Latinx Heritage Month Spotlight: La Villita!
by Janet Lagunas
La Villita is more than a word, more than a place.
It is a feeling, a sense of belonging.
It’s neighbors who lift each other in times like these.
It is the love that carries the hearts of everyone in Little Village.
La Villita is my Mexico away from Mexico.
It’s the screams of kids playing in the pump that fill the streets of summer.
It’s the tamboras that sound in every corner in September and May.
It is the arc that looks over the hopes and dreams of immigrant families.
It’s 26th Street where locals fight for the American dream.
It’s the caguamas that are the guest of honor in my dad’s carne asadas.
It’s the elotero that smiles at every loyal customer he has seen grow up.
It is Chicanos beautifying their cars to show them off during parades.
It’s the warm, fresh bread ready for El Dia De Los Muertos.
It’s the murals that tell my people’s story.
It’s my neighbor screaming at 3 a.m.
It’s the moment the streetlights turn on, and it’s time for the squad to head home.
It is December 12, the mañanitas of my morenita.
It’s hard-working individuals selling Mexican goodies.
It’s Ogie the Pitbull playing with three kids until his last day.
La Villita is seeing your neighbor get the groceries with random shoes and laughing.
It’s the rosary that hangs in my mom’s van.
It’s the joy I felt watching my little sister grow up.
It’s La Cueva, where LGBTQ members can enjoy themselves.
It is block parties filled with bouncing energy and local delicacies.
It’s the scapular that dances in our chest to protect us from harm.
It’s my mom swinging in the swings of La Villita Park while the wind brushed her 30-year-old earrings.
It’s trick or treating in 26th Street hoping to get tortilla chips and a scare.
It’s the living memories of my grandpa saying “abracadabra” before he made the sky his home.
It’s the smell of dirt on a rainy day that reminds you of Mexico.
Little Village is Amy crying for a diaper change.
It is the moment I knew my best friends, Brenda and Evelyn, were my soul sisters.
It’s running to the corner store for those 25-cent chips and little hug juice.
It’s the blasting “gansta, gansta” music coming from a car that makes my bedroom window shake.
It’s the Quinceañera pictures that smile back at family guests.
It is the tears parents shed while watching their kids walk across a stage.
It is the force that moves Chicago.
But most of all, it is my home, my familia, and my pride.
La Villita is where I became Janet Lagunas.
Janet Lagunas is a 2021 graduate of the B.A. in Communication and Media program. She wrote this poem in 2020.
