Week One

The poem " Para Teresa" by Inez Hernandez-Avila was written in both Spanish and English because she was a Latina female in Texas around the time of the Alamo in 1947. Also, the name of her school, the " Alamo" at the time when she was in sixth grade gives a clue of why she wrote the poem in the two languages, and some has to do with the history of the Battle of the Alamo. Prior to the Battle of the Alamo, Texas was a territory of the southern country, Mexico. Latinos at the time where known to speak Spanish, but when the battle began, some Texans where left to decide between rebelling against the troops of Mexico or joining the Texans in there rebellion. Those descendants who where bred in the new America after the battle took place had to adapt to a different kind of system. Education being one of the many, like Hernandez-Avila attended class learning English, grammar and writing, but when the author and her classmates got home from a day at school, they would practice there native language Spanish. So when she wrote the poem a couple years later, her background reflected that Avila showed emotion from my point of view in writing in both languages showing her pride in her culture. Other reasons why I think she might have wrote the poem in two languages is in the name of the title " Para Teresa" meaning, for Teresa. Inez Hernandez-Avila describes Teresa to be "Pachuca" (Zoot-Suit), to have teased black hair with a hint of red, wearing red lipstick and petticoats in the poem. At the time Zoot-suiters where identified as Mexican-American in a different class between civilians and United States servicemen. Pachucos' where relatively known as juvenile gangs. Gangs from my perspective have a character when speaking. They speak in combination of both English and Spanish, Spanglish, which was why I also thought that Inez wrote it in both languages, she wanted to reach out to her culture and to appeal to a larger audience than that of her roots.