• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, April 8, 2010

Multiculturalism is a hot topic today. The population of the U.S. is changing, and the results of the census are really going to drive this fact home for a lot of folks who don't realize how diverse the U.S. population has become over the past decade. Multiculturalism is the topic for today's column, but rather than writing what I think it means, I decided to seek the assistance of my wife, Lorea Canales, a Mexican journalist and writer. She just penned a piece on what "Mexicaness" means to her for the Web site of a very good friend of ours, New York City restaurateur Zarela Martinez. It is reprinted here:

Ten years in New York, two daughters, one gringo husband, no plans of going back. How do you maintain your Latino roots? asks Zarela. How indeed do I conserve my "mexicanidad" when my daughters are two "güeritas" being raised in New York City.

For one, I am always late. Just kidding! The best part about immigration is that it allows you to maintain what you really like about your culture.

For me, it starts with food. My daughters have a basic diet of tortillas, beans, rice, chicken and aguacate. They snack on jicama con chile and cure their colds with "sopita de pollo." For any other ailments there is "te de manzanilla."

While most American mothers I know teach their children to be clean, orderly and safe, for me it is important that they can take risks, improvise and develop bacteria in their stomach. Ana thinks that the sweet tamales in the taco truck on West 96th street are much better that any doughnut --and they are.

All generalizations will have exceptions, gaps and holes, but I have a sense that Americans protect their kids more, shield them until they let them go. Whether Mexicans expose them more, teach them to be resilient and never let them go.

Once at Petco, I saw a group of college students almost faint because the snapper turtle they were admiring ate a fish. Instead I went and bought fish for our heretofore vegetarian turtle to teach the girls about life and death, we've put twenty goldfish in the tank, there are eight right now. I strongly believe that death is a part of life and the more we acknowledge that, the stronger my daughters will be.

I give them Mexico through language. "Háblame en español" follows everything they say. Their eyes roll and they breathe deeply searching for words in the back of their head, until they manage to talk to me in Spanish I won't listen.

We sing songs in Spanish and I am fairly confident they know the standard repertoire from Alla en la Fuente, most of Cri-Cri, Doña Blanca, La Vibora de la Mar and Adelita. I can't wait until we get to José Alfredo Jimenez.

I also keep a very close group of Mexican friends who I love dearly, but mostly it is our "Mexicanness" that holds us together. Would I be close friends with each and every one of them in Mexico? Probably not. Thankfully here it is our country that has brought us together and I would not change them for anything. Together we celebrate Mexican holidays, for six years now we have done Día de Muerto, Posadas (I am in charge of the Ponche) and Rosca). We promote the friendship between our children who all go to different schools, so they have a sense of community and belonging, we need to remind them to speak Spanish between themselves, for unbeknown to us we are raising American children. How American or Mexican they will be in the end, the decision is theirs. All we can do is give them the tools. Siempre está el otro lado.

Are we all ready for a United States when the majority of the population shares more experiences with people like my wife and her Mexican friends than they do with people that grew up in predominantly white, blue-collar manufacturing and mining towns (where I came from)? It is coming soon. What do you think?