salazalejan15-blog

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Section 4---Man Country---

Man Country in my opinion talks about the presence of God and how that impacts the lives of people. It talks about God marking his territory, and for me that seemed to be the person who wrote this poem. It was a way to explain the claim that God marks us as his territory and that there are conditions we must adhere to in order to be able to fit in.  

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Section 4---Rebirth---

Rebirth talks about being able to let go of colonialist structures that we were raised into. The text mentions an incredible experience where an individual goes through a spiritual awakening and is now blessed with the new sight for their indigenous identity. They feel the strength and empowerment that comes with being able to dig deep within yourself and know your true roots. It talks about indigenous people lifting up other indigenous people to the sun, and how this is symbolic of raising someone above the westernization they were forced to believe in and that being able to identify with your roots, regardless of where they are planted, it crucial to the human experience.  

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Section 3---Sweet Grass---

Sweet Grass is important because it talks about the life that once existed in out food. The poem specifically mentions how it felt to be inside the womb of the animal, and it was overwhelming. For me, I took this as the author realizing that despite the fact that humans are going to eat it, and despite the fact that we won’t think twice about the life of this animal, it had a life at one point. It was to be a mother to a baby and a child, and by killing it and eating it, we have taken away its life. The author also mentions how big the internal organs are, and this is important because it shows the literal organic and physical side of what we eat.  

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Section 3---A Drag Queen Named Pipi---

This reading spoke to me because I am a drag queen myself. I talks about the harsh experiences that queer men in particular go through, with the text mentioning that they were hunted by dogs and their bars were shut down by police. It related to me in that there is still a lot of hate for men who are feminine and who do not fit into traditional masculine roles of manhood. I liked how it brought out the humanity into a drag queen, by talking about how at one point they were a baby, which means that we all start off innocent and without ignorance in our hearts. To me, it spoke about how hate is learned and taught, but never inherited.  

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Section 3---Authentically Ethnic--

Authentically ethnic talks about survival in a culture that wants you to change and adhere to their customs. As a person of color, being able to adhere to American ideals and customs was a huge priority growing up because of my accent. Living in Lincoln Nebraska right around the time of 9/11 was difficult because of the racist and backwoodsy people that would throw racial slurs and taunts at children. I remember being called the N-word when I was 5 years old by other kids, and when i approached a teacher about it she explained how wrong that was. Coming home was a positive change but it quickly turned sour when I would see my Spanish-speaking cousins who would also taunt me for my feminine way of speaking and acting and the fact that I did not speak Spanish. They essentially told me that I wasn’t REALLY Puerto Rican and that because I only spoke English, I was white. This is struggle that I think a lot of people have because they fail to meet the expectations of their family members, and fail to meet American masculine expectations of being a man.

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Section 3---Blue Covers---

Blue Covers touches on a very serious issue of sexual abuse and trauma. It focuses on the aftermath and how the individual who was assaulted decides to live their life. I liked the rawness and openness of the poem especially when it says that a hearts beats out of a concave chest. This part speaks to the deadness and emptiness that people feel after going through something like this and it is important for people to read because it shows that they are not alone, and that they are not the only individuals with dark thoughts and perceptions on themselves. 

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Section 2---Being Two Spirit---

This reading in particular speaks to me on a personal level because of my Gay identity. The struggle of wanting to be a part of my own ethnic identity or group while still being accepted for my queer identity and my queerness is a struggle that i have to this day. On one hand, my mothers side accept it, but on the toxic-ally masculine side of my father, it isn’t. Being Two-Spirit speaks to many people because it shows how hard it can be to want to be a part of a community that accepts you for who you are only under certain conditions.  

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Section 2---Ghost Dance---

Ghost Dance speaks to the experience of losing a loved one and learning how to hide your feelings from the rest of the world. It is symbolic of a universal human experience of hiding behind a mask or underneath a costume to be able to keep others from seeing your vulnerability. The Halloween party can bee seen as a metaphor for life, where we are all humans under a veil of costumes and disguises to help protect ourselves from being hurt or being seen. This is important because it is something that we can all relate to and should open up about. Being vulnerable is normal, and being able to share said vulnerability is crucial to being able to be at peace with the loss of a loved one. 

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Section 1---Warrior

Warrior is an interesting read because it talks about the impacts of war on various levels. From the physical aspect of war, the text talks about bullets and lead being lodged in the trunks of trees and the roots of said trees still carrying lead in them. This speaks to the impact of war on the environment and how it destroys more than we even realize. The text also stood out to me when it mentioned how the failure to communicate lies invisible in the landscape. This was important because it showed how humans destroy important things like the environment over what is essentially a disagreement in morals and judgement. As the poem continues it talks about how it is more than just mourning, and how war turns human lives and human experiences into a game of sorts, and you as the victim are often seen as a war trophy towards a selfish country’s victory.  

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Section 1---Aunt Lucy---

Aunt Lucy is interesting because it draws upon an experience that all people have-being compared to others. It talks about how a young girl is compared to her aunt, who seemingly has a complicated past. The author doesn’t even have a lot of contact with her own father, making understanding her Aunt Lucy even more difficult. I found the section where the author mentions her accent important because i struggled with an accent for  a few years as a child and growing up people would comment on it. The author aligns seemingly aligns her identity with her accent and talks about how its not quite southern and not quite Mississippi, showing a sense of self-consciousness and vulnerability when even talking to her dad over the phone. The dispute over Aunt Lucy always coming around for money is deeply rooted in her father, and he still holds against Aunt Lucy. This familial conflict makes the author question what he means and wonder just how deep the past is between her aunt and her dad. 

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Section 1---VESSEL---

This poem speaks to an experience that a lot of people have, which is being able to feel the presence of a lost loved one and being able to find peace in that. I think that this is an important reading because it also recognizes certain spiritual practices and spiritual identities that otherwise may be unknown.  I also like how it talks about how the grandmother wanted to be cremated because to some people cremation is controversial and to others it is a normal practice and way of going about the death of a loved one. It shows cultural practices in a subtle but effective way while still being able to emphasize on feeling the presence of a loved one beyond their life and into their legacy. 

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This article talks about he misconceptions of the Black Lives Matter Movement. It goes through 11 misconceptions about their movement, and why it is important to be educated on their message. This was on the Black Lives Matter website, which is typically a left leaning source, and was published in 2017.

The topic of police brutality is one that will unfortunately be around in  our society for a very long time to come. There are multiple factors that lead to this including institutionalized racism, racial oppression of minority groups, and misconceptions of minority and ethnic groups in all forms of the mass media. In Project Censored, there is a story of how a police organization in New York wrongfully edited out crucial pieces of an investigation to save one of their own. This sparked outrage as one can imagine and called again for answers to the question of racism and the existence of white privilege. Truthfully, there are always two sides to every fight and argument, however there are times when neither side are properly informed, and this leads to continued misunderstandings of either sides' arguments. The text explains how in 2006, undercover NYPD officers shot 55 times at 3 unarmed individuals. This sparked mass protest and riots calling it police brutality (Project Censored. 2016). Instances like these and the quick reaction to cover it up by the police organizations are exactly what motivated movements like BLM to begin. The injustice and improper treatment of citizens by police is the backbone of such movements, and the political ties to Black Lives Matter and the Political ties to Blue Lives Matter impact our communities and our ways of society in the United States.

LINK: http://blacklivesmatter.com/11-major-misconceptions-about-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

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This article is about the illegal and underground world of sex trafficking. It discusses not only the issue of sex trafficking but it its relevance in the Unites States. The problems that stem from sex trafficking and the impact it has on families, schools, and the communities in which we live are profound and will often times leave people confused, lost, and without answers for the rest of their lives. This was written by Leif Coorlim and Dana Ford, and was published in March of 2017.

Project Censored offers readers a lot of material that makes them think, but seriously consider the information that is being fed to us. There are multiple topics that one would say are "hot button issues" and a lot of times that is true. One story however, is particularly difficult to grasp. Sex Trafficking. This is the illegal and often times underground selling and buying of individuals, usually young females, for the purposes of sex or sexual acts. These young girls can range in age, from 8 years old to 17 years of age, and there are seriously negative impacts on their families, friends, and their communities. The issue was brought to the public eye decades ago, and was since then followed up on, with the number of kidnapped and sold individuals rising annually. Many of these children come from unstable family homes, and can even already be victims of sexual abuse (Project Censored, 2016). a majority of the individuals who purchase sex slaves are men, and will often times "own" said sex slaves for years at a time (Project Censored, 2016). The issue discussed in the article is the specific stories of individuals, with the telling of the story of a girl named Sacharay. This now 19 year old recalled the story of how she was the victim of child sex crimes around the time she was 14 years old. Recalling how she was bullied and outcasted while growing up, Sacharay then told how when the opportunity came up to be friends with another student, she took that opportunity. After a few times of hanging out, she was introduced to a couple men in their thirties, and was showered with compliments and friendly advice. Looking back at it later, Sacharay realized that because she was having sex with men that were significantly older than her at the time, it was technically child rape(Coorlim, Ford, 2017). This is the subtly of sex crimes, and the method of being friendly and sociable to these young adolescents is how these men are able to get away with such crimes. even in instances where said men are convicted, a lot of them are never found guilty, and will continue to participate in such horrid crimes(Project Censored).  

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/us/sex-trafficking/

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The article I have chosen for this topic is from The Washington Post, who is typically known for having particularly liberal and left leaning views. This article discusses the negatives of privatizing education in the United States. It was written by Valerie Strauss, and was published in July of 2016.

Education in the United States is one topic that can get people to be divided. It gets people to divide politically, economically, and socially through discussion and debate over what is best for our children in this country. The social issue brought up in Project Censored is what they called The Walmarting of American Education. The base of this issue was that there was a lot of debate over whether our education in this country should be privatized or not. Essentially, a lot of right leaning political leaders believe that this is an ideal way to handle our education, expressing that the the principle of this belief was that the federal government should not have a say or have involvement in the way that future generations of this country are educated. On the other side of this issue, political leaders who are typically Democratic, and left leaning believe that public education is crucial to the growth of children in this country, seeing a s majority of Americans cannot afford to put their children through private education. In this article by Valerie Strauss, she talks about how there is actually decades of research showing that privatizing education is not only a bad decision for the students, but it has negative impacts on our economy and politics as well. Education is an American value that all sides of the political spectrum try to make ideal, however it takes a lot of communication, and a lot of research to be able to answer the question of what is ideal for our children in this country when it comes to their education. Moving forward, we have to establish the truth, and not try to paint a picture of economic fantasy where everyone can afford to pay for their child to receive private education when a lot of people can barely afford to make a living for their children.

LINK: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/07/14/why-the-movement-to-privatize-public-education-is-a-very-bad-idea/?utm_term=.e437cb84e7eb

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The article I am using is from E-Waste Recovery Systems, and essentially talks about the social, economic, and environmental problems associated with E-Waste. This article talks about what E-Waste is and the ways that it negatively impacts our environment through outsourcing and improper ways to discard the toxic parts of E-Waste, and recycle the non-toxic parts of E-Waste. This article was published in 2016, and was written by E-Waste Recovery Systems.

The topic of E-waste is one that a lot of people are uninformed on. E-Waste, otherwise known as Electronic Waste, is essentially all of our technological waste that is discarded or sent to be recycled every year. There are multiple sides and issues that people have with E-Waste, with some sources believing that a majority of E-Waste is recyclable, and others believing that only a small amount of it is recyclable. In Project Censored, it states how out of all of the E-Waste we produce here in the United States, only 40% of it gets recycled or properly disposed of. There are toxic and non-toxic parts of E-Waste, both of which need to be dealt with in secure ways to protect our environment. The main issue that both the text and the article bring up is the fact that the way E-Waste is being dealt with currently is not environmentally friendly at all. The first part of the problem is outsourcing. In this context, outsourcing does not mean jobs, but it mean literally outsourcing our E-Waste as the United States to other countries like China and Taiwan. Initially, it was believed that these were the only two countries that we outsourced our waste to, but it has been found in recent years that we actually outsource our E-Waste to other countries like Pakistan, Mexico, Cambodia, and even Kenya. In this article, it is shown that a majority of the general public do not know how to properly dispose of E-Waste, and so an estimated 75% of all E-Waste is actually in storage. The other problem is that upon disposing of things like televisions, computer monitors, and other materials, they are simply thrown away, and will most times end up in a landfill, where the toxic materials can be absorbed into the surrounding soil, and negatively impact the wildlife and environment it is surrounded by.  This article also shows the positives in dealing with this issue as well, by giving examples of political and social movements to protect the environment. These examples include the 2005 movement to pass into legislation a law that would protect our environment by educating and developing programs that properly dealt with E-Waste. Another example was for the Basel Action Network (BAN) to bring this issue to the attention of world leaders, and ask them to take action in defense of the environment.

LINK: https://www.ewaste411.com/the-problem-of-e-waste/

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The Denver Post is a left leaning, liberal source. This source talks a lot about the various events and political situations that are happening right in the heart of Denver, bringing to light the importance of political awareness and the impact that movements have on Colorado as a whole.

In Project Censored, women and their ability to carry social movements that much further are credited. The ability to enhance the message and make the public see the value in such a social issue is also credited to women. From marching for LGBTQ rights to being able to help represent disabled people, the text explains how we as a society do not give enough credit to women for the work that they do and have done for us through generations.The whole message behind these movements was vulnerability. These pockets of communities are vulnerable to injustice, and face discrimination politically, and so it is crucial for individuals to get put and speak against sexism, trans-phobia, ableism and racism. This article by The Denver Post talks about the Women's March in Denver, and talks about how there was a much larger turnout than expected in terms of actual participants. A majority of participants were women, but a lot of the marchers were men as well. This good for the message of The Women's March because it spoke to all minorities who were being negatively affected by certain political policies.

LINK: http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/21/womens-march-denver/

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Fast Company is a source that typically leans left, and in this specific article criticizes the Trump administration for the lack of attention immigrants receive in jail. This article was written by Robin Urevich, and was published in April of this year.

Project Censored talks about the mistreatment and neglect of immigrants in the United States Jail system. Essentially, undocumented immigrants are being medically neglected an mistreated due to their citizenship status. As one can imagine, this topic is sensitive with all sides of the moral and political spectrum because one must weigh their level of humanity and civility to their political beliefs. In the article, it goes through the specific individuals who were neglected or abused while in jail. These individuals include Omar Gonzales Gadba, who was found dead in his cell after committing suicide. Another inmate detained at Adelanto  experienced stroke-like symptoms and eventually lost the feeling in her right side of her body due to the neglect for proper medical care. These stories were told by Fast Company to expose the truth about the mistreatment the undocumented immigrants face while being detained, and hopefully to put an end to such things by spreading the word on such unfortunate outcomes for these people.

LINK: https://www.fastcompany.com/40413660/amid-crackdown-more-immigrants-are-dying-in-ice-detention-facilities