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Dr. Pilar Melero, a profesor at the Univesity of Wisconsin-Whitewater, tells us about challenges she faced when she arrived in the United States without speaking English. 

Melero, born and raised in Atotonilco, Durango, Mexico,  moved to Wisconsin, with her family at 15 and had to adapt as she met new challenges. 

In Mexico, Dr. Melero states, “I was a star student, I felt great, I had good grades, I was in student council, school was my life.” 

 

Her life changed drastically when she arrived in the United States and, at school, she found opportunities limited because she did not speak English. She could not participate in class; she was unable to join student organizations because she did not know English.

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With time, Dr. Melero learned English and was able to be a good student again, However, while learning English, Dr. Melero realized that her Mexican culture was not valued. 

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“In the media, Mexico was presented as a culture that still rode donkies everywhere,” Dr. Melero said. That devaluation of her culture had an effect on her, causing her to internalize some of the negative images to the point of almost becoming convinced that Mexican culture was, indeed, deficient. In fact, for a while, she was embarrassed about speaking Spanish in public, but she says that she was lucky to attend college and relearn some of her history. She then decided that this country—and specially its wrong ideas about her Latin american origin—were not going to define her. She—and only she—had the power and the privilege of defining herself, of defining the person she would be. 

“False mirrors render us smaller than we actually are,” Dr. Melero comments. She then adds that  her story—and the histories and stories of her country, or her people—are weapons she can use to defend herself against macroaggressions, against those seemingly inoffensive attacks she faces as a racialized woman in the United States, such as being pitied for not having belonged to mainstream organizations that mark one’s standing as middle class. 

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“I was once pitied for not having been part of girl scouts,” she comments, “or for not having learned to swim in summer camp. But you know what? I learned to swim in an actual river, and I grew up surrounded by tons of cousins and family with whom I learned to saw, cook, play—dream! Those are also ways of knowing, and no way of knowing is more valid than others. 

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Dr. Melero has a family and a profession in her new country, but she has not forgotten her roots. And, though her life is not highly traditional, she continues to cherish and respect her community—Mexican, Latina, Hispana—her roots, whether traditional or not. They are part of her history/story, and of the history/story she hopes her own children will grab on to as they search for their own definition of who they are. 

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Dr. Melero comments that is is important “not only to know one’s own worth, but, just as important, to value those around you.”

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Not only does she demand respect as a woman, but is also committed to respecting the rights and traditions of others, even if they are different from hers. 

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Dr. Melero seeks to advocate for women’s rights through her creative writing and scholarly research. A writer and academic, she has published four books. She has also been a journalist and she published a column for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for seven years.  With four books published, Dr. Melero is a writter and a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. 

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A woman with a positive mindset and wonderful goals, that is Dr. Melero. And that is also what she has given to the Latinx communities where she has lived. And even though she is a professional, she has never forgotten her roots and she will always be a proud woman and a proud Mexican as she continues to reach out for her dreams.
 

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