Tamale

In Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera, the question of home is always close at hand. Questions such as what does it mean to be home and what is a home are constantly circulating throughout the text and tend to haunt the Mestiza body as a raced, foreign, and oriental body. She writes that “…in leaving home I did not lose touch with my origins because lo mexicano [emphasis original] is in my system. I am a turtle, wherever I go I carry ‘home’ on my back.” This is a crucial interjection…

The state of Oaxaca, Mexico is best known for its culture and indigenous people, it offers the best of Mexico, both old and new. Their oldest inhabited village, Teotitlan de Valle, can be traced back to 8,000 years ago (Penland, 2015). The cultures of the indigenous people have been preserved because the state remains isolated due to its rocky terrain. The state of Oaxaca is located in Southwestern Mexico, its most predominate features are its coastline on the Pacific Ocean and several mountain…

Venice is one of those places in LA that you want and have to visit -- if you’re not from LA. I’ve already seen it. The canal, the body builders, and the ridiculous tshirts that only someone stoned would buy. But I’m not from Venice. fourteen miles down south of the beach is South Central, my home for the first eighteen years of my life. Now, during holidays and breaks, I live in the middle of northern LA County in a desert called Palmdale. It’s important to note the differences. One that I…

The Mighty Corn It is fascinating to understand how a tiny seed enabled our ancestors to build massive empires and sustain themselves for thousands of years. Going back to the indigenous people during the pre-Columbian era, all the way down to the conquest of Cortez, it is clear to see how corn made possible the development of societies, cultures, and beliefs. Even today, the domestication of corn plays a major role in the way our society operates, especially in the latino communities. People…

population. Imagine a little Mexico in California well that’s East Side San Jose. I knew everyone around me: friends, family, the ice cream man and the sound of his bell that let the kids know that he was approaching, the churro man with his horn, the tamale lady, you get the point. Everyone there spoke dirty broken…

Throughout the first quarter, our class has read many essays that are examples of different rhetorical modes. Many of these essays were well written and thought provoking, but five of them stood out to me the most. “That Lean and Hungry Look”’was an essay that raised controversy in my mind on its effectiveness and its truthfulness. “Coming into Language” was an essay that’s language brought the story to life, and gave it deeper meaning. “No Rainbows, No Roses” was an essay that was emotionally…

J.R was born in Tijuana, Mexico. She is currently living a few miles from the Mexico-United States border in San Ysidro, California. She recently turned 15 years old and is in her sophomore year of high school. J. R. is fully bilingual in both English and Spanish. She has olive skin, hazel eyes, and has naturally curly brown hair. J. R. is an overall healthy adolescent; she has an average build, 5 feet 7 inches in height, but she is considered slightly overweight. The whereabouts of her family…

Death is Part of Life It was a chilly afternoon in Santa Rosa, the trees were stripped of their leaves and their branches hovered over the ground like skinny wooden fingers while the cool wind drifted and moaned. I was in my parents room watching my favorite Mexican telenovela. I was with my little sister, who has always been really close and clingy to me. My father came into the room and asked me to pause the television. “I want to tell you something” he divulged. ‘What is it?” I asked…

Masa Harina is a traditional Mexican corn flour. The corn is cooked and in water containing lime, which is what gives it its distinct flavor. It is used to make things such as tortillas and tamales. It contains both poly and mono unsaturated fat. 76.9g of carbs and is a good source of starch. It contains 6.7g of dietary fiber and 6.9g of protein in one serving of 100g. It would fit not the grains category of the food pyramid. j. Queso Blanco…

There is a multitude of stereotypes associated with individuals’ biology/ sex. When a woman gives birth, she is usually asked for the binary sex of the baby, whether the individual is a male or a female. Since birth, society has placed labels on individuals that grow with them throughout life. Society expects certain norms if one is a female or a male biologically that include the toys that one plays with, to a larger problem of stereotyping women as weak and men as powerful. As discussed in…