Padilla, Monica

My name is Monica Padilla, I am a first generation transfer student from Northern California from a small town by the name of Napa. My parents were both born in Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico. I am majoring in Gender Studies with a minor in Chicana/Chicano Studies. My ultimate career goal is to become a therapist or psychologist for children and families because my ambition is to inspire and help guide others to the positive aspects in life. My own family has been my drive to continue on with school after high school, I also enjoy this journey because I have seen just how much of a role model I actually am to my younger cousins.

In "Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whores Mask: the Fear of Malinchismo," one question that came to mind when reading this article that I kept dwelling for an answer was, due to the Virgen de Guadalupe being such a religious and empowering icon why have Chicana or Chicano Artists found the need to create new and different images to resemble the original image? In my opinion La Virgen de Guadalupe is an image that is valued to a great amount of individuals, coming from a religious background I feel as though Ester Hernandez tainted somewhat the image of what La Virgen de Guadalupe is originally meant to been seen as. The image she created has no resemblance to the original image, she creates a new woman that looks no where near what the Virgen appearance has been seen as throughout thousands of years. Although I applaud and respect Ester's image of an empowering Virgen I don't think that, that should be the image we remember La Virgen years from now.

In "There is no place like Aztlan: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art" the certain section that stood out to me was when it breaks down the definition of identity and what characteristics are actually included within the definition. It goes on to speak about hegemony and that was one topic that has intrigued me for a while now, my question reflects, why does hegemonic discourse fail to acknowledge our intersectionalities that are reflected upon our personal identity. Due to Chicanos being a minority I don't believe its fair that our intersectionalities aren't being taken into consideration when we are categorized into groups because although our race or ethnicity may vary we all still share commonalities.