• What have you learned in What have you learned in this course; in our classes, during an assignment, from a peer, in a conversation in / outside class? The answer to this question can be the screenshot of a conversation, a voice recording of a reflection, a video speaking, a piece of art, or a diagram. Express your answer in the manner you want.this course; in our classes, during an assignment, from a peer, in a conversation in / outside class

I have learned several things from this course. The most obvious that I learn is that by writing literature, we get to tell our story. Certain people out there, it may be certain people from a social class or the government, have silence and erased our history, but it is our responsibility to not forget it and to make sure that the future generations know about it. Another thing that I have learned form taking this course is that our story is out there. Many writers have written about their experiences, experiences that may be the similar to the ones we face today. We simple have to ignore the censorship and look for them.

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• After reading “A Xicana Codex 0, 1, 2” by Cherrie Moraga,  record your voice ( just audio) speaking for 1 or 2 minutes about how this reading relates to you.

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• Create a playlist on Spotify that matches the short story “Kimberle”, by Achy Obejas. Explain the connection of the songs to parts of the reading and specific quotes.

I chose this pre-created Spotify playlist because I think it’s crazy how Kimberle is this loose serial killer and how her friend, the narrator, doesn’t realize it. It is twisted that Kimberele reflects herself as someone suicidal and the narrator, who is doing a good deed to Kimberele, brings her into her house unknowingly. The simple fact that Kimberele feeds the narrator a lot of meat is just crazy to me.

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• Find a newspaper article online that relates to Sexile, by Jaime Cortez (Pages 11-27 in the pdf). Explain the connection.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/bolivia-approves-first-same-sex-union-following-legal-battle-n1251099

Many times members of the LGBTQ+ community face oppression. If we see this oppression in the United States, simply imagine the oppression LGBTQ+ people face in Latin America, a region where machismo exists. One thing that has been the forefront of the battle for equality for the LGBTQ+ community is marriage rights. Slowly we see how many Latin American countries are beginning to allow its LGBTQ+ citizen to civilly marry. In Sexile by Jaime Cortez, we see how the Cuban main character is denied the opportunity to fight in the military (although the main character did not want to join the military) and fired from his teaching job for being gay. This type of discrimination does exist in Latin America and, like the main character says, “I just felt like I had a right to be whoever I wanted to be. Punto.”

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• Choose an literary image from a specific poem by Natasha Carrizosa and another from Natalie N. Caro. Write a paragraph or record voice/video analysing a comparison.

The two poems that I choose is Mejiaficana by Natasha Carrizosa and Dear White People by Natalie N. Caro. I feel like these poems are interconnected in a way. In Caro’s poem, the poet thanks white European people for giving us, people of color and those indigenous communities that inhabited the Americans before the arrival of the Europeans, for the knowledge and understanding. From my understanding, the one thing that the Europeans omitted from teaching us is the ability to speak up. That is where Carrizosa’s poem comes to play. Carrizosa’s poem is about a Afromexican woman who speaks up and praises herself for being a black Latinx woman. The narrator in Carrizosa’s poem learned how to speak up and is speaking up.

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• Include the short story La fiesta de los Linares, Janete Arelis Quezada . Why would you include this poem on your blog;  in relation to what?. Post it next to a movie clip that relates to it. Quote pertinent parts.

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• After reading Jennifer Maritza Mccauley: Poetry blog about Jennifer Maritza, Blackout , write a short story or a poem that relates. No less than two paragraphs. 

The date of when it happened is unclear to me. I think it was the summer because it was hot. The thought and need to remember that day is so traumatic that it is painful to remember. I was waiting for the subway at 34th Street when out of no where it went dark. It was a black out.

It was only for a few minutes, but those minutes changed my life that followed. While walking towards the exit, a man walked up behind me and placed his large hands on my breast. I was in shock and scared. In this plain dark someone touched me. When he took his hands on I turned around to slap him, but I only swing my hand in the air.

I held myself to make sure that this man didn’t do the same again. I started breathing heavily and frighten. And then, the lights turned on. That night, I went home, cleaned myself, and cried to bed. Why? Why did this happen? Was it me? Was it my dress? Was it my shoes? Was it my posture? I never spoke about it again.

Vlog #2:

Vlog #1: