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We looked inside some of the posts by cm-portfolio and here's what we found interesting.
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After the announcement of the deal with Yahoo!, there were 170K signatures of unhappy Tumblr users petitioning to prevent the sale in 2013.
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Literature, Politics and Activism
Literature, politics, and activism are three forms of creating change that all work together in harmony. For so long I thought about these three forms as all individuals from one another, however throughout this semester I have quickly learned that they are in fact intertwined. These three forms come together to provide new light upon our daily lives, they work together to retrieve information and push us to move forward as a society. Literature is used with power through poetry and grand speeches, politics in the day to day runs our lives and how we work together as a society, and activism is how we combine everything and make change ourselves. With the three working in harmony we can see just how powerful people can become.
Literature gives society the basis of our lives and how we are to build them. Literature can spark change, an idea and even a movement to form and it is with literature that we can idealize a new future. Within literature we can find famous works of art forever to be remembered or a new reality we desire to reside in, we can also see behind the walls of color and read poetry that is the purest form of who people are. The emotions we learn through literature are valuable in how we look at life and the tough situations we are sure to come upon. The ability to get strength, bravery, and the courage to stand up for oneself is powerful. People are able to learn from the words they read how to be a better person and how we would like our governments to treat us. In literature we can gain the strength to protest for our human rights, we are able to learn that as a society we must not be taken advantage of by our government. Herrera shows just how we can use literature to change our lives. For many hispanic americans literature is how they learn to speak and write in english. For my father it was how he learned to write in english, and is how he was able to overcome adversities in life, for my grandmother it was how she would bond with us, she chose to read to us in Spanish so we would learn. Literature is their power to overcome adversities, it is the power to find others like us.
Politics is the form in which we function as a society. Everything is give and trade, elected for the people by the people. This is what is supposed to be our structure, our guidance. However as seen for as long as our government has been founded, politics come with a level of discretion. The ability to change our government is one that was given to us as a right from birth. We have the ability to make our society one that we see fit and it is through literature that we learn that the people will always win. We are shown and transcended into a different universe of thought when we see how the people win in literature. In every story the people win, they are able to fight for their government to win their battles. Through the power of our society, politics is how we make change. Wicker shows us how politics run things depending on race. We see how the killing of innocent black people is broadcasted over the television for everyone to see. Murders are becoming political and Wicker points this our by showing just how numb we are to it all. It is the ability to change our government for the better that gives us power.
Activism is the core of our person. For decades we have been fighting for what is rightfully deserved. In today's climate where women are being attacked over our reproductive rights, our right to protest is stronger than ever. Activism ignates people to stand up for what we believe in, to rise against our government. Activism gives us our voice, it allows us to stand up for what is right, to demand change. We use activism to solve problems and overcome anything that may stand in our way. Vang shows the hurt her people have been through and calls for justice. Through her poems the detailing of her struggles every day are what lead activists to rise. We are shown the damage done that we are never taught of.
Through literature we learn how to form our own opinions, with politics we use our opinions to vote for the best people, and through activism we learn to fight for our rights. All three factors are a form of strength on their own, but combined they have the power to change nations. Throughout our readings in this class I found that they were all the same, each was calling to attention the injustices done to them. Wicker shows us how the black community is still suffering, Herrera displays the truth of being Hispanic in America, and Vang shows the tragedies done to the Hmong. Each was pushing to be heard and with each of their books we can form together a resistance to hatred. The harmony between all three forms and writes is one that is powerful and causes change.
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My grandma always did what she could to make sure I was seen, that my light wasn't over shadowed. From a young age she made sure I knew my worth and how much I was loved. She was my shield from the world, my protector, my sunlight, my warmth. As I grew up and our time together became much less, my own demons started to appear and a part of the shelter she gave me fell away. I crazed for the darkness of night and would relish in the quiet of the night. However, any time I would think of her I would find my anchor. I learned to love myself without her holding my hand, I became my best friend and I began to have fun. My coffee addiction in remembrance of her and how she liked it, my love of sweets, of warm places, all for her. She is the person I wish to become. I arranged the photos in this form to show how even in my darkest days where I felt I was drowning, and my own life began to branch out, my grandma's death was always around me.
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my reading love life
To discuss my love hate relationship with literature I must first discuss my struggle with language. As a child I was partially raised by my paternal grandmother whose only language was Spanish. It was due to the amount of time I spent with her that my speaking abilities came late in life along with my love of reading. Always being behind kids my age in reading was something that made me ashamed of myself. Now I understand that my opinion of my favorite book is skewed due to it being the trilogy that made me fall in love with reading, but the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth stands as my favorite book. Being able to read all the books and fall into this universe where I could imagine being the hero in an alternate reality became my addiction. I found myself stepping into a new universe every night and wishing I was in them throughout the day. It was my new reading addiction that helped me to expand my vocabulary, but also this love that reduced the amount of Spanish I spoke. The more captivated I was by reading, the less time I spent conversing in my two languages. Slowly but surely my use of Spanish became something I was ashamed of. The years that held me back from being equal to my classmates were over and I now flourished in my literature and english classes. It was at this time that I started an online diary on Tumblr using it to express myself. That Tumblr blog became my saving grace, there was not a single thing I went through that did not end up on that blog, every detail and image of my life was there for the internet to see. It was also through that blog that I began to write poetry and songs as a way to express myself. It was also through there that I discovered new books to read, and new universes to explore. Literature became my new hide away, the ability to go somewhere else and be a hero. This also transpired into other forms. I had begun to play video games where I would day dream about actually being in the game to save everyone. It also affected my physical artwork as I began to use magazine articles to form my desired reality into the physical world. With language I was able to develop a love of reading anything and everything. Song lyrics I grew attached to, artwork I made, the stories i feel became everything. Building up to now and reading Herrara’s work showed me that I did not need to be ashamed of knowing two languages but I needed to embrace them. Knowing two languages made me different for good reasons and it was something my grandma passed down to me that I should have never taken for granted.
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midterm
In life there have not been many places where I feel as though I belonged. With family, friends and after school programs I never truly felt that I had a place where I could be myself. A lot of this stemmed from being too Mexican for the white kids and too white for the Mexican kids. With my family it was me being an independent child and always figuring things out, never truly relying on any of my family. Throughout this course I have been able to finally see that I was not the only person going through the issue of never fitting in, never having a place to truly be oneself.
When we first started reading Slincer by Whicker I thought it was just going to be poetry I would never understand, however, the more we read the more I realized that I did understand. Wicker was just a man who never felt he belonged. Minority children are born into a society where they can never truly belong without losing a part of themselves. Trying to fit in with the majority will cause you to lose your background, culture and the things that make you different. However trying to embrace your culture will cause people to look and stare, and judge from afar. Neither option leaves minority kids feeling safe, but I believe that is the point of everything. To never feel safe and create safety, if I had looked past never being enough of one culture I could have found people like me, people who never fit in with one side and together we would have been each other’s safety. All throughout life I tried time and time again to fit in and mold myself into a cookie cutter version of the people I was with when I should have been breaking the mold.
Looking into Herrars, work you can see the struggles he goes through as a Mexican American, the struggles he tries to navigate through finding his words in both languages he speaks. The power he reclaims when he decides to write in both English and Spanish is also power for all Hispanic Americans who are struggling to discover who they are. Being able to show the pride and power of being apart of such a wonderful culture is amazing and a struggle that several people battle to overcome.
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34 things i did after my grandma died
I woke up to ringing, my mother calling to tell me she had passed, it was 7:34 in the morning, I told myself it wasn’t real and went back to sleep, I woke up and everything hit me so I took a shower and cried over how much I would miss her, I pushed my feelings down in attempt to get through school, I made it through one day then broke down, I sobbed to my roommates and tried to come to terms with everything, I laid in bed for two days wondering what would happen, I watched the days pass into blur simply becoming a ghost in reality, I skipped meals and showers not wanting to move on with life without her, I finally got out of bed wondering if I could make it one day without falling apart, I survived one week then I laid back in bed wishing I could have said goodbye, during that week I ignored all my feelings in attempt of holding it all together, I failed at every turn at holding things together, I watched as my friends lived and I merely survived, I got behind in school and fell into my depression which had become my new reality, I drove home seeking the comfort I craved from you, I drove past Panama Street wanting to see you and realized it would never be the same, I cried in the arms of my sister wondering when I would be able to breath again, I wondered what the holidays would be like without you, the family recipes never to be eaten again, I drove past Panama Street one more time to say goodbye, I willed myself to move forward, I fell into a routine of waking up and eating breakfast, I started to rebuild myself into who I was, I hoped and prayed that I could make you proud.
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farewell to my youth
Farewell my youth, farewell my innocent mind not yet tampered with the knowledge of age.
There goes my pure mind, know longer filled with cartoons and jokes, instead riddled with the reality of the world, the reality of war.
Grandma, how I will forever cherish the bubble of love and safety you gave to me, the protection and guidance you radiated for me.
Grandpa how I will miss the times you lifted me up in the air, the freedom I felt from flying in your arms.
Here I stand a new woman, marked with the burden of knowledge.
Farewell to my youth, thank you for the protection and comfort of your memories.
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identity
My maternal grandfather came to the US during World War 2 when the United State enacted the Bracero Initiative, which allowed Hispanic men from various countries to come to the US to do the work left behind by the men at war. Knowing this and how hard all my grandparents worked to enter the US for my family, figuring out my identity should be easy. However, with all the history my family holds, and the struggles they went through to establish themselves, figuring out who I am amongst them is quite possibly one of my greatest life challenges. The question of who I am is one I cannot answer in depth. There are simple questions about my identity I can answer, I am twenty-one years old, female, and Mexican. This also being said that my paternal grandmother did her best to help raise me. It was her guidance that I developed into who I am, she taught be all about making traditional food dishes and being proud of where I come from. Identity I decided is not what I see myself as but as others see me. This however has meant that my one goal in life has been to ensure that my children never have to see the struggle I saw. An education and striving for my goals for a better future is everything to me. To ensure that my children and generations of my family are provided for is what I am striving to do.
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the playlist of my life
All of the songs on this playlist perfectly depict who I am or was at some point in my life. I grew up listening to Duran Duran and any and all “old school” music. With my parents being from South Central LA, listening to Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Micheal Jackson was a cultural thing. Those artists are a part of my identity as a kid who was raised with strong South Central LA influences. Tying that in combination with Elvis Crespo, Selena, and Shakira I was born with the strong realization that I am a strong Mexican American who happened to be raised in the ghetto. Moving to Ascension by Phil Wickham I have to pay homage to 13 years of my life as a kid who went to private catholic school and had an identity crisis as soon as I wasn’t forced to attend church every week. However I soon became the punk pop child I was meant to be, and realized my sexuality thanks to Hayley Kiyoko. The last four songs however are my reasons to live, my wanderlust is uncontrollable, to make the world mine and conquer everything, to live life to the fullest is all I want and those last three are the songs that will play in the coming of age teen movie about my life and the impact I will leave on this world.
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“Conjecture on the Stained-Glass Image of White Christ at Ebenezer Baptist Church''
For this poem I chose “Conjecture on the Stained-Glass Image of White Christ at Ebenezer Baptist Church''. This poem starts off with a verse from 1 Corinthians 12:23 white states that we are “all baptized into one body”. I believe he Wicker chose to start with this because if we really are all baptized into one body then why does racism still exist, why is our mainstream image of Jesus - a Jewish man from the middle east - white with blond hair and blue eyes.
Going deeper into the poem Wicker constantly pulls specific words and phrases from the bible. An example of this is “If in his image made am I,” he talks about how we are made in God's image and he constantly repeats this theory and the word “make”. He depicts that what he wants is to be seen, in the example he gives they are things that people would notice - a miracle, the body of a 28 - year old black woman.
Further on he also notes our 'sins’, “blood on leaves, insides diamond mines, in under-developed mineral rich countries” I believe this is to further evaluate that we are not made in God's image if we are still sinners. We as people are not made of his image for we do not hold the same morals, we are still mortal and creating blasphemes which Wicker points out.
Towards the end he begins to talk about death and how widely it is seen. The line “Why crucify me in HD '' points out how as a society we have become numb to trauma, we know longer need to hide death away instead have it play on the 6 o'clock news. This perfectly ties into the last line, “a bucket shot full of holes, I’ve been made to believe?”, which I believe is Wicker tieing in school shootings and how the media and people in power only send ‘hope and prayers’ instead of actual aid.
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