BY KATHERINE GOLARZ, Staff Reporter

Love is not based on culture and most certainly not the color of one’s skin.

Historically, interracial couples have run into troubles with society regarding their relationships. But in
recent years, this hate has mellowed out.

Nowadays, couples that span all types of races and cultures are much more common than they used to
be.

Couple Isabel Casillas and Cameron Thomson have been together for eight months. Casillas has a
Spanish background while Thomson is Caucasian.

“His friends think I’m black, so they will crack jokes,” Casillas said.

When the couple hangs out with Casillas’s family, her mom actually talks to Thomson in Spanish
because Casillas’s mother thinks he is Spanish.

“This past Thanksgiving was the first time I met her dad … I started speaking Spanish to him and he,
pulled out a bottle of tequila,” Thomson said. “I speak that kind of language.”

Race is one of the last things that make their relationship different. They are like any non-interracial
couple. They enjoy smoking hookah and gaming together, and when it’s sunny, they enjoy going on hikes
and going camping.

“The way we interact is what’s different. We bully each other constantly,” Thomson said.
Samantha Tidd and Dan Chavez, another couple at Central, have been dating for two years.

“We have never been aware of ever being stereotypes,” Chavez said.

Chavez is Mexican, Greek, and Native and Tidd is Caucasian. They enjoy spending time together and
going to a lot of concerts.

“We are both pretty sassy and like to make jokes,” Tidd said. “We started off as friends and just kept
going with our relationship.”