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October 30, 2005
EUREKA!!!!
At last, a home away from home! Mi Barrio, Mi Gente, ME!!
Posted by dvaldesd at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
Calling All Latino Rhetors
Been thinking a lot about [my]Self lately; where I'm going, what I'm learning, and what I'd like to learn. Problem: Where are my Latino rhetors? No, not just the one or two that we know about, but the ones I grew listening to. The ones that taught us that our language was valid, insightful; the language that has always been filled for with laughter and whoops!; the language that belongs not just to us, the boricuas, but to all people of Latino descent that have suffered the loss of indigenous culture, religion, and yes values. WHERE ARE YOU? I am in search of you, of the comfort that I know I will find in your Voice. Where are you, or mejor dicho, why aren't you? Why aren't you easy to find? Why must I play hide and seek while others can easily seek out their research and what it means to be academic in a way that doesn’t involve self-negation? I love learning; hate having to teach myself. I look forward to research; hate being told that I have to look harder, deeper, or in other places. I love the idea of bringing this conversation to the places I want it to be taken up; hate knowing that the only way to do that is to wait for an appropriate time, venue...blah, blah, blah. In working on a project for 601, I find that I am both elated to find SOME stuff I can use; sad to see that it is the SAME stuff. *SIGH* Where are MY philosophers, MY language scholars, MY PEOPLE. I am looking for you, waiting for you to teach me, tell me, inform me, and yes, make me work my ass off for the knowledge I feel I have a right to own. "Have you tried Google"? Claro, claro. No luck. I know what you’re thinking. And yes, I am happy that the lack of scholarship implies a fruitful writing career for me- that is, of course, if I can get my hands on enough information to write a dissertation on something that reflects who I am culturally and acdemically. But that’s another conversation…
Posted by dvaldesd at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
Desperately Seeking Elaine
Presence, power, and eloquence; these are the first three adjectives that come to mind when I think of the discussion that Elaine Richardson gave at the Goldstein Aud. yesterday afternoon concerning the incarceration of Lil Kim. She spoke of linguistic identity and multiple selves; she spoke of a more subtle type of slavery-the type that judges enforce rather than abjudicate. She explained exactly how the legal system betrayed-no-railroaded another woman of color based on the myth of Jezebel. As she spoke I couldn't help but be grateful for her presentation and the way in which she clarified the importance of linguistic identity and the use of cultural rhetoric when your back is against the wall as Lil Kim's was. She read testimony from the trial and explained why Kim responded in the vernacular, although the questions were in legalese. She broke it down in a way that was easily understood, yet difficult to refute. As we say in the hood-she brought it! I was graciously given the opportunity to dine with Professor Richardson and discovered that her scholarship is more than pedagogy and lectures; indeed, it is her mission to improve the lives of those of us that feel at home only when we are in our vernacular, and to broaden the horizons of those that pledge themsleves to the linguistic prejudice that exists within and without the university. Elaine, thank you-for keeping it real, breaking it down, and letting us all know that along with our womanhood and color comes a power that no plain speaking person can take from us; at least not anymore.
Posted by dvaldesd at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)