Aguillon, Rafael(Rafa)

Hello class, my name is Rafael Aguillon, but y’all can call me Rafa. I am a fourth-year majoring in Statistics with an interest in data analysis. I identify as a Mexican-American male, and my preferred pronouns are he/his/him. Though I do side more with “South Campus” material, I decided to take this class because I am rather shy and mediocre at Art but have a strong sense of pride for my Chicano heritage. Not only would this class give me an opportunity to exercise my culture, but also help me grow confidence to expose my creative side in a more public setting.

Today, metaphorical and physical walls are reinforced by the mindsets of past ideologies. We can see this in our schools, our communities and even in our own daily news. Before attacking the problems, we face today, individually or as a collective, we must know what question we are trying to answer. When reading Linda Nochlin’s essay, I also asked myself what kind of obstacles women had to deal with when facing the disadvantages set by the predominately white male custom. Through a Chicana perspective, more challenges also sprung from the very movement they are taking part in. I also agreed a lot with what Sybil Venega had to say, looking at my own family as an example, I witnessed how it was normal for gender to determine your role. Although Chicana’s were faced with these struggles, I saw how the women in my family, overcame the roles they were assigned by past ideologies by succeeding in predominately male roles, as the breadwinners and heads of their households. If we desire to make progressive steps towards a better tomorrow, we must detach ourselves from the chains of these past ideologies set by others who put us in a disadvantage.