JE#10

Make a list of 10 of the most memorable characters (from novels and films) you encountered on this journey toward Border Consciousness:

Mama Chona

Felix

Concha

Lena

David

Diego

Speedy Gonzalez

Ximena

Ivon

Nancy

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Speedy: "Andale, andale! let's start this Summit on Sexual Borders. As you know, I'm not only the fastest mouse in all of Mexico, I'm also a bona fide cultural icon, so I will be moderating this panel where my comadres and compadres, the characters we've encountered will offer their views on how they've dealt with their own sexuality and the borders that have come up because of it, and why we should pay more attention to they ways it takes shape. Arriba, arriba, let's get started!

Diego: Sexuality is one of the most liberating and delicious experiences, but you can't be afraid of it eh? you have to give yourself entirely to the spiritual journey that is finding your own sexual desire, that doesn't mean it will make you more friends. I had to practically live in exile in Cuba and I know that I was stigmatized for my homosexuality, but I left my home in Cuba because of my principles and I did not compromise who i was for one second. 

Felix: I think that your situation was very different from mine Diego. I grew up in a family that never accepted my being gay and having a desire for men. It led me to make many people around me suffer, like Angie and JoEl. It even led to my death, until the day I was murdered my mother would not admit that I was gay. 

Ivon: I understand where you're coming from Felix, my own sexual borders had a lot to do with how my mother felt about my being a lesbian. I do wish that I could have counted more on her, instead I received a lot of physical abuse. But I think that what we can take away from all of our experiences is that honoring our own desires and perhaps being aware of how they manifest is important. 

Speedy: So, Ivon do you think that it's fair to say that coming to terms with your sexual borders can mean alienating yourself from your family? what do the rest of you think?

Ivon: Oh definitely. I left El Paso to get away and to have a space where I could come to terms with my own sexuality without the heteropatriarchal views my mother held. It does affect those relationships, but again we need to confront them, otherwise we can hurt others. 

Lena: I agree, if my dad had told me that he liked men, which all of us knew but Miguel Grande and the rest of the family were too homophobic to admit,I believe my mother could have been honest with herself about her love for my dad. 

Felix: I do regret that, I was too cowardly. 

David: I had to also come into my own process to define for myself my sexual borders. Diego really challenged my ideas of pleasure and desire, he showed me that being comfortable in one's own skin is an incredible source of power. 

Speedy: Orale! life is too short not to know what you like, and don't like. It's not going to be pretty and it will a messy process but it will make you that much more aware and at peace! 

Diego: exacto! ay que esperan? exploren su cuerpo y lo que les da placer!

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