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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
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- Reading responses are due by 8pm on the day PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
The way Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales’ expresses himself in his poem “I am Joaquin” is just so strong and empowering and a great asset to the Chicano movement. It is quite amazing how he attempted to achieve justice and equal rights by a single poem. The whole poem in general is a very unique and great that there is no section or part or stanza that did not catch my attention everything about this gives me chills. However the part I want to discuss is the part where Corky mentions, “And I am the eagle and serpent of the Aztec civilization.” Which, in my opinion, he tried to portray this image of him being as strong as the eagle on the Mexican flag that brings him some sort of inner power. And also the ability to fight this “lucha” this battle that they must “conquistar.” But he also describes himself as the serpent that is being attacked. Which is very captivating because of all the circumstances that was going on during that time (even to this day but that’s a different thing). How the Mexican Americans were stripped away from their freedom and how their rights were stripped away from them. So in my eyes I feel like that’s the image he is trying to give. I also admired his whole poem in a sense that he say he was there in every part of history leading up to that point, fighting with them. From riding with Pancho Villa to being the eyes of the women. He takes pride in his culture and this poem proves that he is proud from where he came from and believes that the people, our people deserve this land more than anyone else.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Lopez
The poem “I am Joaquin,” which was written by Rodolfo Gonzales is such a unique poem and it is also very interesting, even though there were some sad parts about it. It is one of those poems which is unique in its way. “I am Joaquin” is a non-traditional poem that is used to convey the readers about our culture and what it has gone through. I also read the poem in Spanish, which I believed that it was a great thing to do, due to the fact that we are from both worlds and it is important to have both sides of it. Every single word that was in this poem was empowering, but what Caught my attention the most was where it said “I owned the land as far as the eye could see………but THE GROUND WAS MINE….. I was both tyrant and slave.” What he means is that land was ours, but after the conquest our people were the ones who had to work the land that was once theirs. This poem also states the fact that modern society has had a huge impact on our culture, but it is not in a positive way. Furthermore, I thought that we should reflect on our society, of how it has progressed and if it has changed for good or for bad. We should all try to keep our culture alive and keep it going for generations and we should try to protect it.
ReplyDeleteGuadalupe Cazares
After reading “I am Joaquin” and viewing the films, I began to adopt a further sense of pity for the Chicanos/Mexican Americans in the time of their struggles in the past. While reading Gonzales’s poem, I reflected on the contradictory statement that may be found in the Mexican American name. Like Gonzales, many may find themselves torn between two identities, two peoples who were once at opposition. The realities of this predicament that Gonzales presents to his readers are not to be taken as an excuse to simply exist without a sense of personal identification, but rather, he encouraged that all should examine their own selves to discover who they are, where they came from, and how they should continue living as their own person. I identify myself as a proud American, culturally diffused with Mexican heritage and not shaken by any surrounding challenges towards my rights as a United States citizen. Every individual who finds themselves residing in the United States identifies with an ethnicity which embodies them as a human being. Furthermore, we all are products of mixed blood and diverse heritages; it is up to the individual to acknowledge their background. As Gonzales found, while it may be troubling to enter the voyage onto the waters of self-discovery, awareness of yourself will soon bring the victories of dignity and pride in who you are.
ReplyDeleteCeline Brianna Salas
When a society is in distress they can take extraordinary measures to have their voices heard. I believe that what Reyes Tijerina did was an extreme measure, claiming land and arresting a forest ranger was not the most civilized way to handle the Alianzas’ anguish. Yes, there are facts such as socioeconomic disadvantage, Mexico losing half its territory after the war, original land grants that where not recognized and people losing their property by force. But that will not change trough uncivilized occupation, at the end of the day “el que se enoja, pierde” there should be a sense of keeping cool, calm and collected. Tijerina knowledgeable in treaty law should of had a superior, systematic, way of handling that situation. Going back to César Chávez, I believe that you should be civilized if you want to be respected and get your point across. I enjoyed reading about Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, with his involvement in the Democratic Party and vision of Chicano enterprise independent of Government it was easy to see why he was an emerging leader in the Chicano movement. His poem “I am Joaquín” was surprisingly relatable, just as Anzaldúas Borderlands, Gonzales gave off a sense of duality. His dichotomy between Mexican Indian and Spanish Conquistador, or tyrant and slave is an ideology our ancestors (as mestizos) and we as Mexican-Americans, live with every day. (229)
ReplyDelete-Victor D. Gaytan
Both Rudolfo "Corky" Gonzalez and the episode of Chicano shared a common point among themselves; Mexico has always owned America. Until Americans have come in with Manifest Destiny and Imperialism, and promised Mexicans many liberties and delivering them nothing. This is what truly upsets me about the Farm worker and the Chicano movement; Americans are calling us immigrants, and complaining that we take their jobs and do not work for our stuff, when all of history has shown the complete opposite. The way Gonzalez worded his poems and spoke his poems were meant to rile up the union organizers, and give the Chicanos a strong sense of pride. It amazes me that Mexicans were forced to give up their land, then called immigrants and criminals when they come back to the United states. This hypocrisy and immorality of the white Americans never ceases to amaze me. History has shown that Americans do not care about pride, they only care about pushing their imperialistic values and greed. In times like this, I feel it very necessary to look back upon the pride of Corky Gonzalez and the other hard working migrant farm workers to come together and stand up for what they believe is right in the world. I feel like we can all learn something from this episode of chicano, and this amazing poem.
ReplyDeleteMichael Gonzalez
In the poem of Rodolfo Gonzalez, I learned more about my culture. For instance, throughout the poem he tries to make a point like it is to achieve equal rights and justice. I loved the fact that each stanza was describe in detail. For example, when he states “yes, I have come a long way to nowhere unwillingly dragged by that monstrous, technical, industrial giant called progress and Anglo success” So Corky motives to become involved was to bring about the changes that he wanted to see within the Chicano community. He takes pride in what he believes and for his culture. He wanted to fight for those rights without having to use violence. And I truly admire that because his trying to prove his point with fairness and that’s what we should do today in society especially now that we see so much discrimination amongst Mexicans, like calling each other names, others feeling superior others not even caring about their pride only focusing amongst themselves. If only we all put like they say it in Spanish “ nuestro granito de arena” in other words like if we all put our small piece of sand maybe we can defend our culture and what we believe just like Corky did lets get the best out of what he did.
ReplyDelete(maria leal)
Both the video and the poem by Rodolfo “corky” Gonzales had very empowering influencing information that should upset many Chicanos. In the video, they talk about how the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo promised the new Americans, who became foreigners overnight after the Mexican- American war was lost, free enjoyment of their liberty and property. However, the complete opposite took place as many Mexicans lost their land by force and were left with nothing. What probably upsets me the most is the fact that they justify themselves by concluding they help built this society when in reality it was built on everyone’s back but theirs. In the end, all they really had was advancement in technologies, education, and most importantly luxuriousness to manipulate us into doing what they wanted us to. This was clearly the leverage held by the Anglos since the beginning. In the poem, “I am Joaquin,” Rodolfo begins by writing from a Mexican perspective mentioning that he’s confused and lost in the new world he lives in suppressed by manipulation and destroyed by modern society itself. This poem was a small journey back through history, a painful self-evaluation, and most of all a wandering search for his and his people’s self-identity. In the entire page of 796 in the poem, Gonzales states many social injustices backing up his statements of the world during this time and even until this day. One quote that caught my attention as I began to read was where he mentioned, “my fathers have lost the economic battle and won the struggle of cultural survival, and now I must choose between the paradox of victory in the spirit or to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis,” because I feel like he is also correlating this to the current religious beliefs where he stated that priests gave a lasting truth that Spaniards, Indians, and Mestizos were all God’s children and shouldn’t be mistreated nor made inferior. We could either die miserably without change and win in spirit by the humbleness and hard work we carried, or we could unite together and help bring more change by adapting to the new capitalist society that tends to breed greed and build egotism. (368)
ReplyDeleteAdrian Martinez
I learned so much from this poem, and it really impacted me to change my views about how I see my culture and how I should respect it more. As I read through these stanzas I noticed more and more dedication and thought that Corky put into this so that he could inform readers that the Chicano Commiunity deserved their rights and worked hard for them. Its a shame that we had poets like this that didn't go as appreciated as other, because the topic or the poem itself wasn't "deep" enough for people. But I truly did feel something when I read "I am the eagle and the serpent of the Aztec civilization" It really made me feel that this is how I should treat my culture and this is how proud I should be to represent it. The fact that the Chicano movement had poets like Corky really amazed me because it gave us higher literacy and different aspect or views to look at when you think about the movement.
ReplyDeleteHector Chapa
After reading the poem “I am Joaquin”, I think Mexicans-Americans or Chicanos will identify with this extraordinary poem written by “corky” Gonzalez. As the poem says we came from a society than at one time it was oppressed by Spaniards, but the new mestiza or Raza emerged to be heard, since it can be considered both tyrant and slave, we must take advantage of those roots in our blood. As a new Raza we already know the beginning of our ancestors, now it’s our turn to choose our end. I feel identify with this poem because it tells the main concerns in our Chicano community and describes the way our way of life. After watching Chicano! Quest for homeland, I don’t understand why the US government was not giving back the land that belong to the Mexican-Americans. Reyes Tejerina also remind me of the adventures of “Pancho” Villa or Emiliano Zapata, this activist was also a leader that want it to fight for Mexicans, because of the injustice of the Anglos. For example, Mexican-Americans were send to fight for the country at Vietnam because supposedly they were equal in the government eyes, but at home after they were selected they were not seen as Americans. After watching “I’m Joaquin” I will say that this poem describes the diversity of the Mexican-American culture, especially for Chicanos that are responsible for not letting this valuable culture die.
ReplyDeleteLuis Reyna
After watching the films, it came to my mind that all the discrimination that exists toward Mexicans began after the civil war where Americans fought Mexicans and stole their land. Once the war ended, and the states of Arizona, Texas, California, Colorado, New Mexico were given to the United States, Americans claimed that all land belonged no more to the Mexican American owners. I honestly don’t understand why they did that, isn’t just suppose to be that just the territory was now part of the US. In the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo both parts stated that the New Americans would have liberty and could keep their lands. I think that Mexican Americans deserved to be treated as equal as US Americans because they were now part of the US. Reyes Tijerina a defender of the Mexican Americans in New Mexico was fighting for getting back the lands to the original owners. I believe the movements he did like attacking the government saying that they were going to take over properties by force were wrong because when you threaten to do something and it actually happens, everyone is going to look at you as guilty, that happened to Reyes. The procedures he used were not correct, for example he could use the model of Cesar Chavez where make people fight without using violence. Reyes’ angry reactions played against him so he paid it by going to jail. But, thanks to his actions, the movement grew up and more people joined the Alianza. When watching the video and a man was telling that he hated being Mexican because people made fun of his father because he did not know English so I thought of myself when I got to this country and I did not understand anything other people were talking. That did not bother me, actually it made me feel that I can be better than those who believe that speaking English or being Americans is better that being Mexican. I Believe I can be better than anyone if I want to. In other words, being better than someone does not depend on where the people are from, we can be better If we are willing to work for it.
ReplyDeleteI interpreted the poem of as a message to never forget who we are and what we have gone through. He uses his past as an example of hope, where he is basically saying that although there are problems, we must find a reason to pursuit happiness.
Missael Salinas
As I watched these 3 videos, I was really intrigued and seems like I always am with this course. The first video I viewed, “Chicano!, Episode 1: Quest For Homeland” examines many things. It talks about the beginnings of the movement by profiling Reies Lopez Tijerina and the land grant movement in New Mexico in the years of 1966 and 1967. Reies Lopez Tijerina had a goal in mind to fight to convince the federal government to honor the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 invigorate Mexicans and Mexican Americans across the southwest. This episode also turns to Rodolfo Gonzalez as known as “Corky” and his founding of the Crusade for Justice in Denver in the year of 1966. Gonzalez also reached out to the youth in the poem “I am Joaquin.” I believe this video was important because it discusses the roots of Chicano nationalism through its affirmation of cultural identity in Aztec myths. Mexicans and Mexican Americans have always struggled even till this day to embrace their own culture and personal identity. This epic and historical poem tried to fight that. I sought out many themes in this poem such as unification, liberation, freedom, endurance, survival and determination. These themes are important to these Mexican Americans because us Mexicans want our freedom and we have determination. This why we never quit or are scared for a fight. I personally feel like we haven’t really embraced our culture because there are still racial problems going on today and some may get discourage with our race. There is also a film based on this poem. It is also titled “I am Joaquin”. This film was created by Luis Valdez in 1969. Gonzalez was a strong, great, powerful person who was very important to the Chicano movement. This video was an epic film among for the Chicano students and had a major influence on them. You could say this film provided you with a great amount of detailed information and changed some individual’s life.
ReplyDeleteMichael Garcia
When I read the poem ‘I am Joaquin’ it made me reflect on what my culture has been through and what they have done to get here where it is. As a Hispanic that lives in united states I’ve gone through positives and negatives life experiences. One of the positive things is that now Mexicans Americans have an equal economic and social status. Where years ago it was ‘the poor who became more poor’ and then simply ‘the poor Mexicans.’ It’s something that they have to fight out of many things that they were protesting and defending. A negative experience that many Hispanics and I go through is the discrimination and discrimination. This Is something that is still seen not only for Mexicans but for black native Americans and its really sad to know that some discriminate their own. It’s something that makes me reflect of who I am and who I want to be to be better. Making racialist comments and being prejudice to poor people will not do anything better nor do a difference. I propose to everyone that makes this cruel remarks to change their way of being because, there is never going to be that peace in our culture and around the world.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Nicole Cantu
Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales writes a captivating poem that takes on a more melancholic view of the movement. As we see with other readings, they tend to keep the depiction of the Chicano movement as uplifting and empowering. While the author isn’t necessarily discouraging, we do get a point of view that is rather unique to the ones that we have encountered thus far. Gonzales describes the poem as “a journey back through history, a painful self-evaluation, a wandering search for my peoples and, most of all, for my own identity.” He carefully embeds peaks into Mexican culture and the beauty yet suffering that brown people experience. He paints a picture of a very passionate movement, making a metaphor comparing himself moving like a “tornado at full strength”. It is empowering as Gonzales, through language, reclaims the land that was stolen from us. The land that they now live on in misery. My favorite part of the poem is the multiple references to history and the insinuation that he himself is making history as we speak. Another noteworthy comment would be the desire through the poem to keep our culture alive, as I know is harder to do when living in America and being expected to assimilate.
ReplyDeleteAndrea Juarez
After watching the films and reading the “I am Joaquin” poem, I gained a better understanding of the hardships that Mexican Americans/Chicanos faced during this time. The struggles that these people faced in the past in many ways shaped our culture today, and are still relevant issues in modern society. The poem itself takes us into the first person views of one person and what he thinks about the world around him. The interesting thing about this is that although one specific person wrote it, it is able to cultivate all the ideas of the Mexican/Chicano culture in one literary piece. Within the poem, there are deep emotional connections that really show us how hardworking these people are, and how they are dedicated to improving their life even when they may not have much. “Here I stand, poor in money, arrogant with pride, bold with machismo, rich and courage and wealthy in spirit ad faith.” That particular part of the poem really impacted me because it shows how strong willed my ancestors were even in the midst of facing some of the world’s cruelest injustices. It makes me proud to come from such a strong willed culture and deep heritage that has somehow managed to survive despite everything they had going against them. In a lot of ways, this alone shows how the culture itself has progressed, and how it continues to progress in modern society even with negative connotations that may be associated with it. Our ancestors fought the toughest battles just for us to get to the point we are at, so now it is our turn to continue to fight for what we believe in and carry our culture and heritage into the future generations to come.
ReplyDeleteSandy Martinez
For this week’s readings and supplemental film, I feel like it opened my eyes more to the reality of what being a true Chicano is about. During the film, Chicano episode 1 I learned a lot on the two of the most important activists in this era. These two activists were Rodolfo Corky Gonzales and Reies Lopez Tejerina. To begin with, Gonzales continued with a movement which was initially started with Cesar Chavez. Additionally, they both had similar ways of working with people. They were both two of the most peaceful and tactical activists. They both worked with a peaceful and extremely non-violet game plan. The second person who I saw in the video was Reies Lopez Tijerina. He was routing and fighting for the same thing as Corky and Chavez but with a slightly different point of view. He was someone who would prefer to not only speak with his words but with his actions as well. To be honest I disagree with the way he worked because I believe things can get solved by peacefully doing things. If you want to see a change you got to start BEING that change. On the other hand Between the “I am Joaquin” poem and the audio version of it I feel like the audio version of it spoke more to me because you can hear his voice with a passion and motivation which was more relatable to me as I heard it. It’s like reading something and hearing it are two completely different things. They both get the point across differently.
ReplyDeleteBrandi Rae Rodriguez
After watching the films “Chicano- Quest For A Homeland”, “I Am Joaquin” and reading “Corky Gonzales, I Am Joaquin” to be honest I was really impress because I didn’t know ANYTHING Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, and know I know that he was the first Chicano to be named District Captain of the December Party of Denver, Colorado. After that his popularity increased. The book “I Am Joaquin” was Gonzales reputation I couldn’t believe it sold over 100,000 copies. The poem “I Am Joaquin” it’s really intense. I mean like they said the poem defines the Movement, it also talks about having equal rights, and about the different cultures and races. The film “homeland” were really emotional, seeing the photographs of different families. I really like the fact that Tijerina was fighting for the people, he was fighting, speaking for the people about their lands. It was cruel were they for taking those families their land. I really enjoyed the fact that the Tijerinas movement had its own “Corrido”. The part where they were discriminating Mexicans was something that I don’t understand WHY?? Do U.S citizen say that we steal their jobs that were a bad influence for their children? Come on! They don’t realize that it’s them that aren’t willing to work in the fields.
ReplyDelete-Mayra Saldaña
I decided to write only about the poem “I Am Joaquin” since a lot can be said and analyzed from this text. I was emerged in this reading since I started it, even though, I am not the best listener when it comes to history, not even Mexican history. However, this reading made me understand its importance.
ReplyDeleteJoaquin carries in him many individuals from our history, “luchistas” for our rights, especially our land. He transmits the message that their courageous blood runs through our veins. Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juarez, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Los Ninos Heroes, among others, are some of these individuals who fought with bravery and honor for our land. This made Joaquin prideful. Throughout the poem, we emphasize the pride and honor he feels to continue the endless battle for our rights as he remembers our patriotic history. As I was reading this poem, the Mexican National anthem came to my mind because there is this part of the lyrics that says that if one day the foot of enemy would dare to step in our territory, the heaven had given our country a soldier in each son. This explains how our Mexican blood unites us to fight for our rights just as Joaquin has been doing pridefully.
Therefore knowing our culture history should be very important. This way we can honor all the sweat and blood that our ancestors lost by working hard and fighting for our rights.
Ingrid Davila
Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez was an outstanding leader because he showed that he was capable of being independent. Specially with all of his involvement in the Democratic party where he was able to gain all of his experience he proved. It has been proven that a society can be capable of doing many big things, good and even bad, when they come all together. I think that the poem “I am Joaquin” is able to express the culture to us without realizing how deep things were back then. It was able to share with us our backgrounds from another perspective because of the Chicano movement that Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez became part of in a very diplomatic way. As he mentions in the text, “Writing I am Joaquin was a journey back through history, a painful self-evaluation, a wandering search for my peoples, and most of all, for my own identity. The totality of all social inequalities and injustices had to come to the surface.” This quote is able to emphasizing all of fighting for equal rights and against injustices is an issue that many people started to become part of without them even knowing. In the film, Reies Tijerina’s fight was to make sure that they followed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in the land grant movement. This was very interesting because it was something that was already backed up by this treaty but they still decided not to follow it even when it occurred all the way back in the Mexican American War of 1846-1848. I think that both of the films and the poem are able to give us different perspectives of the people fighting and remind us why we are still fighting in order to keep our culture alive. (291)
ReplyDeleteBruno Morales
“I am Joaquin” by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez is definitely a marvelous piece of art that reflects the Aztec culture. Every paragraph, every sentence, every words as a deep and strong meaning. “I am Joaquin” represents each and every single one of us, our cultural background, and our struggle to keep our culture alive generation after generation.
ReplyDeleteIt is empowering to learn that our ancestors faced poverty, discrimination, hunger, and even death with such pride. Spaniards wanted to dominate their lives and will, but Mexicans fought with all they had to embrace their culture...their dignity.
Joaquin resembles the American Dream and the journey to fight for the land that once was ours and was ruthlessly snatched from us, the land that our ancestors had to work with so much passion but that work was never appreciated.
We have always been seen as foreigners, immigrants who do not deserve the same rights as others and that is at some point humiliating, what is admirable is the courage with which we rise after each defeat, the love we have for our raza and like Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez says “the nature and brotherhood which is Joaquin” which in reality is a representation of us.
-Rossy Tapia Cervantes
The poem “I am Joaquin” is a very powerful poem and that’s because I’m not the type of person who reads or understands much poems, but this “corky” guy really has a powerful message about our culture, our background. He was a person who could organize and lead. I was born here in Texas, but my parents are from Mexico and I am very proud to have Mexican roots because their culture, or should I say OUR, culture is just beautiful, but it is hard to be a part of both worlds. It’s more of a “we got to prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are. And we got to prove to the Americans how American we are…all at the same time. I’m from both worlds but I don’t know much of the history of Mexico, I just know some parts from what is taught in history class and I feel like if I’m missing a part of me for not knowing about my roots. Gonzales spoke to me with his poem because he talks about our culture and how we should always have equal rights and justice regardless of race, color or ethnicity. I don’t think it’s fair that the people who once owned land in what is now the united states, now should work it so that for crops that are sold. We are all part of this country because it was once theirs and taken away from them the way it was we still have their blood running through our veins so they shouldn’t have to be working it the way they do so they can have some money to eat and a “roof” they can live under. They should have as much rights as we do to own the land and use it as they wish.
ReplyDeleteAshley Escalante
The poem “I Am Juaquin” by Rodolfo Gonzalez is very strong and powerful. It made me think of what everything our culture has gone through and everything they have done to make things better. I like the fact that Rodolfo Gonzalez wants to get equal rights for everything they have done with this powerful poem. In the poem, he says that he had the blood on many people in him and that he was a part of many fights that have happened in the past. This made the poem very powerful because it shows how proud he is of his roots and no one should take that away. I also like how he used The Virgen de Guadalupe in the poem, he knows that many Chicanos believe in The Virgen de Guadalupe and knows that this is something that will get their attention. I admire what he is doing here, he wants to get equal rights without any violence and sometimes a way to get someone attention is by looking in the past events and everything that has happened. I feel like I have learned so much about my culture and that we shouldn’t be ashamed, but be proud of who we are, Chicanos.
ReplyDeleteIvan Lira
The poem Corky Gonzales, “I am Joaquín provides a very powerful statement. Through each stanza Corky provides struggles that originate in different times. There was a phrase in the poem that Corky spoke of “I am the eagle on the flag” which defines himself as a powerful person. There was always tragedy and death in each stanza. There was no in between it was either war or peace. It was death and rebirth also. As we die it was still the same cycle over again. We shed blood then our own blood was shed. No matter what happened it was still the same. People were killed, woman were raped, and there was no cure for that. At the end of the poem Corky input two last phrases “I shall endure” and “I will endure”. These two phrases were quite powerful and provided hope. Even through all the suffering one has endure our first instinct is to give up. No matter how bad life is there is always someone who has it worse. I’ve gone through horrible experiences, but Corky’s phrases taught me that not everything is as bad as it seemed sure I might have gone through a lot but for someone to say that they can endure watching people suffer is way stronger than me.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Galvan
In the poem "I am Joaquin" he is communicating in a special matter. He is find a way to speak so that the audience can understand what he's been through although at some points, I feel like he is trying to get the audience to understand what the people have been though. For example, Joaquin signifies the people and everything that is being described is the how the people feel towards that subject or person or maybe even the rough patches they have been through. My favorite verse is "Here I stand, poor in money, arrogant with pride, hold with machismo, rich in courage and wealthy in spirit and pride.' I can connect with this for the reason that I know where the struggles that my family a came so they can be where they are. Even more, that I see the struggles that my family Mexico or even in general, all families that are Hispanics know what's like to live in a world of poverty. I respect the amount of faith that they hold together when they had nothing and even more, the amount of humble that they can have when they have everything. Machismo is one of the things have probably won't be changed in the culture or maybe will be used less often since each generation changes throughout the years. However, coming from changing from having nothing to everything is where I feel that verse stays the truth. A lot of truth and pride came from "I am Joaquin" and I think that's what made it so famous.
ReplyDeleteYarazeth Ramirez
I gained appreciation for the courage that was being portrayed by the Mexican Americans during their struggle to receive the respect they deserve. In the poem, “I Am Joaquin” written by Rodolpho “Corky” Gonzales, it represents his people and how they felt towards the discrimination the Anglos were giving them. Throughout this poem “Corky” continues to say, “I am…” which symbolizes the fact that he is everyone. “Joaquin” is a representative for the struggling Mexican Americans and for their equal right to freedom. In the beginning of the poem “Joaquin” is expressing his feeling of being lost and in a state of confusion, because of the way they were being treated. He struggles with his own identity not knowing where he belongs but then realizes that he is belongs everywhere, he will not set boundaries or categorizations to who he is. I felt like I connected with this because I am Hispanic and grew up in a Hispanic household. But although I am Hispanic I do not know how to speak much Spanish which I consider to be a struggle because during family gatherings I cannot have a conversation with my own grandparents, which makes me feel out of place. At the same time, I also feel out place because I don’t fit into the norm of “American” either. I feel as though I am neither here nor there, my home is of both cultures. “Joaquin” expresses that he in the in-between, he lives with no borders. I felt inspired by this because before reading this poem I felt as though I was the only one feeling this way, but I am not. I have come to realize that these oppressions of having to fit in one place has been around for generations. It should be celebrated that we can find our identity with multiple cultures and upbringings. This poem really shows the strength in not having limitations to who we are, and shows clearly that the intimidation of others will not hold them back from reaching their full potential. In the episode “Chicano! Quest for A Homeland”, Gonzales says, “Joaquin is one of us and is all of us.”
ReplyDeleteAlma De La Llana