Bookie's Bodega

 Chicana Feminism and Laura Aguilar Laura Aguilar was a Mexican-Irish woman born in San Gabriel, California in 1959. She was a member of the LGBT community, resulting in her photographing other LGBT WOC for some of her collections. Many of her most famous works explore notions of femininity and self-image. She recently passed in 2018. Aguilar’s works uniquely look at her experience as a plus-size, LGBT, woman of color. Many of her photographs depict her naked body, likely to normalize seeing women’s bodies, which tend to be criticized for their size, shape, or amount of coverage. Her art seems to be a form of self-expression, a search for a safe space as a plus-size, LGBT Chicana woman. According to ARTNews , “the photography of the late Chicana artist Laura Aguilar has caused many to see the world differently,” due to her openness with mental health and equity as well as “her identities as a large-bodied, working-class queer Chicana woman” (Duron 2020, 1).  Center 99  by...

Chile's New Liberal Government       “The Rise of Chile’s Center-Left” is a podcast episode from Latino USA that aired on February 1, 2022. In this episode, host Julio Ricardo Varela and journalist Camila Vergara discuss recent Chile’s political changes. Chile’s 36 year old President Gabriel Boric was elected December 19, 2021. Boric was a leader in the 2011 Chilean student movements, in which they protested the privatization of higher education. I learned that Chile’s president is center-left and they will soon redraft their constitution, one that was made during the rule of dictator Augusto Pinochet. The 155 redrafters of this constitution are “equal number of men and women, as well as 17 representatives of indigenous nations” ( Latino 1:36-1:49). Student leader Gabriel Boric delivers a speech during a protest on August 28, 2012. Photo by  Claudio Santana.      I really enjoyed learning about Chilean politics. I feel as if this news isn’t as pub...

Violence in Our Foods Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States by Seth M. Holmes is about migrant farmworkers in the United States, particularly those from Latin America on the west coast. Holmes crossed the border with indigenous farmworkers, worked alongside them in the fields, and interviewed farmworkers of every level (admin, crew bosses, pickers, etc). Holmes realizes "that an ethnography of suffering and migration would be incomplete without witnessing firsthand" how these migrants work (Holmes 40). This immersive study is intended to inform American consumers of where their food comes from and the people that provide them with their produce. Holmes does a wonderful job of integrating his findings with studies and a broader perspective, helping us understand how these migrants have come to be in the position they are. Seth Holmes and his Triqui companions in the border desert. Photo courtesy of Seth M. Holmes. In this book, Holmes immerses hi...

Trujillato  "A Border Drawn in Blood" is an episode of Latino USA that first aired on October 6, 2017, then was re-aired on February 17th, 2022. This episode discusses the complicated relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, especially under the rule of Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo was a dictator of Dominican Republic and ordered the Perejil Massacre of 1937, a massacre that the government tried to cover up. I had never heard of this massacre, and I learned a lot about the conflict between these countries, and their version of a border wall. The Dominican Republic wanted to build a wall to keep the Haitians out- for the same reasons that Trump wanted to build a wall on our Mexican border. At this massacre, "Haitian seasonal farm workers and their families... were massacred because they could not pronounce the consonant 'r' in 'perejil'" (Ayuso 1).  Haiti and the Dominican Republic Border From a report from the UN Environmental Program in 2...

 The Maya and Their Origins In the translation of The Popol Vuh by Allen J. Christenson, we learn of the origins of humanity as told by Mayan mythology. In the beginning of the book, we focus on Earth before humans came to be. We learn of the family of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, and their own antics on Earth. In the second half, we focus on how humanity came to be. Xcumane and Xpiyacoc form humanity, using “water [as] their blood” and “ears of maize [as] their flesh” (Christenson 179). The Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, were born to the daughter of Gathered Blood, a Xibalban Lord by One Hunahpu’s spit. The story of their conception is a unique one, because at the time of conception, One Hunahpu was dead. One Hunahpu and his brother, Seven Hunahpu, had been challenged to a ball game by the Lords of Xibalba and had been tricked into losing. As a result, the two were sacrificed, and One Hunahpu’s head was hung from the tree at the crossroads, creating the Calabash Tree...

  The documentary Lost Kingdoms of Central America from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) discusses the various cities of the Olmec, one of the first civilizations in Central America. These cities include San Lorenzo and La Venta, the second of which is discussed in an article by Rebecca Gonzalez Lauck entitled “La Venta.”  In both the article and documentary, the collection of stones is discussed (basalt, limestone, serpentine, etc.). We do not know how the Olmec transported stone to their cities, but we do know that the nearest quarries were very far from them, ranging from “60 kilometers to more than 400 kilometers” (Gonzalez Lauck 12). This intensive process indicates that the cost of using stone would have been costly and likely a show of wealth, especially when it came to serpentine, which was acquired from “Oaxaca, which is on the western coast of Mexico” ( Lost 36:11-36:21). Serpentine tended to be used more as a show of wealth and ceremony rather than an arc...