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Final Individual Work by Angie Figueroa

December 19, 2020

What have I learned from this course?

Throughout this course I have learned many things. One of the topics we’ve learned about in class that I really enjoyed learning about are Latino music artists such as Bad Bunny, Princess Nokia, and Selena Quintanilla since I am a big music lover. These are all people who shaped have Latino history, for example, I’ve learned that Bad Bunny and Princess Nokia break a lot of the gender stereotypes that are typically shamed in the Latino community. Videos like Yo Perreo Sola show Bad Bunny wearing a dress although the social norm is that “men aren’t supposed to be wearing feminine clothes”, so he challenged that statement. Even Selena, she broke those stereotypes by becoming a very successful woman in Tejano music that was mostly dominated by men at the time. I have even inserted a video I took when we learned about Selena Quintanilla in class because I was so excited for the class discussion we were going to have on her since I am a fan of her and her music.

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Response to La Guera, Cherrie Moraga

I related to this in a way because she talks about growing up with Spanish speaking parents while going to school where everyone speaks English and how she was basically responsible for helping her mother in which I did the same as well growing up. She even mentions not being properly taught Spanish she states “I picked up what I did learn from school and from over-heard snatches of conversation among my relatives and mother”, which was the same way I learned Spanish as well. Like Moraga’s mother, my mother is very hard-working as well and didn’t get the chance to go to college and just went straight to work. Moraga even mentions the internalized racism within the Latino community, that the lighter you are the better you are, which is something that still needs change today.

“Kimberle” Spotify Playlist

1-800-273-8255 is a song that talks about suicide awareness and the thought process of someone who is depressed and wants to kill themselves. In the beginning of this writing it is stated “She was asking me to keep her from killing herself. There was no method chosen yet—it could have been slashing her wrists, or lying down on the train tracks outside of town.”
Count on Me is a song that talks about counting on somebody no matter what and they’ll always be there for you because they care about you. The narrator was aware of Kimberle’s financial and homeless situation and made the generous decision to take her in. In the text, it states “When I brought Kimberle to live with me she hadn’t replaced much of anything, and we emptied the Toyota in one trip. I gave her my futon to sleep on in the living room, surrendered a drawer in the dresser, pushed my clothes to one side of the closet”. It was nice of the narrator to make room and space for Kimberle which made Kimberle able to count on her.
Cold Water is a song that talks about doing anything for someone and supporting them even though they are suffering in any kind of way which is what the narrator does for Kimberle since she knows she’s suicidal. In the text it states “It’s just that when she told me she needed to be stopped, I took it to mean she needed me to shelter her until she recovered, which I assumed would be soon. I thought, in fact, that I’d pretty much done my duty as a friend by bringing her home and feeding her a cherry-smoked ham sandwich”.
Miss Independent is a song about a hardworking independent woman that has got her own going. It reminds me of the narrator because she is constantly doing things like working to provide for herself, Kimberle, and her family. She’s just always keeping herself busy no matter how exhausting it can be. In the text it states “I found myself drained after dealing with the temporarily house-bound Alfredo (who is her mother’s cat), whose pent-up frustrations tended to result in toppled chairs, broken picture frames, and a scattering of magazines and knickknacks. It felt like I had to piece my mother’s place back together every single night she was gone.”

Pandora’s Box & PBS

Pandora’s Box is a story about a Latino man who goes through a gender crisis. He begins to question his identity of who he is gender-wise. He meets a woman named Pandora who he often compared himself to and was jealous of, but for different reasons.He often caught himself looking at and admiring her body particularly. He then makes the decision to transitions into a woman. Throughout the story, he learns about the struggles of being a woman and that it is not easy, but difficult. For example, in the text, it states “The first noticeable disadvantage, beyond the constant ogling of
disgusting men with IQ’s the size of peas, was when I began to feel
something I had never felt before”. Later on in the story, she becomes comfortable in her new skin and learns to love herself as a woman. She also learns that women are way more than their bodies.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-entrepreneurs-are-designing-a-trans-inclusive-future-through-clothing

In this article by PBS “How entrepreneurs are designing a trans-inclusive future through clothing”, just by the title it clearly states that a company is planning on making clothes specifically for transgender people. In Pandora’s Box, the narrator had quite the struggle when it came time for looking for new clothes as a woman. For example, in the text, it states “On the way there, I realized I had forgotten to buy a handbag and I suddenly discovered that women’s clothes had no pockets in which to keep your wallet, your pen, your change, or your lipstick, the bare necessities of everyday life.” In this article, it states “Clothing can be a way for some trans people to address their gender dysphoria, described by the American Psychiatric Association as a “conflict” between a person’s assigned gender at birth and the gender with which they identify”, in which the narrator was definitely going through with her new body. If a brand like this was mentioned in the story, I believe she would’ve bought her clothes from there and felt more comfortable and confident.

Dulce Pinzon and Graciela Iturbide Photographs

This photograph that I found on the Dulce Pinzon website depicts a woman with brightly colored pink hair wearing a dress with stuffed animals on it while holding a naked baby. >>>>>>>

<<<< This photograph that I found on the Graciela Iturbide website depicts a mother who seems to have breastfed her daughter to sleep. Both pictures symbolize the importance of a mother’s love and how important it is for their kids. It in a way shows that woman are strong because it takes a lot of strength to give birth let alone continuing to raise the child. They are both carrying and raising the future.

“Mexican Heaven”

I would include the poem in my blog because it talks about culture and how important ones culture, in this case the Mexican community. The quote I wanted to share on page 44 states “tamales, tacos, tostadas, tortas, pozole, sopes, huaraches, menudo, horchata, jamaica, limonada, agua.” These are foods that are very common in Latino community, specifically Mexicans. Based on title “Mexican Heaven”, it is safe to assume that the author these foods and drinks would be prepared in Heaven for Mexicans. This represents culture to me because food can represent culture. I think what he’s trying to say is that when they depart from earth, their culture will never change. In the video, this woman explains how she still keeps making same Mexican recipes from many years ago to keep their tradition and culture alive.

Porcupine Love

Finally, things are taking a turn for the better. I've decided to officially quit my lame job and finally move to New Zealand. After conversing with Don Juan and seeking help from spirits, everything is leading me to go back to my one true love, Antenita. This time I will not let her go. After a 31 hour plane ride, I'm here. I get a glimpse of her at the airport, she has now let her hair grown out. She looks as beautiful as ever. 
I run up to her and kiss her, next thing you know when I open my eyes we are at our wedding. We are as happy as ever.
I remember that time when I saw that sign at the coffee place that said "Loving Couple in Search of a Child to Adopt". Then it hit me, we're a loving married couple, why not have our own little bundle of joy. We came to an agreement and the next day we meet our little Emily. Once we laid eyes on her at the center, we knew she was the one. Although we can't have children of our own we love her just the same. I don't ever plan on leaving my girls.<3

Group #4

December 10, 2020

Blog #1

What Became of the Taino?

By: Angie Figueroa, Howard Liu Mo, Meleny Vargas

Writing by Angie Figueroa:

The Taino were indigenous people of the Caribbean who Christopher Columbus came across during his “explorations”. They treated him with nothing but kindness, unfortunately the same can’t be said about the way he treated them. The Taino people were actually very skilled and talented, for example in the article it states “Although the Taíno never developed a written language, they made exquisite pottery, wove intricate belts from dyed cotton and carved enigmatic images from wood, stone, shell and bone.” When Christopher Columbus arrived, things started to take a turn. When Spaniards removed men from villages to work in gold mines and colonial plantations it kept the Taíno from planting the crops. In the article it states “They began to starve; many thousands fell prey to smallpox, measles and other European diseases for which they had no immunity; some committed suicide to avoid subjugation; hundreds fell in fighting with the Spaniards, while untold numbers fled to remote regions beyond colonial control.” This led to a great downfall in the Taino community, therefore their culture was gone as well. In this article, they proceed to interview people who have a Taino family background and how they still try to keep in touch with their roots.

Drawings by Howard Liu Mo:

Blog #2

A Lower East Side

Writing by Angie Figueroa:

The tone of this poem is very passionate and intense. He was raised in the Lower Eastside of New York and throughout the poem he talks about his accounts of what he went through and dealt with there. Miguel goes in depth about the environment he was raised in and is not bothered by it, but embraces it instead. For example, in the poem it states “So here I am, look at me I stand proud as you can see pleased to be from the Lower East a street fighting man a problem of this land”. He states that he has been a thief and a junkie and that he’s done bad things, he hints to being in some kind of gang. He talks about the environment being filled with ” run away child police shooting wild . . .mother’s futile wails . . . pushers making sales . . . dope wheelers & cocaine dealers . . . smoking pot.” Despite the fact that this might all sound “bad”, he loves where he was raised. He says several times in his poem that when he passes away his only wish is that his ashes be scattered through the Lower East Side.