Morales, Leticia

Hello, my name is Leticia Morales, and I am a second year Gender Studies and Psychology double major. I was always interested in applying to the art school at UCLA because I wanted to be able to take courses that not only interested me but really stimulated my creativity and allowed me to speak in ways other than just words. Besides the fear of not graduating on time because I was already enrolled in two majors, I felt too intimidated by the difficulty of getting accepted and the other artists around me to ever apply. However, I find time to shoot photos or take sculpture classes or do some quick sketches on my own time.

I am Mexican-American, but growing up, I always considered myself "just Mexican." That fact was always hard for others to believe because of my fair skin and light hair, so in a school full of mainly Latino students, I felt a little out of place. I was never introduced to the term "Chicana/o" until last year, my first year of studies at UCLA. I still find it difficult to consider myself a Chicana because I was never very consciously in touch with my Mexican roots growing up.

Growing up, la Virgen de Guadalupe was a prevalent figure in my household. My family is very religious, and my parents always dragged my sister and I to church where I remember they would hand flowers and roses to the children to bring up to an altar with the image of the Virgen. However, my fist encounter with her figure was when I was very small, maybe 3 or 4 years old; I remember my dad went on a long trip to pick up my aunt and he was not going to be home until very late. I was worried, so I walked up to the framed image of la Virgen and said with my hand balled up into a fist, "Cuida a mi papa, porque si no lo cuidas, yo te chingo." Looking back it amazes me that I knew that she was this figure to talk to and ask for safety and comfort, but it did not occur to me that she was someone sacred and highly admired.