3 Pieces
A Portrait of Mama and Papa
"At 32, Mama would have to stretch $20 to last for a week in the city of sinful heatwaves and superfluous neon lights across the never-ending black strip of entertainment and intoxication.
At 30, on some days, Papa would leave at 7 a.m., returning with a $100 check, wondering how the amount would last two weeks for his two daughters and wife."
Migration: As a Nostalgic Form of Art
"If we want artists to tell a complete story of migration in their work, we need to start embracing and examining the more “nostalgic” side of this process.
Located near 21st Street on Park Place Wichita, Kansas is the Immigration is Beautiful mural. This historical painting is a pivotal symbol of hope and perseverance for the Mexican American, Chicano, and Hispanic communities within the city. This mural has become a political statement that advocates for the justice and equity of Latinos, particularly women and children."
Indigenous Knowledge for Fire Management
"Throughout last year, extremely destructive fires raged throughout Australia and the Western United States. Great monetary and human resources have been diverted to fighting these fires, but to lead to a more sustainable future there must be an emphasis on fire prevention instead. This is especially crucial in areas currently suffering from intense and frequent fires, as climate change will only continue to worsen the consequences. To develop the best fire management strategies, Indigenous Knowledge (IK) should be considered."
Returning to Windy Gap Island
"I leaned over the side of the rowboat and vomited as a speed boat full of drunk college kids sped by. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve, careful to hold my windswept hair back so it wouldn’t get knotted and tangled in the corners of my mouth. The weight of my body and my backpack pulled the small vessel down, so it sat low in the choppy water. I trusted the waters of Windy Gap, allowing them another moment of rest and calm before continuing."
First Period Theology
"please raise your hand,
whomever else of you
has been a child,
unaware that you are
not, bearing 185 pounds
of another’s strain,"
Liberationist Discourse in the War on Terror: A Misogynist Facade
"Following the Cold War and with the rise of new forms of mass media, the United States was equipped with a new weapon: soft power. The US used various forms of soft power as a justificatory tool to legitimize the wars and foreign intervention it engaged in. This is most notably the case in the Bush Administration’s War on Terror, in which the industrial-military-media complex shaped a stereotypical image of Muslim society."
Crown Under Siege: Policing of Black Girls' Hair
"The conversation surrounding the policing of the Black male body has once again gained relevance in 2020 with the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, two Black men who died at the hands of racially motivated violence. Contrastingly, we have not seen this same degree of conversation involving the policing of the Black female body, specifically towards Black girls. When we focus our attention on Black girls, we see that educational settings serve as the venue for such policing against Black girls, especially in regards to their hair. This study continues the work for contextualizing the treatment of Black girls and their hair in school, with their attempt to define themselves."
3 Poems
"Space changes and children do not"
Then: space cried bellows of shining rain
Nursed dreams
Never reached
"Father, have you really come home?"
"The 1960s marked a moment of eruption in the self-expression of socially oppressed and traumatized groups in America. Influenced by mass decolonization on a global scale and by the civil rights movement on a national scale, the Black Arts Movement became the arena of expression for the African American community. Another prolific community to contribute to the cultural transformation of the ‘60s was formed of women who led second-wave feminism under the auspices of such thinkers as Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan. The continuous line of trauma and oppression embedded in these groups’ generations-long existential agony experienced a rupture as marginalized subjectivities were being emphasized and gaining visibility, despite the white-centric, patriarchal dominant culture."
The Silencing of Accented Bodies in Healthcare
"The life expectancy in South Dakota’s Oglala Lakota County, which includes the Native American reservation, is 66.8 years, while the life expectancy in wealthier regions of Colorado, which include Vail and Breckenridge, is 86 years.1 This 20-year difference is deeply unsettling and representative of deep-rooted issues of inaccessibility and inequality. Health is a basic human right for all. It is a resource which enables individuals to live productive and happy lives. And yet, research has shown huge health disparities.2 The uneven distribution of resources and care is directly related to the sociological conditions of racism, nationalism, and bias."