In 2007, journalist and Southern California native Daniel Hernández moved to Mexico City to begin research on a book about youth culture in the Distrito Federal. The book, “Down and Delirious in Mexico City,” has recently been published, and the subtitle gives a clue to the mix of history and currency he was after: “The Aztec Metropolis In The Twenty-First Century.”
Hernández answered a few questions from LA>FWD about the process he went through, and where his journey has taken him:
LA>FWD: When did you realize that there was a book to be done about youth culture in Mexico City?
DH: It took some time. My first editor at Scribner wanted me to go to D.F. and “explore” as a journalist and see what popped up. He instructed me to follow my instincts and focus maybe on young people. Literally, the direction or rubric starting out was that simple. Little by little, as I explored more, I realized I had a huge opportunity as a “young person” myself to connect with different groups, or subcultures, or tribes, or simply individuals who in some way or another reflect the social reality for youth in Mexico. Mexico City in particular is young, as I write in the book’s preface. Getting to know that population, that world-view, in this particular moment, seemed natural for me. That’s how the book began taking shape. It’s not meant to speak “for” young people in Mexico City, by any means, but rather the voices in the book, as a whole, speak to a moment that we have lived. Nothing less, nothing more.
LA>FWD: You had spent time in D.F. over the years, so once you moved there, what did you learn that surprised you?
DH: The biggest difference I noticed between when I first visited in 2002 and when I moved in 2007 was a greater awareness of Mexican-Americans like me. Basically, that we exist! Might be hard to believe, but when I first went, people were sometimes confused by my presence. I spoke Spanish, but not quite. I knew Mexican history and Mexican culture, but not exactly. I was “brown” and lower on the class-scale than many educated Mexicans I met, being the son of immigrants, but I also spoke English and had a U.S. university education. I was Mexican but also carried American traumas (9/11 had just happened), uninformed biases, cultural formations, and political privileges, like the ability to move freely across the border. Five years later, I sensed a much higher level of consciousness of Mexican-Americans as sort of Mexican subjects from “north of the border.” The Internet, NAFTA, more fluidity between the U.S. and Mexico in terms of people, labor, commodities, cultural production—all of that has radically altered how Mexicans see their relationship to the gringos, and in between the two, we sit—the pochos. In D.F. now, I think, they’re OK with that. To them we are just another subgroup living among them, in a city with many subgroups, people from France, Argentina, Spain, the U.S., the U.K., Haiti, China, Colombia, Korea, and so on.
LA>FWD: What gave you the most joy and/or satisfaction during the reporting and researching?
DH: It was a very hard process. But I knew it would be. Lots of setbacks, lots of doubts, lots of drafting and re-drafting, lots of cutting (lots), lots of challenges because I ran out of money, and for a couple years I had to live in Mexico City like millions do, on very, very little cash. For me, though, as a writer, the process was and remains the most enriching part of writing the book—my part. What I mean by that is, the book is no longer mine. It belongs to the reader, and I love watching how it spreads and reacts against other mind-frames and ways of reading. I don’t know how else to describe it other than that. It was a very personal, almost alchemical process, and I will cherish it forever. I had to trust myself and just write, write, write. And then stop.
LA>FWD: What’s the biggest misconception about D.F.?
DH: Stereotypes are hard to shake, aren’t they? Mexico City is still seen by many (many Mexicanos!) as dangerous, chaotic, polluted, corrupt, unliveable. It can be these things and it often is. But D.F. is also safe, relative to other parts of the country suffering under the drug war. It is many ways incredibly orderly, considering how massive it is. It’s polluted, but also those beautiful parks and green spaces… It’s all about those contrasts and contradictions that make life there so interesting.
LA>FWD: Do you see yourself living there permanently, or does SoCal beckon?
DH: Not sure yet. I’m still so overwhelmed, overstimulated, and inspired by D.F. Just as I was when I was living and working in L.A. Just like when I am here on the border. Makes sense, no?