Trujillo, Annette (Annette)

 Hello everybody! 

My name is Annette Y. Trujillo. My preferred pronouns are she, hers, and her. I am a third-year transfer student pursing a Psychology major at UCLA. I transferred from Pasadena City College. I have spent my whole life in (El Sereno) Los Angeles and though I love to travel, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. This is very much where I consider home. I spend my free time hiking, socializing with close friends, and running my own small cosmetics business. 

Last quarter, I took my first Chicanx studies class and instantly fell in love with the content. I was constantly asking questions and engaging with the material. It was an amazing experience to be able to learn about my culture and its history. Before taking the course, I was completely unaware of major historical and unjust events that had occurred in the Chicanx community. That course was a great introduction and made me want to dive even deeper into this world that was so foreign to me, despite me being a Latina myself. It changed the way I looked at myself and made me cherish this part of my background and identity even more. 

Even though I would not consider myself an artist, I have a great amount of appreciation for art in all of its forms and the stories that it tells. It feels very nostalgic to me and brings back beautiful memories I have of days my aunt would hold my hand as we strolled down the long hallways of art museums. She was an artist and passed down her love for the brush stroke to me, she would explain to me the stories behind her favorite pieces and ask me what my interpretations of them were. I enjoyed watching her creative process, seeing all the work that went into bringing an image to life to tell story. 

I am extremely excited to discover more influential artists with this class and learn much more about the history of the LGBTQ community. I personally feel that art is an efficient mean of communication when it comes to educating others about different history and experiences. It does all this without language, but with colors and graphics. I am excited for what we will learn.