JE #9

1. I feel that I have learned the historical laws surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border the best from Eithne Luibhéid's Entry Denied. It is a very dense book that outlines the laws that control gender and sexuality at the border and it effectively argued the lasting significance of those discriminatory laws. Once my group and I outline the book I feel that I will be capable of arguing of the unfairness surrounding U.S. immigration laws very effectively in the future. I was not aware of the socio-political effects of the immigration laws of the past centuries. I also now understand the outcomes and the purposeful discrimination and theft that occurred from the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. 

2. I feel that I understand la facultad the best. Many of Anzaldúa's theories put words to my experiences and la faculdad is something that I often think about. I am to some degree good at discerning people from when I meet them but not as good as my best friend. All of her first impressions of the people that we have met have turned out to be correct. I learned of mi facultad from the uneasiness I felt around my mom's boyfriends and around people that I did not trust with no actual reasons to account for that distrust. I am learning to trust gut feelings more and I trust la facultad and my feelings that do not stem from so called "real sources."

3. I think I'm still having problems understanding into the serpent. I have an understanding of it but I am unsure what that theory exactly entails or how I would know if I am experiencing it. 

5. My border consciousness is being nurtured every day while everything that I have learned from this class continues to grow and ferment (in a tasty positive way) to create greater levels of border consciousness. I feel that I was in the Coatlicue State a few times this quarter, or at least that I saw and felt the Coatlicue State because of its proximity if I have not exactly been completely submerged in it yet. I am more affected by books than movies. Every book that I have read this quarter has affected and changed me. The books for this class also correlated with the books I was reading in my Chican@ Literature class. Those books have also added to my border consciousness. The books in this class affected me emotionally and also gave me the tools to better understand intersectional oppressions. "Bordertown" affected me the most by giving screen time to a subject that has greatly affected me in the past year since I began learning about it.