This is the second installment about the women of Williston Park. This week we will focus on Hispanic or Latina women. Hispanics make up 4.5 percent of the population living in Williston Park. I knew it would be hard for me to find someone to interview.
First I thought I might be able analyze Penelope Cruz, princess of film. Here was an actress who had beauty, natural sensuality and innocence. Or better yet maybe Salma Hayek or Jennifer Lopez would like to be interviewed for the piece. But I knew that I had as much chance to have lunch with A-Rod as I would to meet these three beauties.
I have researched and written about Hispanic athletes in the past through my race track connections. I know Jose Santos, Jorge Chavis and Angel Cordero and discovered them to be warm and surprisingly humble, not at all like the typical American superstar. But these were men, not women, and we all know there are differences between the sexes.
So my problem was still not solved until one day when I ate lunch at the Fresco Creperie and Cafe on Hillside Avenue. Who should bring over my soup but a young, brown eyed, long haired beauty and I immediately knew who I would be interviewing and featuring this week. I asked if she would be willing to talk, she smiled and said yes and this is what I found.
Her name is Heymi Zelaya. She was born in Honduras, Central America. She moved with her parents to Long Island when she was nine and told me that schools in Honduras were much stricter than those in the US. I asked her to try to describe Latina women and she said they were all hardworking and family oriented.
She said she was first expected to work, then to get a college degree and to eventually marry, all in that order. She was not allowed to date as a teen. And to my surprise she told me she did not like either Penelope Cruz or Selma Hayek because of their accents but loved Jennifer Lopez who she sees as a good role model.
After the interview I tried to summarize my impressions of her and I felt that I had missed a big part of who she was. What about all that sizzle you see in the Latina screen goddesses like J.Lo or Selena? Was that all just Hollywood hype? Maybe so. So I took my photos and there it was again all that irrepressible natural beauty and sweetness in the camera lens.
It was almost like seeing a contrast that was fused into one thing. First there was innocence and then something altogether different. Oh well, another mystery unsolved. I took my shots and then I shook her hand and said thanks. But something funny happened just then. Often when a patient leaves the analyst’s office we have what is called a door knob conversation where the most important thing is said. As I was leaving Zelaya said to me, “Well don’t forget to say that we do love to go out dancing every weekend. We all love to have fun and to move.”
I told her I would make sure I mention that and she added the kicker. “And tell them that we also are taught to cook by the time we are about 10.”
So there is the whole truth and the real magic of the Hispanic woman. Yes they are raised strictly for sure, but maybe because of that or despite that they grow up with that sizzle that we see on screen. It’s as if they were raised in a crucible of sorts and out comes this magical female that is a combination of warmth and natural beauty and irrepressible sensuousness and oh yes, comfortable in the kitchen as well.
There is a term in literature called magical realism which was championed by Hispanic writers such Jorge Luis Borges and Jose Ortega Y Gasset. It means fiction which is fantastical, multi layered, withholding of information and having a sense of mystery.
I think if you look at the picture of Zelaya above you will sense this same sense of magic that is such a part of Hispanic literary history. So in the end the word I would use to describe an Hispanic woman is magical. That goes for Penelope Cruz, J.Lo and Heymi Zelaya too.
But here is the bad news, Zelaya is engaged to be married. Our loss but some lucky young man’s great gain. And next week we will try to tackle the mystery of the Asian women. Wish me luck.
