Michael Cruz

18111 Nordhoff Street

Northridge, CA 91330
October 4, 2022
Jose Cruz
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330
Dear Jose Cruz (dad),

Hello Dad. So far in my freshman year in college, I’ve begun to understand about different
cultures around the world. This culture that I have taken a huge interest in are the Mayan
Culture. I’ve written short essays about the Mayan culture. I even wrote a letter to a writer
named Giovanni Batz who studies Mayan culture. I acknowledged his studies. Through Giovanni
Batz, I learned a lot about this culture. Now I am going to tell you about the Mayans. Mayans
originate from Guatemala. Before Guatemala became the spanish speaking country that we know
of today, it was an indigenous country filled with the Mayan population. They spoke the Yucatec
language instead of Spanish. When the Spaniards arrived, they took control of Guatemala. Now,
Guatemala is filled with more Spanish speakers than Mayans. There are several Mayans living
here in Los Angeles today. We might see them on a daily basis, but we don’t notice them. The
reason behind this is because many Mayan adolescents are afraid to embrace their culture. They
believe people are going to confuse them for Spanish Speaking Guatemalians. Many adolescents
ignore their Mayan roots. They claim to just be Guatemalan. This isn’t true at all because even
though they originate from Guatemala, Mayan blood lives within them. They have different
cultures/traditions than Hispanics do. Some believe that there are different Gods. During parties,
they put on their “trajes”, and they dance. This is significant because this is a part of their unique
culture. I am also reading this novel called “High-risk Homosexual.” This novel is about a boy
named Edgar Gomez who is a part of Nicaraguan culture classified as “Machismo”. This culture
is when men prove their dominance towards anyone especially women. In this memoir he is
afraid to embrace his culture. As the story commences, his uncle wants him to copulate with this
girl he met at the bar. Edgar isn’t like his uncle and refuses to get intimate with her. Edgar is also
a homosexual, which doesn’t allign with his culture. Anyways, the reason why I am bringing
Edgar’s story is because it is related to Mayan society here in Los Angeles. Mayans don’t feel
comfortable adopting their culture such as Edgar doesn’t want to adopt his either. Both Mayan
adolescents today and Edgar are afraid of how the world is going to perceive them. In my essays,
I have recognized that it is difficult to represent who you are. If this were a perfect world, Mayan
teenagers would publicly announce their religion, and Edgar would be able to come out to his
family. These cultures are very strict. I have an idea of what that feeling is like because I am
Catholic. At times, it is scary to tell the truth when it comes to Catholicism. Luckily, you are
always here to listen to me dad. To put it bluntly, I wanted to write you a letter of the difficulties
of adopting Mayan culture in today’s society, and how it related to Edgar Gomez’s story. I hope
you have learned a little bit of what I have been learning about this year. This has been an
incredible year of college. I hope to learn more about different varieties of cultures and how
modern society is treating these cultures.
Sincerely,

Your son, Michael C.