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I am a Latin woman who is from the Coachella Valley, a predominantly Latino community that is the entire backbone and labor force behind the flourishing businesses and the general success of the valley (alongside the Indigenous communities that live here of course). I took this picture driving back to my university one morning. Last year I was still attending UCSD, very oppositional to my hometown, this school predominantly had a white student body and white professors. I would eventually transfer to UCR for this reason.

I use to hate living in the valley. I hated the desert. I hated the sand. Above all, I hated these mountains that when I was in fifth grade I learned created a "rain shadow" and this was the reason why we hardly received rain. I thought, as an impressionable adolescent who had already developed the inevitable angst of a first generation Latino, that it was absolutely necessary for me to move far, far away. Nothing was here, nothing grew, nothing flourished everything I felt I needed would die here with my spirit!

I was wrong.

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Among the many issues I had in being able to develop even the smallest amount of appreciation or understanding for the place I was born stemmed from the fact that I grew up opposing many of the traditional and archaic ideas of being Latinx. I did not find value or truth in much of what society said being Latinx "meant" which in my mind included this image of latin women being subservient to their husbands and fathers, fathers being unloving and too manly to show affection, the overwhelming feeling of familial obligation, ignorance regarding gender and LGBTQ+ issues and most importantly that all of this and many other small details made me less than my white, economically well off, college graduate parents peers. It wasn't shame I felt, but frustration for a reality that the whole world seemed to look down and pity me in this day and age, and I did not want to feel less. I knew I was smart, kind and humble--qualities my hardworking mother and father instilled in me and I needed to be Anayency, before I was another stereotype. However, this was false thinking. Being Latinx is a variety of qualities: a concoction of smarts, culture, music, food, empathy, humility, and community. Being Latinx did not mean having less and above all it did not mean being less.

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Palm Springs Pride Festival in Downtown Palm Springs

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As mentioned prior, often times Latino's are associated with this antiquated thinking that being queer is unacceptable and that it is rare for an accepting, loving family to exist. While it is true that homophobia is rampant amongst many Latin communities, not educating and believing that our older generations could be struggling and simply need time and the tools to adjust to an ever changing socio-political environment perpetuates the idea that the Latinx community remains in the past and lacks the ability to advance and prosper in the "new times." According to Christine Garcia within her article, "In Defense of Latinx" she claims thats the introduction of "x" is a "dismissal of the gender binary" and notes that there has been a noticeable shift in Spanish speakers becoming more sensitive to the denotative power of words. Thus, in these small ways through our language, Latino's have made an identifiable shift to better support queer and trans communities in their own way. Additionally, pictured above is the pride parade that occurs within the Coachella Valley every year and hundreds of valley resident's attend this event.

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Melanie Mota [my cousin] graduating from the Fordham Graduate Program of Psychology 

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Another stereotype that tarnishes the reputation of the Latinx community (and all women of color) is this belief that we are unable to learn and progress academically or intellectually. Nearly all positions of power, governmental and/or administrative of all degrees, nearly always include men and mostly white men at that. However, pictured above is a dear cousin of mine graduating with a Master's in Psychology from Fordham University. Si se puede, one could say as the rate of graduation of Latin women from 4 year universities are 10% and graduate degrees come out to only 7%.

Referring to Audrey Lordes' piece titled, "Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference, she discusses the idea of othering and how colored women's literature is often excluded from women's studies classes with the excuse that it is too difficult to understand and that there is no angle for white students to connect/relate. Looking past the clear absurdity of such a statement, I question: Why is the simple act of being empathetic or even just curious towards the struggles of another community not enough to heighten interests? Why should it not be prioritized for white students to be educated on the social, political and economical inequalities of poor, people of color? Lordes' example further supports my argument that the exclusion of Latinx women in areas of studies and positions of power is not only denying Latinx people the ability to fully progress in these areas in a social sense and change this narrative of being underdeveloped but also denies our older generation of Latinos the ability to evolve and see the changes being implemented by younger generations.

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My Abuela's House. San Miguel del Alto, Jalisco 

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Pictured above is a house in Jalisco, Mexico. Based on the visual component of the infrastructure, it clearly looks like a any home within Mexico--a country that has still largely conserved this architectural style.

What is an amalgamation of years of architectural style, environmental conditions, and bright colors to retain the visual beauty of cities, has long persisted the changes of the rest of the country. Such houses has become a known symbol within the Mexican community.

The way such an architectural design can be up-kept through countless generations, the effects of the "Monopoly Metaphor" is also largely present within the Latinx community. The Monopoly Metaphor pioneered by Allan G Johnson within his article, "Patriarchy, the System (1997) An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us" explains how "the more attached we feel to the game and the more closely we identify ourselves as players, the more likely we are to feel helpless in relation to it." Thus, Latinx people as a whole with the recurrent degradation and exclusion from white legislatives, white led feminism, institutionalized racism, etc. many have grown tired in attempting to correct this image that we cannot prosper and make great changes to society. However, we are not just powerless pones within a made up cardboard world that is decided for us--there are changes to be made and we must extricate ourselves from this Monopoly Model to do so. As this pictures represents and as I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, Latinx people are ever changing, ever evolving and we as a comunidad demonstrate powerful qualities that hold great weight and are deeply powerful!