As defined by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto in Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology, rasquachismo is characterized as an attitude rather than an idea and it is defined as the underdog perspective – a view from los de abajo. Its vernacular is rooted in Mexican traditions but it has quickly evolved among Mexican Americans, nevertheless, it remains a term of the underclass for both groups. While it is referent to social class it is not completely a bad descriptor because it also refers to those that are resourceful. Limited resources were often the cause and this made people re-fix and reuse everything, this lifestyle promotes a lot of innovative thinking. Some clever examples of reusing items in the text were car tires as plant containers, plastic bottles as garden ornaments, and discarded coffee cans as flower pots (Frausto 86). Before this reading I have never heard of this term but I realized have experienced a lot of this from my Abuela, I'm sure others have as well. She salvaged old butter containers, cookie tins, hominy cans, and lots of other things; oftentimes they served as containers for things as well as pots in the garden. Recently I have also adopted this mentality of reusing everything which has led me to accumulate a large collection of “scraps”. The idea of making something out of ideally nothing is gratifying and I hope to maintain that mentality throughout my life. I have made a lot of things from scraps like coasters, book holders, storage bins, etc. To focus on one piece, in particular, I was able to create a sculpture piece that resembles a life-size artist pencil that is made entirely of old shipping boxes, cereal boxes, and scrap mail that I painted over to give it the resemblance of a certain pencil. This is probably one of my favorite pieces I made because instead of throwing away material I was able to make it into something elaborate that is worth keeping.
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