Duane Fernandez: i will be a first-generation United states, created as a very “I adore Lucy” design family members. My mom is from Denmark and my dad is through the Philippines. I happened to be raised in Hancock Park, Hollywood, Calif. My moms and dads divorced whenever we was at primary college plus they coincidentally both wished to come back to their indigenous land. Many years later on, i discovered myself located in Denmark after which the Philippines. A lot of whom i will be today was created whilst travelling over these formative years; it absolutely was a rather hard and challenging time — having to adjust quickly into two very different opposing cultures and lifestyles.
I decided to go to a worldwide school where We met a number of other international children, and I also keep in mind being therefore prompted. right Here I became in a college with a huge selection of mash-up young ones who were all from various nations surviving in a international land looking for on their own. Being an existential teenager in a international land with a lot of young ones who have been each dealing with virtually identical experiences left an impact on me. We came across my lovely wife, Rebecca, in Oklahoma. We’ve had 100% various life experiences and now we continue steadily to find one another endlessly fascinating. She’s blown away by my metropolitan and worldwide upbringing, and I’m enthusiastic about her small city where everybody else knows everyone else’s company. We currently are now living in Los Angeles, house to individuals from significantly more than 140 nations speaking 224 various languages, maybe certainly one of America’s best mash-up metropolitan areas!
Do you get yourself describing one thing to Rebecca in what it really is to become a minority?
Absolutely. I suppose I’m a small different because I’m not merely a minority right here in the us, but I’m a minority both in my moms and dads’ indigenous nations also. I became a minority whenever I lived in Denmark and I also had been a minority once I lived within the Philippines.
I became a minority whenever I lived in Denmark and I also ended up being a minority whenever I lived when you look at the Philippines.
There has been a few times where we come across one thing or hear an account of racism and I also share your own tale with Rebecca plus it surprises her that I’ve experienced something such as that, that folks are so ignorant. She states she can’t realize why anyone would ever be mean for me.
just What maybe you have learned all about tradition in the usa through her lens?
Language, sentence structure and folk music. First, language: one of the better reasons for growing up in a house where each of your mother and father come from some other part of the globe may be the clash of idioms and phrases together with not enough awareness or knowledge of American idioms and expressions. My mom always called ladybugs “ladybirds” and I also had no clue I happened to be incorrect until repeating this in school. Editor’s note: Grab any balls lately? 2nd, sentence structure: Somehow, through the elegance of god, I happened to be in a position to learn how to talk English. Even today, I’m nevertheless learning exactly exactly how specific terms are now spelled, pronounced and strewn together. It’s comical exactly how many things I’m still learning. It’s convenient being married to an editor.
However the best thing Rebecca has taught me is just just how definitely amazing the 
banjo is. She plays it, you understand. It’s why I fell so in love with her! She additionally introduced us to things folk, including Woody Guthrie, that is from her hometown of Okemah, Okla. Woody has already established a significant effect on my entire life and he’s one of the best reasons for this country.
Exactly just What had been the major mash-up subjects you discussed before you got hitched?
Obviously, Rebecca’s family is completely diverse from my children, particularly the dichotomy of my parents’ countries. Especially, we distributed to her the objectives associated with Filipino family members, that are very hard in my situation to comprehend because we wasn’t fully raised within that household framework. But I’m very alert to it. To place it extremely merely: Filipino kids are essentially allowed to be at their parents’ beck and call. Forever. I experienced to allow her realize that that is a thing that exists on earth, and that We don’t fundamentally comply with it, generally there will undoubtedly be guilt. I do believe she seems the shame significantly more than i actually do, now, where my children is worried. Editor’s note: Welcome. One more thing we discussed had been that our children may not look like Rebecca. Once I ended up being growing up individuals often asked my blue-eyed, blond mother if I became used. I recall that being truly a weird feeling.
