Where Do We Come From?

Michael Mejia shares pieces of his family history in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Where do we come from? It’s a question most of us have asked at one time or another. But maybe we don’t always get the answers we want, and in some cases, we get no answers at all. Michael Mejia has asked this same question and been given minimal information about his ancestors who came from Mexico. Some stories have been lost or forgotten, records haven’t been properly kept, and not much family heritage has been passed down. However, this did not stop Mejia from getting to know his ancestors.

Mejia is currently working on Conquests of Mexico, a novel about what the lives of his ancestors may have looked like. He has said the stories are not based in complete actuality but rather the imagination Mejia has paired with the minimal information he has been given. He is also trying to draw from the culture his family would have been immersed in; however, he is finding that to be a challenge as, he says, “I don’t know what cultural questions to ask.”

So how does Mejia overcome these obstacles? How does he feel connected to his ancestors? How does he delve into a culture he has not been taught? He says, “I’m trying to create a reality. I try to take the stories I have from my relatives and the history we do have and create these stories.” Using his skill set as a writer along with his family history, Mejia has formed a heartfelt look into his ancestors’ everyday lives. He turns their stories into reality by including details such as love, loss, and agave farming as part of their life experiences. All of these elements work together to turn these characters into real people that lived in a time not too long ago. Mejia shows that even though their past was not written into history, that doesn’t make their lives unimportant. Their past created his present, and he feels obligated to tell their story.

He does add though, “Sometimes, I feel like a fraud wondering whether I have the right to tell this story, and it is my story, but I feel like I have to earn that.” What a profound outlook on his own story! I think this shows the immense respect Mejia has not only for his integrity as a writer, but also the respect he has for the individuals he is writing about. He could take these stories as his own and turn them into anything he wanted. But instead, he wants to honor their memory by truly understanding who they were and how they lived their lives.

I think as writers, it is always good practice to step back and analyze whether we have the right to tell a specific story. Do we have the experience, the tools, or the insight to do the characters and story justice? And if we do, then great! Write until your heart is content. But if not, isn’t it our obligation to take a step back and discover the voice that will give the story life? Writing in and of itself is a difficult task, but I would argue that writing with a premature voice is nearly impossible.

“The Afterthought” is a weekly column by In Process Intern Lillian Reid.