My Shakira moment

When I was a freshman in college I went to a party at the Mods, an area of the campus where only seniors were supposed to hang out. These were apartment-style housing units that originally were there for students that had families.

Anyway, once you got inside one of the apartments, which was easy, you had all the beer and booze you wanted or could handle.

One of the first times I was there, this is when I was very insecure (or more so), dressed horribly, and knew nothing about anything. So I was standing there in a checkered shirt that I thought was pretty cool, kind of checking out the scene.

Then a song came on, one that reminded me of Guatemala and everything I had "left behind." So I got pumped up and started kind of mouthing the lyrics. You know, I got lost in the moment with the beer running through me, the music jamming, memories flowing, and the party atmosphere of these senior apartments.

It was a Shakira song when Shakira had black hair and was considered alternative in Latin America. She was a complete unknown in the US.

Next thing I know I see a girl across the room staring at me and telling her friends, "Oh my god! Look at this guy! He knows the lyrics!"

She was drunk, obviously, and she came over and started talking to me.

At that point I thought, "Sweet, finally the Guatemalan thing pays off here."

I told her where I was from, she was in awe of it, couldn't believe it, but then took a closer look at me: too skinny for my height, too much acne to be of any relevance to the opposite sex, dressed too much like a freshman in high school, let alone college.

She got over her awe real quick and we both went about our business at the party—her hanging out with her friends and me drinking too much beer and just kind of standing around next to my friends.

It was one of those rare instances that really let people identify me as something "Latino." Ever since then I strain and reach for anything I can do, say or pantomime that will let people see that I am "Latino."

Why? Because we all want to be different, don't we?