" [Mi'ja, Mi'jita] The translation cannot possibly express the pure grounding provided by that word for a Mexican child of any age. In a gesture of familial confidence, parents and tios and abuelitas and even strangers tell it to us. So that, in a certain way, entre nosotros mexicanos here in an English-speaking world it denotes the extended Familia de la Raza. "

― Cherríe L. Moraga , Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir