As of this week, the United States is halfway through Hispanic Heritage Month.
The month is the expected 30 days long but runs between two months — from mid-September to mid-October.
Sept. 15 was chosen as its beginning because it is the shared independence day of five Latin American countries — Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua — and Mexico and Chile celebrate their independences in the following week.
Francesco Masala is a Spanish professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. He sat down with Gulf Coast Live earlier this week to talk about the difference in pride Hispanics have while in their countries of origin versus when they arrive in the United States.
The Hispanic experience is very different, depending on whether one is foreign or American-born, and it differs further by country of origin.
Eduardo Villarreal is another Spanish professor at the university and the interim head coach of the FGCU men’s soccer team. He sits down with Gulf Coast Live to talk about some of those differences — and the similarities — within Southwest Florida’s Latino community.
