Angelica Bonomo  Special Offer  One of my biggest concerns about
leaving Los Angeles to head to Philadelphia in particular was
that I was going to further digress from my Hispanic culture.
While I knew the East Coast/New York had Latino communities I
very much doubted there was a large community in Philly.  In
addition to the scarcity of a Hispanic cultural presence that I
had grown up with in Los Angeles, I was even more certain the
big Salvadorian flag I packed in my suitcase would be the only
Salvadorian thing I would be around for months. At my going away
party, I savored ever bite of the pupusas I stuffed in my mouth.
As I ate my mother teased me she would mail me a pupusas care
package so I could get my fix!  It's funny, but leaving my home
in Los Angeles I kept thinking of the little things I would
miss, the signs of my culture that were mixed into my daily
world like hearing the sounds of Spanish or having the rows of
vigil candles at supermarkets. Would these things still exist
where I was headed?  W