnell5 years ago in Families
The House
She stood outside of the house, looking at it from the road, staring at it like she could see inside and through it. The memories were there and wanted to escape from her eyes and roll down her cheeks, but damned if she was going to let that happen. Not over a house. But was it really ever just a house?
By Myndi Mullins5 years ago in Families
QUARENTEEN REALCRIES
So I went into this quarantine like what the fuck is this shit. this is fucked but alright no work. now its 7 weeks into this and I'm like fuck this shit. Don't get me wrong I love spending time with my significant other and my children and i never thought that i would be longing to go back to work. two weeks before This whole shit started I got laid off of construction waiting on a new job site to start in April and before applying as a Firefighter in our relocated area. Not to mention six months before that my family and I resided in a house in Keswick where the septic tank ended up leaking into the well water that we used because the owner turned the garage into an illegal apartment where there were four family off of one well and one family septic tank. resulting in my three children my wife and myself getting ecol Yup...THATS RIGHT...GAD DAMN ECOLI in 2019 in Canada a family of five got e coli. I never thought that would happen.Then the beginning of the Quarantine my partner and kids are at my sisters in Toronto for a weekend visit. Quarantine hits and we get stuck in Toronto for a month. My sisters and my brother in-law are all essential services for community living stray children and construction so we were always driving around in a bare ass city with only zombie crack heads on the streets. The entire time I'm having panic attacks because the cops are treating the city like its the end of the world. my partner was having panic attacks every time I left the house cause Toronto was like the epicenter of Canada and she didnt want to bring the virus back to her parents. It took us three and a half weeks to convince ourslves we were fine. So now we are 7 weeks into the quarantine and my wife and kids and I are at her parents house. Throughout my life I realized that there are certain things that happen that make you never forget things that happen in your life. like 911,H1N1 , The Big Black out and Y2K. there are things that stick out in your mind that you remember so vividly. i realize that the past couple years with my family have thought me that anything can happen and that you have to make the best of every situation you are in. From e coli to a three hour relocation to quarantine. I know that my kids will look back and remember that Mom&Dad did every thing in their human power to keep us safe. thee boys in a world that looks like every thing is out to get them. I sit in front of my eight year old son fighting with him to do his school work while he daydreams about the birds flying by the window hoping that he will never live a struggling life like his father. then I realize that even through the short time he has been here already he has seen so much that he cold possibly survive better than myself in today society.
By Real Robert Hall5 years ago in Families
Dominicana Soy. Top Story - September 2020.
It is difficult to celebrate a heritage that is constantly rejecting you. You never felt Dominican enough. You always felt a need to overcompensate for some of your “undominican” behavior. You took classes to learn how to dance bachata and salsa. Still, your latinadad was constantly in question. You don’t look Dominican. You don’t sound Dominican. Those words were often spoken to you.
By Jay Cordero5 years ago in Families
Celebrating My Spanish Heritage. Top Story - September 2020.
For my entire life people have always been surprised to learn that I speak Spanish. This is typically followed with something along the lines of "No way, you don't look Spanish at all." I know, right? The blonde hair, blue eyes, it always throws people off. This never bothered me, in fact, quite the opposite. From a young age speaking Spanish was like my secret superpower. I'd love to surprise people with a simple "gracias!" or casually dropping in to conversations in Spanish. On a few occasions I've actually pulled out my cell phone to have a pretend conversation with "Papá" when unsuspecting victims were saying things they probably would have preferred I didn't understand.
By Nathalia Ramos5 years ago in Families
Hispanic Heritage Month on Vocal. Top Story - September 2020.
It was never an unusual sight to see my great grandmother handing out homemade papa rellena to everyone in her Queens neighborhood. The community would pitch in money to buy bulk foods like potato, rice, meat just so they can give it to her to cook it. You may have even seen my grandmother running her own concession stand in the busy bustling streets of Puerto Rico where she would put her own touch on pastelillos that would make anyone stop dead in their tracks just to taste. When I started my own food journey through The Bronx Vegan, it may have been a surprise to my family that I was taking on a new approach to food but when you look at the dedication and passion for food that runs through my family history, this work really isn’t so surprising at all.
By The Bronx Vegan5 years ago in Families
