Tag: Poetry

So, apparently October is just going to be my heritage month now. 😂

I already wrote about my Polish and German heritage, but then I realized something else: German-American Heritage Month and Hispanic Heritage Month overlap.

And considering I’m both German and Hispanic, I figured, fuck it. Let’s talk about all of it.

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 through October 15. German-American heritage observances also fall during this same general period, and October is recognized as Polish-American Heritage Month.

So here I am, looking at the calendar like:

“Oh. This month is basically made for me.”

Because my family history includes all three.

I’m Hispanic. I’m Polish. I’m German.

And then, because apparently my family tree wasn’t done collecting countries, I’m also Austrian and French.

But for October, I’m focusing on these three.

My Hispanic heritage is obviously a significant part of my background. My family has Salvadoran roots, and I’ve talked before about what that heritage means to me and why I wanted to write about it.

But Hispanic heritage isn’t something that exists in isolation from the rest of my family history.

Neither is my Polish or German heritage.

They’re all parts of the same family tree.

And I think that’s something that can sometimes get lost when we talk about heritage.

People can feel like they have to pick one identity and stick with it.

But why?

Why can’t someone be connected to multiple cultures and histories?

Why can’t I celebrate being Salvadoran while also celebrating being Polish and German?

I don’t have to choose.

I’m not a pie chart where every piece of my ancestry has to fight for the biggest percentage.

They’re all pieces of my history.

And honestly, I think that’s pretty fucking cool.

There’s also something interesting about having heritage from different parts of the world because it makes me more curious about all of them.

I want to learn more about Salvadoran history.

I want to learn more about Polish history.

I want to learn more about German history.

And eventually, I want to dig more into my Austrian and French heritage too.

I don’t think acknowledging your heritage requires pretending you personally experienced everything your ancestors experienced. It doesn’t mean claiming to be an expert on a culture simply because you have ancestors from there.

For me, it means recognizing where my family comes from, being curious about those histories, and appreciating the different threads that eventually became part of my own story.

And that’s what heritage means to me.

It’s history.

It’s family.

It’s culture.

It’s curiosity.

It’s the weird, complicated, sometimes incomplete story of how generations of people eventually led to me sitting here writing this fucking blog post.

So yeah.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month.

Happy German-American Heritage Month.

Happy Polish-American Heritage Month.

Apparently October is my month.

And honestly?

I’ll take it.

So, since it’s October, I figured, fuck it. Let’s talk about two more parts of my heritage: my Polish heritage and my German heritage.

I’ve talked before about my Salvadoran heritage, because that’s another major part of where my family comes from. But my background isn’t just Salvadoran. I’ve also got Polish, German, Austrian, and French heritage.

And since October happens to be a month when Polish-American and German-American heritage are both being recognized, I figured this was as good a time as any to talk about those two parts of my background.

I’m Polish.

I’m German.

And honestly, I think it’s pretty cool to be able to say that.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I’m some walking encyclopedia of Polish or German culture. I’m not. There are parts of those cultures that I know more about than others, and there are certainly things about my own family history that I still don’t know.

Heritage is complicated like that.

You can inherit a part of your family history without necessarily having grown up immersed in every aspect of that culture. And I think that’s something worth acknowledging.

For me, heritage isn’t simply a matter of saying, “Well, my ancestors came from this place, therefore I am automatically an expert on that culture.”

No.

It’s more about recognizing where some of my family history comes from and being curious about it.

Being Polish is one piece of that puzzle.

Being German is another.

And then there’s Austrian and French heritage too, which means my family tree is basically doing its own little tour of Europe before eventually crossing the Atlantic.

And honestly, I think there’s something pretty interesting about that.

We all come from somewhere.

Sometimes we know exactly where our ancestors came from. Sometimes we only know a little. Sometimes family stories get passed down for generations. Sometimes pieces of the story disappear.

And sometimes you find yourself looking at your own background and realizing, “Wait, I’m connected to all of these different places?”

That’s kind of where I am.

I can celebrate my Salvadoran heritage. I can celebrate my Polish heritage. I can celebrate my German heritage. And eventually, I can talk about my Austrian and French heritage too.

None of those things cancel each other out.

They’re all pieces of the same person.

Me.

And I think that’s one of the coolest things about heritage in general. It doesn’t have to fit neatly into one box.

You can have multiple histories running through your family.

You can be connected to multiple cultures.

You can learn about those cultures at different points in your life.

And you can decide that you’re interested in understanding more about where your family came from without pretending that you personally lived through the experiences of your ancestors.

So, this October, I’m taking a moment to recognize the Polish and German sides of my family history.

Happy Polish-American Heritage Month.

Happy German-American Heritage Month.

And here’s to all the different pieces of history that somehow came together to make me who I am.

Because apparently my family tree decided that one European country wasn’t enough.

And honestly?

I wouldn’t have it any other way.