this bridge we call home (1)

10 thoughts on “this bridge we call home (1)”

1. In her essay Evelyn Alsultany describes her desire of belonging to a place where she can be herself and doesn’t have to choose and pick what she is (her ethnic origin) based on the circumstance at hand. She wants to “decolonize these essentialized frameworks, so that [she] can move through public space without strategizing a performance, selecting a mask for each scenario” (Alsultany, 110). I would add that through this sense of isolation one can use it to become empowered and resist the persons who try to place us to a certain stereotype or situation. As a women of color, we build a tolerance for ambiguity and through this we can use the “cry-smile” face tactic described in Jid Lee’s essay to share our perspective as marginalized women to those who keep situating us in subjugated places. It might be seen as a passive aggressive act but I think we also need to recognize that many people who do hold racist beliefs are passed down from generations and might not necessarily be their own beliefs. I also agree with the statement of the Mayan code of honor: In Lake’ch: Chela Sandoval mentions in her essay, “I am another yourself “. How much different would this world be if we can see ourselves in each and every person we meet, the poor, the rich, the child, the mother, the father, etc? I have begun to ask myself this question. A “methodology of love” as Sandoval names it is what will liberate us from domination and subjugation (Sandoval, 25).

2. Evelyn Alsultany essay “Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves” is a very relatable and relevant essay that introduces an issue that continues to persist. She explains how race is a very sociopolitical and geographic category that is fluid because it changes over the years. She supports the idea of reconstructing it in order, to take agency over it rather than letting labels define who people are to others. Today there are more interracial couples thus, more children and future generations will be of mixed race. Also they will look more ambiguous to others which can bother or upset those who try to categorize every person. Alsultany calls that process of separating others from yourself “otherize” which also creates an us versus them mentality. Doing so dehumanizes and devalues people because they don’t mirror exactly what others want to see but in reality Sandoval’s quote “I am another yourself “ is a positive approach to realize that everyone belongs to the human race. What stood out to me is the comments she received in daily life can eventually become internalized and creates a hatred of one’s identity. Keeping people alien to their own bodies and feeling fragmented is a manner to keep control over minorities because the only way to feel included is by conforming. The quote that truly impacted me is from Anzaldúa’s “La Prieta” in where she proves that she does not feel divided or confused but rather others place value onto her body when she says “They would chop me up into little fragments and tag each piece with a label. … me, confused? Ambivalent? Not so. Only your labels split me” (108). I agree with my classmate Yara that some people develop different manners to cope with subjugation and stereotyping. One strategy is called “cry-smile” a face tactic described by Jid Lee but it should be viewed valid because US Third World Feminist emphasized different strategies to resist power and oppression.

3. The piece “Cry-Smile Mask” was the reading that I enjoyed the most out of the three. Individuals are faced with rude, naïve people every day and figuring a way to remind them or address their missteps is a hard task. Not only did this teacher address her student but she tough a lesson in the process and it shows that the student paid attention in class so to me that says a lot about the teacher. The teacher was dedicated and went way beyond her normal duties as a teacher she wanted to promote love and how to perceive at once. When I read this piece I was reminded of one of my own teachers in high school; one who went above and beyond to show me the value of an education and I believe I wouldn’t be here today without my teachers guidance. Its remarkable how big of an impact one person can make on someone’s life and this piece shows that.
   Going to the piece “After Bridge: Technologies of Crossing” I was immediately intrigued by the quote “This Bridge needs no Foreword” she claims “It’s the Afterword that will count.” Something about this quote inspired me, just knowing that after one reads a piece the Afterword brings it all together and reiterates the main goal with writing the piece; this quote made me smile. After reading the Foreword I am intrigued to read more on the restoration, emancipation and survival all key elements of ourselves and others.

4. Of the three reading pieces, I found Evelyn Alsultany’s “Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves” to be the most relevant. I loved how her short scenarios were all in completely different settings yet all came down to that same idea of being identified by someone else. I think this is something that I can relate to because I have found myself in similar situations. It is really interesting that she was asked if she considered herself more Arab or more Cuban or more American, because I think that is what it comes down to when others try to identify us. They want to know what characteristics we show the most and then they want to identify us as such, but I do not think it works that way. On the contrary, I think Evelyn had a harder time convincing the Arab man that she was Arab too, because to him she was not Arab enough because she represented the Americanized version of an Arab. This made me think of the super radical MEChA groups found on some college campuses that have specific requirements for what a “real” Chicano should look or sound like. Regardless of that being part of the genetic make up of a person, sometimes they are still classified as not Chicano enough, or in this case, not Arab enough. This is pretty much the reality we see today because for example from personal experience, a Mexican-American is not classified as a Mexican to full Mexicans but they are not classified as American to full Americans, and thus this individual ends up being “ni de aqui ni de alla” meaning not from here and not from there. Therefore I completely agree with Alsultany’s argument that “Ethnicity needs to be recast so that our moving selves can be acknowledged” because we need to be identified by our own characteristics regardless of any mixture in ethnicities that may include, and not by whether or not we meet the requirements to fall under a specific one. I think this is a great example of the bridging that Moraga talks about too, “We do this bridging by naming ourselves and by telling our stories in our own words” and this is exactly what Alsultany does.

5. The more I read Women of Color feminism, the more I think about the necessity of patience. When I first read This Bridge Called My Back, I felt like it was a passionate call to action. I felt like it was the beginning of a change, of some sort of sweeping societal reform. And though it was, in my idealism I imagined it to be an immediate movement. When I first heard about this bridge we call home, I was brought quickly down to earth, because it caused me to reflect on the fact that the first “Bridge” was not enough: It was very much a movement in its infancy. Through Sandoval, though, we see how the second “bridge” is a progression from the first. It takes all of the anger and all of the ideas and tries to put it into a plan of action, stemming mostly from Anzaldua’s ideas about the unique powers of those in in-between places. But though it is progress, which is heartening, it is disheartening to remember how long ago this bridge we call home was published, and how seemingly long we still have to go. I began to feel like the passion and the ideas were all for nothing, but then Jid Lee gave me faith. She reminded me about patience. About how sometimes, for just a little bit longer, we have to wear the unique masks that those in the in-between places sometimes have to wear, in order to dismantle oppressive institutions from the inside. She reminded me that sometimes it is more important to “plant the seeds” of change than to demand we see change in front of us immediately. Immediate change is sometimes fickle, but change that has a chance to grow and take hold in someone’s hear is change that is steadfast and lasting.

6. Of course I meant “heart”, not “hear”.

7. Evelyn Alsultany essay talks about how people use labels to separate and view people. This way of viewing people, only allows people to partially view the person in front of them. Like others we have read before, she also wants a different way of viewing people where all of the person can be seen for who they are. Along with the essay by Jid Lee, both talk about wearing or having to choose a mask for different situations. lAlsultany mentions in her essay how people view themselves and others. We may view all people form Europe as being European but these same people may see themselves and categorize themselves differently such as being German or Swedish for example. No matter how hard we try, everyone views who they are differently. I especially thought the question that Lee asks herself every morning, “what is a women if she loses herself?” I think that if anyone loses themselves or loses sight of who they are, then they are lost. I think that if you lose yourself then your not the person you used to be.

8. Reading Evelyn Alsultany’s recollections of her struggle with identity in public settings reminded me of all the times I’ve been faced with the same situations. I realize that the attempts of strangers to figure out one’s race/nationality is in fact a way to place a blanket statement on a person. If this person is physically different than the one making the analysis different, this blanket analyzation then becomes the basis for further attempts at trying to get a quick understanding of the person. Like evelyn, I’ve been asked where my parents are from, from the custodian who comes by the animation department, to the friends of friends I meet. “My body becomes marked with meaning as I enter public space” is and excellent way, as Alsultany writes it, to describe who a simple walk through the grocery store can attract looks and confusion over these “meanings.”
   Because of categorizing and cartographies that change with the weather, I have always had issue with the various identifiers for a young American woman of Mexican descent. As Alsultany describes them, I see them as colonized. Like they are too heavy with the meanings they carry.

9. “The bridge becomes my back as I feign belonging, and I become that vehicle for others, which desires for myself,” (Alsultany page 107) Labeling is a two way street whether its ethnically or sexually or whatever adjective people use to describe another person. I say its two way because its what ever the labeler wants to label the person and then whatever the labelee will do with that label. Like with Alsultany when she is constantly being asked what she is and then people are not satisfied so they try to label her differently because something in her isn’t enough of what they expect. She has to fight constantly to be true to herself, a mixture of it all but because there isn’t a particular box for that identity people try to mold her so she fits somewhere she knows she doesn’t belong. She is a hybrid a mestiza. As Lee points out people expect the labelee to enforce the stereotypes, the boxes or molds others have placed on them. But as she experienced as well is that when those expectations aren’t met, they face confrontation. Which may push us further from ourselves. We have to cope with not being ourselves and thus adopt mechanisms like Lee’s Cry-Smile mask. However they find a tool to fight back. Each author credits “A Bridge Called My Back” for one way shape or form helping them come to terms and find themselves.

10. Both Alsultany and Lee reveal the racial challenges people we don’t expect to feel racism, experience. For Lee when it was written “As a doctoral student at a midwestern university, I first realized most students expected me to reinforce their stereotype”(398). Lee revealed the challenges of teaching about race to a class as an Asian teacher. It seems as if Lee is telling the reader that the only way an Asian person can be taken seriously when discussing issues of race is when they put on the cry smile face. If the asian teacher is serious when talking about racial struggles, the students will not respect their knowledge because of the misperception that Asians don’t know anything about racial struggles. This can be related to the women feminism struggle when the women had to be polite not to step on their mens toes when they wanted to voice their opinions.

    Alsultany showed the struggles of mixed ethnicity people when she wrote, ” We do this bridge by naming ourselves and telling our stories in our own words” (Moraga 23)(105). This clearly explained the frustration people with mixed races feel from the world trying to tell them who they are based off of what others expect them to be. The only one who can express the true feelings of a person is the person themselves, whether they are mixed or not. The same can be applied to women. Men thought they could point out womens problems without receiving womens feedback, when in reality, the women had feelings the men never knew about. This frustrated the women more since they couldn’t express this to the men. On page 23, Nora says the Bridge called my back wasn’t just for one segment of women, which I agree with. I don’t think the book can be used to categorize the feelings of all women. Some women might fully or partially agree with the book. While other women might completely disagree with it. Its is unfair to try to put women or any demographic in a created box to describe them.

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