La Chicana Pamela Ponce

Gwen Araujo Gwen is sad story of transphobia. According to Merriam-Webster, Transphobia is described as " :  irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against  transgender  people". Gwen Araujo was a transgender woman who was brutally murdered in 2002 at the young age of 17. However, Gwen was not just a transgender woman. Gwen was also a Latina, a loving sister, a daughter, and a friend. Although this story is heartbreaking, it is even more heartbreaking to know that Gwen is not the only victim of brutal transphobia. According to Stonewall.org/uk,  "Two in five trans people have experienced a hate crime or incident because of their gender identity in the last 12 months",  "Nearly half (42 per cent) of trans people are not living permanently in their preferred gender role stated they are prevented from doing so because they fear it might threaten their employment status"  resulting in " Nearly half (48 per cent) of trans people under 26 s...

Our Visit to Chicano Park, Lincoln Park For our midterm, we were instructed to take a field day at Lincoln Park where we would discuss the murals that reside there. These murals are some that I see in my daily commute,  but I never made the time to stop and admire them in all their glory. During our class, I had the opportunity to walk around the park and take pictures of the murals. After coming home and doing some research on the murals, I learned that the park celebrated its 15 year anniversary in September and that unfortunately, because of the city construction, 15 murals had to be demolished and 30 still remain. While we were at the park, I kept seeing the author's name in the murals and when I came home I wanted to learn more about him. Gabriel S. Gaytan, a famed Chicano Visionary Artist, is the father of many of the murals at Lincoln Park.  Mr. Gaytan poured his heart and culture into these paintings and it shows. Although each mural has its own story, i...

I AM PAM By: Pamela Ponce Mascorro I am Pam. I am another American Dream kid. I am my parent's pride. Like many, I am Mexican. Like many, I faced many challenges as a kid. Like many, my family was on welfare until they could catch a breath. Like many, I am the oldest sibling who always had to be a second mother. Like many, I was looked at. I was the expectation. I NEEDED to be better than my parents. I needed to succeed. I needed to be what they were not. What exactly is success? Success is hard to describe. For many, success is a big house, a dream car, a fat bank account. It took me years, but now I know what success is. At least to me. Success is happiness. How happy you are determines your amount of success. For many years, I was not successful. I had it all. College education, Great paying job, Dream car, Husband that cared for me, Family that loved me unconditionally, Physical health. You might wonder, Why...

FRIDA KAHLO An effort in being more inclusive or a marketing stunt? I must admit: I am an avid makeup shopper. When I am stressed, I like to shop and my category of choice is usually makeup. I can go to Ulta beauty and walk through the isles for hours and not get bored.    This week, I took a trip to my closest Ulta beauty and was surprised by what I saw.   In one of the main store displays, I saw that the Ulta brand created a Frida Kahlo collection.  My initial reaction was "cool!" but after thinking about it, I began to wonder if Ulta Beauty was simply doing this to try to look inclusive without really caring about Frida Kahlo and what she represents. In her time, Frida was seen as an icon for Chicanos and will go down in history as one of the most influential women in the world. After coming home, I did some research and found that there were various articles online that mentioned that  Ulta received backlash over this collection. One...

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House Women have fought to be seen for decades. At last, women began being seen. However, if you were a woman of color, poor or had a different sexual orientation, you were still invisible. In the Master's tools speech, Lorde was trying to get a message accross that everyone needs a seat at the table. You cannot preach that you are fighting change by ignoring it. As a reader, it is easy to think that this does not occur in our current society. When reading this essay, I couldn't help but think how many women have seats at important tables. Politics: in the U.S., we have yet to have a female president. In congress, only about a fourth are women. In coorporate America, about a fourth of its Executive Officers are women. Why is it that men are the ones who are primarily trusted to be in positions of power? "Too emotional" they say. In my case, I am a Chicana, middle class woman who is empowered in not ...