In Case You Were Wondering...

Órgano (Organ Pipe Cactus)  by Antonio Turok, 2018 Órgano (Organ Pipe Cactus)  by Antonio Turok The Mexican Museum in San Francisco is full of various kinds of art from Mexican/Chicano artists.  Looking through the website, I was intrigued by the many beautiful works of art they featured, but one work that caught my eye was called Órgano (Organ Pipe Cactus)  by Antonio Turok.  The work is a low-angle shot of a group of organ pipe cactus.  The sun is visible in the top left corner, and the picture itself appears to be grainy somewhat like a still from an old movie.  Taken in 2018, it would be safe to assume that Antonio Turok's picture was taken in a desert.  Though it is tough to tell which desert it is based on the type of cactus alone.                        Antonio Turok Amanecer en Sand Bay, Nicaragua   by Antonio Turok, 1980 Antonio Turok was born in Mexico City, Mexic...

Anthropologist Seth Holmes Many people do not stop to consider the fruits and vegetables they eat every day and where they come from.  Even as someone who works around fruit for five to eight hours a day, I myself have not considered the places that our produce comes from.  And I don't think other people really think about it either.  Because of this, most people do not know of the hard labor and intense conditions that farmworkers face to get this produce to Americans all over the country.  Though people do not realize it, the fruits and vegetables that we eat every day are a result of sacrifices made by migrant farmworkers.  In his book, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies , Anthropologist Seth Holmes goes in depth about these sacrifices and conditions that migrant farmworkers face in their daily lives.  The purpose of his book is to raise awareness for the problems that migrant farmworkers face, and to do so, Holmes puts himself in their shoes and works in fields...

 I listened to "Cross-Border Abortion Care" from Latino USA.  The program was hosted by Maria Hinojosa and featured co-host Jamilah King.  This segment also featured Lina-Maria Murillo, an assistant professor in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies and History at the University of Iowa, and Veronica Martinez, a journalist covering gender and immigration.  This program aired on September 28, 2021 but I am listening to it on October 25, 2021.  While listening to this program I learned about the policies on abortion that were made in Texas as well as how Americans and Mexicans are reacting.  Some things I liked about the program were that the women in this podcast did not really hold back how they felt about the injustices that they face as a result of these laws.  They exercised their right to free speech to speak on a controversial topic.  One thing I did not like about the program was the part where they said that "Anti-abortion laws are increas...

       I read the Popol Vuh , the sacred book of the Maya, translated by Allen J. Christenson.  Originally written in the Maya language, the Popol Vuh  was translated by Allen J. Christenson to be more modern and overall help readers get a better understanding of the story.  The book tells the story of how the Maya were established.  However, the story is focused mainly on the Maya, and pushes aside their contact with the Spanish.  The reason being stated in the book where Christenson says "the authors were traditionalists, in the sense that they recorded the history and theology of the ancient highland Maya people without adding material from European sources"(Christenson 35).  This could serve as proof that the Maya were more concerned with learning about their history. The family tree of the Hero Twins      A few of the main characters that the story focuses on include One Hunahpu, Seven Hunahpu, the Lords of Xibalba, L...

     I recently watched a video titled Lost Kingdoms of Central America  by BBC and read an article titled "La Venta" by Rebecca Gonzalez Lauck.  The article "La Venta" was about Olmec architectural and archaeological sites in La Venta or what is known today as Tabasco, Mexico.  Gonzalez Lauck describes La Venta's archaeological site in southeastern Mexico as "a key feature in the history of ancient Mesoamerica"(Gonzalez Lauck 798).  On the other hand, the video Lost Kingdoms of Central America  also goes over archeological sites as well as sculptings and structures left behind by the Olmecs.  Archaeologist Jacob Cooper from BBC said that around 1200 BC they were "one of the first civilizations of the Americas"( Lost  0:39 - 0:49).  However, they share some similarities and differences which I will discuss in this blog post. Olmec head believed to resemble appearance of ruler's     First and foremost, one thing that was si...

      I listened to "The Moving Border: Part Two, The South" on Latino USA.  This episode was first broadcast on May 27, 2020, and I listened to this podcast on September 9, 2021. The host, Maria Hinojosa, tells us about the story of a man, Josue, and his journey of refuge.  She goes in depth about how Josue is stuck between immigration policies at an immigration center in Tapachula, Mexico and ongoing conflict in his home country Honduras.  Not only did the immigration policies impact Josue's experience with the immigration/refugee system, but it turned out that Mexico "suffers from many of the same issues around safety as the places migrants are escaping from"(44:55-45:07).  So ultimately, Josue's choices are to stay with his grandma in Honduras where he is constantly targeted and beat, or to flee to a refugee center in Tapachula, Mexico that is very underfunded, understaffed, and cannot fully promise one's safety. Refugees in line at a camp in Sout...