Anna lisa raya biography of michael

ANNA LISA RAYA

Daughter of a second-generation Mexican American father and a Puerto Rican mother, Anna Lisa Raya grew up in Los Angeles.

Anna lisa raya biography of michael

In , while she was an undergraduate at Columbia University in New York, she wrote and published this essay on identity.

It’s Hard Enough Being Me (Student Essay)

When I entered college, I discovered I was Latina.

Until then, I had never questioned who I was or where I was from: My father is a second-generation Mexican American, born and raised in Los Angeles, and my mother was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Compton, California. My home is El Sereno, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood in L.A.

Every close friend I have back home is Mexican. So I was always just Mexican. Though sometimes I was just Puerto Rican — like when we would visit Mamo (my grandma) or hang out with my Aunt Titi.

Upon arriving in New York as a first-year student, 3, miles from home, I not only experienced extreme culture shock, but for the first time I ha