Week 8

As a child my father read me Carmen Lomas Garza's children's books. My favorites were the ones with her beautifully painted images, En mi Familia and Cuadros de Familia. In each of these books several images stood out and really resonated with me, Barbacoa para Cumpleanos, Tamalada, Cascarones, Hormigas, Para la cena, and La Llorona. Each of these were special for their particularly close connection to my playful, familial, and food-centered upbringing. I would like to discuss La Llorona specifically because we never went over this work in much detail. This image presents a very rich tradition of story telling within Chicano and Mexican American culture. I know that while I was growing up I was told the story of la Llorona to keep me from staying out and up all night as a young kid. Garza shows the significance of this precious time, with a motherly figure telling this story, passing on the tradition of story telling and spoken histories to young kids gathered around taking a break from playing outside. Llorona wanders far off in the spooky background of this image. This image is one that speaks of intimate familial moments.