thanks to you for this fun questionnaire!

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?

Mom's side: my papa was of german heritage. my grandmother was scots/irish.

Dad's side:
grandfather is from tecate, mexico. my great-grandfather was a spanish "gypsy" whose lineage hasn't been traced. this great-grandfather married a Native woman, producing my grandfather and 7 other boys. grandmother is from cape verde, a small island off the coast of senegal. this island was colonized by the spanish and portuguese. the native population speaks an african dialect, while those born during colonialism speak a patois of all the languages. my grandmother can speak each of the languages and patois. she met my grandfather in california.

2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?

i'd love to go to portugal. i've been to mexico lots of times, so portugal is top on my list. i think its aesthetics appeal to me more than anything else. that, and the portuguese look like me more than cape verdeans, mexicans, irish, or scottish people do. i am constantly in search of those who look like me. but, one day i'd like to go to all these places.

3. Which would you least like to visit? Why?

cape verde is top on this list. besides the fact that it is a third world country with many of its inhabitants without the luxury of running water, i just recently found out that my grandmother is cape verdean. i am not as tied to it as i am to the others as we always thought she was portuguese, that we were part portuguese. when her family came to america in the mid-30s, they blended into the portuguese community and never really separated themselves as cape verdeans. this happened a lot back then, resulting in tons of cape verdeans in the u.s. become culturally spanish or portuguese. as she gets older, my grandmother relies more heavily on patois, and therefore emphasizes her island roots.

4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage?

i grew up white, so to me, just researching and embracing my "other" sides is recognition. i also am heavily involved in the latino community in my town, mostly in the areas of literacy and job preparation.

5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)?

my mother's side got here eons ago. my aunt margie can trace back to the neolithic age, but all i retain is that we are german and scots/irish. we are something crazy like 6th generation americans. my father's side is a bit less general. my paternal grandmother arrived here before my paternal grandfather. she came in the mid-30s as a child. her two sisters died in the voyage. my grandfather, a trobadour, came to california from mexico first as a seasonal migrant laborer working in the various orchards, etc. along the way, he would play his guitar with random bands. this was in the late 40s. he and my grandmother met in this way and she left the bay area with him, settling in baja del sur. my father and aunt were both born in mexico, making my siblings and i first generation on his side.