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"To this day I'm not sure where I found the strength to leave
the source, the mother, disengage from my family, mi tierra, mi
gente, and all that picture stood for. I had to leave home so I could
find myself, find my own intrinsic nature, buried under the
personality that had been imposed on me."

We all thought that this passage summarizes the introduction and how she willing to leave her family, her "Tierra", and her "Gente" for a better future for herself.

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The citation that stood out to my group was "For a woman of my culture there used to be only three directions she could turn: to the Church as a nun, to the street as a prostitute, or to the home as a mother."

This stood out to my group because we discussed how women did not have a say or options of what they were allowed to do in their lives. It was if their life had already been planned out for them. Once they come of age at 15, they find a husband, get married, have babies, and become a housewife for the rest of their lives and obey their husbands. But now women have options that they can choose to do with their lives as in get an education.

How did it come to be that the age of 15 that women could be married off and start a family?

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Half & Half, Fear of Going Home

1. "And I thought, how apt. (appropriate?) Fear of going home. And of not being taken in. We're afraid of being abandoned by the mother, the culture, la Raza, for being unacceptable, faulty, damaged..." (fear of going home)

“Maimed, mad, and sexually different people were believed to possess supernatural powers by primal cultures' magico-religious thinking. For them,abnormal- ity was the price a person had to pay for her or his inborn extraordinary gift. (half and half)

But I,. like other queer people, am two in one body, both male and! female. I am the embodiment of the hieros gamoS: the coming together of opposite qualities within. (half and half)

2. (fear of going home)

- This section discussed the fear of rejection and anxiety faced by different individuals everyday. People are scared of being rejected and judged by their families, friends, cultures and society because of their sexual orientation. This quote exemplifies the struggle of those who feel like outsiders, that don’t conform to societal expectations. This quote emphasizes the toll it takes on someone emotionally and mentally, trying to figure out their identity, but at the same time seeking acceptance in fear of rejection.

-Half and Half brought on the subject of biological identity and how it doesn’t always affect sexual identity. They bring up stereotypes and misjudgments of queer people. This section of the reading brings forward the idea of how gender and sexuality are different.

3.  How does the fear of rejection from one’s culture and family impact someone's self journey towards their own acceptance?

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"Woman does not feel safe when her own culture, and white culture, are critical of her; when males of all races hunt her as prey"

I chose this quote because it summarizes this section really well. Anzaldua speaks about her struggles of not feeling safe as a woman. The fear of being preyed on by her own people and every other man that surrounds her. She feels like she can't do anything with out catching the eyes of all men leading to constant paranoia. Anzaldua explains the constant want she feels as a woman of color to be able to express and shape herself. She wants to mold herself into who she wants to be. Her justified anger in this section of not being allowed to be her is due to the control men have on women. The fear that men instill onto women by simply watching, makes women feel unsafe and unprotected. This makes it very hard for women to step out and be themselves.

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The chapter talks about what serpents mean to Mexican culture and Aztec culture. Being scared to go outside after dark because a serpent will find you and bite you. It talks about how she was bitten by a snake once while picking Cotten. Chopped in half it was still moving. It then talks about how Spaniard culture was replacing Aztec culture. On December 9 1531 Guadalupe replaces the Aztec goddess Tonantis. It talks about how Guadalupe appears to Juan Diego and had a meeting and he walked away with the Virgin Mary painted on his cloak, since then the Virgin Mary became a symbol in Mexican culture because soon after Mexico gained its independence from Spain. The Virgin Mary is all over Mexico Cental America and parts of the southern United States.

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“After the Conquest, the Spaniards and their Church continues to split Tonantsi/Guadalupe. They desexed Guadalupe, taking Coatlalopeuh, the serpent/sexuality, out of her. They completed the split begun by the Nahuas by making la Virgen de Guadalupe/Virgen Maria into chaste virgins and Tlazolteotl/Coatlicue/la Chingada into putas; into the Beauties and the Beasts. They went even further; they made all the Indian deities and religious practices the work of the devil.”... “Today, la Virgen de Guadalupe is the single most potent religious, political and cultural image of the Chicano/mexicano.”

We chose this image to represent our section because it focuses on la Virgen de Guadalupe. Anzaldua explains that she was first called Coatlalopeuh and once the Spaniards came to Mexico, they changed her name. They viewed everything indigenous to be of the devil or unholy so they colonized her too in changing her name. Like the text says, la Virgen de Guadalupe is an incredibly important figure for many Chicanos and Mexicans and this text explains that despite many not knowing it due to colonization, the origins of her come from indigenous roots.

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"Therefore, I decided to leave The country (Aztec), Therefore I have come as one charged with a special duty, Because I have been given .arrows and shields, For waging war is my duty,. And on my expeditions I Shan see aU the lands,. I shall wait for the people and meet them In all four quarters and I shaH give them Food to ,eat and drinks to quench their thirst,. For here I shall unite aU the different peoples! -Huitzilopochtli speaking to the Azteca-Mexica"

It explains the history of how the Aztecs, in becoming a male dominated militaristic power, lost the balance that the feminine afforded them. Before any changes were made Lady of the Serpent Skirt, maintained the balance and duty of males and females. Azteca Mexica had the task of keeping the human race alive. The Aztec people would consider  themselves the earthly matters. This changed when the Aztec lords decided royal succession should be based on male bloodlines. Women had an honored place; they had the supreme power in Tula. Thus, the previously balanced duality faltered, and nobles lost the support of the common people who raped (their women) and taxed.  The fall of the Aztecs is not the fault of Malintzin but of this failure to maintain duality.

Should we still embrace and celebrate the Virgen de Guadalupe considering that she's a mere copy of the original dietie, Tonantsi/Coatlalopeuh?

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She, the symbol of the dark sexual drive, the chthonic
(underworld), the feminine, the serpentine movement of sexuality, of creativity, the basis of energy and life.

The serpent confides with the feminine sexual drive and sexuality, as the serpents mouth is associated with womanhood and the womb. The serpent is a deity which has been villainized by the Catholic Church, whilst the Olmecs considered the serpent and its mouth the most sacred place as it is the spawn of people and was believed to e the return go people.