Diversity in College

Like others in the class, the readings affected me because I could relate to several of the essays. I know how it feels to be singled out because of something you can’t control, like the color of your skin or where your family comes from. My mother lived in Mexico for the majority of her childhood and my father did as well, although their experiences were very different. My mom lived in Matamoros, Mexico and my dad lived in an expensive part of Monterrey. 

My dad (on the left) went to the American school and his friends came from a variety of cultures. His mother, my grandmother, was from Joplin, Missouri and went against her parents’ wishes in marrying my grandfather. Although she married a man of a different race, according to my father, she struggled with accepting my dad’s choice of girlfriends. My mom went to private all-girl schools for a good portion of her education and went to UT for graduate school. My mother’s experience at UT was less than pleasant; she recalls being treated unfairly by some faculty and students. What I've noticed is that because of the bad experiences she’s had, she too will occasionally come off as slightly racist towards ethnicities that have been racist toward her in the past. Luckily, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been treated poorly because I am Mexican. The first time was when I was 9, a girl who I’d gone to school with since I was 4 told me to “go back to Mexico where I belonged” after my team beat her in kickball. I was shocked. I wasn’t from Mexico, I thought, and even so why did I belong there? I was from Austin. I just couldn’t comprehend why someone I’d known for so long would say something so hurtful. When I told my mom she was furious and talked to me about racism. My dad told me to laugh it off because obviously the girl had no idea that I’d been born and raised in Austin, Texas. My parents’ experiences with racism were very different and affected the manner in which they explained racism to me. My father passed as white and always had an open mind to all cultures while my mother was treated differently often and felt she had to always protect herself. In fact, ironically enough my mother caught my father’s eye because she wouldn’t shut up about how much she disliked American girls. He found it funny and even hid it from her that his mom was one of those “American girls”.

Like Alessandro, I have felt like "I didn't quite fit in the Latino community that was supposed to be a support group for me" (240, Alessandro Melendez). For those who didn’t already know I was Mexican were surprised when they found out which didn’t sit well with me. Why did it matter what ethnicity I was? I will never understand. Some people from the Latino community in high school called me a “coconut” when I would try and talk with them in Spanish which infuriated me. Couldn’t I just be myself? I also felt pressure from my mother to prove myself as a strong Mexican girl, not an “American girl” like she calls me. Like Vincent, my mother “…made the classic emigrant mistake of assuming that [her] kids would retain all their "heritage," including language, even after [she] had decided to put us through a Western educational system." (248, Vincent Ng) I spoke only Spanish until pre-school when my mother enrolled me in University Methodist. There I was taught English and was told that I should only speak English at school so I wouldn’t get confused. Obviously I found that logic very confusing. Because I stopped speaking Spanish when I was young, my pronunciation now is poor, which upsets my mom.

I wish no one cared where you were from or where your parents were from because even though one’s ethnicity factors in to one’s identity I think if people stopped worrying about the implications behind a person’s ethnicity students would have a better chance at developing their own unique beliefs, free of racial pressures. My mother can’t help it that sometimes she has unfair thoughts towards people from other races that treated her badly, but she is smart enough to know that one person does not represent an entire ethnicity. I am too. Diversity is essential to create a good learning environment because due to the variety of cultures present at the University of Texas at Austin anyone can find their niche, whether it be with other students that share their ethnicity or not. I’m thankful that I was brought up by parent’s with very different experiences because I was able to see both sides of the spectrum. 

(Above is a picture of my abuelo on my mom's side. I called her parents Abuela and Abuelo and my dad's parents Grandma and Grandpa.)

Bob Bullock State History Museum

Throughout the museum, Texas was being portrayed as a strong state known not only for it's struggle for independence from Mexico but the overall perseverance, spirit, and leadership shown by the Texas community. In the museum, this belief was sent through the writings off to the side of the displays, the entire Spirit performance, and through the design of the exhibits. The Texas star can be seen all over the Bob Bullock museum and is mentioned in the Spirit Performance. The star is symbol of the strength and leadership that lives in everyone, born in Texas or not. Through the words spoken by "Sam Houston" in the performance and the words written about Texas women in the actual exhibit, I felt empowered and proud to be a Texan...most of the time. To be honest, I was not impressed with the Spirit performance, which may have to do with the number of times I had seen it before, but never the less I didn't leave feeling as proud as I had in the past. I thought the portrayal of the Mexicans travelling to Texas was comical and I couldn't concentrate much past the accents used to depict the men and women of Mexico AND Texas. I'm sure others felt that the movie did a great job at instilling the "Texas Spirit" inside us, but I don't necessarily agree that the movie was as successful as the exhibit, in my opinion. I learned from wandering The Texas Women Exhibit that women played a much larger role in developing Texas than I had originally believed. I read the stories of women in Texas and learned about the importance of gender roles during that period. One portion of the exhibit that stuck with me the most was the display of the Honeymooners by George Peters. The book was a how-to-guide for new brides to learn how to cook, clean, and care for a child. I was amazed that the book was actually written by a man and that plenty of newlywed women must have relied on books like this to learn how to be a "successful wife".  The book serves as another example of the common belief at the time that women were meant to be happy homemakers.

< DeSoto's travel

Leadership meant different things to different people. The Caddo, Nabedache, and (Commanche chief) Quannah Parker most likely considered leadership to be making strong decisions to protect their tribes, or, at least in Quannah Parker's case, evolving to keep power. Parker led his people on and off the reservation.
To an explorer like DeSoto or DeLeon, their understanding of leadership was exhibited through their conquering of lands and other grand discoveries. They had much pride in finding lands that hadn't been claimed and strived to find more land and more riches.
Texas Rangers such as Charles Goodnight or Bigfoot Wallace both believed leadership to be incredibly important, especially in their endeavors. Charles Goodnight was said to have "approached greatness more nearly than any other cowman of history" according to J. Frank Dobie. Bigfoot Wallace fought in a number of wars and protected Texas proudly. Both Goodnight and Wallace led men or cattle to further the development of Texas.
To an ordinary soldier, missionary, farmer, or rancher, leadership was important as well. Every Texan during this time was proud of their state and worked hard to ensure it's safety and prosperity. Missionary's hoped to spread the word of God to people who had yet been exposed to it and aimed to better the lives of others. Soldier's prided themselves on making important decisions during times of war or to protect and ensure the safety of all Texans. Farmers and ranchers strived to better their crop and further the reach of Texas cattle to further Texas economically and to provide food. Women like Minnie Fisher Cunningham led other women to argue on behalf of securing women's suffrage. I do believe that the Texas Spirit is alive in every person who is ambitious enough to be a leader.

I think there is pressure as a University of Texas student to lead. I am proud that I come from a state which has fought for it's freedom and safety so strongly, but I prefer to lead differently. I think that UT offers students so many opportunities to lead, whether it be through an organization, club, or team. We can be leaders in our classes or in the community. There was an interactive part of the Texas Women Exhibit that consisted of recordings of ordinary people who have visited the Bob Bullock talking about advice they wish to extend to their children or grandchildren, women who have inspired them and why, etc. When watching the videos I realized that every person has the potential to be a leader in their own lives and our leadership is rarely as public as the ones depicted in the Spirit performance or elsewhere in the Texas exhibit. I am proud to be my own leader and am confident that every person, Texas Spirit or not, has the potential to make themselves a leader.

- Arctic Fox

Buffalo on the Platte River

Worthington Whittredge’s oil painting Buffalo on the Platte River was produced in 1866. The painting shows a western landscape depicting a group of buffalos drinking from a river and other buffalos grazing in the distance near a tree. This style of art was not uncommon during the mid to late 1800’s. A number of artists in America specialized in painting the Great Plains of the United States.

Whittredge’s decision to include buffalos in his landscape is meaningful because during the 1800s, commercial buffalo hunting had increased significantly due to the creation of railroad systems. Although the railroads disturbed Indian lands, large parties of hunters would shoot wild animals from the train cars. This huge increase in hunting resulted in the almost extinction of American bison, a source of food the Indians relied on.

The relationship between humans and animals in this painting is non-existent, which makes the inclusion of the animal important. Whittredge chose to depict the beautiful Great Plains landscape as it is without human intervention. 

From The Blanton website:

"This is a rare western landscape by Thomas Worthington Whittredge: one of the best-known American landscape painters of his generation, he lived in New York and typically painted east coast subjects. But in 1866 he traveled with an army expedition along the eastern portions of the Rocky Mountains and New Mexico, finding himself drawn again and again to “capture the fleeting atmospheric effects of the low rolling landscape,” as he stated in his autobiography. In his writings he reflected on the natural marvels he encountered, stating that he was never captivated by the obvious drama of the mountains, but instead loved the plains, with their vast expanses and uncanny silence. In this placid scene, most likely painted from sketches back in his studio, buffalo graze peacefully under banks of fog, while small disturbances on the water’s surface are quietly noted."

An artist named Theodore R. Davis made a sketch of that style of hunting which appeared in Harpers Weekly on Dec. 14^th, 1867. (The picture below) Davis was an American artist during the 19th century who was famous for painting significant American political or military events.

Human interaction with buffalos is typically only related to hunting. Indians relied on the buffalo for it's meat and hide, but made it a point to use everything. The majority of American hunters however killed the buffalo and 'used' almost none. American hunters also killed the buffalo with guns and from a distance in train cars, while Indians would hunt less often. Indians were given horses and guns which made their hunting easier, but worsened the already decreasing buffalo population. 

Above is Worthington Whittredge's painting Crossing the River Platte (1871) which is included in the White House art collection. In this painting you can see an Indian encampment near the river, Indian men on horses crossing the river. The mass killing of the American bison made it difficult for Indians to find a reliable source of food. Tribes went hungry without having many American bison to hunt. When Texas Legislature was working to pass a bill to protect the buffalos, General Phillip Sheridan defended the removal of Indians and the mass murder of buffalos saying, “Send them powder and lead, if you will; but for a lasting peace, let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffaloes are exterminated. Then your prairies can be covered with speckled cattle.”

John Fire Lame Deer wrote :"The buffalo gave us everything we needed. Without it we were nothing. Our tipis were made of his skin. His hide was our bed, our blanket, our winter coat. It was our drum, throbbing through the night, alive, holy. Out of his skin we made our water bags. His flesh strengthened us, became flesh of our flesh. Not the smallest part of it was wasted. His stomach, a red-hot stone dropped into it, became our soup kettle. His horns were our spoons, the bones our knives, our women's awls and needles. Out of his sinews we made our bowstrings and thread. His ribs were fashioned into sleds for our children, his hoofs became rattles. His mighty skull, with the pipe leaning against it, was our sacred altar. The name of the greatest of all Sioux was Tatanka Iyotake--Sitting Bull. When you killed off the buffalo you also killed the Indian--the real, natural, "wild" Indian."

Speciesism/Racism

"The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" (698) An animal cannot be faulted for not having the ability to speak for its interests and communicate with us humans. They cannot beg for their lives when they're being slaughtered. So we must fight for them and speak against the unnecessary brutality behind the mass slaughter of animals for meat in a society obsessed with consumption. "The hierarchy of meat protein reinforces a hierarchy of race, class, and sex." (p.700) This quote was interesting because I had never come to recognize those connections on my own. Still it is strikingly similar to the mass killing of humans. I am not comparing the supposed "value" of the different species but the actual right to life that I believe every life on earth deserves.

Racism is "a belief that human races have distinctive characteristics" that make them superior to other races. (p.701) While speciesism is "a belief that different species of animals are significantly different from one another" enough so that one species has the right to rule the others. These definitions are shockingly similar and it strikes me as odd that a majority of Americans and people across the world ignore the blatant abuse of animals due to the false belief that humans are rightfully superior beings. Even if this belief were warranted, just because one may hold this belief it gives them no right to inflict pain on an innocent life.

"I am eating misery, I thought, as they took the first bite. And I spit it out." (p.726) Before I became a vegetarian I would eat meat regularly because that's what was common in my household. I would eat what my mother cooked for me, or what was customary to get at restaurants. I can bravely say that I did not like the taste of beef, but I quit eating beef completely after seeing a cow for the first time at my uncle's ranch. Ironically, the same ranch was where I kept a baby goat that was later sold for meat. That is when I stopped eating every other kind of meat and since this time I have felt stronger and happier in my own way. 

Nature

Veerayatan, a Jain institution, works to preserve the environment in a variety of ways but the education they provide the villagers stuck out to me the most. "Villagers are taught moral and ethical values, including the protection of animals, the phasing out of their sacrifice, and the importance of protecting natural resources..." (p.771) Working to gradually to end the abusive treatment of animals by changing villages way of perceiving animals changes the treatment of animals for the better more reliably.

"The Bombay Humanitarian League has worked tirelessly to stop animal slaughter at religious functions, as well as the custom eating of meat, working at both the individual and societal level. The league has saved thousands of animals from slaughter." (p.765) It is important that people work to relieve animal suffering and educate people on the sufferings of animals. I can agree that the Western world has become more disconnected with nature and a way to mend this would be through education.

In the section discussing the limitations to the practice of Ahimsa, it was stated that Absolute Ahimsa was impossible. I appreciated this inclusion because I'd always wondered how one could spend there entire life without killing anything, even accidentally. The book said, "You have to destroy life in order to live." (p.761) This was interesting to me because it offered another way of looking at things. It is understood that our bodies work to destroy bacteria, so they specify that this is what makes Absolute Ahimsa unattainable.
I pondered over the quote,"Westerners generally destroy their dear horses and dogs when they are in acute agony and when there is no way of relieving their sufferings." (p.761) I've thankfully never had to make the decision to put down a pet. I can't say that I would be able to. I do understand why people have to make the tough decision though. While the animal doesn't have a say in whether they continue living in pain or are put down, I have faith that the majority of veterinary clinics perform euthanasia only in dire circumstances.

- Arctic Fox

CATS! (Not the musical, the species...)

Before high school I never had much experience with cats, but not for lack of trying. For some reason my entire family loathes cats. I'm assuming because of the long standing competition of cats versus dogs.
Apparently one simply cannot appreciate both.

What I love about cats is their obvious attitude. "The cat, more than any other domestic animal, has kept her independence, spiritual and physical..."(825). With most dogs, I've noticed that even if someone were to yell at them or abuse them they will come back to their owner because they love them unconditionally. I have yet to notice the same behavior with cats. You must earn the affection of a cat. My friend described the love between a cat and its human as a mutual understanding. "You feed me and take care of me and I'll keep you company and try not to scratch you."

The line, "His tired gaze--from passing endless bars--has turned into a vacant stare which thing holds..." (818) from Rilkes poem 'The Panther' reminds me of what the cats at Austin Pets Alive and the cats at countless other adoption centers go through each day that they are not adopted. The majestic panther no longer carries the mysterious spark in it's eyes because it's right to experience life has been stripped. The cats in the shelter have been saved from starving in the streets, but unless they are adopted they are doomed to live out the rest of their lives behind bars in an uncomfortable cage.

"Oh, men do us vast injustice, And we look for thanks in vain; They misunderstand completely All our nature's finer strain." (846) 

A cat confined to a cage can no longer roam as it pleases, observe the happenings of daily life, or enjoy its existence. I felt that the line in Schefell's poem about humans misunderstanding cats was very true, at least for myself. I have a hard time coming up with ways in which cats effect my life. I do not own one and I rarely see cats, therefore I am a strong advocate for leaving them alone. I am not going to chase down a cat to "save it" unless it is dire need for help, something I would do for a dog. It's strange, I know, but I've always felt that cats were much more self-sufficent than the canine species. In my opinion, a cat strives on freedom. Strip a cat of its freedom and it is loses what makes him a cat. 

- Arctic Fox

Sadism

The book describes sadism as “the unconscious impulse to acquire unrestricted power over another person, and to test the fullness of this power by destroying that other person..." (471). In my opinion, it is the sadistic human beings who contribute the most to the high amounts of human and animal abuse in the world. Someone who takes pleasure from another person or animal's pain is sadistic. This sadism creates a never-ending cycle of abuse that occurs because when one person harms another, the abused person in turn will reenact what was done unto them or what they witnessed done unto another person. One of Socrates' most important beliefs was the belief that one should do no harm to another person even if they themselves were harmed, but in stories like the one of Phoenix the pitbull, children "who have witnessed such abuse or been victimized themselves" are engaging in "abusive reactive" behaviors. (485). While there have been many steps to protect both animals and humans from horrendous abuse, it is difficult to pinpoint where abuse is happening before it reaches unimaginable levels. “Before 1990, only six states had felony provisions in their animal-cruelty laws; now 46 do.” (483).

"...Animal cruelty has long been recognized as a signature pathology of the most serious violent offenders."(483). I've heard this before, that a telltale sign of a future murder was abusing animals as a child. This type of behavior could be seen in people like Jeffrey Dahmer or Dennis Rader for example. According to Robert K. Ressler of the FBI, "there are kids to never learned it's wrong to poke out a puppy's eyes." (PETA.org). Sadistic behaviors are creating a cycle that can be difficult to break. If a person is abused, he or she too is at risk of developing aggressive behaviors that may lead them to become the abuser later in life.

To end unnecessary suffering for people and animals, known abuse needs to be targeted immediately and people need to become more educated on noticing abuse. Because sadistic behaviors can be transferred to the abused, it is imperative that societies uphold greater punishments for abuse and offer the abused opportunities to cope healthily. Without institutions who work actively to end the cycle of abuse, sadistic behaviors in communities will spread.

- Arctic Fox