- El Saco de Piojo (The Louse-skin Coat)
- This story is about a king who had a daughter. The mother was coming the daughter’s hair one day and found a louse. The daughter brought it to the King and the King placed it in a jar and chose to feed it every day. He was curious how large a louse could be made to grow. It grew larger and larger and he removed it from the jar. One day, it became so huge he decided to kill it and save its skin. He used the skin to create a magnificent coat. He wore the coat and told all the people of the kingdom that if they could tell what the coat was made of, that person could marry his daughter. People guessed things like cattle, deer, dogs, and so on. But no one could guess the right answer. One day, a dirty peasant overheard the king say “No one will ever guess this coat is made of a louse skin!” So the next day, the peasant came to the king and told him the right answer. The king was thrilled and arranged a marriage for the peasant and his daughter. I don’t think this story had a wonderful ending. I think the man who lied to the king and was dishonest about his guess should have ended up being punished instead of living happily ever after. I see a theme with most of these Hispanic tales that involve marriage. Usually when someone is dishonest they are punished somehow. Since its ending was not consistent with other stories I have read, I am not really sure what to think. I guess a theme here could be that it is OK to win no matter how you get there. Whether you lie, cheat, or deceive – as long as you give the right answer in the end then you win. I do not think that is very consistent with the Hispanic culture, either. Since this is a tale, there are many version around the world. My guess is there is a version out there that has a more comprehensive ending that ends up punishing the deceitful man.
- The Smiling Rabbit (The Rabbit and the Jaguar)
- This story is about the rabbit and the jaguar, which reminds me of the rabbit and the tortoise in our culture. The rabbit and the jaguar both live in a home in Mexico. The owners of the two are desperate for food, so they decide to heat up some water to boil the rabbit. The jaguar tells the rabbit this, but the rabbit says they are not. He then tells him to get in the cage and wait for the chocolate the owners will bring him. The rabbit runs away and the jaguar waits for hours. Finally, the jaguar realized he was tricked and ran after the rabbit. He finds him in a cave and threatens the rabbit. The rabbit convinces him he does not know him and has lived in the cave for many years. He also says he could use some help holding up the roof while he goes on top to fix it, or else it will fall down. The jaguar stays in place for many hours again, and the rabbit runs away. The jaguar again realizes he was tricked and runs after the rabbit. He finds the rabbit bouncing happily on a vine hanging from a tree. The jaguar sneaks up behind him and pounces on the vine. He misses the rabbit and the bouncy vine swung the rabbit all the way up to the moon while he laughed along the way. This is why sometimes, you can look at the moon and see a laughing rabbit in it. This one does not have an author and is spread widely as a folk tale. I think the reason this is became a story is because people often want to assign a cause to something in nature they do not understand. Hundreds of years ago, there were no telescopes to find out there were craters on the moon. So, people had to use their imagination and create elaborate stories like this one. I think we often heard of the “man of the moon” here in America. There are so many stories about faces, images, and shapes we can see in the moon. To think of how much time it took to conjure up this elaborate story is amazing. I am not sure what to think about this story because in the end, good did not prevail. The rabbit was deceptive and still got away from the jaguar. I think this one is meant to be more of a light hearted tale of the moon rather than a story with deep themes.
- La Llorana (Omen of Death, The Weeping Woman)
- This is a scarier story, but I found it on a Hispanic children’s folklore website. I believe it must be intended for older children or maybe something like a Halloween story in New Mexico. It is the story of a woman called the Llorana. She was a poor young woman who loved a rich noble man. They were not married and had three children together. She wanted to marry the man but he thought the three children out of wed-lock were considered a disgrace. So, the woman was so desperate she drowned her three children in the river. She ran to the noble man and he still refused to marry her and chose to marry a rich older woman, instead. La Llorana went crazy and ran along the river crying over the loss of her children and the noble man. She regretted her decision to kill her children and apparently still remains along the river weeping and screaming. I read that this story is told in several areas and usually the local river or body of water is substituted. I think this story is just really sad and does not have a great ending like the rest. I think the moral of the story is to value your children (insert family instead, too) over other desires because the things of the world can be flimsy and fleeting but family is really forever. La Llorana was very selfish and greedy to want to marry the rich man, and she was severely punished for it. She now is stuck in limbo and cannot enter a state of rest since she suffers the gilt of murdering her children. I think this story is also intended to just have a big scar factor. I think an important thing to note here is the usage of the world “noble man.” It seems like a lost of these stories have to do with royalty. That is interesting considering Mexico and New Mexico do not have a monarchy. It is a great indicator of the history, too.
- La Reina Mora (The Gypsy Queen)
- This is the story of a prince who finds three oranges while looking for a beautiful woman to marry in the kingdom. He opens two of the three oranges he finds and a beautiful woman appears from the orange and asks the prince for bread. He does not have bread so they go back into the orange. Expecting a third woman to appear in the last orange, he calls for a nearby gypsy to give him bread for a gold coin. He acquires the bread and as he expected, a beautiful woman came out of the orange and he gave her bread. She said he can do anything to her now, so he chose to marry her. However, she was completely naked. He ran away to grab some clothes for her and when he came back the gypsy had replaced her spot and pretended to be the beautiful woman. The prince took her home and married the gypsy. He was miserable. He then found out the original woman was turned into a dove. He changed the dove back, had the gypsy burned at the stake, and they lived happily ever after. This story is shared largely among Hispanic groups, mainly in Mexico and Spain. There is no known author, and there are about 75 different versions of the story floating around. It is believed to come from Oriental background and it is centuries old. I think an important moral lesson to be taught here is that good will always prevail over evil and that evil will certainly be punished, too. After reading the detailed story, I think it was interesting how beauty is valued. The gypsy is referred to as an ugly witch whereas the orange woman is referred to as perfect because she is beautiful. The prince wanted to marry her only because of her beauty, it seems. This is clearly an old story so I do not think that Hispanics are generally shallow or vain but I think it says more about the history and the monarchs of older times and the values back then. Therefore, I do not necessarily believe this is a good indicator of the present day values of people of the Hispanic culture.
- La Camera Prohibia (The Forbidden Chamber)
- This story is about a wizard who kidnaps young, unmarried women. He touches them and hypnotizes them and takes them to his large home. He went to one house and took the oldest sister. He told the woman she can go wherever she would like and do whatever she wants except enter the one prohibited room. She was also given a key and an egg. She gets too curious and looks into the room to find dozens of kidnapped, sleeping women her age. She is frightened and runs away and drops the egg, which then turns red. When the wizard comes home, he sees the red egg and knows she disobeyed. He throws her in the chamber and goes back for the next sister, who does the exact same thing. The wizard then gets the youngest sister, who is wiser. The youngest sister opens the door to the forbidden chamber but runs away and doesn’t drop the egg this time. The wizard is happy and rewards her with marriage. The youngest sister then says he can marry her only after he carries a giant basket of gold to her parents. The girl hides her two older sisters in the basket and he carries it to her parents’ house. Meanwhile, she releases the rest of the girls and when he comes back he locks the wizard in the house and sets it on fire. I think much like the other stories, this one has a good theme that good will prevail and evil will be punished. It seems like evil is always punished with certain death and brutal murders in these stories. I also think this shows how loyal family members are to one another, especially in Hispanic cultures. The youngest sister put her life on the line to save all those girls, and especially her sisters. She was really clever, however, and saved everyone. It was like she valued all the other girls there as her own family and risked a lot to rescue them, too. I don’t think this story would make much sense to mainstream America. People here take things too literally so it is hard to use your imagination when he simply touches women to hypnotize them. Also, it doesn’t really make sense how he carried the two sisters in a basket of gold to the parents. That being said, I think a lot of folktales don’t make much sense in any culture (For example Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Bears, etc).
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Contemporary, one of the top songs from the New Mexico region is The Fireballs “Sugar Shack.” This song was number one on the Billboard R&B chart for three weeks in 1963. This song is not the best representation of the traditional New Mexican culture, but it is a fun song that was appreciated by the culture during the 1960s. Xit is one of the most popular groups in the New Mexican culture. Their song “Plight of the Redman” that came out in 1972 gives a good representation of a style of their style of music. It also tells a story about the struggle that the culture has had in the past. Al Hurricane Jr. plays music, which is a good representation of the well-known Hispanic style of music. His song “Los Ojos De Pancha” gets one the chance to hear this style of music. The song itself is about the song is talking about the eyes of a female. “Los Ojos” means eyes and “Pancha” is a Spanish slang term, which is equivalent to English “dude”. Since “Pancha” ends it in an “a” that means the dude is a girl. Al Hurricane Jr. is singing about the eyes of a girl. Robert Mirabal and Taos Pueblo are Grammy Winners who depict the traditional costumes of the Hispanic/New Mexican Culture. The “Shield Dance” is a great representation of this all. One can hear the music and stories of the culture while witnessing the cultural dress and dance. “Forgive your worse enemy. It will heal your soul,” said Eva Kor within her film. Eva was able to forgive all those involved within the Holocaust, even though she lost her whole family besides her twin sister during the genocide. She founded C.A.N.D.L.E.S., and organization for Holocaust survivors with intentions of brining survivors together. Today, many survivors are not supported of her idea of forgiveness. This was very apparent when the school that funded the twin studies during the Holocaust invited twin survivors so that the school could apologize for the past. This was heartfelt until the school official asked for forgiveness from the survivors. Personally, I do not agree with the school. They should not invite and welcome the survivors to their school so that they can apologize, and then ask something from them in return. The survivors were not happy with this request; however, Eva was not afraid to stand up and speak her mind. She had been told for a year that by forgiving means that she is forgetting. She explained that forgiveness does not mean forgetting. For Eva, forgiveness is not about others but rather about the self. By giving forgiveness, she is able to close that door in her life and move on to the next door. Many of the other survivors are not able to have that closure because they still live daily with the anger and trauma.
I live less than 30 minutes from Terre Haute, Indiana, and I had heard of her C.A.N.D.L.E.S. Museum, but I have never been there. I could not remember how I had heard about it until I watched her film. I remember the new articles regarding to burning of her museum. I never really understand the devastation of it occurring, because I was so young and I did not really grasp what all had happened during the Holocaust. It was heartbreaking to watch the newsreels of the footage because Eva had already been through so much in her life. That Museum was created in the memory of her twin sister, so seeing that building go up into flames was probably very difficult for her. I really like that she said to the news reporter that at the time of the burning she should not think of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not something that can be easily given, especially when there is not time to mourn. Having the opportunity to ruminate on the potential of forgiveness most likely helps the healing process. I appreciate Eva’s initiative of trying to change the culture of the Jewish traditions. Traditionally, the Jewish belief for forgiveness is not opened to the forgiveness that Eva has given; however, she is working to change that aspect. It takes a lot initiative and strength to go against one’s own cultural beliefs. For myself, it is easy to understand Eva’s forgiveness, but I have tried to put myself in the shoes of her culture and see how it could be difficult to understand. I try my best to not be ethnocentric because I think that forgiveness is something that is familiar within the American culture. Eva is a great example of assimilation as well. There would have been a huge culture shock when moving from Israel to Terre Haute, Indiana. I have been to Terre Haute many times and I can say that it is its own culture there. I have never been to Israel, but I can imagine it to be much different from Terre Haute. Eva was able to assimilate to the culture even tough the culture was not too opened to her. During Halloween, she would often have pranksters mess with her family and her house in insulting ways. She adjusted to the Terra Haute culture fairly well. Eva Kor is the epitome of resilience. She lost everyone in her family besides her twin sister during The Holocaust, and then ultimately lost her sister due to their time within the concentration camp. She suffered from hardships throughout her stay within the camp, ranging from starvation to a fear of rats. Her strong will to survive is what I believe really drove her to walk out of the camp alive. Mrs. Kor was able to forgive all the Nazis involved, which set her free from all the hardships she had to face. Other Holocaust survivors did not take this forgiveness lightly, but this forgiveness is what has made her so resilient today, plus her sense of humor.
Mrs. Kor had three life lessons: never ever give up on yourself or your dreams, prejudice, forgiveness. The one life lesson that stood out to me the most was to never ever give up on yourself or your dreams. This lesson really stood out to me because of where I am currently in my life. The last few weeks have been really difficult for me. I applied for a job at Angie’s List as a back up plan for when/if I do not get into graduate school. I thought I was a strong contender for the position; however, I did not sell myself within my first interview and my resume did not touch on all my leadership experience. I got the email that they was not be inviting me back for a second interview the same day that I had an epiphany that I had a graduate school application due in less than a month. I was stressed, worried, anxious, and depressed. On top of all that terrible news, I had three exams that week and I did not do as well as I would have liked on those exams. I felt like I was failing at everything I did but I could not be sorrowful because I had to redo my resume and start a personal statement for the graduate school application. Essentially, I had two options: watch Netflix and cry away my problems or use this negative time in my life as a motivation. E.g. give up on my dreams and myself or be resilient. I changed my attitude of self-pity to self motivate. I bet myself up because I was did not sell myself during my Angie’s List process, but it was time to learn from that mistake. I thought myself, “I have done so much on Franklin College’s campus, and this is a time in my life where all that experience can be for something or it can be nothing.” I have not worked this hard to fall flat on my face. I may not know where my place in the world is but Mrs. Kor reassured me that there is a place and I will find it. She said, “there is always hope after despair and always tomorrow after disaster.” Mrs. Kor either gave me amazing advice or wonderful false hope; either way, her life experiences exemplify how resilience can free an individual. I found it interesting that she founded C.A.N.D.L.E.S., which is an organization for Holocaust Survivors, but today it appears that most survivors are not happy with her ideas of forgiveness. She is trying to lead a group of individuals who are not opened to the idea of forgiveness even though it could give them so much freedom. Mrs. Kor did not altruistically give forgiveness, because she got as much out of it as the people she was forgiving. She did not touch on this too much within her lecture, but it was addressed within her movie. She did talk of prejudice within her lecture. I thought it was unique that she suffered hardships because of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, but yet she still has prejudice towards individuals. This shows that prejudice is almost an innate cognitive process. Because people are cognitive misers, meaning they do not want to think more than they have to, and because humans like to put things into categories they have this innate cognitive process. The important part is to not act on these prejudices. Mrs. Kor shows strength by being able to admit that she does have these prejudices. Father Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811) - It is said that many people never thought he would be the one to kick start the revolution in Spanish colonial Mexico but he ended up being the man. He was a respected parish preach among the people and he was already in his fifties in 1810. Even though he was a priest known for commanding a complicated Catholic church he had the fire in his heart of a true revolutionary. On September 16th, 1810 he informed his people that he was going to rise up against the Spanish in the town of Dolores. Hidalgo was captured and killed in 1811 for doing this but the revolution lived on after his death and many remember him for the courage that he brought to the people and he is seen as the father of the nation.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1794-1876) - This man joined the Army during Mexico's War of Independence and eventually switched sides over the next few decades and became a respected soldier and politician. Eventually over the years people began to respect him more and he was president of Mexico at least eleven times between 1833 and 1855. He is well known for his courage among the people of Mexico even though he lost Texas against the rebals and lost every major battle during the Mexican-American War. Even though this man lost, he stood up for his people and fought for them through all of the hard times. Benito Juarez (1806-1872) - Was a full blooded Mexican who was born into a poor family but this did not stop him from doing what he wanted to do. He didn't even speak English but he made the most out of what was in front of him and went to seminary school before going into politics. By 1858 he had declared himself President of the liberal faction during the Reform War in 1858. In 1861 he was removed from being president by the French who invaded in 1861. Juarez did not let this stop him from standing up for his nation and in 1864 he fought against the French leader Maximillian of Austria and drove him and the French out in 1867. Even though the odds were against this man he did not quit and he did whatever he could to help out his nation which meant a lot to all of the people. He made the most out of what he had and the opportunities that were in front of him and he is admired for these things. Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915) - Was a war hero who defeated the French during their invasion in 1861 at the Battle of Puebla on May 5th, 1862. After this he got into politics and followed Benito Juarez even though the two did not get along particularly well. At one point in his life he got tired of trying to reach the Presidential palace and not succeeding democratically so he entered Mexico City with an army and made sure he was named the president. For 35 years after this happened Diaz was never challenged for president so he had time to do what he wanted to do. Diaz modernized Mexico and joined the international community, he built infrastructure and railroads as well as making industries. This man is known for standing up for what he believed in and how he would do anything to get what he wanted. He wanted to be the president for his people and he would make sure that he would be. Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) - This woman was an artist and is known for her world wide fame during her life as well as being the wife of Diego Rivera. Not many people remembered her husband as much as people remembered her for the work that she did for the nation. She had an accident when she was a child but this did not stop her from doing what she wanted to do. She produced fewer than 150 works and many of her better works were based on her life and what she went through over the course of her life. She had pain and she often talked about how bad her marriage was with her husband Rivera. The main thing that people remember her for is how her works talked much about the many colors and amazing imagery of the traditional Mexican culture. I have known about this film since it came out. I remember watching the Oscars when it won Best Picture and I was mildly confused why it beat “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” However, after watching “Slumdog Millionaire” I can compare the two films and I can firmly say that the Oscar went to the correct film!
The film overall was very enjoyable to watch. The plot and characters were well developed and the thrill of the game show really added to the ambience of the film. I really liked how the character’s backstory was expanded on during each question of the game show. It was comforting to watch a “slumdog” become a millionaire simply based off his own personal experience. I have never been to Indian, so I cannot say this is completely true; however, I have a feeling that the film depicts the slums and lifestyle of India accurately. In the “slums,” all the homes were built on top of each other. The children would run through the “alleys” and there would be many people and cars within the alleys. Near the end of the film it depicts the amount of trash that is within the slums. Again, I cannot say that this is all completely accurate since I have never witnessed it myself. One of the scenes that stood out the most to me was scene where the child is trapped inside the bathroom and his favorite television star had just landed his helicopter. It stood out to me because I have never really thought about how other’s restrooms are setup. I am used to the Western society restroom where there are stalls, toilets, sometimes urinals, and sinks. In the film, the restrooms were platforms with a hole in the floor so that everything would hit the ground. I found this very interesting because I do not think it would be the most effective and sanitary way of disposing of one’s waste. However I do not want to be ethnocentric, so I have taken a step back and realized that just because it is something that I am not accustomed to does not make it wrong. Granted, I would not want to live like that, but if they are okay with it then I am okay with them being okay with it. Then the kid jumped in the pit and that grossed me out, but that has nothing to do with the culture. I don’t think that is a common practice. |
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December 2015
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