A Reflexivity Statement is something that a scholar or researcher writes in order to explain their identity and how it relates to their studies.

I picked Phoenix, Arizona as my pinned place because it is my hometown and where I have grown up. 

I created the reflexivity statement by talking about what makes me a person and what things have made me become who I am. Before drafting it I was thinking about what things make up who I am and what’s important to me. I knew when to stop writing because I figured I had reached the point to where I thought it included things that were important to me. I consider myself a writer because I have been always been  interested since sophomore high school year in regards to the figurative language of writing. 

The changes I made in the reflexitivity statement is shortening it to be able to include only the most important information. The first draft was the much longer and I shortened it to be able to be concise what made up who I am and what I identified more with myself. 

This assignment allowed for me to be able to reflect more on myself and be more connected with myself. As well as being able to connect with both parts of my Hispanic and American heritages. I think maybe I will write something like this when possibly applying to certain future schools or jobs. As well as when sharing my story to others. 

The purpose of the Annotation Matrix was to organize and put together all the sources that you gathered in an organized fashion. Specifically, it makes key notes about the information of each of the sources; such as purpose, author, context, and rhetorical choices. This allows for an easier to organize the Synthesis Essay together.

I chose the pinned place of Tucson because I felt that the relation of speaking about the Borderlands most specifically related to Tucson due to the movie we watched about immigration.

I selected the texts by finding two selected texts from the Borderlands synthesis texts and chose the two texts that stood out to me the most. I picked the children's book because I felt that it was important to show how immigration directly affects families and it was a very well visualized text. Secondly, I picked a poem that focused on the process of becoming an American. The last text used was the documentary, Border South, which used a lot more storytelling of situations and experiences of the people. 

Being able to study the purpose, context/author, audience, and genre allowed me to think more deeply about the texts. I was able to see how the author, genre, and audience all related to the deeper purpose of the text, and how I could then incorporate it into the paper.

I think that the annotation Matrix was very useful in helping me organize my ideas and later on produce my essay in an organized way. Therefore I would probably use it again when writing another research essay. 

The Fieldwork Journal is an observational journal used to be able to capture images and items to be able to help with brainstorming the purpose, claim, and thesis of the Borderlands digital story. 

I chose the South Mountains in Phoenix, AZ because that is where I collected the data for my Fieldwork Journal. It is also where my whole project was based.

I collected the first part of the journal by describing and visiting South Mountain Park and being able to write down what I thought was a visual description of the place. I also included images and videos of the area that I took in order to encapsulate the feeling of the area. As well as to be able to give more insight as to what the reader was looking at. I then conducted an interview with my Tata regarding the place to be able to get a new point of view on South Mountain Park. This conversation allowed me to be able to get more ideas on what my topic would be focused on. I learned that the research part of the project is very important because it allows you to collect information that will be insightful for later on information. 

The conventions I used mostly were the descriptive language of the Park and using the images as a background to show what it looked it. The type of convention I was more lenient on included using text that I would make up what the interviewer would say when describing the place, based on information spoken about in the interview. 

This assignment was very helpful overall when trying to figure out what I wanted my project to be focused on. It also allowed for me to organize all that I had from images to voice recordings of the interview to include them in the project. I think I would write something like this again when collecting tools and information for a presentation.

For this artifact, I decided to pick my Papelito #10. The prompt for this Papelito was “Write about whose shoulders you stand on”. 

I decided to pick my family’s place of origin which is Chihuahua, Mexico. 

The Borderlands is one common place with many people of all different origins, which creates a diverse community. 

I think that this piece of writing allowed me to become engaged with my Hispanic family culture and how it can relate to going to an HSI university. It has allowed me to be able to combine both my heritage and my writing which has become my interpretation of what the Borderlands mean to me. 

This activity strengthens my ideas about Borderlands because it allows me to connect with my ancestors from the past whose shoulders I stand on. Thinking more deeply about this raises questions for myself about my past heritage and my family’s journey of coming from Mexico to the United States. Borderlands literacy is valuable to me because I can honor both sides of my heritage and combine it into a piece of work that represents who I am. 

This activity influenced my sense of identity because I want to be able to further honor both sides of how I’ve grown up in two heritages. It allows me to explore ways in my writing where I can be expressive about these ideas of having to balance both aspects of my culture, and how that can lead to my purpose of creating writing with all parts of my heritage.