Rasquachismo is an art form in minimalism. It is the act of using and reusing everyday items to create something new common in Chicanx households. My experiences with “rasquachismo” come from my parents.
My mom would always avoid throwing away things that could have utility at a later date. That plastic container from Olive Garden that’s microwaveable? I knew I would see my my school lunch packed in that container sometime later that week. Those saltine crackers that went stale because someone didn’t close the bag? My mom would incorporate them into her food. My mom’s chicken tenders made with crushed saltines crackers can out-crunch and out-perform anything a famous could could do. If my primas outgrew a doll, I knew that they would make an appearance that Christmas season in either my mom’s or my tia’s nativity.
I know my dad’s rasquachismo through the term, “to Mickey Mouse” something. I worked with my dad the day I turned 8 years old, and I know that he had a similar experience growing up in a poor household. He would avoid throwing away things too. He kept a coffee can filled out the brim with loose screws, broken tools, and other miscellaneous things he knew would be useful later. I saw my dad do somethings with everyday objects that I thought were his superpower. I remember there was one time that my dad’s 1980’s Volkswagen Golf overheated on our way to a job site. Turns out that the drive belt snapped. We were in the middle of the desert on US 395 and there were no auto parts stores nearby. My dad had planned for something like this. He had a pair of women’s pantyhose that he strapped to the engine that got us to the next city. If we needed to screw something into brick or cement, he would drill into it, hammer a scrap piece of wood into it, and screw into the wood. I understand that Rasquachismo implies a more artistic than utility, but I always found my dad’s ability to Mickey Mouse something as his contribution to art.
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