On the map, I pinned La Riviera Maya, the place from which my parents got the inspiration to name me Azul Ithzell. I knew right away that this was what I wanted to write about since it is something very important to me and something I might be called an expert on. Where does my name come from? This is a question I have answered so many times, as assignments from school just like this one, or even in normal conversations, but every time there is a new way to describe it. 

Before making the assignment, I thought of it as an easy task, since I chose the prompt about explaining my name's origins, something I have done several times at different stages of my education. While writing this reflexivity statement I found it very difficult to keep it concise, I wanted to add more interesting facts, but I soon realized that the more information I included the more I had to explain how it related to the main topic, and it would just turn into an informational essay on Mayan culture. To solve this, I tried to only include the most important facts and tried writing more about my identity than my name itself. 

My revision stage consisted of spelling checks, adding a quote in Spanish, exclamation, and question marks. When I then used my Reflexivity statement in my Borderland’s Synthesis Essay, I added a section that explains more directly the importance of my name to my culture and identity. There weren’t any changes made to the reflexivity statement for the portfolio.

I would consider myself a writer because with this assignment I realized how I have written about my name so many times but every time I manage to do something different to add or take out something, it's like a work in progress something that will never end and will always be changing. In the future, I will write something similar, but at the same time, there will be something different to it.

The pinpoint on the map shows The Nogales US- Mexico border. I chose this place because the topic discussed in the three sources used to write about the US - Mexico border and crossing through the desert. 

To analyze the three sources used I made notes on the filming strategies, figurative language like metaphors, and the imagery used. To have an organized way to write these notes I used the annotation matrix to section each device used, the cited quotation, and their cited source. 

Through this assignment I learned that there are many ways to deliver a topic, the type of media like writing or film, the strategies used, the intended audience, and the specific context behind the author, making each piece a unique work. The rhetorical analysis was very important because that way we made the analysis more specific to the rhetorical points on the media. Understanding the purpose, context/author, audience, and genre of each text helps us have a deeper understanding of what the author wanted for this text or media.

I feel that I did a good job analyzing these different sources, however, I think that if I had more time to analyze each piece separately, I would have had more fitting evidence for my claim. I would write more similar text as this one making sure to improve my writing skills.

The place I pinned is the Nogales US - Mexican Border, the location in which I documented information for my journal, my birthplace Nogales, AZ, and my home Nogales, Sonora, as well as my interviewee’s hometown. 

Collecting information from the location involved driving through the city and stopping everywhere we saw a mural or an important landmark to record. For the external source, I used the UA library to search books or articles related to the Nogales US- Mexico Border, finding an amazing book called Steel Walls and Picket Fences: Rematerializing the U.S.–Mexican Border in Ambos Nogales. 

The research process was fascinating, I loved going out and exploring my hometown, looking at each wall, each corner, and each building with more detail and interest. During this little trip, I also encountered difficulties many journalists face in doing their work. It was a short interaction with what my dad believes to be a “Punto”, a person who has connections in the drug business and whose job is to stay vigilant for any strange activity that could affect their work. While taking pictures of the border murals, going up and down the same street to get a good picture, one of them approached us and asked what we were doing, we answered with truthfulness, and he understood it was only schoolwork and rejoined his group. This event helped me to understand more about the corrupt systems near the border.

Analyzing other storyboards helped me understand different conventions that I needed to follow to have a well-organized project. Some of the conventions I followed were the use of sectioning with subtitles, captioned pictures, and an interactive map to show the specific locations being talked about. I chose to follow these conventions because even if it is not required, it is a kind of template that already works and succeeds in delivering a message.

I loved Making this project because it was amazing seeing my ideas take a form and have a connection with pictures, photos I took from places I have known since little or since they started painting them. I believe that this won’t be the last time I do this, I think that in other stages of my education.

I decided to write about the “Barrio sin nombre” and the wealthier neighborhood right next to it because it was an amazing experience. On a deeper level, it helped us understand and experience what was left of the Mexican American community after being forced to leave their homes to build the Freeway, and how gentrification is now taking the culture to make the area more tourist. 

Borderlands a land that is located near a border; however, it also represents the mixture of cultures and traditions, a divided identity between two places, new opportunities, and loss. Or also the geographical, cultural, and psychological spaces of multiethnic history and identities. 

Attending this course here helped me practice my writing on the topic of being in a borderland, something I have and will always write about since it is part of my identity. I love learning new stuff about Tucson and more specifically The University of Arizona, and its rough patches. The land acknowledgment helps us understand and accept how this place came to be, with stolen land and genocide, however, now we should be changing our goals to help and give back to the community. And this part of UA history is just what Borderlands is. 

Visiting these places helped me understand that in every single piece of media, art, writing, structures, and even buildings we see that there is a goal, a purpose, an intended audience, and a context. As a writer, this helped me improve on setting these goals and making sure that I have them. 

Even if I am not from Tucson, I feel a connection to this specific place since it is a perfect representation of gentrification, something that has been happening for years in many different places. This place made me understand that writing is an important form to pass this knowledge to protect important places and their communities. 

I spent many hours traveling to school, many hours at school, and many hours traveling back home. My home is 4 miles away from school, and according to Google Maps, only a 15-minute drive. However, every day I had to wake up at 5 am to wait from one hour to two hours in line to cross the border. I had to be that early because any later meant being late to school. Traveling back to my home in Mexico took less time but still, we had to wait in another line to return home.

In Mexico, all students have an English education. I specifically attended a private school in Mexico, to learn the language correctly, but the English level was still low. Since I had to adapt and learn English, I had to spend more hours concentrating on homework.  In my papelito number six, I describe one part of what we were expected to do in elementary and middle at Mexicayotl Academy: “Around this time we were expected to read tons of books [both in English and Spanish], [a big] part of our grade was based on annotations made while reading.” This took more time out of my day, taking away hours of my childhood. 

  This affected my identity and my sense of belonging. I still feel that I cannot connect to many teenage experiences. As a child and adolescent growing up, I regret prioritizing school, I never had outside activities to attend, and hanging out with friends was hard because they lived in the U.S., or they also had to prioritize homework to succeed in this school. I had a hard time catching up, and the school I attended also gave me a hard time. I could even say that I wasted part of my teenage years concentrating on school. The only places I would socialize with others would be at school and family reunions, reunions that I would sometimes miss to complete my homework. When I talk with my cousins and my brother there are times when they discuss a certain event and many times they say, “A si cierto, tu no fuiste, que porque estabas haciendo tarea,” “Oh, you did not go because you stayed home doing homework.”

Mexicayotl Academy is a small, k-8 school, that concentrates on teaching students human values, respect, and high academic achievement. In papelito number four, I described, “In this school, they [teachers and principals] were very strict with students because they wanted us to succeed in college life.” Yes, since elementary they wanted kids to make decisions for their future. I am grateful for the sacrifices my parents had to make for me to get the best education, I am grateful for the school for teaching me how to be a hard worker, making me believe I could attend University, teaching me good habits, and for many human skills, without the years in this school I would not be the person I am today. I am grateful but I still regret not being a child.