In 1997, Jacalyn Lopez Garcia, created and designed a website in order to provide a tour of her childhood home. Through the website, Garcia incorporated special tools, such as the chancla, which was designed to allow users to click from tab to tab. For instance, these “Chanclas” allowed users to click on sub-pages, such as the “Living Room”, representing Garcia's history. Secondly, I love the way she incorporated the famous saying in the latin world “mi casa es su casa”, representing a cultural difference to those who aren’t ethnically from the group. Most importantly, Garcia placed three images of herself. Starting with the first image, underneath, Garcia placed “Mexican”, for the second, she placed “Mexican- American”, and for the last, she placed “Chicana”. Lastly, Garcia asks her audience “How do we survive in a world driven by assimilation and maintain our cultural identity”. While one of her main purposes was to show her audience the childhood that she lived, I believe that Garcia’s main motive to create her website, Glass houses, was to implicitly express her cultural identity. Through the lenses of these three images of her, Garcia expresses to society her journey to accepting and validating herself. We first see her as a “Mexican”, and later fast forward to “Chicana”. With that being said, I believe that Garcia’s communal based website represents a sanctuary to those who have a hard time accepting not only their ethnic background, but their true identity. I would say that Garcia’s barriers are obstacles that many individuals throughout our community face, whether it may be about our gender or sexuality. Moreover, Garcia shows her audience that as she grew up, she was able to fully accept herself as a “Chicana”. While it is easier said than done, within her website, Garcia expresses to her audience that anyone can have the courage to accept themselves and their body, and with hope and acceptance, it is more than achievable to do so.
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