:01:02
I think I have been pointing
toward this essay...
:01:05
ever since the day, 12 years ago in Mexico,
when my father left.
:01:15
Such was my mother's need to protect me...
:01:18
that she would not let me see her cry.
:01:24
The trick was...
:01:25
get over it as quickly
and privately as possible.
:01:43
Such was my need to protect her...
:01:46
that I never let on that I could hear her.
:01:59
My mother kept us in Mexico
as long as possible...
:02:02
to root me in all things Latin.
:02:05
Finally, she sensed
our last opportunity for change.
:02:10
We would leave for America.
:02:15
"One tear."
:02:17
"Just one."
:02:19
"So make it a good one," she said.
:02:33
She would be my Mexico.
:02:42
Because this admissions essay
is open record...
:02:45
let me just say that our transportation
into the United States was...
:02:50
economy class.
:02:55
In order to raise me properly...
:02:58
my mother needed as much of the security
of her own culture as possible.