Bookie's Bodega

2022  My reading list this year has been relatively short, hopefully I'll be able to read more over summer! My Reading List: Pump Room,1804 by John Nattes. Stapleton Collection.  Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey . Harrap's, 2022.  - Northanger Abbey  is a commentary on friendship, love, and imagination. And no, it is not "My Little Pony." The main character, Catherine Morland, goes to Bath with her family friend and meets Henry Tilney. Catherine becomes close friends with Eleanor, Henry's sister, and becomes closer to the Tilney family. However, Isabella Thorpe- Catherine's closest friend in Bath- attempts to set Catherine up with her brother John. John is rude and unintelligent, while Henry is smart, kind, and has a lot in common with Catherine. Catherine has to learn who her real friends are throughout the novel.  Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiche Maya People . University of Oklahoma Press, 2003.  - The Popol Vuh  is the sacred...

 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...