My American Languages
I First Learned English, Then Spanish, to Navigate My Identity in This Big Country
Sister Paula, our eighth grade teacher at Holy Cross Elementary School in South Los Angeles informed us one morning in 1944 that Fridays would be devoted to public speaking. Which meant that each of us, standing in front of the class, had to recite something we had memorized. She said we could recite anything we wanted. Most boys opted to tell jokes.
When my name was called, I stifled an inner groan (I was very shy), walked to the front of the class, and began to speak, “Four score and …
