Navarro is community opinion editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune. She is a transfronteriza who lives on both sides of the border.
San Diego, CA
Opinion: Mexican is not a nationality, it’s a state of mind
When Costa Rican-born ranchera singer Chavela Vargas rose to international fame in the past century, she was asked in an interview if she was Mexican and she said yes. Immediately, reporters asked her how come she was Mexican if she was born in Costa Rica and her answer immortalized her. In a more folkloric way, she said that Mexicans are born wherever they want.
When someone asks me “Where are you from?” I tend to give a longer explanation than most people. I usually say, “I was born in San Diego, and raised in Tijuana,” because I have always felt like I am from both sides of the border, and because just like Chavela, I feel Mexican even if I wasn’t born there.
I am American because my parents decided to have my birth on the northern side of the border. According to them, the day after I was born, I was brought to Tijuana. (When recalling that story, my father remarks that no child seat was required to leave the hospital back then.)
And my case is not unique. In Tijuana and in other parts of the world, some families decide to pay to have birth deliveries in the United States. Just like Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila, who lives in Mexicali and decided to have her youngest child born in Imperial Valley in 2022.
During my school years, when Tijuana was a smaller city, I had classmates, friends and later in life even colleagues who were born on the northern side of the border. Some, like me, have decided to use their American nationality to work and others don’t.
These are not “anchor babies,” so please don’t even start arguing that. These are middle or high-income tourists who pay for a birth delivery service in a foreign country, and as long as they pay the hospital bill, there’s nothing illegal about it.
While American, being raised on Mexican soil had a powerful effect on me. During my younger years, I went to school in Mexican classrooms, traveled around many Mexican cities and fell in love with the culture of my parents and ancestors. Back then, I was convinced that I was Mexican, because my skin gets goosebumps while listening to the “Mexican National Anthem” the same way that it does with “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
When I became the mother of an American boy in 2012, I made a big effort to raise him bilingual and I even moved back to Tijuana to enroll him in a Mexican school for four years. I feel proud when I see that he is fluent in English and Spanish, and ashamed when he tells me of the racial slurs he has been called by those who believe he is not American enough. Last year, he visited Mexico City for the first time and he quickly learned that just standing in front of the Zócalo in Plaza de la Constitución is one of the proudest moments for any Mexican.
Since he was a little boy, our favorite Mexican celebration is on Nov. 2 for Day of the Dead, and on Sept. 16, we have our second favorite Mexican celebration, Independence Day.
I usually watch the TV transmission from Mexico City and directly from the Zócalo plaza. We see when the president recreates “el grito,” or the shouting, that was the call that triggered Mexicans to start their independence fight against Spain’s crown in 1810 and then he rings the bell, just like the priest Miguel Hidalgo, the father of Mexican independence, did it in his church.
And without food our Mexican celebration wouldn’t be complete. That’s why I learned to make pozole, a classic Mexican dish, that transports me back home.
While neither my son nor I were born in Mexico, we know our Mexican heritage is there, in my food and in our souls. We both know we are connected with our roots because like Chavela makes clear, being Mexican is more than a nationality, it is also an attitude, a state of mind and a way of life.
¡Viva México!
San Diego, CA
Annie Crowell Kuzminsky
Annie Crowell Kuzminsky
OBITUARY
Anne (Annie) Kuzminsky, beloved wife, mother, and sister passed away peacefully surrounded by her family, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 63.
Annie is survived by her husband Larry, her son Steven, her daughter Charlotte, her son Jack (Alex), her siblings Steven (Liz) Crowell of Houston, Texas; her brother Richard (Allison) Crowell of Pacific Palisades, California; her sister Karen (Gary) Wagner of Manhattan Beach, California; and her sister Catherine Crowell of Omaha, Nebraska.
Annie was born in Altadena, CA to James and Alice Crowell and grew up in San Mareno, CA. She attended college at Santa Clara University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Annie then moved to San Diego, CA where she met and married Larry Kuzminsky in 1989.
While residing in San Diego, Annie worked for several years with the accounting firm of KPMG and obtained her CPA. She next worked for First National Bank for several years before leaving to spend more time with her children and work part time for 20 years as a consultant for Madison Square Properties. Annie was not tempted by the corporate ladder and received satisfaction from her work relationships and doing her job well.
Annie loved being a mom and raising her three children. She helped out at the elementary school, and later enjoyed going to the many soccer games, baseball games, and track meets they participated in. Annie also loved animals. As a teenager she talked her parents into having a dog (Mitsy) and cats (Spido and Dido). More recently Annie enjoyed fostering kittens which inevitably led to the adoption of several of them. Aside from pets, one of her more memorable experiences was a safari trip to Africa.
Annie’s favorite place was the family house at Capistrano Beach. She had many fond memories of get togethers there with college, work and neighborhood friends. During family trips, she enjoyed watching the kids play, walking on the beach looking for glass, and seeing the beautiful sunsets. It was a great place to relax.
Annie had a great laugh and was one of a kind in the best way. Her moral compass was set to “true north” of caring and doing right. Annie was always her authentic self and her friends and family loved her for it. She was a realist but had a knack for looking on the bright side. That was her strength, but the cancer took all she had. She has earned her rest but will be greatly missed.
San Diego, CA
Gonzaga’s Michael Ajayi ruled out vs. San Diego
The Gonzaga men’s basketball team will be without two players for Wednesday night’s matchup against San Diego at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Michael Ajayi and Jun Seok Yeo were ruled out for the game against the Toreros due to illness, per the school.
Ajayi is coming off a 15-point outing in the Bulldogs’ 96-68 win over Loyola Marymount last Saturday. The 6-foot-7 senior is averaging 6.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Ajayi made 12 consecutive starts before coming off the bench against Portland and LMU.
Yeo, a 6-foot-8 junior, has appeared in eight games this season, averaging 3.9 minutes in those contests. He scored a season-high eight points in Gonzaga’s 113-54 victory over UMass-Lowell. Yeo also scored five points in just three minutes against Bucknell.
Gonzaga hopes to be fully healthy for an impending matchup against Washington State set for this Saturday at the Kennel (6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET).
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San Diego, CA
Israeli military recovers body of at least 1 hostage in Gaza
Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday, and the army was determining if another set of remains belongs to the man’s son.
The discovery of Yosef AlZayadni’s body comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages in Gaza and could halt the fighting. Israel has declared about a third of the 100 hostages dead, but believes as many as half could be.
Yosef and his son Hamzah AlZayadni were thought to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement, and news about their fate could ramp up pressure on Israel to move forward with a deal.
The military said it found evidence in the tunnel that raised “serious concerns” for the life of Hamzah AlZayadni, 23, suggesting he may have died in captivity.
Yosef AlZayadni and three of his kids were among 250 hostages taken captive after Hamas-led militants stormed out of Gaza into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people.
AlZayadni, who had 19 children, worked at the dairy farm at southern Israel’s Kibbutz Holit for 17 years, said the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the relatives of captives. AlZayadni’s teenage children, Bilal and Aisha, were released along with most of the hostages in a weeklong ceasefire deal in November 2023.
The family are members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel’s Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship. The traditionally nomadic community is particularly impoverished in Israel and has suffered from neglect and marginalization. Palestinians make up some 20% of Israel’s 10 million population, and millions more live in Gaza and under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank.
Eight members of Israel’s Bedouin minority were abducted in the October 2023 attacks.
Yosef AlZayadni appeared on a list of 34 hostages shared by a Hamas official with The Associated Press earlier this week who the militant group said were slated for release. Israel said this was a list it had submitted to mediators last July, and that it has received nothing from Hamas.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close” and he hopes “we can get it over the line” before handing over U.S. diplomacy to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration later this month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed sorrow at the news of AlZayadni’s death, and said in a statement he had “hoped and worked to bring back the four members of the family from Hamas captivity.” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz earlier said the bodies of both Yosef and Hamzah AlZayadni had been recovered, but the military said the identity of some remains were not yet determined.
The Hostages Families Forum said the ceasefire deal being negotiated “comes far too late for Yosef – who was taken alive and should have returned the same way.”
“Every day in captivity poses an immediate mortal danger to the hostages,” the group said in a statement.
Many of the families fear their loved ones’ fate is at risk as long as the war in Gaza rages on. Israeli forces are pressing their air and ground war against Hamas, and on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip, including two infants and a woman.
An Associated Press journalist saw four of the bodies in the morgue at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, among them a 4-month-old boy. Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has since killed over 45,800 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up over half the fatalities. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel has destroyed vast areas of the impoverished territory and displaced some 90% of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
The fighting has also spilled over into the broader Middle East, including a war between Israel and Hezbollah now contained by a fragile ceasefire, and direct conflict between Israel and Iran.
Iran-backed rebels in Yemen have targeted shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year and recently ramped up missile attacks on Israel, saying they seek to force an end to the war in Gaza. And on Wednesday, the U.S. military said it carried out a wave of strikes against underground arms facilities of the Houthi rebels.
___
Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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