Maybe my cuñada was right when she responded a couple months back – “How old are you again?” – to what in my brain had seemed like the logical question posed of what path I should pursue – the nonprofit industrial complex or the academic ivory tower? [I sometimes wonder if the best answer is
Category: Tales from a Chicana Heart
Of course when the semester was just about to end and things were getting intense and los pinches grades were due, I was summoned to jury duty and I’m not talking Metro Court, I’m talking about Federal. The night before I was scheduled to go in I had made up my mind that like a
Yeah that’s right people. I can just see some of you shaking your head at this opening statement and I can almost hear your remarks. “I thought only crazy white women were feminists?” “Que le paso a la hermana? Now she really lost it!” But take a close look around and you will find that
Most of the Mexican@s and Chican@s reading this will most likely know what “borrego” refers to and for the rest, no I’m not talking about some fluffy sheep roaming about the pasture. “No seas como los borregos,” or, “No seas una borrega.” Loudly hearing those phrases my dad has continuously said to me since I
Last week one of our Sundance relatives passed on to the other side. He was only 5 years younger than I. I can’t express in words the power, the beauty, the overwhelming emotions I felt as your lifeless body was carried into the arbor by your relatives for what would be your last dance. I
Flying at 32,000 feet in the air and I find myself having a difficult time. Not because I feel as I have been thrown like a paper airplane through the air. No. It is because my brown body carries with it inherent memories of conquest and colonization. The trigger? The majestic sight of Popocatepetl and
Does the title need any explanation? We know who you are and you especially know who you are. You are the constant thorn in our side that reminds us that the greatest weight of oppression comes from our own. Damn, it hurts to even write those words – our own. You are the kind that
It always amazes me how much of an introvert I really am, especially when immersed in social spaces and places. Many of my gente y estudiantes wouldn’t believe this at all, but I am. Familiar voice in the back of my mind fades in: “Are you serious Ms. ContraSantolina?” “Do you really feel nerviosa y
After how many years (or months or days) can we say with certainty that we truly know someone? Is there a specific time range when this magically happens, when we can say without a doubt that we know that person inside and out? Or, is it most rational to state that we can never really
La Xicana 