Mexican American Cultural Center

Tonight I attended the reception at the Mexican American Cultural Center. They had an art exhibit with work representing the Virgin of Guadalupe by Gilberto Cardenas. I really loved it! The building was absolutely beautiful and the art was amazing. Since I’m Catholic, I really appreciated the significance of this event. I was able to embrace my Mexican culture and my religious beliefs.

When I got there, I listened to the speakers. At first, they had the leaders from the Mexican American Cultural Center talk about the significance of the building and how amazing it was to have so many people at this special event. A sponsor told what the Virgin of Guadalupe does for us. He said "the poorest, meanest, and most innocent of us have the knowledge of being good as anyone else."They then had Gilberto Cardenas from the University of Notre Dame speak. I really admired him because of his amazing accomplishments. He got his Masters degree from Notre Dame which is pretty big in itself. He has written numerous books and articles. He now works in the Sociology Department at Notre Dame. He is considered one the top 100 most influential Latinos in the U.S. I love his confidence and strength as a Latino. It is not everyday you see someone from a Mexican background be so successful. Not too many people can overcome some racial obstacles that still exist in this world.

After the speakers, they had special performances which I really enjoyed. First, the St. Mary’s Cathedral Schola Cantorum performed. Their angelic voices definitely put everyone in the mood for Christmas. I thought that they were pretty amazing. They had little kids do some traditional Mexican dances which were great! They then had the Mariachi Jalisco perform. All the performances were amazing and really reflected the talent of the Mexican culture.

After the performances, I looked around at the art exhibit. They had a beautiful altar dedicated to the Virgin. It was decorated with flowers and her statue which was gorgeous. All the pieces of artwork had something to do with the Virgin of Guadalupe. Some of the pieces were paintings, drawings, sculptures, or quilts. They were really beautiful and sacred to me. Growing up, my family has held the Virgin in high respect as most Mexicans do. It is really nice to see such a magnificent display of the Mexican Culture at this event.

Overall, this experience was amazing. I felt so comfortable because I felt I had so much in common with all these people. It was really nice to see so many people there from all kinds of races not just Mexicans. Everyone should discover other people’s cultures. This experience really reminded me of our excursion to St. Mary’s Cathedral. I was able to learn a little bit more about my own heritage. We all need to know where we came from and never forget that.

Crash

In Jester East, I attended the viewing of the movie “Crash” and the discussion that followed. I had seen the movie before and I had loved it! The racial discrimination and stereotype issues in the movie really interested me. I have such a passion for these types of problems because I am a minority myself so I have some firsthand experience when it comes to being stereotyped as a Mexican. The discussion really enlightened me on these issues a little bit more by listening to other people’s perspectives.

In the beginning of the movie, you see that a car crash occurs. Mexicans are being stereotyped by being bad drivers and never being able to speak English. The Chinese woman that caused the crash also stereotypes the Mexicans for all being illegal by threatening to call the immigration. There is also another part of the movie where the character played by Sandra Bullock wants all the locks of her house changed again because she doesn’t want a Mexican “gangster” doing it. She discriminates against him for having “prison” tattoos, wearing baggy clothes, and just being Mexican. This is not the case at all. He turns to be a sweet, young father who has never been to prison but he is just trying to make money to take care of his family. These two parts of the movie really angered me because I am Mexican myself. I have seen so many people discriminate me and my dad who actually is from Mexico and doesn’t know English very well. People always see me and think I am ignorant, poor, and not English-speaking. This always angers me because people shouldn’t judge people just by their appearance.

In the discussion, other people discussed some other experiences they had where their friends or they have been discriminated against. It is really sad to think about that there are so many people in this world that have such hatred in their hearts against people of other races. It really hurts me to see the reactions and to hear the feelings of these people. I could the sadness in their eyes because such discrimination really hurt them.

Overall, I really loved the movie and I wish everyone could see it. There are so many people that have these similar experiences happen to them. People need to see that racism and discrimination is still happening everyday to different kinds of people. I hope we can all just think learn to accept others and not just judge them. I learned a lot from those people during the discussion and now understand how it is to be them.

President's Office

Our class took a trip to the fourth floor of Tower which includes the President’s Office. This definitely was one of my favorite trips that our class has taken. Not too many students, here at U.T., can say that they have visited the President’s Office. Not only was it fun but it was also educational. I learned a lot about the history of the University and of the Tower. Our excursion to the fourth floor enlightened me on the responsibilities of the President and other facts about the University and Tower.

The first thing that we did was examine the outer architecture of the Tower and its’ symbolism. I noticed the shell right in the middle of course symbolizing our pilgrimage here at U.T. and of course through our careers. The Tower is definitely famous here at U.T. symbolizing excellence to me. “It stands as a symbol of victory or defeat after athletic contests, and it honors special academic accomplishments” (Course Anthology, 380).

We then moved on the fourth floor. We got to sit inside the Stark Library. It looked really cool with all the books and artifacts. All the books were very rare and unique. We then moved on the offices and learned about the different college symbols on the ceilings and windows. I thought it was really strange to have symbols on the ceilings representing the history of dress and printing. I didn’t really like going through the all the college symbols because I didn’t see how that related to the class.

After that, we got to tour the President’s Office which was the best part in my opinion. It was so amazing to see all his pictures with the Presidents and of course, Vince Young. He had a lot of special artifacts and gifts that he had received. We definitely noticed the gavel that he had representing leadership and hammering thoughts into unity. We examined the ceiling which was beautiful. There were two women up there. One represented the Arts and the other represented Science. We then traveled outside to the President’s rooftop garden. I thought it was so beautiful. It had the most amazing view ever! It just made so happy to be able to see the whole campus and of downtown Austin. There was beautiful well there and the plants were gorgeous.

Overall, I thought that this excursion was probably the most memorable and precious to me. It made me realize how lucky I am to go to a University like this. It made me value my education so much more and appreciate the little details around me. I now know that I have a long pilgrimage ahead of me but it’s worth it.

Blanton Muesum

Our class visited the Blanton Art Museum in search of leadership traits in the artists and their work. There are many artists there that are well-known but they all have different backgrounds. Cildo Mireles is definitely my favorite artist there with his amazing political work. Antonio Berni reintroduced the human figure as a form of criticism. These artists all convey something different through their work. “Color and shape help architects and designers speak to the public in a language they understand, either consciously or subconsciously” (Reading Public Space, 229).

My favorite piece of art is definitely “How to Build Cathedrals” by Cildo Mireles. It is just so amazing to see all those pennies fill the box on the ground and the line of hosts leading up to cow femurs on the top. I thought it was cool! It is supposed to represent how the Church uses money to promote religion. This really spoke to me because I am Catholic and sometimes I do think that the Church promotes giving money too much. If you don’t have money to give, you shouldn’t be punished for it. I admire his strength and confidence to do something so controversial like that.

Another artist I noticed was Antonio Berni from Argentina. He focused on urban life and human experience through marginalized characters. I love his work. It seems so simple but when you look at it closer, it tells you so much more. He created two fictional subjects for his works from the slums, Juanito Laguna and Ramona Montiel. It’s genius to create fictional figures for the basis of your work. I really enjoyed his prints that were apparent in the museum. He stepped forward through his work to discuss social and political issues which I admire.

I had already visited the museum before but this time I was able to pay more attention the artists and their reasons for their work. “Art resonates with us in ways other media don’t and perhaps can’t” (Reading the Visual Arts, 232). I really enjoyed this trip. I appreciate art so much more now. I admire the artists and their ability to convey such information to make you think about what is going on around you. You have “to try to pay attention to what the painting or photo evokes” (Reading the Visual Arts, 232). I hope that through my work and career, I will be able to help someone and get my point across.

Texas Natural Sciences Museum

As humans, we always think about past humans and their contributions. Most of us never seem to think about past creatures and their contributions to this earth. When I went to the Texas Natural Sciences Museum, it really opened up my eyes. It is amazing to think about these animals and what they had to go through back then millions of years ago. It is so important to expand our perspective of the world, past and future, to include all forms of life.

The first exhibit that I looked at was of DNA and evolution. I absolutely loved it! I thought it was very interesting since my major is biology. It is just fascinating to think about how our DNA is not so different from the DNA of monkeys. They had a lot of interactive games to help you learn about these similarities. We stood in front of the mirror to see the physical similarities between us and monkeys. I think everyone needs to think about these things because we all need to know where we came from and we came to be this way. Of course, many people don’t believe in evolution. I don’t really in believe in it but it is scientifically correct when you think about it.

The second exhibit I looked at was the floor of all the fishes, insects, and wild animals of Texas. Many of those animals and plants were extinct of course. It is so interesting to read about them. I read about some fish and some wild animals that were extinct due to over fishing and hunting. I think it so important to see those kinds of things so that we learn what we are doing to our environment and figure out how to fix it.

The last exhibit I visited was the floor of dinosaurs. I always thought the idea of dinosaurs was so interesting and exciting. It is amazing to think about these huge creatures that once walked the earth even before humans were on earth. Some ate plants and some ate meat. It was great reading about their habits, size, and the time period in which they lived. I also read about the different theories that dinosaurs became extinct like the meteors. I thought it was crazy for meteor impacts destroyed the environment that much to kill these magnificent creatures.

In the end, I really loved our trip to the museum. Although, I do wish that their exhibits were a little bit larger. We, humans, all need to think and learn about these creatures and plants that lived so long ago. They did so much and that’s what this world evolved from. Everyone needs to know where and how they came from and what was here before them so appreciate what is here now.

Unity in College Writing

Ever since the first day of class, unity has been the main topic or theme in this class. Professor Bump’s goal is to make us hammer our thoughts into unity. I’ve read so many articles, stories, and poems and our class has visited all kinds of places so that we can explore new things and unite them with other things we have learned. While reading “The World is Your Body” and “As King Fishers,” I realized the importance of unity in my writing and preparation for P3.

Unity is, of course, the main challenge for me in writing P3. It was also a theme in writing P1 and P2 but it wasn’t so hard. For P3, I have to find a way to connect all these ideas in past two papers and bring it all together. Watts says “They are then simply ways of “figuring” the world, as we agree about inches and hours, numbers and words, mathematical systems and languages” (Watts, 769). I now know I have to look at both of my papers and see how they go together. I have to organize things so that they make sense not expect to see these comparisons come up on their own. He said “that things are differing forms of some basic stuff” (Watts, 769). This tells me that all I have to do is take basic sentences and unite them to put them in final paper.

While writing P3, I’ve had a lot of difficulty trying to satisfy the word limit and make the whole paper flow. In “As King Fishers,” Hopkins says “As king fishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame” (Hopkins, 763). When you write something, you can always connect it with something else. Rico also talks about connecting ideas. In “Two Modes of Knowing: Sign and Design,” he says “Once we become aware of these different ways of processing our thoughts, we can not only learn to channel each once appropriately toward different phases of the writing process, but we can also learn to ensure that they work cooperatively for the greatest possible creative interaction” (Rico, 202). Each side of our brain processes information different ways. We have to learn to control each side and combine both ways to be able to unite our ideas for P3.

College writing has a lot to do with unity. In life, we have to learn to connect ideas for a greater purpose. I hope I can unite my two papers successfully so that it makes sense but also interests the reader. I have never had to do anything like this before and I find it very challenging. After reading these articles, I have realized that it is not as difficult as I have made it out to be. You just have to start small and work yourself throughout your paper connecting ideas.

Downtown

Our diversity excursion to downtown Austin was amazing. I really enjoyed it. I was able to go to places that I would probably never go to on my own. Attending a Spanish mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral was amazing but not out of the ordinary. Visiting the capitol was fun because we got to lie down on the floor under the dome. The Driskill Hotel was beautiful and the western art inside was interesting. These visits to all these places helped me learn about the architecture and history of Austin but also taught me about another culture, Mexican, that I am quite familiar with.

The first place we went to was St. Mary’s Cathedral. I loved it since I am Catholic so I felt right at home. Many didn’t like it because it was all in Spanish but back home my parents and me always use to go to the Spanish mass. This experience really reminded of home. The Church, itself, was gorgeous. It was a lot different from any Catholic Church in Dallas. The Gothic Architecture made it quite fascinating. It reminded me of France because Notre Dame was designed in this same type of style. Back then, people thought of this type of architecture as holy and moral. The stained glass window in the front of the Church really caught my eye. It was beautiful image of Mary. It looked even better because the dome in the front was a bright blue with gold. I recognized a lot of the songs and the music was great but it was different from the English mass. In the English mass, guitar and clapping are not very common at all.

After Church, we continued on to one of the most famous or important buildings in Texas, the Capitol. I had always wanted to visit but I have never had the chance and my school never had trips there unlike most schools. I thought it was beautiful and it reminded me of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Greco-Roman Architecture of the building is common for most government buildings because it stands for democracy here in the U.S. The star at the top, of course, reminds me of the star of destiny like at the Bullock Museum and of Texas being the Lone Star State. Because it so high up, it tells the courage and strength of the Texan culture and people. It tells of how Texas was the only state, other than California, to be its own country. My favorite part would definitely have to be when laid down on the star looking up at the dome. It was beautiful to see the star at the top as well.

The last place that we visited was the Driskill Hotel on the sixth street. This building really stood out from the rest because of it’s out of the ordinary architecture, Victorian. It was pretty strange seeing the head of a Longhorn in the front and it was even weirder seeing the head of the man, Driskill. The inside was so beautiful. It was dark but very elegant. They had amazing chandeliers and western style furniture and art. The little statues and the paintings of the western times in Austin really told a great story and fascinated me.

All these places told of a different time and of a different culture. The Cathedral displayed Gothic Architecture and the Spanish mass told of the Mexican Culture. The Capitol displayed Greco-Roman Architecture and told of the early times in Texas and how it came to so powerful today. The Driskill Hotel displayed Victorian Architecture and told of the western times and cowboys. Seeing so much diversity here in Austin makes me proud to be a Texan because like the Star of Destiny movie said, “you don’t have to born in Texas to have the courage and strength of Texans.”