Here is the link to my TikTok page: https://vm.tiktok.com/3qQ98f/

Overall, the project was fun to make and help inform me about several aspects related to the COVID-19 as well as help document this time in my life. It was a great experience!

I decided to do the COVID 19 diaries. I’m using TikTok as my medium. I’m video taping on my iPhone because it’s easiest for me. I plan to do 7 days of the diaries. I have a theme for each day so I can carefully plan out the videos and scenes for each day. I’m starting off with the introduction to the project. The next 6 days will look at my life before, during and after COVID 19. It will discuss the pros and cons of what it means to be an American during this time as well. I thought about doing a Word document journaling my entries, but I thought TikTok would be more creative and a better visual representation of what I do during this time. I want this to be as authentic as possible. I’ll be video taping this weekend and next week. I’ll edit and post them throughout the week as well so it’s all chronological. I think my strategy of filming over several days is solid so I’ll stick with that. I’m really glad I chose this because it helps me to get out my comfort zone and do something different. I will publish my TikTok link after having posted all the videos for my project. I’m excited to see the results!

I have decided to use TikTok as my technological medium to do the project. I’ve decided I want to do a Memoirs of COVID19, Coronavirus Diaries type deal on TikTok. I plan on doing this for a week, kind of like a week in my life with a different theme each day.

I plan to do about 5-7 days. Each video will be detailing a portion of my quarantine routine, or lack thereof sometimes. I’ll be planning out what theme I want each day to be. For instance, Monday could be my introduction to the series, Tuesday could be how the virus progressed from my POV and how it affected me in the beginning until now, etc. I plan on this being non-fiction and just showing my thoughts about the situation, what I do, and this just another artistic outlet for me. Honestly, I’m a little excited and nervous because I haven’t posted much on this app. But I do feel it’s a fun way for me to complete the project, so I might as well do something out of my comfort zone! Also, I’m going to be doing a voiceover for most of the videos I think. I’ll be sure to include in this portion how I think the virus has exposed good and bad aspects of being American and what the future holds for America.

I did the free-writing, and it really helped stimulate some thoughts! I just wrote what came to mind, even if it didn’t make sense. I wrote without judgement so I can avoid blocking myself. For the first portion of the writing, I kept in mind what it means to be an American. I wrote many things that came to mind, but one line I wrote that stood out to me was “creating a country built on equality and freedom, true equality and unconditional freedom.” I wrote this with the idea of the American Dream being in the back of mind. Americans are given conditions in how they can succeed and how they can be included depending on race, ethnicity, social class, likes and dislikes, etc. That’s what I wanted the quote to reflect. This helped me to release some tension too. Next, I decided to free-write about coronavirus. I really like one line that I wrote, which was “The rona has become our new Voldemort, our new “He Who Must Not Be Named”. This was actually really fun to do! It helped me think of ideas and concepts I can explore for both topics. I still don’t know which one I want to do, but I kind of want to include doing TikToks. I’m on it all the time, so I thought maybe I can include that for the project. But I’m definitely thinking now!

Throughout this project, I learned a little bit more about my culture. I have never been to Cuba. I’ve never met my Cuban relatives there. I do interact with my Cuban relatives, but not as often as I’d like to, especially now. I don’t have the opportunity to connect with my relatives right now, so reading about my culture was a nice way to bridge the gap, for now. Although these books are fiction, they do give insight on Cuban culture. These books were teaching me more about sentiments of Cuban exile, the arduous transition of fleeing to America as a Cuban, and how native Cubans feel about Cuba’s government. The readings and her paintings were able to help me reflect more about Cuba and how the Revolution affected its people and way of life. Also, it shows how not every Cuban has experienced the Revolution and its aftermath the same and how many experience exile differently. I feel more connected to the Cuban side of me and I’m glad she wrote these books for a Hispanic audience. She uses Spanish words and phrases that are relatable and nostalgic to me. Lastly, I like how each of her works is versatile, but expresses the same themes from different perspectives. Garcia writes poetically as well, which is nice to read. She uses the poetic way of writing to express the themes she’s exploring. For many characters, I was able to picture them and I can easily see these characters being real. For example, Goyo was one of the main characters in King of Cuba. He is an exile in his old age and reflects on his life back in Cuba. He claims his main goal in life is to not die before Fidel Castro. He feels strongly about this because he wants to outlive his nemesis since Castro has caused much suffering for him in his life. Both King of Cuba and Dreaming in Cuban have helped me to reflect about these sentiments, and many more themes explored in these books.

For my slides, I decided to focus on some topics like machismo and nostalgia. Her books and artwork cover many themes within the Hispanic community, but I had to shorten it. Overall, I enjoyed tweaking and putting final touches on my project. Can’t wait to share it! 🙂

Here is the link to my presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1H1FxrdkHwoqwuLSDcjpFUcWV9fUmMVaWPC_ZSxGD0GI/edit?usp=sharing

So far my research is going well. 3 things I found surprising about Garcia are 1, she is a journalist, novelist, and she’s was professor for Creative Writing at the University of San Francisco. Also, one of her books is written from the perspective of Fidel Castro, in addition to another main character. The book is called King of Cuba. Lastly, she has a painter alter ego called Eva Perdiz. Her artwork is listed on her website as well. I like how her creative outlet and works is not just limited to one medium, but several.

Garcia has her own website, with links to interviews she’s been in as well as all her literary works. Also, I have started working on my PowerPoint layout just to have something to out my information in. I will be reading two of her books this weekend for research, as well as read the interviews she’s been in. I have decided my theme will be the Cuban-American experience in relation to the American Dream. One creative concern I have is how to make my powerpoint interesting, but I feel once I gather all my research, I will iron this out.

Before I started searching, I thought to myself “Who would be a good Hispanic author?” The first person I searched was Junot Diaz. Then I thought, “Well I’m sure he’s been talked about a lot, and not to discredit him, but I want to shed light on someone else.” So I searched “Up and Coming Latina authors.” A whole list popped up and of course it included Laura Esquivel, who wrote Like Water for Chocolate, and Isabel Allende who wrote Eva Luna. I want someone who not everyone knows, even if I myself don’t know the person. Some candidates I considered were Cristina Garcia, a Cuban author, Cuco, a Mexican-American indie music artist, and even Bad Bunny, Puerto Rican rapper.

I was honestly kind of struggling. I finally pin pointed that I wanted the person I focus on to be a notable Cuban figure. I wanted to pay homage to my Cuban background. I could do Gloria Estefan or Celia Cruz, but those are easy picks and everyone knows them already. Upon searching for notable Cuban figures, I have chosen Cristina Garcia. I chose her because she’s someone I didn’t know about and she has several books about Cuba which have many themes. She’s a journalist and a novelist. She was born in Cuba, but raised in New York City. I will take this week to choose a topic to focus on.

I liked this podcast the most. Integrating kids to get a better and healthier learning environment actually makes so much sense. I like how Nicole explains how it’s not about how being next a white kid that sparks something in the kids, it’s about gaining the same access to great education just like they do. So many minority kids don’t get the education they deserve because they live in urban areas where the school district is not providing them the tools to succeed. In contrast, districts with white people being in the majority get all the state-of-the art technology, the best sports program, extracurricular opportunities, etc. Unfortunately, this is often the case in many places. I felt so sad when Mariah was crying about how she was “put in a box”. No one should ever feel that way. At the town hall meeting, the overtly racist parents and opposition they had is horrible. I could not believe how crazy they were being. The one person that had me fuming was the lady who wanted to vote on letting the Normandy kids come into the Francis Howell district like they did in the past with public transportation. I can’t believe how she really compared children to public transportation. She states “Years ago, when the Metro Link was being popular, St. Charles County put to a vote whether or not we wanted the Metro Link to come across into our community. And we said no! And the reason we said no is because we don’t want the-*PAUSES* the different areas, and I’m trying to be very kind, coming across on our side of the bridge bringing with it everything that we’re fighting today against”. How more racist can you get? How could she have the desire to deny other children the right to a better education? I laughed when I heard another woman yell that it wasn’t a race issue. IT IS. Many of the people that came to the mic danced around it by saying they wanted metal detectors installed and were fearing for their children’s safety and a whole load of crap excuses. It’s clearly because black kids were coming into their school district and they didn’t want that. I’m so angry at them. I wonder how they would feel if they were pressed against the wall in a similar situation. Everyone, no matter their skin tone, deserves the right to an amazing education. I’m so glad Mariah was persistent in going to Francis Howell either way, even though what the parents said was disgustingly hurtful and traumatic to a child. She and her mom were so persistent in getting her a great education. Also, Rihanna Curtain’s experience is horrible. A girl would call her racial slurs and the same girl would instigate. I felt frustrated for her when Rihanna said she couldn’t do anything back because then the perpetrator is seen as the hero. It’s heart wrenching how she is not the only student who would experience this, even in today’s society. Though, I do like how justice was served when the girl who called her all those names was actually the one that needed help with math. I hope for a better future and education for this generation.

I thought this story was very telling. Her story is powerful because it especially reflects today’s times. Although much has changed, it feels like nothing has changed but taken on a new form. Bigotry happens online just as much, if not more, than in-person. Systemic racism still exists. Unfortunately, colorism is apart of the American story. It’s so upsetting for me read some parts of Sweetness. Lula Ann’s own mother didn’t like the color of her skin. She didn’t necessarily hate her daughter, but she treated her harshly. The mom defends this by saying she was preparing her for the world. I feel this ideal comes from a place of hurt. Like she said, “I wasn’t a bad mother, you have to know that, but I may have done some hurtful things to my only child because I had to protect her. Had to. All because of skin privileges,” (Morrison, The New Yorker, 2015). I feel many parents do this. They unintentionally, or intentionally, hurt their children first so when the world hits them with a terrible event, it doesn’t hurt that much or the child becomes numb to it. They think this “toughens them up”, when in reality it breaks them down. Another example of this is “Taught me a lesson I should have known all along. What you do to children matters. And they might never forget,” (Morrison, The New Yorker, 2015). I don’t think Lula Ann was hurt so much by the world as she was by her own mother. Though, I think she built the confidence to love her skin because she would wear white a lot to accentuate herself before she left her mom. I thought that was great! She didn’t succumb to her mother’s hurtful mindset of colorism. This quote in the beginning irritated and saddened me most, “It didn’t take more than an hour after they pulled her out from between my legs for me to realize something was wrong. Really wrong. She was so black she scared me. Midnight black, Sudanese black. I’m light-skinned, with good hair, what we call high yellow, and so is Lula Ann’s father,” (Morrison, The New Yorker, 2015). As soon as Lula Ann was born, her mother didn’t like her outward appearance. How could a mother say that? Skin color does not determine anything. It’s just the pigment of someone’s skin tone. As the story continues, she wants her daughter to call her “sweetness” instead of “mom”; it’s almost as if she didn’t want to be associated with her daughter. Color of skin does not determine how good or bad someone is. All skin tones are beautiful. The title itself is reflective of the mother’s thinking. Her daughter was darker in color and calling her mom “sweetness” was showing her daughter the toxic mindset of “lighter is better”. It’s disgusting how this mindset even exists.

In reference to the video, it’s so sad that colorism still exists in our culture and society. European beauty standards are imprinted in kids’ minds from a young age. In TV shows, movies, and pictures on billboards. Many of the lead roles in TV programs are white actors. Usually, people of color are secondary characters. I’m happy to see things slowly changing with Black Panther, On My Block on Netflix, Get Out and other programs making shows and movies with people of color as the main characters. Obviously, there needs to be more improvement, but it’s a start. I’m glad there’s more diversity in Hollywood now than before so today’s generation can have role models. They have role models like Lupita Nyong’o, Adut Akech, Lizzo, Celia Cruz, and other famous artists they can look up to and see themselves in. When we see ourselves reflected in others, we don’t feel so isolated and we create a positive community. Teaching this generation to love themselves, regardless of skin tone, is very important and essential for our generation to continue to grow.

The documentary was very moving for me. He was a man who had so much to tell. He had a whole history behind his pictures and he himself was so filled with positivity and history. So many people dismissed him because of his appearance, but Linda saw potential and was one of the few people who were empathetic with him. What really moved me was when he went to California for the reunion and internment remembrance ceremony. Mirikitani stated his hurt was leaving him and that he felt good. I think his paintings were a way for him to deal with the anger and betrayal he felt and held onto for so long. Grudges can be so damaging to us. In the ceremony, he said his goodbyes to not only the boy, but his hatred, his hurt, and the pain he held inside of him all those years. He was finally finding his inner peace. I enjoy how we get to see him coming to terms with his past and not letting it affect him, but using it as a tool to propel him forward to a better future. He uses his experiences and artistic talents to teach people about his culture, and what happened to him in the internment camps. I like how we can see him get progressively better. For example, if you notice, once he got to know Linda, was taken off the streets and interacting with others more, his artwork gets progressively better and much more colorful. His artwork in general is colorful, but he uses brighter colors and more abstract designs when he gets a house, and so on. Mirikitani wanted to be closed off to everything, but Linda helped him open up, heal, and be included in society again. For instance, she helped find his sister and other family members.

Another important point in the documentary was how trauma travels not only in experience, but by blood. It was incredibly evident how much the internment camps have affected his family because even his cousin’s daughter was writing poems about the experience. Mind you, they had never met each other but were healing from the same experiences their families lived through. It’s so true how we discussed trauma lives on and is passed down to family members. There’s so much our family members don’t tell us, but we can feel their pain and their past turmoils, which can take the form of mental illnesses, identity crisis and so on. I understand completely what it means to feel a traumatic history through your blood. They say whatever a pregnant woman feels, the child can feel the same. Things are passed down from our parents that we sometimes fail to realize because they don’t communicate it to us. Though, in order for us to not let generational curses or past traumas get passed down to our future family members, we must let them know our past so they may choose to learn from it, or continue the cycle. We can’t make choices for others, but we can give them the knowledge they need to make those decisions.

Also, I like how he remembers people, like the boy he would talk to in the camps. So many people come and go in our lives, but we don’t stop to at least thank them in our hearts for what they’ve done for us. We don’t take the time to talk about them, pray for them, or even think of them. If we take time to appreciate the people around us we’ll be much more happy and filled with gratitude. Although Mirikitani went through so much, he still kept the people most dear to him in his heart. That’s what keeps connections strong, even after years of not seeing each other. Him seeing his sister again after so long reminds me of a Japanese belief of the Red String of Fate. In East Asian culture, it is said once people make a connection, they are tied by an invisible red string. People who are destined to meet are connected by this string. I feel that’s a good way of putting how Mr. Mirikitani was always meant to meet his sister again and his other family members. I truly think we’re all connected. Here’s a reference from Wikipedia on how the myth began:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_thread_of_fate