Last night I caught Netfilx's Selena Y Los Dinos. It's worth watching.

It is an intimate portrayal of an American family navigating their lives in a country that at first rejected them, before becoming transfixed by their music, primarily through the powerful voice of Selena.

I started writing... "an intimate portrayal of a Mexican-American family."

But I changed it. Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas. Her dad was born in Corpus Christi.

You know, Americans.

But really, they weren't treated that way, at least not until all their hard work honing their musical skills blossomed into an explosive and singular sound that still resonates today.

I wasn't born in the United States, though I'm currently a citizen. I've learned to navigate the ambiguity of my identity, with varying degrees of success, but it's not easy (especially these days, where it's unclear what it even means to be American).

Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla, and his musical group used to sing in English, but they were rejected because they didn't look the right way. So they decided to start singing in Spanish.

Similarly, Selena famously started singing songs in Spanish without even knowing how to speak Spanish, having to straddle two worlds.

She and her family had to overcome biases from both sides.

So yeah. I learned a little more backstory about Selena and her family. I feel like I owe a lot to them in terms of how they boldly reclaimed both parts of their heritage, as scary as it may have been.