Sunday, December 8, 2013

JE #9




1. I had already many of the texts assigned to this class.  However, I believe my reading of Arnoldo de Leon's They Called them Greasers and Kelly Lytle Hernandez's Migra!  educated me in different ways.  They both enraged me--de Leon for enlightening me with this hidden history and Lytle Hernandez for attempting to humanize immigration agents.  I feel that I have a deeper understanding of the concept of "border consciousness" and of Gloria Anzaldua's process of "mestiza consciousness." 

2. I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of the two faces of the Shadow Beast.  I constantly struggle with my monstrous Shadow Beast.  I express it though internalized rage and self-flagellation.  As queer conscious as I think I am, I harbor internalized homophobia at times.  I am working hard to eliminate any last vestige of heteronormativity.
 
3. I believe I understand all of Anzaldua's theories.  I have read Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza many times before this class.  Every time I read it, I gain a deeper understanding.

4. I believe I recognize most, if not all, of the borders in my life.  I realize that this is a cyclical process, not a "start to finish" linear journey.  I have come to the realization that my own mestiza consciousness will not come until I transition to another state of being and my corporeal reality disintegrates.  Until then, I struggle through the first six stages of Anzaldua's process of decolonization.

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