Reflection Post- WEST SIDE STORY- America

I love this movie. There is beautiful artistry in the way that it was written and conceived by Jerome Robbins and brought to life onstage by Leonard Bernstein and ArthurLaurents. The show is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romero and Juliet brought to NYC in the 1950's. The original Broadway production opened on Broadway on September 26, 1957 and featured Larry Kert as Tony, Carol Lawrence as Maria and the arguably most celebrated Lain theatre actress Chita Rivera as Anita. After three trasfers to other Broadway theatres and over 700 performances, the show closed on June 27, 1959. The movie version was released worldwide in 1961 featuring Natalie Wood as Maria, Richard Beymer as Tony and Rita Moreno (who won an Oscar for her performance). The world centers on two rival gangs: The Sharks(Puerto Ricans) and The Jets (the Caucasians). "America" (changed from the original Broadway staging) focused on the struggles, hardships, dreams and gender stereotypes of Puerto Ricans by Caucassians.
In my opinion "America" is stereotypical, but at the same time rooted in truth about the harsdhips that Puerto ricans were facing all over the united States. This was the time when the commercial airplane was introduced to the world and it made it much easier to travel to the United States from Puerto Rico. More than 50,000 people a year were coming to the US from Puerto Rico. People were coming to get away from the harships and the terrible economy that faced Puerto Rico in the 50's in search of better wages and other means of bettering themselves. I think "America" is a stereotype because of the way that many of the actors in the movie portrayed their characters, not the lyrics or the music. The music while it is flamenco and from Spain has a had a deep influence in the Puerto rican bomba y plena, salsa and merengue. The lyrics are very poignant in the way that is shows the dichotomy of how Puerto Ricans in America felt about the economy, the jobs they held and the roles of men and women. I think Arthur Laurents' lyrics embody the two types of ideologies that Puerto rican were faced with everyday. Tha nationalist and the assimilationist ideals, the same issues that still is a huge issue in Puerto Rico and Puerto rican communites in the US til this day..

Reflection post, Young Lords

I really enjoyed the readings and lectures on the Young Lords Party.  Their similarities with the civil right's movement were amazing to discover, and their purpose in accomplishing equality through protest was also very enlightening.  I am very interested in the Civi right's movement, and it's very intriguing to learn about other profound groups like the Young Lords.  As a group representing the poor man, whether Puerto Rican or African-American, this party and other groups like the Black Panthers, SNCC, SCLC, etc. all inspire me as they produced and effected change through direct social confrontations and strict demands for their constitutional rights.  It's discouraging today to see similar social disparities and inequalities, but it seems as though the youth movement is less active than in prior decades.  All of the information we've learned on the Young Lords is novel to me, and I find it upsetting to go through years of school and important knowledge like this has been so neglected.  I also thought the video was great, especially the acquisition of the church to feed the hungry! 

Discussion Questions for 10/3

Hey guys,

Here are more questions for discussion on Friday:

"Chicanas Speak Out"

1.  What are Chicana women fighting for? 

2.  What is triple oppression?

3.  Did women always face inequality?

4.  What did the women due to get their voice heard?

5.  According to the article, what must the Chicano men do?

"Notes from a Chicana coed"

1.  From whom are the Chicanas facing discrimination?

2.  What do the Chicanos want from their women?

3.  Do males have to follow this same standard?

4.  How do Chicanos feel about the women's liberation?

5.  According to the poem, what do Chicanas do anyway?

El Plan De Aztlan

After reading this article I felt a little surprised because I never knew this happened. It made me think...what if an american was in their shoes and another country was trying to assimilate everyone into the "ideal" or Western/American culture even if they were completely against that form of culture. Gringo's they call the people that took their territory and use it for economic purposes even when it isn't theirs. I just feel bad for what they had to go through and the worst thing about it is they couldn't stop it by themselves. After enough of the big business owners making money off their land and the workers getting paid next to nothing, it was time for a protest/uprising. A group of Chicano's got together and eventually formed a strong nationalist power and were willing to do whatever they could to liberate themselves. The only way Chicano's would feel completely liberated as by economic, cultural, social and politcal independence. If i were to switch places with them at that time...I probably would have done the same thing.

Reflection Post: Immigration Reform

Reflection Post: Illegal Immigration & Immigration Reform

There is no doubt that immigration has become a highly contentious issue over the last four years, but lately immigration has taken a back seat to the economy, health care reform, and the war in Iraq as a talking point on the presidential campaign trail. However, the issue of immigration is not going away any time soon. No matter what your political views happen to be, I believe our class can benefit from listening to both Bill Richardson and John McCain’s views on immigration:





In the first video, Governor Richardson outlines his multi-faceted approach to dealing with immigration by:

1. securing the border
2. punishing those that hire workers illegally
3. proposing Native Mexican job creation and joint border projects
4. raising illegal immigration quotas
5. passing an illegalization plan
a. earned legalization program

On the other hand, John McCain’s biggest proposal includes enforcing pre-existing laws and seems to make a harder-line approach towards illegal immigrants who have broken United States law. I'd be remiss to not mention that there seems to be some discrepancy between John McCain’s approach to immigration reform now compared with his past statements because of his need to appease his conservative base.

In all fairness to John McCain, we have seen political candidates ‘slide’ their views in order to win primaries and subsequent presidential elections throughout the history of the United States. Nevertheless, Barack Obama highlights a particularly alarming case of a shifting ideology:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRCjN3wZ48Y

What are your thoughts on immigration reform?

We Call Them Greasers

We Call Them Greasers portrays the invasion of a Native American community by white men. It is written in the perspective of the white man and therefore shows how truly prejudiced the invaders were. The diction of the poem, including words such as betters, cowards, and troublemakers, shows how the white men saw themselves as far superior. Even though Native Americans had unique, developed languages, the Anglos seemed to believe that anyone who could not speak English was illiterate, thus enforcing the idea that Anglo Americans saw their culture as the most advanced. From this view stemmed the Manifest Destiny concept.
Even more startling than the Anglos views of the natives was their blatant disrespect towards the communities. It was tragic to me to consider that rapes similar to the brutal act portrayed in the last stanzas occurred often during the times of the invasions. And despite the Anglos' portrayal of the natives as animals, I could not help but consider the narrator as the most brutal animal and the Native Americans as civil, peaceful human beings. We Call Them Greasers portrays perfectly the hopeless situation of the Native American communities during this era.

Reflection Post on We Call Them Greasers

When I was reading the poem, I was dismayed and angry at how brutal these men could be towards other human beings. Then again, they didn't feel like the Mexicans were even considered humans, as there is lots of animal imagery associated with them. I can't say that I was shocked by this behavior, as this does seem to fit the attitude of many white people at the time. The White Man's Burden is a prime example of how many white people felt towards people of other skin color. I was disgusted in the pleasure these people took out of others' pain, and how they were so proud of being able to trick these natives with such ease. They had no remorse whatsoever and the only reason the man who was raping the woman even stopped was because of the look of disgust on his friend's face. He was unconcerned with the woman he was harming, but of the opinion of his friend who deemed Mexicans unworthy of interaction with white men.