Intro Latino Studies

Well for starters this poem/essay was written beautifully! I enjoyed the Spanish and English mix in the authors writing. Gloria did a great job in speaking about the invisible borders that exist between latinx people, non latinx people, men and women, and other groups. I liked when Gloria said,"Culture is made by those in power -men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them". This is a cold fact in our society. I love how she embraces her different cultures and identity and shares her writing/life story to provide a voice for the people of the borderlands. I was also unaware of that term "borderlands" and what it signifies, or that there is a growing population of people whom have had to learn to become part of both worlds, whom don't even consider themselves neither fully from Mexico nor fully from America, but are forced to follow both cultures. I can't even imagine what this must be like.. but it must suck! & I'm glad that authors like...

This podcast was very interesting, and really relatable. These cultural differences with body image for men and woman are so common that we don't realize how obscured they actually are. And no one realizes that their bodies don't "fit in" until society points it out. With women especially the pressure/bar is set extremely high. In relation to the course talking about sexuality and gender this pod cast was great. Although it was mostly aimed for women, it still highlights the seriousness regarding body image and what the ideal type and unideal type of body should be according to society.

This documentary was great! I was legit lost for words at the fact that these students had to fight in order to save their program. The fact that legislation in Arizona passed a bill to try and get rid of ethic studies classes is sicking, I believe that they are more important things to focus on, like health care or poverty instead of legisistures trying to control what is being taught in classrooms. It's sad how latinos  are always trying to get removed/dismissed in society. I don't understand what is so wrong about an ethic studies class that legislatures want to abolish them. The students in the short film were brave and I'm so proud that they stood up for what they believe in, because classes/programs like these are our future especially since the latin community continues to grow.

This Chapter was very interesting to read, I never knew much about the history of immigration and immigration policy in the U.S. So a lot of what Maria talked about was new knowledge for me. It's sad to see that unfortunately not a lot has changed over the years regarding immigration. The chapter was very informative and made me feel confused about why immigration is such a serious issue when morally helping others seek refuge no matter the circumstances should be done. People are in need of help and I just think its wrong that humans get turned away because they are seen as "unworthy" or  criminals taking up space, resources, and money. Also, the dry feet/wet feet policy was also very interesting I never knew such policy existed. Overall the reading was clear that as a nation there is still tons of work to do with immigration and it isn't anything new its an issue that's been around for many many years resulting in more harm done then good.