“Buten Smileys” is a collection of short stories by Rafa Saavedra that explores the relationship between the U.S. and bordering Mexico. His experience as a DJ can be noted in several of his stories by the way in which he uses rhythm and music in his writing.

The last story, or rather, bonus track as he calls it, in this collection is “Tijuana Para Principiantes.” An epigraph before the story opens reads:

“We know your old game, give us a bad name

but we don’t care, that’s the fuckin’ truth

play the scratch one more time because

TI-TI-TI-TIJ-TIJ-TIJUANA IS COOL.”

The epigraph mimics the sound of a DJ scratching or mixing, which is appropriate for this story which seems at times like an ephemeral mash-up of images and sensations of Tijuana.

In this story, nothing seems to happen, rather the reader is confronted by conflated imagery of city-life. There are drugs, poverty, disco-clubs, prostitutes, tourists, hot-dog carts, churches, and a plethora of cityfeel flashing before the reader’s eyes with hardly a period to allow for a breath or stop.

It was refreshing to read a different rendering of life across the borders. I had not expected this collection of stories to end with:

“Do you understand that, ese? Si no, fuck off.”

At times, I will admit that it was difficult to get through some of these stories, and at times I did not understand where he was going with things. What was his point? His “fuck off” ended up serving as a reminder that I didn’t need to understand everything in order to appreciate it. His point? I think: to paint a picture, to write a song that can loop in our heads about life in Tijuana as seen from different vantage points.

To say that a lot happens in this film is a huge understatement. Since I could probably go on for multiple blog entries about different facets of this film, I will choose just one: Esperanza. 

The protagonist of this film is a widow named Esperanza whose daughter has recently died. Through a series of spiritual revelations by St. Jude, she comes to believe that her daughter is not truly dead, but that she has been kidnapped.

Esperanza goes to her priest with confessions and updates about the elusive St. Jude who only makes apparitions on her oven window and provides her with vague clues about her daughter’s supposed whereabouts.

Things become very interesting when St. Jude’s messages lead Esperanza to a life of sin. She is convinced that her daughter has been sold into sex slavery and is willing to do whatever it takes to get her back. She enters a life of prostitution without any apparent regret or apprehension. She puts herself in a series of precarious situations, yet she comes out on top after each one.

One of the most interesting things about Esperanza’s character is how she deals with her carnal desires. She does not take responsibility for her actions, rather she blames the saints for confusing her or for putting her in those situations.

In the end, Esperanza does not literally find her daughter, but she does see an apparition of her. To her, it is the stamp of approval for her to move on, stop mourning, and start loving.

This evening, I had the pleasure of attending the opening night of “California’s Most Wanted,” presented by Cornell University’s Teatrotaller, a theatre group dedicated to the production of Spanish and Spanglish plays. A few things surprised and impressed me about this production.

I was surprised that a portion of the script was original material. Teatrotaller used popular texts written by Luis Valdez and Pablo Neruda to carry the bulk of the action, yet had some members re-write Tiburcio Vasquez’s ever-written tale. In the words of director Phoenix Paz, “’California’s Most Wanted’ combines the serious, humorous and burlesque in a multilingual novella style presentation of the life of Tiburcio Vasquez.” Additionally, she states, “exploring Californio history and what happened to the Mexican population after the United States annexed Mexican land in the Mexican-American war is a novel way of looking at the first presence of Latinos in the United States.”

I thought that Teatrotaller did a very nice job of incorporating original material with pre-existing text. The plot moved fluidly from where it began, a whorehouse, to other settings such as Tiburcio’s jail cell. It also represented an interesting take on Valdez’s play, “Bandido.” In “Bandido” several storylines exist and layer melodrama upon melodrama, and in”California’s Most Wanted,” a similar concept is presented.

Since I did not know what to expect, I was shocked that the play was performed by only six actresses. They were truly talented because they managed to pull off female and male roles without breaking a sweat. Two of the women sang at various moments throughout the play without the use of instrumental accompaniment—a testament to their abilities. This added drama, culture, and musical history to the play.

I feel really happy to have attended tonight’s performance and encourage others to do the same. Even though I sat in Risley Theatre’s black-box, I was taken on a historical journey to California during such a critical time in Latino and U.S. history. I did not know about Tiburcio Vasquez prior to taking this course, but I will certainly remember—as the working girls in the play do—that he was a real man and outlaw who should not be forgotten.

Biography

Benjamin Alire Saenz was born on August 16, 1954 in his grandmother’s house in Old Picacho, a small farming village on the outskirts of Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was the fourth of seven children. His parents originally worked as seasonal cotton pickers but eventually found less nomadic occupations: his father worked as a cement finisher and his mother as a cook.

Like many Latinos, at home he spoke Spanish, while at public school to learned to speak and write in English. He was greatly influenced by Chicano movement and his own people’s struggle for civil rights and had learned first hand how racism could damage a man. In the fall of 1972, he entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado where he received a B.A. in Humanities and Philosophy. He studied theology at the University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium. In 1981, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of El Paso, Texas. After three years, he left the priesthood and wandered around for a year, waiting tables. During his years as a priest, he began writing a novel, which he eventually abandoned—however he did not give up on writing. He studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas where he earned an M.A. in Creative Writing.

Saenz currently teaches in the Creative Writing Department at the University of Texas at El Paso

His Work

Saenz writes poetry, essays, short stories, children’s books, and novels about Chicanos and other peoples of the southwest and their struggles with the cultural and economic imperialism of the dominant classes. His writing stresses the violence of American society, as well as the determination and spirit of resistance among its disenfranchised people.

A collection of short stories, Flowers For the Broken,was published in 1992, and is framed by a prologue and epilogue that emphasize the unusual status of those who live on the border between U.S. and Mexico. As we have seen in many of the texts observed thus far this semester, the border creates a cultural, economic, political, and personal divide that undermines the historical and environmental unity of the area. In each of the short stories, the Chicano protagonists struggle for personal and political enlightenment

For our class discussion, I decided to assign the title story of this collection. It tells the story of a female protagonist, Angel, who works as a delivery person for a flower shop. What struck me most about this story is that it is told from a female perspective, which can sometimes be rare from a male author. An interesting theme in this story is the way that male/female stereotypes are played out. Angel is described as a girl who dresses like a man and chooses not to think about her image or body. Men are portrayed as cheaters and rapists who are to be avoided. “Men are a lot of trouble,” her mother tells her, smiling, early in this story.

The story begins and ends with a dream—which apparently Angel will not remember. At the end of the story, she is naked with a man whose touch is as soft as the petals of roses. To be entirely Freudian, I would say that the floral imagery in this dream alludes to Angel’s daily sexual repression. She can only explore her sexuality through her dreams and in the morning, remembering may be too much.

Saenz’s ability to interweave dream imagery with reality impresses me and leads to me explore more of his writing and message.

After reading Ana Castillo’s fifth book, Peel My Love Like an Onion, I was reminded that I had recently written an essay about the meaning of race. The following excerpt from her novel addresses a theme that I would like to expound—that of belonging, not belonging, never belonging.

“For some reason looking Mexican means you can’t be American. And my cousins tell me, the ones who’ve gone to Mexico but who were born on this side like me, that over there they’re definitely not Mexican…Still, you try at least. You try like no one else on earth tries to be in two places at once…you try here and there, this way and that, and still you don’t fit. Not here and not there.”  

I would like to share my essay because I think that there is significant overlap with the identity issues that Castillo’s Carmen struggles with and my own experience with race. I hope you enjoy.

And On Some Occasions, Other

It is undeniable that the concept of race affects the lives of Americans and other citizens of the world in numerous ways (for the purpose of this essay, I will focus on the race issue as I have experienced it within the U.S.). It seems that we cannot avoid encountering race in human interactions, the media, and even our own deeply rooted perceptions of others. However, it is interesting to note that the definition of race not only varies from person to person or school of thought, but that a sole definition of race is difficult to obtain. This essay will address a series of race-centered concerns including the characteristics of different racial groups, how others may view race, and the way I have come to self-identify racially, and, as I will later explain, ethnically.

Before having ever taken a sociology course, I believed that race was another item that could be checked off on applications and surveys. It helped to put people into a category and it meant being American Indian, Asian, Black or African American, Latino/a, White, and on some occasions, Other.

After taking a couple of sociology courses, I came to challenge my previous notions and see race as a social construct aimed at grouping people together oftentimes based on arbitrary physical characteristics. I do not think that a biological marker exists that can accurately categorize people objectively—I have yet to find scientific evidence that races exist. Therefore, I do not categorize people in terms of different racial groups, but rather in terms of varying ethnic backgrounds. These ethnicities are the culture-groups in the world and I cannot establish a finite number or list of them, as cultures are continually evolving and changing. Furthermore, my list would shift based on how macro or micro my level of analysis.

Historically, race has helped to foster an “us” and “them” framework between a group that perceives themselves to be superior to an alleged inferior group. For example, during the rise of the slave trade, it became more salient to differentiate one group from another in order to justify the cruelties of slavery. In Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, where he addressed what should happen to slaves if they were to be emancipated, he described the differences between Blacks and Whites using seemingly biological evidence. He wrote: “Besides those of color…there are other physical distinctions proving a difference of race…they secrete less by the kidneys, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong disagreeable odor” (American Political Thought 550). Such descriptions are present throughout this text, but ultimately, Jefferson claims that the most powerful obstacle to the emancipation of the slaves was the “unfortunate difference of color”.

While slavery no longer exists in the U.S., the racial implications of that period have continued to affect certain stigmatized members of society. According to New York Times contributor Shankar Vedantam, “Our brains, shaped by culture and history, create intricate caste hierarchies that privilege those who are physically and culturally whiter and punish those who are darker” (2010). It is clear that over the course of history, the definitions of race have changed, as have the number of races that exist at present.

In the U.S. today, races are divided roughly into the five groups I mentioned earlier (American Indian, Asian, Black or African American, Latino/a, White, and for the sake of political correctness, Other). These groups are differentiated from one another by shared geographic locations and the characteristics that make up an ethnic group, not a race. These characteristics include shared language, food, music, religion, nationality, and ideological views.

After surveying several Cornell undergraduates on the topic of race, I collected a wide range of answers. Most people were taken aback by three straightforward questions: “How do you define race?”, “How many races do you believe there are?”, and “How do we know one racial group from another?”. One student responded: “To me, people of the same race share a large percent of similar genes, regardless of culture and environment. Over the course of human history, these genes have changed and adapted, hence different looks…for the most part, members of one racial group look different than those of another”. I found this response in line with some of the earlier views of race—that it is biologically determined.  Another student replied: “I think race is an innate characteristic”, then chuckled, adding that groups were differentiated by “fine skin shade”.

Most of the reactions I observed were marked by uneasiness when discussing race. Some did not know how to address my questions but still tried, while others denied answering. It was surprising to find that the majority of people who did complete my survey leaned towards an antiquated view of race and did not share my own views. Only one student out of fifteen mentioned any distinction between race and ethnicity.

Based on the aforementioned view of race, I fall into the category of Latino/a or Hispanic; it is the tiny box on forms that I continue to check. Officially, I would call myself a Dominican-American because I continue to identify with my family’s cultural background, despite being born in the U.S. and having lived here my entire life.

I grew up in a neighborhood in New Jersey that was mostly comprised of minority groups, which has given me the opportunity to interact with a diversity of people. I have been witness to the cultural clashes and struggles of friends whose families had migrated from countries ranging from Latin America to the Middle East. It may seem like a cynical observation, but the people I met in my hometown who I deem the most successful are the ones who assimilated the most and broke away from most of their parents’ culture. Perhaps this is a product of my own assimilation.

My racial status influences my life in several key ways that often feel like a cultural tug of war. On one end I have my parents and family, who were raised in the Dominican Republic, and have had to work extra hard to make sure that I did not lose aspects of Dominican culture that they deemed important. At times, they have fought me for becoming “too American”. On the other end, I have encountered the pressures of unavoidable assimilation and often feeling not “American enough” within my own country. I seem to simultaneously belong and not belong to both of my cultural backgrounds. It seems that when I take a closer look at myself, my self-identity can be kaleidoscopic, and on some occasions, I am like the Other.

Works Cited

Kramnick, Isaac, and Theodore J. Lowi. American Political Thought. New York: W.W. Norton and Company„ 2009. Print.

Vedantam, Shankar. “Shades of Prejudice.” The New York Times 18 Jan. 2010: A31. Print.

“What is race?” Survey. 30 Jan. 2010.

After reading Corky Gonzalez’s “I am Joaquin,” I was drawn by the author’s use of capitalization to emphasize certain lines in the poem. It reminded me of a website I once perused called wordle.net. Wordle is used to generate “word clouds” from any text the user provides. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the text—much like Gonzalez’s use of capitalization. I thought it would be neat to present a few variations word clouds I created with this website.

Note: I omitted the words “the” and “and” from the poem before running it through Wordle in order to make this a more effective exercise.

—-

—-

—-

—-

As you can see, words such as Blood, Land, Joaquin, Life, and Revolution take up more space on the visual plane. I am impressed by how effectively a visual arrangement of words summarizes the main themes of this poem.

After reading Dolores Prida’s Coser y Cantar, we were asked to work in groups to retell and re-imagine the text. It was insightful to view each group’s presentation because even though we each had the same raw material to work with (the play itself), every group branched off in a completely different direction.

One of the groups to present had prepared a poetic interpretation of the text. The three students used def poetry as inspiration for their project and used repetition, rhythm, the use of both English and Spanish, and similar themes to evoke a new way to tell Prida’s story of a torn identity. Of all the presentations, this one seemed the most similar to the work itself using bodies and voices as media to convey the message. This group’s presentation did not shy away from catharsis and nearly each word weighed heavily in meaning and emotion.

My group’s presentation was quite different. MTV’s reality documentary series “Made” was our main source of inspiration since both the show and this text rely heavily on stereotypes. We were interested in the way that Coser y Cantar uses Ella and She to embody being either stereotypically Latina or American. Early on, we compiled a list of words, phrases, and ideas that we took directly from the play in order to help us create our characters.

The character She represents the part of herself that is Americanized. Here is a list of  some items that Prida uses to stereotype her character: Barbara Streisand, Orange Juice, Exercise, To-Do Lists, Chores, Psychology, Intellect, and Promiscuity.

To stereotype Ella, the Latina counterpart of her character, Prida uses some of the following: Café Con Leche, Chorizos Mexicanos, Burritos, Nostalgia, Religion, and Impulsivity.

In turn, we used photographs and narration to present the text from the vantage point of an MTV documentary: “I want to be made: Latina”. We created a stereotypically American character with a strong desire to become more Latina and documented her journey over the course of four weeks. Our goal was to depict these stereotypes in a modern and amusing way.

In the short story, Los derechos de la Malinche, Alicia Gaspar de Alba manages to tell the story of a female protagonist as well as re-tell the often-shifting story of La Malinche in but 6 pages. I will offer a historical account of La Malinche to further understand Gaspar de Alba’s inclusion of La Malinche in this text.

Who is La Malinche?

La Malinche, also known as Doña Marina, remains one of the most controversial figures of the Spanish Conquest. Some view her as the betrayer of the Aztecs, while others consider her to be a scapegoat for Moctezuma’s failure to defend his kingdom. She played an active role during the Spanish Conquest as a translator for the Spaniards.

According to some historical accounts, Marina was born into a noble family in the Paynalla province of Coatzacoalcos. When her father died, her mother remarried and had a son. So that the newly favored son would inherit, Marina’s mother either sold her into slavery or gave her away and faked Marina’s death.

In 1519, Cortés and his men won a battle against a Mayan settlement in the area of present day Tabasco. To gain favor with the Spaniards, the Maya gave them food, gold, and 20 slaves, one of whom was Marina. Her unique knowledge of Náhuatl, the Aztec language, as well as Mayan dialects, came to the attention of Cortés. A Spanish priest, Geronimo de Aguilar, was already working for Cortés as a translator.

The priest was imprisoned by the Mayans for several years and had learned their language. This proved an invaluable asset to Cortés, because they eventually encountered Indians who only spoke Náhuatl. Marina would then translate from Náhuatl to Maya for Aguilar, who would translate from Maya to Spanish for Cortés.

Marina soon learned Spanish and earned Cortés’s trust. She translated directly for him, eventually became his mistress, and bore him a son. After their affair ended, she married another Spaniard named Juan Jaramillo.

Marina’s ability to communicate with various tribes allowed the Spanish to march through territories without attack. They picked up converts along the way and many many indigenous people joined Cortés and fought by his side. These tribes were motivated to join the Spanish in the hopes of defeating their long-time enemy, the Aztecs.

In Mexico today, the term “malinchista” is a derogatory name for a person who turns their back on their own culture. Although some consider her a traitor, many Chichanos consider La Malinche an outstanding historical figure. Some view her as someone who took advantage of her linguistic skills to secure her position and ensure her survival. Others view her as a heroine who spread Christianity. In whatever way one views her, she undoubtedly affected the course of Mexican and Spanish history.

For sources and more information:

http://www.mexonline.com/history-lamalinche.htm

http://www.tihof.org/honors/malinche.htm

http://www.ucm.es/info/especulo/numero23/malinche.html

Painting: “Malinche: Lost in Translation” by Gilbert Reyes.

One of the authors discussed in class last week was Jose Luis Gonzalez, a Puerto Rican writer. We read two of his lesser known works of fiction, En Nueva York and Esta noche no, which take up the immigrant experience in different ways. Professor Castillo described him as a largely transnational figure because of his biography, which consisted of frequent travels to different regions and his meditations on the Latino identity issue.

After hearing just a little bit about his biography I grew more interested in his life and will share some more about Gonzalez’s very interesting life.

Gonzalez was born on March 8, 1926 in the Dominican Republic. His father was of Puerto Rican descent and his mother was Dominican, but after Trujillo’s rise to power in 1930, when Gonzalez was only four years old, his family moved to Puerto Rico. Having lived in New York, Prague, and Mexico, it is not surprising that Gonzalez’s stories directly relate to the immigrant experience.

After completing a BA degree in social sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, he moved to New York where he discovered the reality experienced by thousands of Puerto Rican immigrants who moved to the U.S. under the promise of better jobs. This idea of the immigrant struggle resonates strongly within En Nueva York, where his protagonist, Marcelino Perez, turns from a hopeful newly arrived immigrant to an animalistic criminal in just 12 pages.

Gonzalez lived until he was 71, until he passed away in Mexico as a well-known author, journalist, and activist.

For even more biographical information, please visit:

José Luis González Biography - (1926–1996), La luna no era de queso: Memorias de infancia