Readers Blog

[ronnie5280]

Part 4- Disability and Identity

I particularly loved reading this passage because of the student responses, instructor questions, and Anzaldua's reactions to them. Students were questioned about Anzaldua's writing and her identity. Did she identify with the term "disabled"? Is she less competent than others of accomplishing particular things? On the physical side, certainly in some cases. However, disabled persons are no different from "normal" people. They are frequently looked down upon since they are placed in a category that they do not wish to be a part of. When they are placed in this group, they are treated differently. Anzaldua answers all of the concerns and questions regarding her perspective on the matter.

[ronnie5280]

Part 4- A Short Q and A between LP and Her Author

Sometimes you need someone to help you sort through your ideas. Your plan of action is occasionally tainted by ideas such as "I can't do it" or "I don't know how to get there." So, in this text, the protagonist, LP, has a conversation with GEA, another character in the story. It's an extremely emotional poem from LP's perspective since she's articulating what's making her unhappy with herself. The brief comments by GEA and the extended emotional responses by LP were both really interesting to me throughout this conversation. There is a solution to this dilemma by selecting one of three options: leave it alone, ignore it, or keep working on it until it is solved.

[ronnie5280]

Part 4- Yemaya

Anzaldua holds high regard for Yemeya. Yemaya is shown in a feminine manner and personified to symbolize a mother and sister. Yemaya is described as an extremely gorgeous woman with specific characteristics that Anzaldua admires. In reality, there is some sexual tension in this poetry. Anzaldua mentions a number of things about Yemaya that reveal her desire, such as when it says your "tongues lick me, let me scream down the marble cliffs of your shoulder." She concludes the poem with "Tonight I shall sleep on your moving breasts. Esta noche sueno contigo." That is, she is fantasizing about being together in secret and dreaming about Yemaya while sleeping.

[ronnie5280]

Part 3

Gloria's ambitions are depicted in this drawing. One of the primary issues she has addressed in her poetry is that of identity. She has been battling for several things that she considers are discriminatory based on her beliefs. She has been working hard to pursue her aspirations in the queer, Chicana, and writer communities. She is proud of who she is and wishes to share that sense of self-identity to others. I also notice a self-reconstruction drawing, which means that if you don't like something about your values and ambitions, modify it for your own pleasure. When you believe you are being misrepresented by others, it is critical to develop your own identity. You have the right to be yourself in order to achieve happiness.

[ronnie5280]

Part 2- To(o) Queer the Writer- Loca, escritora y chicana

Anzaldua is uncomfortable with the term "lesbian" or identifying as a lesbian. This is because she believes the term lesbian places her in a group with individuals who do not appreciate her culture or her ideals. She likes to identify as a queer person. She does not want to lose her culture as a Chicana by associating with a group that does not support her true self identity. When most people hear the word lesbian, they envision white middle-aged women. There are no "dyke-feminism" writers either. She aspires to achieve a variety of objectives in the Chicana culture, feminism, and the language topic.

[ronnie5280]

Part 2- Ghost Trap

What a surprising turn of events in this story. It begins with the death of a lady's spouse. She sobbed and wailed, but no one showed sympathy as he was remembered.  People thought he deserved to die, and even said he was going to hell. She was better off without him in peoples opinion. Days and months later, she was still upset. One day, she was visited by a ghost. It was her husband's spirit. He approached her. She had missed him so much. The ghost would only arrive at night and make her requests.' He'd ask her to make him meals, bring him beer, and lay out his clothing. She did it a couple times at first. It grew to the point where if she didn't do what the spirit demanded, she'd be physically harmed. She'd try to entice the spirit into her ghost trap, but first she had to be kind to it and pay attention to what she was doing. She mourned her spouse a lot when he died, but she recognized the harsh facts about him when he was living.

[ronnie5280]

Part 2- The Presence

The Presence narrates the narrative of a spirit who is not there to harm anybody but to specifically guide Gloria. The spirit was generally there while she was alone, but it was also present when she was writing. The spirit informed her precisely what she needed to write, and it felt very natural. Her fingers would freely flow, and deciding what to write about next wasn't even a consideration. She was initially terrified of it, but subsequently recognized it was a guardian or a helping spirit. She realized this after talking with a friend about a spirit that was following them while being together. They assumed it was her father's spirit, but it didn't appear to be. Her friend has had past encounters with the sprit. It didn't feel inappropriate to communicate with the spirit and allow it to lead and help her.

[ronnie5280]

Part 2- Creativity and Switching Modes of Consciousness

Anzaldua challenges the core principles that individuals hold today in this brief essay. The system has made it impossible for people to be inspired and to dream large. People are too afraid to express their inner creativity. This process begins on the inside. People generally have feelings and ideas that impact a desired goal they want to accomplish, but it is so difficult to practice in the physical, external world because it appears unreachable and severely criticized. It's also critical to step outside of your comfort zone. If you set your mind to it, everything is achievable. It all comes down to your mindset and the amount of work you put into your objective.

[ronnie5280]

Middle Writings- Part 2

Del Otro Lado narrated a story of a young woman who is not welcomed in her family because of her self identity. You can definitely sense the strain between the girl and her mother over this profoundly troubling subject for their relationship. The girl doesn’t seem afraid of whats to come, but know there is trouble with her culture accepting her as well as her mother. "I'll kill myself in the head with a gun if you tell people in this town you're jota (queer)," her mother warns. The mother is also concerned about what would happen to her reputation in the community. She doesn't want to be ashamed of her daughter's sexual orientation and the lash of non-cultural appropriation of identity.

[ronnie5280]

Part 1- The New Speakers

Glora Anzaldua discusses poets, her influences, and speech. Poets are always expected to elicit a reaction from the audience when their poetry is read aloud. There is joy in doing so, but there’s things that bother Anzaldua with this along with many other issues. In her poem, she also explains how poets feel lonely and more sensitive as a result of being obliged to act in particular ways. People may make gender-biased judgements regarding how a poet should speak or what they should talk about. Poets should not feel obligated to write about trendy issues that have no societal significance, but rather to connect with their audience and become a respected person while offering interesting poetry.

[ronnie5280]

Part 1- Speaking In Tongues

What an amazing poem! It started off by Anzaldua introducing herself as sister to the beloved women in third world countries. She adds to her poem their struggles of being naked, in the hot sun, other women in India walking to school, and other marginalized women of asian and queer identities. Colored women must fight together because it is the only way to resist a system designed to keep them silent and trapped in an oppressive environment. Anzaldua advises women to confront the challenges head on so that future women can find it easier to advocate for their voices to be heard.

[ronnie5280]

Part 1- Gloria Anzaldua

Reincarnation-

            for Julie 

                           I

                               slithered shedding 

                my self 

                           on the path

                                  then  

                                           looked back and

                                    contemplated 

                                the husk 

                                          and wondered

                                             which me 

                                                             I had discarded  

                                                               and was it the second  

                                                               or the two thousand and 

thirty-second 

                                                     and how many me's 

                                            would I slough off

                                                  before voiding

                                                        the core

                                                               if ever. 

This poem is about Gloria's reaction to her new self, whether in the moment or in the long run. She sees herself being transformed and losing old habits of life. She sees numerous different versions of herself. When I initially read this, I thought she was talking to her adolescent self because there's a sense of finding one's identity in this poem. Keep in mind Gloria is a scholar in feminist theory, queer theory and Chicana culture theory. So, I believe that many of her experiences in various areas opened up her mind to perceive many other versions of herself, and that you should never try to hide who you are. This poem was exciting to read because of the message it conveyed through a visual of the text imitating a crawling snake. Gloria is a very talented poet who has a lot to say about her respective experiences and interests.