Old Mexican Ladies Like Me

For some reason I have camradarie with old mexican women. When I asked to shoot a project in a restaurant on Cesar Chavez St named Colima, offering a little money, the old mexican lady said I could do it for free. Today, I only had $2 on me and the lady at the food cart hooked me up with a bagel and coffee that usually costs $2.75. We had a confusing moment because of language differences - I thought she said "I cannot do it," which was perfectly reasonable, but then she continued to make the cup of coffee and look at me like I was ungrateful. I thanked her and she asked me whether she said it right...I explained that cannot means NO, what she meant was "I can do it," the underused cousin of Vacham's saying, "YOU CAN DO IT!"

Maybe she thought I was Mexican because I'm not shaving this week.

On the flip side, I'm half Chinese and I have absolutely no camraderie with old Chinese ladies who push me out of the way at Chinese grocery stores and seem to have utter comtempt for my half-breedness, if they even notice. The only old Chinese ladies that liked me were my immediate relatives, once they got to know me...but even my distant relatives that are Chinese have contempt for me because I can't speak Chinese or do anything Chinese. If they knew I could make jook or see my ma jong skills, they might accept me better, but to be honest, I don't give a shit about their approval....I have my Mexican roots.