Frijoles

Being a token has its advantages.  When people ask anything specific about my 'unique' background I can either make up an answer, tell the truth if I know it, or simply claim ignorance.  The latter never gets a good response since people are usually searching for an absolute answer. No one likes ambiguity. I often find myself Googling the answer. I once claimed to know an Aztec warrior named Roberto who lives in the mountains of a Mexican village and eats goat hearts straight from a freshly slaughtered goat because it instills fear in the local villager's (Never actually told this story). No one knew the difference. I have become accustom to becoming the ambassador to all things like me. It's strange to be a token in an area where there is so many like me that people want to send us back on the donkeys we rode in on. While there are so many like me for some reason we have become the invisible. The labor workers, the gang members, the guys you pick up from Home Depot to cut your lawn in your suburban oasis you can hardly afford. No one ever means any harm. We go about discussing topics and saying things we hardly give much thought to or the implications of what this might mean to others.  I like beans.  I like to eat them with tortillas, as a side, with chips, as a soup, with queso and sometimes I like the way they feel squished between my fingers. I don't like the Mexican hat dance and I want to step on Speedy Gonzales. I must admint I am having fun making up fictional customs and events in history that may or may not have taken place, like that one time Frida Kahlo Garcia Marquez, the famous warrior from the Colombian jungle freed the  local Mayan slaves. At some point we all encounter being a token it's how we respond that makes things more interesting. I also enjoy forcing people to become the ambassador all things like them and have recently come to the realization I need to look up most of the historical facts I have been told by others.