You know what they say: “Imitation is the blah, blah, blah...” Still, it’s been surprising the last couple of months to see such direct “flattery” on the pages of another English monthly here. I guess we’re doing something right, eh?

That said, by the time you read this I will have gone and returned from a quick trip to California. Each time I visit, the culture shock is more noticeable, sometimes verging on the uncomfortable, and so I travel with mixed feelings. Of course, a strong desire to see my family and friends, but also some trepidation as to how I’ll fit in - or not - in my former hometown. Who am I, anyway - to myself, to my family, to my friends, in public? Not completely American, anymore, that’s for sure - but not Mexican, either. When my two worlds collide, it can be exhausting, mentally draining and emotionally confusing. (But also fun!)

This trip – with its stop in Phoenix – is even more so because of the new immigration law Arizona recently passed. Although it doesn’t take effect until August, reaction has been swift and strong against it: throughout the US, massive boycotts and protests, and condemnation by religious, civil liberty and business leaders filled the news. Internationally, too, response has been strong against it, too, not just from Mexico, but from Japan and other countries whose population looks “different” than the “typical” American.

As immigrants here in Mexico, perhaps we can understand a bit more how this law affects the daily lives of the millions of legal immigrants living in the US. If we turn that mirror on ourselves, it doesn’t feel very good. Until now, I’ve always felt welcome here; even if my papers are not completely in order (oops), there’s been a comfortable, tolerant attitude – the underlying sense is always that I’m accepted here. With the enactment of this new law, I wonder: Will that change?

You can bet this highly charged topic is being discussed on street corners and at dinner tables, at your little neighborhood tiendita and by the meseros in your favorite restaurants, on TV and in newspapers, by your Mexican friends and neighbors of all ages.

My original editorial this month was in an entirely different direction, a more happy-go-lucky musing on traveling NOB. But this issue is important; I think what we’re doing here is breaking new ground - literally, in our daily lives - and becoming active parts and living examples of the global community, each of us in our own big and little ways. We’re part of a new wave of human evolution, contributing to the group consciousness that’s instigating change, little by little, slowly but surely. But, as in any journey, or process of change, there are rough spots and challenges to go with the smooth points. And, I guess, we’re at one of those junctions.

Are we really so different? And if so, does it really matter, or are those differences what makes the world go round, what makes life so very, very interesting? In the words of Bob Marley, “One people, one love.”