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Final Project by Jonathan Castillo

I remember when I selected this subject on the CunyFirst Website it was a surprise for me as a Latino to find out that such subjects are present here in New York. I am a transfer student from the Dominican Republic and, I didn’t hesitate to choose this class because of the feeling of home that it would give me and, I wasn’t wrong. I learned a lot on this subject, but I highlight the reading of “the problem of the land” by José Carlos Mariátegui. I found interesting the approaches that are cited in this text mainly with the fact that actions taken hundreds of years in the past have repercussions today. It is of great interest to me that the fact that the mismanagement of the colonizers has decided that countries of the American continent today are known as the third world and which are not, I do not understand how such books are not studied in Latin America because I was totally unaware of this.

It is interesting to analyze how, despite having a great margin of resources, the mismanagement of these led to the total failure, perhaps the process of colonization of Central and South America would have had the same intentions as those executed in North America because the history would be different.

This task was of great interest to me and was very entertaining. Mainly the video that we made as a group where we explained in detail what this book is about.


Cherrie Moraga – La Guera

Kimberle by Achy Obejas.

I find it complex to emphasize the whole story in perhaps a playlist, maybe I don’t know enough songs that I can relate to the text but I would say that the experiences with the killer reminded me of the song “Psycho – Puddle of Mudd” and at the beginning of the story Kimberle’s continuous thoughts of suicide would relate them to the song “Los Malaventurados No Lloran – PXNDX”.

the connection that I find with the PXDXN song is due to that constant feeling of kimberle at the beginning of the story with thermianr with his life and needing help, if you look at the official video of the song you will see that the same thing happens persoans trying to realize this but they are frustrated by adversities of life.

Meanwhile I consider that the mystery of the murderer reminds me of the lyrics of PSYCHO because it is about the same thing even though perhaps the song has a more mocking tone with respect to this theme.

The story is very good and I think it has enough content to make an adaptation perhaps to a co-production or something like that.

The Pandora BOX

Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43255878

I chose this article which details different obstacles presented by transgender people because I think it is a direct window to the situation that Arturo Arias tries to express through his story “la caja de pandora”, this story that happens to Juan when he wakes up one day as a woman leads him to face various challenges now with his new life, before Juan was not aware of the challenges that women face and now he is living them, one of the parts that caught my attention was the fear that Juan felt when he thought about what other people might think of him when he became a woman.

Not only was this one of the obstacles that Juan faced, but it was also diverse, which made me think about society, about the social obstacles that trans people face, which are simply imposed by society.


Dulce Pinzón and Graciela Iturbide (images)


I consider that both images are loaded with various meanings but what highlights my attention is the place where they are is the environment where they occur.

By observing both images, Dulce Pinzón and Graciela Iturbide for me, they express how our reality is changing while we live in society. Both images show a “non-real” landscape which is like a tapestry and is exhibited for people to see, just as we go to a zoo to see exotic animals we have never seen or to a museum to observe antiques, just as society moves on. Unfortunately it is possible that this will become the only way to be able to witness nature, if pollution and abuse of natural resources continues in this disproportionate way, I have no doubt that this will be our future.

Mexican Heaven

“Saint Peter lets Mexicans into heaven but only to work in the kitchens. a Mexican dishwasher polishes the crystal, smells the meals, & hears the music, they dream of another heaven, one they might be allowed in if they work hard enough.

Even though this is a funny and humorous film, the main character “Valentin”, seeing a daughter he didn’t expect, makes the decision to immigrate to California USA, and accepts all kinds of jobs, no matter their nature or if they are dangerous or not, with the only purpose of obtaining money for his daughter. Here is a living example of how the immigrant mentality is conditioned to work in order to survive or to support loved ones.

Porcupine Love

This is a situation that can happen to many of us in various ways throughout our lives. Many times because of our personality, attitude, or our character perhaps a little reluctant to many situations and decisions, we end up making decisions or taking actions that we will later regret.

I consider that for this story, as a possible adequate alternative ending, it would be that the protagonist would have decided to speak directly with Anntena, explain to her how she feels about her relationship, explain to her about past experiences she had with previous partners, thus exposing that “thorny” personality that makes her act in an unwanted or uninteresting way over time. Perhaps if there had been a little more communication in that aspect she considered that the story would have had another ending in which perhaps both of them could have made the decision to analyze what the lack of interest on the part of the protagonist was due to, or both of them could have decided to attend therapy, analyzing what was the main reason for the breakup

Analysis of “A Lower East Side Poem” by Miguel Piñero

group 1: Jonathan Castillo, Nathan Lati, Alvaro Castro, Gabriel Bush

Miguel Piñero was an actor and a playwright. Piñero was raised in the Lower East Side in New York, so he was brought up in a harsh environment. He has admitted that he was involved in petty crimes as a little boy in order to gather food to eat. Piñero continued his life in crime, and his first literary works were conceived in jail. Piñero died on June 16, 1988, and his ashes were scattered in the Lower East Side in New York as he had wished in the poem.

He is known for being a co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café movement.

The characters in this poem reflect the harsh reality of life that many minorities face when they suffer from poverty. The narrator embraces the environment of violence, crime, and poverty in which he grew up and confesses to having committed crimes, but also admits that this is what defines him.

The narrator tells the audience that his culture helped him move forward to a better future and he is proud of what he has accomplished today because of his culture, but he still remembers the days he spent in poverty. This shows that Latino culture is not focused on drugs or violence, but rather on the search for a better future.

In spite of being relatively short and detailed the poem, it is loaded with feelings, experiences, and situations that the best way to identify it is to analyze it verse by verse.

1:
Just once before I die
I want to climb up on a
tenement sky
to dream my lungs out till
I cry
then scatter my ashes thru
the Lower East Side.
When referring to death, Piñero reflects his incredible attachment to the lower east side, in such a way that he even emphasizes the fact that he wants his ashes to be scattered there when he dies. By using this metaphor, he implies that his soul is attached to this place
2:
So let me sing my song tonight
let me feel out of sight
and let all eyes be dry
when they scatter my ashes thru
the Lower East Side.
Let me sing my song: the song of the soul is a full, clear, and precise form that emphasizes a call from within, which takes your breath away and takes you out of orbit. By using the resource of “the ashes” emphasizes the fact of the union.

3:
From Houston to 14th Street
from Second Avenue to the mighty D
here the hustlers & suckers meet
the faggots & freaks will all get
high
on the ashes that have been scattered
thru the Lower East Side.
It is interesting that this strophe precisely marks the geographical boundaries of the lower east side, not only using them as a literary resource but also adding meaning and veracity.
 
He uses the “stereotypes” of people who normally transit or live in this area, without redounding much on these without denigrating but enlarging, he does it in a vague and despicable way.
4:
There’s no other place for me to be
there’s no other place that I can see
there’s no other town around that
brings you up or keeps you down
no food little heat sweeps by
fancy cars & pimps’ bars & juke saloons
& greasy spoons make my spirits fly
with my ashes scattered thru the
Lower East Side . . .
Piñero uses repetition to emphasize that there is no other place in the world for him, that despite the flaws he cites, these same flaws make the lower east side an amazing and unique place where his spirit is. A place where he would like to stay until after he dies
5:
A thief, a junkie I’ve been
committed every known sin
Jews and Gentiles . . . Bums & Men
of style . . . run away child
police shooting wild . . .
mother’s futile wails . . . pushers
making sales . . . dope wheelers
& cocaine dealers . . . smoking pot
streets are hot & feed off those who bleed to death . . .
It is very interesting how Piñero does not focus on the positive or the beautiful of the lower east side. He speaks clearly, he is precise, he embraces the daily problems of a society that lives in the urban, in the suburb and he expresses it in a certain way “proud” but sober.
6:
all that’s true
all that’s true
all that is true
but this ain’t no lie
when I ask that my ashes be scattered thru
the Lower East Side.
By using repetition again as a resource you are implying that you are not being sarcastic, that your request is clear, that you are not confused or joking.
7:
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
I am the Philosopher of the Criminal Mind
a dweller of prison time
a cancer of Rockefeller’s ghettocide
this concrete tomb is my home
to belong to survive you gotta be strong
you can’t be shy less without request
someone will scatter your ashes thru
the Lower East Side.
Piñero uses this verse in response to the above. By specifying his own pride, he shows that he has not been sarcastic all this time, but even though these characteristics could be negative, with the passage of time they have become the author’s own and he already embraces them as part of him, it is his being, his home.
8:
I don’t wanna be buried in Puerto Rico
I don’t wanna rest in Long Island Cemetery
I wanna be near the stabbing shooting
gambling fighting & unnatural dying
& new birth crying
so please when I die . . .
don’t take me far away
keep me near by
take my ashes and scatter them thru out
the Lower East Side . . .
When you live and interact in a place of conflict, it becomes part of you, so much so that your mind is used to it. Piñero expresses this quite well and gives a solid conclusion to the poem, death has been a main and recurrent theme in the poem and the author sets the parameters of this by saying that he loves the site so much that he educated it that despite its negative virtues it is part of it and wants to be in it forever.

The influence of the Lower East Side on Piñero’s life was significant not only for the fact that a poem and different mentions in other poems were given to him but also for the foundation of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, founded around 1973, which began to function in the apartment of the writer, poet, and professor, Miguel Algarín, located in the East Village with the help of Miguel Piñero as well as Bimbo Rivas and Lucky Cienfuegos.

And in only two years after its foundation, the number of members and poets surpassed the limits of the place.

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