"Family Ties"

Jimmy Santiago Baca’s, Family Ties discusses the cultural differences and a lack of belongingness that one family has while attending a family gathering. There is a cultural disconnection between the families’. While the majority of the family is joining the barbeque, and engaging the common cultural practices of those of Mexican ancestry, with the preparing of tacos and tamales, conversations while indulging in beer and whiskey and discussing land grant issues leaves one family feeling displaced. The narrator discusses that he feels, “No love or family tie here.” Opposed to his families cultural practices the narrator rather go hiking and be in an abandoned rock cabin within the mountains. It is likely that the cultural disassociation correlates with having a more Americanized background opposed to his family that incorporates Mexican culture and values heavily into their everyday lives.

I relate to the narrator’s disassociation to my connection to my family when I travel to South Carolina to visit my host of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. A common practice of my Southern family is the women spending hours preparing home cooked meals (corn bread, baked macaroni & cheese, mustard greens, fried chicken; etc.) Food is a major part of African American’s culture is considered to be, “Soul Food.” Soul Food was a term used to describe recipes with the roots of slavery and civil rights within rural areas of the South. Soul food and Southern meals are completely different, according to John T. Edge the director or the Southern Foodways Alliance; “The differences between the foods of Black and White Southerners are subtle. More capsicum pepper heat, a heavier hand with salt and pepper and a great use of offal meat are comparative characteristics of Soul vs. Country Cooking.” Soul food cooking thrives from the recipes created with the lack of resources provided to African Americans. Although the South, has made tremendous strides to surpass the negative stigmas associated with the region do to the slave trade & the Civil Rights Movement the dark history of the South is a lot more blatant than anywhere else. While visiting my family in the South Carolina, another custom that is heavily practiced is the making of whiskey & scupadine wine while telling stories of encounters of racism, segregation or discrimination. In many ways I can understand why the narrator has a disassociation with his Mexican family, and like him I can relate to not understanding why certain things are important to his family. However, unlike the narrator I like to embrace my family's culture; and the recent project that I just completed for class has peaked my interest even more because I learned a lot more of harsh encounters endured by my family's members which is a lot of the reason why my connection is strong to my African American heritage.