Transcript
MARIA: So Yareli Arizmendi, many people know you as the star of-- one of the stars of Like Water For Chocolate, [speaking Spanish], and Sergio Arau, huge rock star in Mexico from the group Botellita de Jerez. Both of you together have created the movie A Day Without A Mexican, and many, many other projects. But of course, even though I know you, I had never heard the story of how these two people come together. So what’s the story, Yareli? How did it happen?
YARELI: We always say that it’s the real love story of Like Water For Chocolate. Laura Esquivel, the writer of Like Water For Chocolatekind of intentionally threw us together, hoping that a spark would just take over and, you know, this was her love project, her love experiment. And it worked. We’ve been together 16 years.
MARIA: How does a couple, who is, you know, producing together; both of you are stars in your own right; and yet, you have these big, creative projects. You live in Hollywood-- or near Hollywood. You’re trying to make it in the business. Most people are kind of ripping each other at the seams, at this point. How do you do it?
SERGIO: I think-- I think it’s-- it’s, um, uh-- neurosis compatibility, yeah. Because I’ve-- It’s something that happens, you know. You-- you can’t plan that, “Oh I wouldn’t want to work with that-- that guy or that woman.” No, it doesn’t work that way. But we start-- I mean, the first thing we start-- I mean, we start dating, we start going out. And-- And we put together a-- a show about the-- about the--
YARELI: Free Trade Agreement--
SERGIO: NAFTA-- NAFTA thing in Mexico. And then, we-- we did the--
YARELI: But it was a test. It was a test to see if we could work together. I always say that a couple--
SERGIO: I mean, we never think about that--
MARIA: As a test?
YARELI: I thought of it as a test-- no, no, no, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. No, but I do think--
SERGIO: I mean--
YARELI: -- that-- that when you’re a couple, and as a romantic couple, your duty is to first be a romantic couple. It’s not like a working couple. And-- And because-- From the moment we sat down, the way that we would talk, and what creates, kind of, pleasure, you know, to us is to be thinking about what’s going on politically, socially. And we’re both-- inject humor into the discussion, and all of that. So that’s just-- we talk like that.
SERGIO: Yeah.
YARELI: And we think that way. So the show that we came up with, which is Penny Envy--
MARIA: Penny Envy?
YARELI: Penny Envy.
MARIA: The idea being that many Mexicans are envious of the American penny?
YARELI: Yeah.
MARIA: Therefore, that’s why they wanted the Free Trade Agreement?
SERGIO: Yeah, it’s-- it’s, um, a Freudian explanation of NAFTA.
MARIA:A Freudian—
YARELI: Of why we fell for it.
SERGIO: Yeah. It was a joke. I mean, of course--
MARIA: Okay, well some things involved for you. And you came up with an idea, early in the 1990s-- again, another kind of this stellar moment of saying-- of creating this notion of A Day Without A Mexican-- which, of course, is released in the year 2004. But the actual creation, the idea happened, how, Yareli?
YARELI: The idea came out and, um, started, really, in 1994. And I’ll let Sergio speak about the personal, but I’ll speak about the social context. And that was the year that Pete Wilson was launching his second term career-- I mean, you know, for Governor, his launch for Governor-- and proposed Proposition 187, which kind of became famous in California and nationwide.
MARIA: You know, it feels like Proposition 187 was 25 years ago. It was 1994?
YARELI: 1994, yeah. And then, it has kind of come back in different guises, now, you know. It’s trying to pass in Colorado-- it was a big deal last year, over all of the elections.
MARIA: Right. All of these, basically, legislative projects to limit—
YARELI: To limit--
MARIA: --the access of undocumented immigrants and immigrants to schools, services, education.
YARELI: Right. So I mean, the basic argument being that, you know, every problem that California has, is-- is because of these illegals taking our money from our Treasury, our coffers, you know-- that we have to give them goods and services and, you know, they no rights, et cetera; and us watching from the sidelines and saying, “Tell them the full story, guy, you know.”
MARIA: And from your perspective, the full story is--
YARELI: The full story is, tell them how much they contribute to the well-being of California; meaning, you know, the profit that they produce, which was basically $100 billion dollars.
SERGIO: One of the main things-- the main things is that-- I mean, Pete Wilson says that that the Government of California spent $3 billion dollars a year just in services for illegals. Then they said, that’s the other--
YARELI: It was like, okay, but the profit that they produce is $100 billion.
MARIA: Which, by the way, is interesting; because Texas has become the first state to officially acknowledge that there is more that comes in from undocumented immigrants than what goes out. But-- But Sergio, there was something that was emotional that was happening, where you--
SERGIO: Yes.
MARIA: You were-- are, but at that time, huge star in Mexico. You moved to the United States to be with Yareli, and you were feeling lost and invisible as a Mexican artist here.
SERGIO: Yeah. I want you to point that out. I was very well-known, but I was always an outsider. I never been on TV and radio. I mean, people know me--
MARIA: You’re an alternative star.
SERGIO: An alternative, yeah.
YARELI: Yes.
SERGIO: But yeah, I moved with Yareli in-- in ’92, to San Diego. And by ’94, I was totally depressed, because I didn’t speak a word of English. I didn’t-- Um, nobody knows my previous work. Nobody knows me. Nobody care about knowing what I did, what I feel, and anything. I feel totally invisible. Then, um-- Well, we were walking in New York, the day they call Day Without Art--
MARIA: December First?
SERGIO: Yeah.
MARIA: Yeah, December First.
SERGIO: Yeah, they close all the museums and galleries to revalue the contribution of artists who die of AIDS. And-- And I was complaining--
SERGIO: And I was complaining. And Yareli say, “You know what California needs is a day without a Mexican, something to-- to help to revalue our presence.
MARIA: I have to-- I know, but I have to wonder-- Here you are. You’re her husband feeling totally depressed. She says, “What California needs is a day without Mexicans.” And you’re like, “Well wait a second-- I’m emotional”
YARELI: You’re talking about me. No, because we were-- You see, this is where it gets interesting, because to us, A Day Without A Mexicanis a very personal project as well. And it is this, uh, invisibility that Sergio was feeling, that we kept, you know, arguing. On the social plane, there is such an invisibility. And it’s so unfair that they don’t see the contribution of undocumented workers, and of Latinos in general. So it had-- It’s-- It’s the same parallel-- It’s sort of, like, we would need a Sergio Arau Day, a day without Sergio Arau as well. But I think it’ll be more-- It’s more effective--
MARIA: It’s coming, it’s coming.
YARELI: -- to do a day--
SERGIO: It is coming--
MARIA: Next year, next year.
YARELI: -- a day without, you know, Mexicans, so-- so as to make this-- this invisibility evident; and by making it evident, then--
MARIA: So let’s talk a little bit about what happens. You put out the movie. It is a big commercial success. In Mexico, it’s the number one movie of the year.
SERGIO: Yeah, yeah. And actually, I think we were in the third-- it’s the third biggest box office hit ever--
YARELI: … in history, in Mexico.
SERGIO: Yeah.
MARIA: And Mexico has a huge cinematic experience.
SERGIO: Yeah, yeah.
MARIA: So to be number three is huge.
SERGIO: Yeah, it’s big.
MARIA: In this country, huge success--
SERGIO: The thing is, in California, we-- actually, the first weekend, we-- we-- we were second place after Troy-- but just in California, because we didn’t go national.
YARELI: In terms of screens and everything.
MARIA: That’s huge.
SERGIO: Yeah, huge. I mean, yeah, it was-- I mean, people was jumping, literally.
MARIA: And then you-- And you sold millions and millions of dollars in terms of the actual DVD sales?
YARELI: In DVD.
SERGIO: Yes.
MARIA: But there was a lot of-- You know, the critics didn’t like it-- in this country. I didn’t read the critics in Mexico.
SERGIO: In Mexico, we’re more benevolent.
MARIA: They were more benevolent.
YARELI: Well, they were-- No, but it’s-- it’s very interesting, because it was-- it was taken differently in both-- in each country. Here, because the people that are doing the reviews are, you know, kind of-- of the mainstream order, right? So you have a totally-- I don’t want to say mono-cultural, kind of mono-lingual, you know, reality-- reviewing this-- at least, bilingual, bicultural reality of a film that we’re talking about.
MARIA: So you kind of feel like, even from the get-go, there’s a problem.
YARELI: They’re-- They’re-- It’s like they’re not necessarily going to get it and receive all the tracks, all the levels that are in the film-- that the audience-- Exactly. This-- The best example-- Critics were, um-- You know, they kept on saying, “What is this? Is this a documentary? Is it a drama? Is it a comedy? I mean, get with it. You’ve got to be, you know, in a genre.”
MARIA: Define yourself. Define yourself.
YARELI: And I’m like, “No we don’t.” Exactly-- define ourselves. But--
SERGIO: But-- But that’s a very Hollywood thing, style; because in Europe and the rest of the world, the-- the films has-- the genres are not defined the same way.
MARIA: But in this country, you have to have kind of what-- is it a family film? Is it a drama?
SERGIO: Exactly.
MARIA: Is it a comedy?
YARELI: And I never found out why, you know, they need these kind of slots. It’s because it’s easier to sell them. When you-- You know, not everybody’s going to want everything--
MARIA: When you have a particular audience.
YARELI: It’s like, “Oh, here’s the action pile. Here’s the this and that, you know.”
SERGIO: The drama and the comedy--
YARELI: So it’s about selling it. And I’m like, “Well, I don’t care. I’m not making this film as a sellable product, you know. I think that if it reaches the audience, it will catch fire; because we’re talking about things that are important to us, and we are part of the audience.” So, um, you know, the audiences would come out of the film, saying “I loved it. I learned something. I cried. I laughed,” which was exactly counter to a lot of the critics.
SERGIO: You know, actually, we-- we won a lot of audience award, in the—the festivals.
YARELI: Yeah, in-- in 1998.
SERGIO: Yeah. But a lot-- I mean, seriously, the short film, yeah. But not the critics-- it was--
MARIA: So it’s rare that, as artists, you can see something conceptually, and then it becomes reality. I mean-- You know, usually it’s reality that becomes, uh, a movie, let’s say-- The Titanic, for example-- it becomes a movie. But here, you guys come up with this notion of a day without Mexicans. And then, in the year 2006, on May First, essentially, kind of sprung up from the bottom, there was this notion of all Mexicans, all Latinos, you know, disappear for a day-- don’t go to work. What was that like, to see something that you had conceptualized become, in essence, a reality?
SERGIO: Yeah, well, it’s-- it’s--
YARELI: Beautiful.
SERGIO: It’s beautiful. It’s amazing. I mean, you know-- And it was-- Little by little, we discovered-- we’ve been discovering, “Oh, they mentioned the film.” Actually, they were using the name of the film-- I mean, the name was A Day Without An Immigrant, or A Day Without A Latino--
YARELI: A Day Without Immigrants.
SERGIO: You know-- And Wow, I mean, we were so blessed.
YARELI: Which was beautiful, to be-- I mean, and it confirmed this fact of we are the audience. You know what I’m saying? It-- It was born out of a need that we had with a-- well, we described the personal-- you know, Sergio’s personal, uh, you know, issue, uh, you know. And-- And as artists, you transform it into something that has a form, you know. But it’s-- it’s that same gut-level thing that made people get out on the street and-- and-- and, you know, walk, and-- and get together--
MARIA: And a lot of people, though, about those demonstrations-- I found this very interesting-- Many people said, you know, those immigrants were out on the streets, and they were demanding things. They were demanding-- And I wondered, did you see immigrants, in these protests, coming out and demanding?
YARELI: They were demanding, because they were no longer invisible. And that, enough-- I think that’s exactly what had happened, in a way, with the film. It was like, “Where did these people come out of?” You know what I’m saying? “Who is this Sergio and Yareli, making a film, and making this grand”-- because it became an issue nationally, when the film came out, because a lot of it-- the publicity campaign, and-- and, you know, it raised the issue. But it was-- In terms of Hollywood, it was like, “Who represents them? Are they with what agency? What is this?”
MARIA: Are you kidding? People were actually--
YARELI: Yeah, well, there is this attitude of, like, “What? They think they can just walk into Hollywood and just do it? And who’s-- who is distributing these people?”
MARIA: Really? So there was that kind of, like, “Who are they?”
SERGIO: Yeah, totally.
YARELI: “Oh, you think you have the right to just come and waltz into the system, and just, you know, do what you want?” And in a way-- And I don’t know if I’m just, you know, projecting a-- a rationale that is not there-- but I do feel that there was a little bit of punishment afterwards, in terms of not--
MARIA: You mean like these upstarts?
SERGIO: Yes, yes.
YARELI: These upstarts, exactly, these uppity Mexicans coming in, you know, and just kind of, you know, doing their thing. “Oh yeah, well fine. We’ll just wait for you to do your next thing, because we’re not going to”-- I mean, with everything that happened with the film-- the noise that it made, the way that it went over very well with the audience-- in Hollywood terms, everything that we had been told, is “If your film makes money, and it has an audience, you’re off. You’ll be working all the time.”
MARIA: And you’re, in essence, saying it happened, and people--
SERGIO: No.
YARELI: They have not called us from the studios, you know, for us to direct--
SERGIO: No, I don’t have an agent, for example.
YARELI: We don’t have an agent-- you don’t have an agent.
SERGIO: I sit with-- with-- with-- with a few agents. It was funny, because they were-- they were saying, “Uh, I-- I don’t see you directing a--a romantic comedy.” I said, “I don’t see myself, either.” And then, “Okay, thank you.” That’s it.
YARELI: And--And one agent, uh-- you know, explained it to me real well-- it was-- I think she was so right. She goes, “Yareli, it’s like coming-- you know, representing Michael Moore, and you’re going to give Michael Moore a project? You wait for Michael Moore’s next project, you know.” So that’s-- “Oh, so we just better get out there and keep, you know, creating our own projects.”
SERGIO: They were working in that.
MARIA: In fact, the projects that you’re working on now, Sergio, you’re doing uh, a mockumentary about your big musical rock group in Mexico.
SERGIO: Yes.
MARIA: Um-- People may not know it in this country-- It’s Botellita de Jerez, which means--
SERGIO: Little Bottle of Cherry.
MARIA: Little Bottle of Sherry--
SERGIO: Sherry--
MARIA: The sherry that you drink, right?
SERGIO: Yeah. But it’s a play, or it’s a--
MARIA: Or cherry, also, as well?
YARELI: No.
SERGIO: It’s a saying-- or, it’s, uh, like a kid’s saying-- would you explain that, because--
YARELI: It’s a kid saying, here, you know, “I know you are, but what am I?” that little game that kids play.
MARIA: Yeah?
YARELI: So--
SERGIO: It’s Botellita de Jerez [speaking Spanish].
YARELI: Everything I say, will be on you. So it’s a--
MARIA: Will be on you-- So this-- your band was huge, kind of an underground alternative rock band?
SERGIO: Yeah, we started the-- the rock scene in Mexico in the ‘80s, because, uh, there was no rock singers--
MARIA: You really were the first ones to do rock en españolin Mexico?
SERGIO: Yeah, in Mexico. I mean, there-- there was-- I mean, other groups would do-- but the majority, they were just playing covers in English. And there was a few-- we call it allas franquis(?)-- I mean, around in this-- out in the city and in the suburbs-- and they used to play a few songs in Spanish, but really, really--
MARIA: And your band disbands. And then, it comes together again in the year 2005, and you’re playing before the crowd of 35,000 people in Mexico City.
SERGIO: Yeah, I played for people in Mexico, yeah.
MARIA: Huge. And now, your mockumentary that you’re doing is-- is basically looking for a lost record.
SERGIO: Yeah. But-- And the name is Plan Bis the real story of Botellita de Jerez based, more or less, in real facts.
MARIA: Which is actually-- because you showed me-- the real story based, more or less, on fact.
SERGIO: More or less, yeah.
MARIA: Um-- And you’re acting in that movie, Yareli, but you’re also doing your own projects. And I wanted to talk about one of the projects that you’re working on now, which is yours, but it really involves the reality that we’re all living-- if you’re at all bi-cultural-- it’s called AMexican -- AMexican, as if you’re writing American, but it’s AMexican.
YARELI: Right. Just change the “r”, but in the “x”, and you’re--
MARIA: And when you showed me, um, the-- you actually have a tee shirt. And I said, “Oh my gosh, this is incredibly controversial.” You have an American flag that’s basically using the colors of the Mexican flag-- red, green and white.
YARELI: Right.
MARIA: And I just thought, “Oh my God,”--
YARELI: Here we go again.
MARIA: “This is hugely controversial.” I mean, what-- do you just like pushing people’s buttons? Or do you want people to get upset? Do you want to raise their ire? What--
YARELI: I-- I want them to actually see what they don’t see and name what has no name, but exists. And that is basically, in this case, is me, you know. I don’t mean to, um, dishonor the flag and, you know, that-- the way that it would be taken, basically is like-- is like, “That’s so violent. What are you doing that?” You know, I would just say, “This is me. This-- I am 100% American, 100% Mexican. I am AMexican, and that’s a third reality that is a reality. And it’s not only my reality, I think worldwide, there’s more and more people that live bi-culturally, tri-culturally. And if you don’t learn to speak-- to be that flexible and speak across cultural borders, speak across-- I mean, I think that you’re just, uh, cutting yourself off from life in a way.
MARIA: Right. And then, your response to people like Pat Buchanan, who say, “And this is precisely the problem of so many Mexican immigrants,”-- speaking specifically about Mexicans-- “is that they want to come and create some other reality that doesn’t fit in this country.” You know, he says that Mexicans are coming to “reconquer,” that they are here for that “reconquista”-- or as he would say, the “reconquista.” Um-- So what do you say, Sergio, when you hear this, kind of, like-- “You know, you’re coming here to change the reality of this country, and we don’t want you to change the reality of this country.”
SERGIO: Well-- Well, the-- the reality is changed-- I mean--
YARELI: Has changed already.
SERGIO: The reality is-- is there, and this is what it is. I mean, we’re not changing any-- I mean, we’re changing every day, but it has been changing every day since the nation was created. I mean-- and before that.
MARIA: And so when you hear people say, you know, “Put up that wall. Build a wall, because we have to keep that change out”?
SERGIO: It doesn’t-- If the Government want to stop people on the border, then they going to-- they can do it. I mean, they-- they show it in after 9/11-- they closed the borders.
YARELI: And not a soul passed by.
SERGIO: And no one pass, okay.
MARIA: So in other words, they have the capacity.
SERGIO: They-- They let the people enter.
SERGIO: They-- They need-- They need these people working in the fields. They need these-- These big corporations need these people. Then, I don’t think-- I think this is some-- it’s a hypocrisy thing.
YARELI: It’s hypocritical, you know, that-- that-- the way they acknowledge it.
MARIA: But when you hear this, Yareli, when you hear people saying this kind of stuff--
SERGIO: Ere conquista.
MARIA: Yeah, well this notion that, you know, when you’re saying-- I mean, I’m sure that people will hear you say, “I’m 100% American and 100% Mexican.” And there may be some people who say, “You can’t be that. You can’t be that and live in this country and be an American citizen, because you can’t be that.” And you say--
YARELI: And I say that this is what I am.
SERGIO: Yeah, Latina.
YARELI: And if you listen to me, I’ll explain exactly why. And you’ll get to know me and see that I’m not that different from you, you know. And-- And-- I mean, I don’t want to say, like, “We’re all people, and we’re all friends.” It’s “Understand the reality that you’re living in.” It’s ridiculous to go and hide and pretend that you-- you know, there is one way to be an American. Um-- Pat Buchanan, in specifically, I want to remind him that he comes from an immigrant family, and from Irish and Germans-- that we’re exactly in the same situation that Mexicans and Latinos are today. If you read what was said about, you know, these Italians, and these Germans, who will not assimilate, who are intent on changing our way of life, et cetera-- these are-- these are the-- the-- the statements that were being said back in 1800s, about these immigrants, which could fit exactly what is being said about Mexicans and Latinos right now. You know, “They are coming here to change,”-- It’s not-- I’m not coming here to change the way that, you know-- that the Americans are. That’s not my life-long project, like, “Oh, I will cross that border and go change the way”-- it’s like, come on.
MARIA: In fact, didn’t you grow up in-- You spent quite a bit of time in--
YARELI: Kansas, in Acheson, Kansas.
SERGIO: Yeah, learning the American way-- I mean, in Mexico, I mean-- we know-- well, we know every American program.
YARELI: Let me-- Let me just say-- to the reconquista--
MARIA: But the Mexicans don’t-- But the Americans don’t necessarily know everything about Mexico. Mexicans know everything about the United States--
YARELI: The world knows everything about the United States. And that’s what’s very funny to me, when they say about-- when they talk about the reconquista, it’s like, “But you already conquered my nation. Do you understand? You already went to my country and showed me your way of life. And that’s the part that Americans, in general-- like the common citizen-- doesn’t realize.
MARIA: But I can imagine that people hear that, and they say, “And Yareli’s really angry about that, and that’s why she’s trying to come and, you know, put this down people’s throats,” so, you know, “Accept me. I can be 200%, you know, a Mexican and an American.”
YARELI: Yeah. But-- you know what? It’s-- It’s very funny. One more time, I have to say, I feel like my whole life has been spent in being a translator, being, in a sense-- not an angry translator, but just a translator. When I got to Kansas, thanks to Cable Television, I knew all of the TV programs that were the big thing in the United States.
SERGIO: She was in love with Donnie Osmond.
YARELI: I was in love with Donnie Osmond.
MARIA: The truth comes out? You’re Donnie.
YARELI: Yes, Donnie-- Donnie-- You know, every song. My best friend in life was Marie. I thought-- you know, I just-- If I could just meet them-- Okay, this is very personal. We’re going into very intimate, you know, terrain. But yes-- I got there, and I was-- hey, I was Jaclyn Smith in-- in, you know, Charlie’s Angels. I knew, I mean, everything. When I, likewise, tried to say, “Oh, but Chapulin Colorado, this and that”-- I got these blank stares, like-- “Cha-Chapu-- what?” I’m like, oh-- never mind.
MARIA: Which, for people, who are getting their blank stare right now, Chapulin Colorado-- A huge television character in Mexico.
YARELI: Huge-- in Mexico and Latin America. But, of course, I was like-- quickly realized this, like, “Oh, well I guess you haven’t-- you don’t know that part? Okay, all right. Well, let’s just talk about Starsky and Hutch.” You know what I’m saying? So I-- In a sense, what I’m trying to show, is that it’s a plus to have all these layers to you, to have all these understandings. Why wouldn’t it be fun to speak every single language on this earth, to understand cultures, and be invited in? What is the fear, is my question.
MARIA: Okay, perhaps. But-- but-- but Sergio, when you came to this country, when you moved here in the early 1990s and you didn’t speak English, you were the real outsider, you know. And Yareli’s saying, “Speak all these languages,” and you were thinking, “Learning English is really hard. I don’t want to.”
SERGIO: It was really-- I mean, when people say, “Oh, they don’t-- they don’t want to learn or anything,” it is really hard to-- to learn another language--
MARIA: Especially when you’re kind of older in life?
SERGIO: Exactly, yeah.
YARELI: Older in life, and-- and working, you know. I mean, all these people that have three jobs, when are they going to go to school?
SERGIO: I-- I mean-- yes.
MARIA: So how did you learn it, Sergio?
SERGIO: Oh, I pushed myself really hard. I mean, it-- it took, like, 10 years to really-- well, to speak this-- this English I have now.
SERGIO: That’s-- I don’t say that my Government didn’t train me to reconquer-- reconquer the United States. No, that’s-- Everything-- Every time that I hear the reconquistathing, I think, well, if you were going to sell-- you’re going to sell an army to reconquer some country--
YARELI: A territory--
SERGIO: -- a territory, please, you train them. You-- You feed them. You-- I mean, you give a lot-- I mean, the people who are coming here, comes with nothing-- please. I mean, it’s pathetic to think that is a reconquista.
YARELI: They’re exposed. They’re thrown out of their country. They’re not-- you know.
MARIA: So-- So, Yareli, you will also be working with Plan-- Plan B, which is the movie, the mockumentary that will be coming out soon. And with AMexican, it will be-- what? A performance? A book?
YARELI: It’s going to be a book. I think that’s how it’s going to start. I will see what it evolves in.
MARIA: And you’re essentially saying, “I also don’t want to be invisible.” If Sergio was feeling invisible as a Mexican, you know, living in this country, you’re saying--
YARELI: Yeah--
MARIA: -- “As a fully bi-cultural, bilingual person, see me for what I am”?
YARELI: It’s-- It’s not so much a cry for myself. What I see, is that there's a lot of AMexicans that are out there, that don’t have a name yet, you know, that will recognize themselves in what I am saying. It’s not that I want to be the preacher of “AMexicanity,” you know, but it--
MARIA: “AMexicanity”-- oh my God.
YARELI: Okay, now that’s evolving-- Well, the AMexican Tribe, we can call them the AMexican Tribe. But I think that-- especially-- I’m very concerned with younger women, you know. And I’m very concerned with-- with youth, in general, because this was very-- Um, I think I had a-- a-- you know, a very privileged understanding-- not privileged as in, “Oh, you had everything served.” Somehow, I understood in Kansas that, “Oh, they don’t know my reality, okay. I’ll-- You know, I know theirs, so I’ll be able to be flexible and stuff.” But not everybody can do that, you know. As you mentioned before, that when you are called apochoin Mexico, when you go back to Mexico and “ay mira-- you don’t speak good Spanish, and you’re supposed to be Mexican, too.” And they make fun of you, and that-- that-- that makes you feel so bad. You know, I want to give a-- a little girl out there something that says, “This is what I am, you know. And don’t expect me to be-- you know, speaking perfect Spanish, perfect English, whatever,” just like Lila Rodrigues in A Day Without A Mexicansays, you know, “I am American, but my heart is Mexican,” and that whole scene-- well, not everybody has seen the film, but you should--
MARIA: All right, so that means-- that means that--
YARELI: That is the beginning of “AMexicanity”.
MARIA: All right. So that means that the little girls who are watching-- or the little boys can say, “Okay, I can be like them.” Thank you, Yareli Arizmendi and Sergio Arau for joining me.
SERGIO: Thank you very much.
MARIA: My pleasure.
YARELI: All right.
END OF INTERVIEW
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