Robles, Gissel

Hi everyone, 

My name is Gissel Robles and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a 3rd year transfer student from Pasadena City College, and will be graduating by Spring 2022. I’m a Sociology major with a minor in Chicana/o Studies, and hope to either work in law as an immigration lawyer or as a social worker, specifically with black and brown youth in the future. At my previous college, I took a Psychology Chicano course in which I began to realize I was missing out on some great knowledge. As soon as I found out UCLA had a minor in Chicana/o Studies, I immediately declared it as my minor. Although I don’t have much interest in research, last quarter I took my first Chicana/o research methods course and worked on a research project that focused on understanding first-generation student challenges in higher education in comparison to their continuing-generation peers. I feel that both Sociology and Chicana/o Studies go hand in hand with the career work I’m trying to pursue in the future therefore it’s my perfect match. I’ve personally never taken an art class past high school, but I thought taking a Chicana Art course would introduce me to a whole new area that I could potentially end up loving and incorporating into my life now and in the future.

This week’s reading ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now by E. Carmen Ramos, I found to be very interesting and I learned some new things. Yolanda Lopez’s recreation of Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim? really stood out to me the most because the whole narrative of “illegal aliens” in this country is far from the truth considering their land was wrongfully taken away, and I’m so glad they challenged historical narratives. Unlike other museums, the Smithsonian American Art Museum contains various artwork from Chicanx artists and I really love that because it’s not a very common thing you come across at art museums. I really look forward to learning more in this class, and this piece of reading already has me very engaged.