NUESTRA CANCIÓN
NUESTRA CANCIÓN
By Arely Cardenas
Spanish nursery rhymes and storytelling was common in my household, all passed down by my mother. De colores was a song I heard and learned among the school children I met as a Kindergartner at Meadows Elementary in Eastside San José. I learned it quickly and remember rushing home to share it with my ama; to my surprise, she knew all the words. So we sang it together.
To me, de colores reminds me of home, family and unity. Back then, hearing “y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mi” it reminded me of the exhilarating feeling when creating with all the crayola colors. I also interpreted “los grandes amores” as literal people embracing all people porque todos somos diferentes en cómo nos miramos, crecimos y somos. Although very young, I knew this song was universal. How powerful is it that my ama and I grew up in two different time periods and learned the same song so young. And that I would be singing this song up to my mom while sitting on the kitchen counter as she cooked.
“How powerful is it that my ama and I grew up in two different time periods and learned the same song so young.”
De todos los amores que he conocido, el amor de mi madre es el más bonito. Uno de mis grandes amores. "De colores" is a song that takes me back to simpler times, to my childhood where I'd sing this song to my mom at the top of my lungs. The love I have for my mother inspired the painting on the cover of this issue, and I wanted to honor the humility and values mother figures have passed down to us all.
A mother's hand is reaching down and the intricacy of the colores, the floral and filigree patterns represent all of her life lessons thus far. She is to hold some to herself, pass down what is valuable and provide her daughter the freedom to make some choices of her own. The color green represents vida, the creation of life itself. This mother and daughter are bonded, connected. The child is a blank slate, her skin glows as she looks up at her mother. Awaiting her loving touch, a mother chooses to invest all she knows to be good into her daughter. This mother's touch is golden.
“The love I have for my mother inspired the painting on the cover of this issue, and I wanted to honor the humility and values mother figures have passed down to us all.”
