JE#9

What aspect of the historical borderlands section of the course do you feel you've learned best? What do you really know now about the history of the U.S.-Mexico border that you did not know before you took the course?

-I feel that between Mira!, Ringside Seat to a Revolution, and Entry Denied, I have learned the U.S. immigration laws and official practices at the border that were rooted in hegemonic, xenophobic, racist, heterosexist ideologies. The most shocking part of border history of which I had been completely ignorant were the El Paso bath houses.

Which one(s) of Gloria Anzaldúa's theories about the borderlands do you feel you really understand? How does this theory (or these theories) apply to your own life?

Which theory or theories of Anzaldúa's are you still having difficulty understanding? Please discuss the difficulties you're having?

-I feel I most understand and relate to The Path of the Red and the Black Ink in Anzaldúa’s Borderlands. Over the past few years, I have learned that writing is the only way I can really confront my inner demons, my Shadow-Beast, and work through them.

How would you rate your own level of border consciousness at this point in the course? Are you, for example, just coming face to face with your monstrous Shadow Beast? Are you "entering into the Serpent," or do you feel like you're falling into the "Coatlicue State"? How are the films and readings contributing to this experience?

-I feel, at this point, that I am still inside the serpent. I have many more skins that I need to shed, especially those indoctrinated, religious ideas about sexuality that I have been carrying since my youth. Entry Denied, Borderlands, the blog prompts, reaction papers, and class discussions have all helped me to decolonize my own internalized homophobia by both exposing the powers that work to impose homophobic, heterosexist beliefs onto me, as well as demonstrating the strategies I must employ to free myself of those beliefs.