CHOOSE 5 ESSAYS OUT OF THE 6 ESSAYS
Each essay should be a minimum of 2 pages.
1. Essay
The objective of this essay should be to involve the passage in a discussion that comes from our class. Discuss the passage as if you were talking about it in class. You can use “I” and you can bring in materials from outside of the class if you think it serves your essay.
Sandra Cisneros, “Bien Pretty”
Amar es vivir. What it came down to for that woman at Centeno’s and for me. It was enough to keep us tuning in every day at six-thirty, another episode, another thrill. To relive that living when the universe ran through the blood like river water. Alive…One way or another…We’re going to right the world and live. I mean live our lives the way lives were meant to be lived. With the throat and wrists. With rage and desire, and joy and grief, and love till it hurts, maybe. But goddamn, girl. Live.
2. Alchemy
Dictionary definition:
1: a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life
2: a power or process that changes or transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way
the practitioners of financial alchemy that transformed the world of money in the 1980’s …— Gordon Williams
3: any seemingly magical process of transforming or combining elements into something new
Here is the Contreras definition:
It my contention that Latinx writers like Sandra Cisneros demonstrate the process of alchemy whereby the characters manage to transform castoffs into treasure and moments of suffering into moments of euphoric joy. The alchemical process is one borne of poverty and necessity, but it expands past this and becomes art and beauty.
Write an essay about cultural alchemy and draw examples from our readings and perhaps from your own experiences.
3. Alienation Effects
We had conversations about how cultural styles proclaim a community affiliation and can also intervene into history. A sterling example of this is the zoot suit. The zoot suit riots in 1943 were about clothing (on one level) and about racism and war (on other levels.) What are your thoughts about this and can you think of other instances in which style and clothes have important cultural effects?
4. Art
Diego Rivera
“The Flower Carrier” at SF MOMA
In this painting we see the man struggling with his burden. This is a portrait of exploitation but why is it so beautiful?
5. Art
We looked at “Tamalada”, a painting by the artist Carmen Lomas Garza, b. 1948 in Kingsville, Texas
“Tamalada,” 1988
Describe which elements from the works appeal most to you. You should identify formal elements (color; composition) and connect them with the effects they have on the viewer.
6. Some small miracles
Describe 1-3 prayers from Sandra Cisneros’ “Little Miracles, Kept Promises” imagining the people who wrote them and perhaps filling in back stories. Or you can discuss the prayers in a more personal way.
