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Alicia Garza Martínez was born in Monterrey, NL, Mexico in 1953. She has a degree in Communication from el Tec de Monterrey (ITESM). She has a master’s degree in Communication from Stanford University, a master’s degree in Educational Psychology from Rutgers University, and a Joint Certification in Dyslexia from the Dyslexia Training Institute and the University of San Diego. She has been a teacher at el Tec de Monterrey, Universidad de Monterrey, and the American School Foundation of Monterrey, and lately she gives private classes to dyslexic children. In her free time, she mainly writes articles and essays.
Tribulations Behind a Name
Jan 28, 2021 3 years agoTribulations Behind a Name I have the same name as my mother, but I am not the second Alicia. I am the third. The story my mother told me about our name goes back to the days of the Mexican Revolution. She explained it when I had asked her why there was such a difference in age between her and my Aunt Tenchis. Here is what my mother said: “We called my father Andres, ‘Papacito.' He had a very large warehouse type store that they called ‘The Miscellany.' It had a wide variety of products from bulk groceries, ropes, saddles, farm implements, and even stagecoaches. In 1915, one of Pancho Villa's soldiers became governor of Nuevo León. There was a great disorder at that time in the city. A group of Villistas attacked the store, which was connected with our family's house. So, the soldiers got into the store and also into the house. My mother, your grandmother, was pregnant then. My sister Tenchis was also in the house. She must have been about one or two years old at the time. I was not born yet. The soldiers wanted money and threatened my mother. Most of the soldiers left to ransack the store, but one of them stayed behind with her, demanding money and pointing a gun at her forehead while she hugged Tenchis in terror. When my father arrived and saw the situation, he told the soldiers that they could take anything they wanted from the store, if they would only not do harm to his family. He even opened the safe for them. They took all the money he had and everything they could carry from the store. They left my mom tied up and took Papacito with them, so that he wouldn't report them to the authorities. “They took my father far away out of town, stood him up in front of a wall, and told him that they were going to shoot him. They covered his eyes with a bandana; the firing squad was formed; their rifles were leveled, and they shot. Papacito fell to the ground, not from bullet wounds, but from fright. The soldiers had fired into the air. I guess they thought that was a funny joke. My mother went into labor that same night, but her pregnancy was not yet to term. Although the baby was born very prematurely and did not survive, she was baptized before she died. They named her Alicia. For years after that, whenever my mom got up too quickly from a sitting position, she fainted. She lost several more babies until finally I was born. They named me Alicia in honor of the girl who died on that dreadful night when the soldiers had terrified and robbed us.” In Mexico it is customary for the first child to bear the same name as the parent. However, this is not why my parents gave me the name Alicia. It turns out that when my mother was pregnant with me, my grandmother was found to have terminal cancer. Seeing that she was so seriously ill, my mother wanted to give her another Alicia in memory of her dead daughter. This is what she did. Her mom died two weeks after I was born. It has not been easy for me being the only woman in a family of six siblings. Nor was it easy to bear the name of my mother, because she did not see me as a separate individual; she wanted me to fulfill her dreams and whims. She had great fantasies for me and my future, but she eventually ran into the reality of what would not come to pass, neither for her nor for me. I suppose it was also difficult for her to carry a name associated with a tragedy and be the substitute. Perhaps her irritation and mood swings were caused by an unconscious obligation to restore the girl and boys that were not to be. Perhaps that ancient violence brought out the lioness in her when others mistreated us children, or when we demanded more of her than she could give. The name Alicia comes from the Greek and it means truthful or honest: one who tells the truth or one who is true. It is a beautiful idea, as if just by having that name I could aspire to be the essence of or to have the greatest knowledge or the greatest honesty. Unfortunately, at best that is wishful thinking or at worst, a lie. It's just a name, but I like its fluid, whispering sound, like the breeze coming through the window or like running water… Alicia…Aliiiciiia. What is in a name? “It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face…”. Alicia is just a name, but it has given me an appeal and a look. I do not know if it is fortunate or unfortunate, but I had no daughters, no child of mine whom I could name Alicia. With me dies the tragedy and the truth of my name.
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