El Maricón y Mas

In the personal collage that was created, which is titled “El maricón y mas”, embraces that exact notion that was derived from the course. As a creative work, it functions to take note of the varying intersecting identities of the individual, which are a Catholic, slut, Latinx, and gay man. At the same time, different images throughout the piece work to highlight the restrictive powers that exist throughout society and the life of the individual. The combination of these elements were made to show a stance against the regulations that have been imposed by social institutions that are still relevant today.

–Marcos DN

Desire in Magazine Covers

imnotgoodforthesoul:

I had no idea on what to do for this final project because this class isn’t like my previous classes in terms of content. I struggled at the beginning with the theory, but I’ve been able to handle my own.

The one thing that I was able to grasp and analyze deeply was the unit of Colonial and Racial Desires. I wrote in my reflection of the unit that I felt like a majority of us grew up wanting to look and feel like the men and women we see represented every day in magazines and television shows – mostly white, skinny, white women and men. This is obviously seen in the pieces we analyzed in class. It was the topic of desire that really sparked my interest in my project.

I decided to visually show the narratives we read through a more modern lens using the type of media that has all affected us through our childhood and now: magazine covers.

Desire can be about the desire to fit in. I see that all throughout “White Girl” by Myriam Gurba. There’s this desire that the protagonist has for Gabriella that can be seen as sexual since they share intimate moments. However, that sexual desire for Gabriella can also be interpreted as a desire of wanting to be like her. The protagonist writes about Gabriella being exotic with pale skin, having casseroles for dinner, and fearing the macabre and all of these things aren’t sexualized – it’s more about wanting to be like her than being intimate with her. It’s this desire to be Gabriella and not the brown girl raised with a mom with an accent, un-bland food, and Catholic icons of La Virgin. It’s literally taking her desire of fitting in and using that to fuel her mimicry of Gabrielle’s aesthetic. What better modern twist than Billie Eilish?

With “Halfie” written by Ana-Maurine Lara, the desire is definitely two-fold. She desires to fit in by wearing mini-skirts which is what the other girls wear but also the desire to please Angel. Mimicry comes in because she went so far as to disrespect her own mother to mimic the other girls she sees in the name of fashion.

For Junot Diaz’s piece in “How To Date…”, I tried to make it a more masculine magazine like GQ that caters to a more masculine aesthetic. It’s about flipping through the magazine on how to get the girl. Page 2 is about hiding the government cheese, the pictures of his afro, learning how to comb your fingers through your hair like those white boys. Page 3 is the girl he wants the most, the white girl. Page 4 is the halfie and you can’t be surprised to know that her mom is white. Page 5 is about the black girl from around the block and gets it when that dude wants to pick a fight. Page 6 is about telling her what she wants to hear so that you can get what you want which is sex. Page 7 is how to tell your boys about it and then forget about it ever happening.

I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of what desire can look like. First (above) is the desire to find your own identity and self-confidence through representation. Meanwhile the second one (below) is the lust, carnal, sexual desire. I drew my inspiration from beauty brands that are Latina-owned versus non-Latina-owned and how they try to appeal to the Latinx community. When chubby women are in adult films, it’s from the male gaze where the chubby Latina isn’t proactive in her sexuality and pleasure, but just as a fetish toy for male viewers. But when it’s from a female gaze, it’s about an active effort to learn how to build and appreciate one’s own body/confidence.

Thank you for teaching this class, Dr. Hernandez!

The one thing that I was able to grasp and analyze deeply was the unit of Colonial and Racial Desires. I wrote in my reflection of the unit that I felt like a majority of us grew up wanting to look and feel like the men and women we see represented every day in magazines and television shows – mostly white, skinny, white women and men. This is obviously seen in the pieces we analyzed in class. It was the topic of desire that really sparked my interest in my project.

I decided to visually show the narratives we read through a more modern lens using the type of media that has all affected us through our childhood and now: magazine covers.

–Cindy Jara

That University Life

https://thatuniversitylife.tumblr.com/

I created this blog to document my experiences throughout university. It was interesting to see how the concepts we learned about in class related to events that occurred in my day to day life. I enjoyed working on this blog, because it allowed me to see how my presence in the world is perceived. 

–Daniela Felipe

"I Always Knew" by Spencer Bennett

Here is a poem I wrote centered around a Latinx queer teenager who is coming to terms with their sexuality and identity while figuring out how to move forward. I drew from my own personal experiences, as well as the different issues we discussed this semester.

“I always knew I was different

Not really sure what to make of it

Boys were never just friends

And girls just never got me going

You’d think that once you figure this out

That all your problems will fade away

Like a deep cleanse of your soul

But it only breeds more uncertainty

How will I tell my family?

Should I tell my family?

Silence is like living two lives

But silence is all I’ve ever known

I feel like I am deceiving those closest to me

Like I am a stranger and they don’t even know it

My grandparents always ask me, “y tu novia?”

And I have to say I haven’t met the right one

Knowing that the answer will never change

I always knew I was different

But I never knew how badly I’d want to be the same”

-Spencer Bennett <3

I created this piece to enrapture the existence and daily struggles of living as an Afro-latina. I have really enjoyed learning about how race, specifically blackness, is perceived in Latinx countries. The words in the silhouette represent the realities that many of these women face on a day-to-day basis whether it is blatant or insidious. I apologize for the doodles… that happened in a way less interesting setting than this class.

–Michaela Poitevien

Blog on racial fetishization

I created a blog post about the racial fetishization of women of color, specifically afro-latinas, and my personal experiences as an Asian-american woman. This was inspired by two articles that we read Marquillas Cigarreras Cubanas and Look! blackness in Brazil. 

https://amishapatel395.wixsite.com/website/post/racial-fetishization-of-women-of-color

-Amisha Patel

This collage is based on main themes we have discussed regarding Latinx women in particular. Shame, queerness, gender presentation, colonialism, racism and sexism all influence and shape the Latinx woman’s ability to navigate in society. We live in a world that tells Latinx women to be quiet, to be mothers, to be virgins, to be modest, to be straight, to be white, to be feminine. We have to be desirable but never desiring. We have to follow all the rules in order to be perfect and protected. But you know, fuck that. Latinx women can be whoever the hell they want to be and everyone can stay mad about it. In my work, I wanted to say a big fuck you to all those expectations and really let Latinx women breathe. Cuz fajas are hella restrictive on the lungs. 

Tangerine

judycolindres:

Sisterhood

In the opening scene, Sin-Dee meets her friend, Alexandra, after spending time in prison. There are multiple instances of sisterhood in this first scene. The two friends are sharing a donut, and Alexandra points out that she paid Sin-Dee’s rent while she was incarcerated. After Alexandra tells Sin-Dee the rumor that her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her, Alexandra follows Sin-Dee in tracking down this man. This theme of sisterhood between Sin-Dee and Alexandra is a central theme of the film that allows the two trans women to find support in the community they create with each other. This is reminiscent of the support network surrounding Adela Vásquez because it is a means of survival for these two women.

Sex Work

There are multiple scenes of drugs and sex work in Tangerine. The raw reality of these scenes demonstrates how these women are surviving rather than living. As many of the testimonios we have read in our class have shown, drugs and sex work can often be necessary acts of survival for QTPOC. Still, Sin-Dee and Alexandra show strength in how they navigate their lives in the film, which I believe supports the notion that there is also a potential agency in sex work. I feel that the questions of living versus surviving and agency in sex work are considered in an authentic way in Tangerine.  

Chaotic Authenticity

During the ¡Cuéntamelo! presentations, a common thread among the testimonios was unplanned or unchronological storytelling. I believe maintaining this disorder is essential in achieving an authentic understanding of the lives of QTPOC. Tangerine successfully portrays the chaos of the lives of queer people of color who are surviving. Particularly, when Sin-Dee and Alexandra return to the donut shop, the storylines culminate into an uproar. It is significant that the portrayal of this scene is messy, because instead of turning their lives into an “overcoming narrative,” the film presents the complicated yet tangible reality of these QTPOC.  

Also released in 2015, Tangerine is a film directed by Sean Baker that was shot with the iPhone 5S. It centers around Sin-Dee and Alexandra as they navigate their lives as trans women and sex workers living in Los Angeles. Themes of sisterhood, sex work, and authenticity are highlighted in this film. 

–Judy Colindres

I Am the Queen

judycolindres:

Ginger Valdez

Ginger Valdez is the organizer of the PaseoBoricua Pageant of 2010 in a primarily Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. Similar to Adela Vásquez, Valdez is the connecting figure between all of the trans and queer folks in the documentary. Through her involvement in the pageant and her close interaction with the competitors, Valdez facilitates positive connections and awareness within the trans community in Humboldt Park. Valdez is a mentor for the trans and queer folks that she meets, describing her goal to organize a well-executed, respectable event for the girls.  Valdez shares her experiences as a trans woman and pageant competitor, bringing humorous and encouraging energy to the room (as pictured above). Overall, Valdez is a motherly figure, creating a familial atmosphere among the girls and asking the competitors not to disrespect one another.

Fear of Rejection

Throughout ¡Cuéntamelo!, the LGBTQ+ folks shared fear of ostracization from their family. “I Am the Queen” illustrates multiple representations of family dynamics that both confirm and contradict this theme. On one hand, Ginger Valdez describes her mother being unable to understand her trans identity at the age of fourteen. Valdez points out that her father was willing to accept her as she was and finds that her situation is atypical of typical gendered parental reactions. In Julissa’s case, Lisa, her mother, initially struggled to accept her daughter’s queer identity but learned to welcome Julissa as her daughter. While this is not the case for many trans folks, I appreciated that this hopeful mother-daughter relationship was represented in the film.

Community as Survival

The documentary ends with recordings of the pageant and subsequent parade, and there are many instances of community in this final portion of the film. Bianca was robbed and unprepared to perform at the pageant, but Ginger and Jolizza helped to make sure she was dressed to compete. While Jolizza’s mother and sister still made transphobic comments, the two did show up for the pageant. Not to mention, Julissa’s entire family was there for the pageant and celebrated her win. There is an emotional moment when Julissa’s little sister cries over her win and says, “She’s so beautiful.” Altogether, I think these scenes demonstrated the networks of support that are necessary for survival in the trans community of color. As we read in ¡Cuéntamelo!, it is important that QTPOC find spaces and people (such as the PaseoBoricua Pageant) that allow them to be themselves.

“I Am the Queen” is a 2015 documentary about a pageant targeted towards transgender individuals in a Puerto Rican community in Chicago. The documentary showcases the fear of rejection, sense of community, and proud Latinx identities that we also found in ¡Cuéntamelo!.

–Judy Colindres

My final project, The Virgin of Del Rio, was inspired by the works of Alma Lopez and well as Yolanda Lopez in which they manipulate the Catholic religious figure, The Virgin of Guadalupe, into their own version often featuring other Latina women that they look up to or themselves in a more sexualized version than the traditional iconography. In the same fashion, I created a collage in which Vanessa  Del Rio, a hyper-sexualized figure by others and a proud ‘slut’, juxtaposed as the traditional and somewhat sexually repressive Virgin of Guadalupe. I used a photograph of Del Rio in which she exposes most of her body in a leotard and is sexual in nature yet also masculine. The musculature she displays in the photo also contrasts highly with that is often thought of a the ideal and sexual figure of a Latina women. 

–Alexis May

#vanessadelrio #virgen #virginmary #sexuality #Latina #AlmaLopez #YolandaLopez #womenofcolor #feminist #Latinx #virgendeguadalupe #collage #art #feminism

Critical Collages (post 1 of 3) These images are works produced by members of the class for the Critical Collage project, which is inspired by Maria Andrea Dos Santos Soares’s article, “Look: Blackness in Brazil!: Disrupting the Grotesquerie of Racial Representation in Brazilian Visual Culture,” Cultural Dynamics 24 (1): 75-101, 2012. Inspired by Dos Santos Soares’s technique of using collage to analyze stereotypical representations of Black Brazilians, students created digital and 2-D collages that explored some of the stereotypical tropes of Latinx sexuality. Students creatively responded to dominant representations of queer Latinx, queer Cuban marielitos, Afro Latinas, religious figures, and Puerto Rican women.