Essay: Reine Dugas Bouton “My Inner Latina”

“I’m a mix, a Mediterranean cocktail of sorts, like many people in New Orleans. My dad’s French and Italian; my mom’s Spanish with a touch of Welsh. The closest link I have to my ethnicity is my cousin in Los Angeles. Lisa is proud of her Latina heritage — she lives it. She spends time with her boisterous, voluble, in-your-face, never boring family; they dance at parties, make tamales for the holidays, speak in English with Spanish words sprinkled like bits of jalapeño into a salsa verde. Proud of who she is, Lisa’s got a spicy personality and speaks rapid fire.”

Excerpt from “My Inner Latina: Dancing toward a lost heritage” by Reine Dugas Bouto, published online in Etude: New Voices in Literary Nonfiction.