You Sound Like a White Girl
The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
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You Sound Like A White Girl is a well-written mix of personal memoir and Latinx history. While I enjoyed learning about Julissa Arce’s story, I’ll admit I was much more interested in the Latinx history and her thoughts on the implications of minority cultures aiming for assimilation into the dominant (white) culture of the US. I had never realized how little I actually know about Mexican and Latinx history, especially in regards to their contributions to the US. This book was a great introduction, and I’m looking forward to finding more books that will let me dive deeper into this specific topic in history.
I read this for a bookclub, and it was one of the more intense discussions we’ve had - turns out everyone had a lot of thoughts when it comes to cultural appreciation vs appropriation, and assimilation vs integration. I have suspicions that discussions like this would be best done with a moderator (luckily we had a good one) or with some sort of accompanying reading to help make sure everyone is working from the same baseline understanding. That being said, it really was a great book for discussion and a fairly quick and easy read. I definitely recommend it if you want something you can learn from but that won’t feel like a slog while reading.
I paired this with an infused tequila cocktail from Camp Craft Cocktails. I started with the Pineapple Jalapeño based and added the tequila, then used that infusion to create a really excellent margarita. This seemed like the perfect cocktail pairing to honor the author’s heritage! I’ll definitely be checking out more of the infusion options from this brand in the future.
