Multicultural Children's Literature

I really enjoyed the discussion and readings about multicultural children’s literature. I think paying close attention to ways in which material of controversial issues is presented to children is very important.  Children are very impressionable and have to be taught the right thing from an early age.  After reading about the types of multicultural education, assimilationist pluralism and multiracial democracy, I believe the more effective form of teaching is the latter. With multiracial democracy, you are teaching the child the realities about his community and society. In contrast, I believe assimilationist pluralism just paints a pretty picture in the child’s mind that doesn’t actually convey the realities about life.

            Some argue that children shouldn’t be exposed to the “harsh truths” about the world until they are older. I think that accurate facts should be presented to them since the beginning so that they are not given the wrong notions that can lead to a sense of confusion when they are finally taught the truth. I think that if the facts are presented in an efficient manner and with the educator’s tactfulness, the child will be able to handle and comprehend the matter at hand with no difficulties. 

Reinaldo Arena's: Before Night Falls

I really enjoyed watching the film on Reinaldo Arena’s life.  Although I was not very familiar with his life or story, I became very interested in this Cuban poet after watching the movie “Before Night Falls”. I think the movie does a great job at portraying the sad realities that Arenas had to face in his homeland of Cuba and upon immigrating to the United States.  In Cuba he was marginalized from society for opposing the government, writing about controversial issues, and being a homosexual. He found himself forced to leave Cuba in order to escape political persecution. Unfortunately this was the sad reality for many Cubans during Castro’s regimen. Watching the movie helped me realize the injustices that existed towards any member of society that did not follow the preconceived ways a citizen was supposed to behave, or be like in Cuba.            

            Also, watching about Arena’s life after he moved to the US and contracted HIV was really sad.  However, I think it accurately portrayed the harsh realities that Latinos with HIV have to face as members of a disadvantaged group. Like Arena’s, most Hispanics infected with HIV are not given proper care due to their scarce resources and lack of healthcare. This made me more aware of the crisis on this issue that exists in the Latino community. I would like to watch this movie in its entirety as well.

A Day without a Mexican

I'm not entirely sure how to take the movie " A Day without a Mexican." While I understand what it was trying to do, I dont think I agree with the way in which the information was presented. I think the satirical and comical nature of the film may overshadow the point of the movie. The movie was meant to bring to light the blatant anti-immigrant discourse that is prevelant in America today.
I spoke with Prof. Caroll after her lecture to asks if she agrees with the movie and she said at first she didn't like it becuase she also felt that its comical nature might have distracted from the real issues. However, after closely examining it, she found that it did do a good job in getting peoples attention. Its easy for people to "zone out" on such a touchy subject as immigration and getting people to merely pay attention, is the first half of the battle. However, I do still fear that the light heartedness of the movie might not get people to take the issues seriously enough to actually try and make real changes to the way current immigration laws are made.
The movies was meant to show how important the immigrants are and always have been to the way we function as society. America, in its entire history, has not been able to function without the efforts of a cheap labor force. So far, Latinos have stepped in to take the place of other workers who don't want to work in the fields for long hours with very little pay. Its important to see what role these latinos do play in our everyday lives and how significant their presence is here in teh US. Only then, can we start to mvoe away from the anti-immigrant discourse that plagues immigrants everyday.

Picking on Disney

While I agree that we shouldn't place the blame solely on Disney, it is true that their cartoons and movies do play a significant role in how children precieve the world both racially and socially. I know when I was younger, I watched dozens of Disney movies growing up and I still continue to watch them from time to time. However, I can't help but to feel excluded from the Disney equation since there is rarely ever characters I can identify with, at least racially. I know that growing up I wanted to be a disney princess like any young girl, but all the princesses were white, blonde ( mostly) and blue eyed, something I definitely was not. There was a time when I thought I should dye my hair blonde so I can be like them.
However, I do not blame Disney for making these somewhat "racist" cartoons. I think if we pick at anything long enough we can see things that weren't the intention of the creators. I think Disney was just going with what was dominant at the time, and white culture has been the dominant culture in the US since it began. I do believe however, as the country begins to change and grow into the 21st century, Disney will continue to manifest itself to be more "politically" correct in the way it presents its characters.
But its true, growing up I didnt get all of my social and racial cues from disney, but its signifcant presence in the lives of children can't be ignored and should be taken into consideration. Disney and parents should take the responsibility to talk to children about what they are seeing. It important for children to have multilple outlets in which to learn "important life lessons." As far I am concerned, Disney is only for entertainment purposes, but real lessons should come from the family.

Intro to Latino Studies...

This class has been very interesting. It wasnt exactly what I expected but I still learned A LOT. I think the incorporation of other lecturers was weird to me. I have never had that type of experience before but it fit for this class since there were so many topics covered. I loved the incorporation of films that were related to our readings and lectures; they enhanced the topics and helped me connect more. For instance, in the film about Arenas I saw that they were leaving from the port that said MARIEL and I was like (in my head) "LOS MARIELITOS" and I remembered that that was the group of homosexuals and other men that left during that time. It made since that he would be leaving in that group. For the next classes, try to connect ideas like that more often. I could have missed other instances but that one was one of few I caught.

As far as discussion, I wish I could have made it more...and on time. However, the ones I went to really helped me to grasp the concepts. The key terms were especially helpful. Keep up the good work Isabel!!!!!!

PS. Im not really a blogger so this was hard keeping up with it. But, it keeps us updated on other people's opinions.

PEACE
"Be happy, healthy, and holy"

..overall

I really enjoyed taking this class for many reasons. The lecture formats were dynamic, in the sense that we got a little bit of everything. Each professor talked about the things they knew the most about. So, not only did we hear about many different aspects of Latino studies, we heard the best information about them. Discussion sections, in my opinion, were great because the students led them. Not only does this give everyone a chance to participate, but it's definitely way more interesting than having a professor or GSI ramble on about what we learned for an hour. Although there were a lot of reading assignments, they were easy to complete. Some of them were actually very interesting.
For having been an introductory course, I was very impressed with the way it turned out. Plus, we've already met the other professors and gotten to feel out their styles, so we can use that experience to choose new classes more easily. I would recommend this course to anyone who shows an interest in Latino studies...not Latin American studies. ;) I plan on furthering my education in American Culture and am glad to have taken this as my intro course. Besides, it ended up being my best grade!
Veronica Blattner

A Day Wihout A Mexican- Film Post

I did not enjoy the film we had to watch for class titled "A Day without A Mexican".  I was expecting the film to tackle the issue of immigration and immigrant workers in a more serious fashion.  I understand that at times being over dramatic about a point helps people to see the point but I did not think this film did much good for the argument of the importance of immigrant workers.  The protests that happened all across the United States a few years ago had more of an impact on me then this film did.  The protests showed just how many people in the workforce are invisible workers and really made me think about my interactions with all workers.  It is also imporatnt to remeber that immigratns are human.  I think a problem with all of the immigration issues being in the news is the media does not focus enough on the person stories behind the legistlation.  Many of the readings from this class were interviews that focused on the stuggles many families had during their migration and first years in the United States.  Some families went through traumtic events just to be able to have the oppotrunity to reach American soil.  

In my opinon there might be more of a conversation if people looked at all aspects of immigation. What types of conditions are people try to escape?  Is there more opppotunity in America for them?  Is their quality of life going to imporve if they move their famiy to the United States? There needs to be more action similar to the protests to help reinforce the human factor in the immigration converation.