New Year

Since I don't like Christmas, I ignored it...Gotta be real!

I am excited to move on from last quarter. The subject matter in the first quarter, keeping in mind the part that was structured, was not compelling or intellectually stimulating.

However, I learned a bunch of Mexican history, specifically, by learning about the Bracero program, which was a labor agreement in the US from 1942 through 1964. Due to independent research, I learned a bit about my great grandfather's experience. Great Grandpa Joaquin migrated out of Mexico into the US, through this "legitimized" transnational labor agreement after he and mi familia were uprooted and kicked out (back to Mexico) due US policy in 1931.

So,the first quarter is complete. I look forward to my new classes with my two favorite professors. I see a ray of light that I will follow into a brighter future w/ my "tiny me". Together we can make it through anything. Hahaha!

Emmy winning film Made in LA @ UWT w/ special guest

I am so excited about this event! Please come.

twins

This weekend I spent with my sis and some friends. It was tiresome weekend and I didn't get a ton of reading done. This will be something that will be a point of regret later on this week. But, hey it was fun!

hi

Happy to know that SLAP @ UWT has all the funds for this event

Oh, and I don't play the drums!

http://www.madeinla.com/

New ambitions

The hardest part of the first few weeks in the MA program, is feeling alone. I have had to adjust to study and writing processes. But its funny, I am quickly getting over the shock of it all. My perceived ambitions, mainly that I will be able to narrow my subject focus, will hopefully become clearer by the end of this quarter.

My deep obsession with the question of my study abilities to learn, write, and retain information is a source of constant self-doubt. It is easier to make excuses than realize that this is process will entail a ton of work.

For some reason I feel eerily "just" here in Tacoma.

The start of the quarter has been relatively quiet. I have tried to make time to let myself be in transition. I have tried to experience "letting go" of irrelevant matters. We'll see if my reality turns into more new ambitions...

In my mind these ambitions include the need to address real issues. I would like to avoid the issues that soak up time throughout the day. You know those minor details that suck hours from one's life, like what to eat, how to act diplomatic (fake), or even how to dress oneself.

The social issues I expect to address are related to our understanding of social, political, and economic realities/disparities. I know that people are not "just" part of a system. We have real experiences that include repression and injustices. So, I think that dismissing systemic racism to simple arguments of 'that's just how it is' only contributes the construction of oppression and racism. Detaining groups of people, predominately Latin Americans, is racism.

Why should we discuss racism? Because if we don't talk about it, then "it" becomes something that is outside ourselves. We can divide ourselves very easily by the language of our choosing. Yet do we try to stop and think about how we say things? If we continue to separate ourselves from each other, we begin to see how history can be separated by our choosing.

Am I talking around specifics? Yeah. I don't have enough knowledge, background or insight to make a coherent argument. Yet, I know that I want to develop my voice.

I will be the first to voice my insecurities about the lack of scholarly knowledge about immigration, social movements and Mexico. Sometimes these insecurities are to a fault.

So, my ambitions may be further than what I may be able to grasp at this moment. If I can catch up to them in a few months, there just might be a clearer way of making sense of my thoughts.