Dear Ms. Angela De Hoyos,

As an aspiring Chicana writer, I am honored to be writing this letter to you. I am a senior English major with minors in Chicana/o Studies and Communications at Loyola Marymount University. I am currently writing my first fictive novel that addresses male masculinity for Chicano men, specifically within Inglewood, California. I was inspired to write my novel after taking a course in Chicana/o Literature at LMU, which prompted me to pursue my minor in Chicana/o Studies. I took an Introduction course of Chicana/o Studies that provided a broad overview of the development of the political term Chicano, and the social domination that Chicanas/os experienced by the Anglo society within America. Due to my exposure of the historical injustices against Mexicans/Chicanos, I hope to eventually pursue my degree in Education and encourage high school students to attend college and obtain knowledge about their own heritage and calling to life.
At twenty-one years old, I am currently inspired by Chicana writers who have provided contributions to the field of Chicana/o Studies, both in critical theory and creative endeavors. I admire your poetry for it demonstrates your political agenda through a creative method of writing. I am currently enrolled in a Chicanas/Latinas in the U.S. course that focuses on important woman writers, activists, and artists who have provided a positive impact for Chicana and Latina women who have taken a stance against the injustices they have faced by American society. We have currently read two books, Chicana Art: The Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities by Laura E. Perez and Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzalduá, and it was apparent to me that your poetry reflects important themes that both authors address, such as nepantla and new mestiza consciousness.

One of my favorite concepts that I have learned within my Chicana/o Studies is nepantla. When I first discovered this term and its meaning, something resonated within me. I had finally found the word that described my confusion, my pain, my struggle with my ethnicities. Laura E. Perez explores how nepantla is an “in-between” state that is “the postconquest condition of cultural fragmentation and social indeterminancy” (21). This experience and condition I have always experienced resonates for other Chicanos, for they too struggle to understand their heritage, culture, and beliefs. Furthermore, since the conquest of the indigenous and the rise of power of Anglos within American society, Mexicans and Chicanos have maintained a low social status due to different institutions of oppression ranging from the Catholic Church to the American legal and educational system. Perez further indicates that Chicana artists and writers “seek to remember, reimagine, and redeploy ideas and practices” that counteracts “male-dominated, Eurocentric, culturally or religiously Christian, capitalist, and imperialist culture” (21). Within your collection of poetry, Arise, Chicano! your testimonial poetry denounces the social injustices inflicted upon Chicanos and their social and economic circumstances. At one point in your poetry you ask, “What do the entrails know about the necessity of being white…-the advisability of male-order parents?” This quote illustrates the theme of being born with or without color, which is a creative and different manner of approaching the nepantla state of being one color (brown) and struggling with the other color (white). In addition, it addresses my own conflict of having two parents of different races, my father being Caucasian and my mother being Mexican American.

Within Anzaldúa’s concept of new mestiza consciousness, she explores how Chicanas have developed their own consciousness and identity. I feel that your poetry encompasses bold and provocative language that exemplifies how Chicanas have risen to in different forms of discourse to provide encouragement and insight for both Chicanas/os to protest against the injustices they have experienced. Anzaldúa declares, “within la cultura chicana, commonly held beliefs of the white culture attack commonly held beliefs of the Mexican culture, and both attacks commonly held beliefs of the indigenous” (100). Anzaldúa is addressing how Chicanos have endured attacks by both white and Mexican culture on their indigenous beliefs, which has created tensions with their Mexican culture, indigenous roots, and American citizenship. Although you were born in Mexico, you have resided with your family in San Antonio, Texas and have come to be identified as a Chicana writer. I would like to know how you have been able to balance your cultural heritage and ties to both Mexico and America. How have you come to identify yourself as a Chicana? Since Chicanas have endured attacks on their Mexican and indigenous beliefs, it has provided “a thereat” that Chicanas have “attempt[ed] to block with a counterstance” (100). Your poetry is a direct response to the political injustices against Chicanos and reflects how you have actually taken a counterstance against Anglo society.

An important element within your poetry is the tones of irony and resentment within your writing, which has enabled me to identify with you. The emotions that you display within your writing reflect my own frustration and disillusionment with Anglo society. As a Chicana, I have been raised to believe in the dominant discourse, but through my education, my beliefs have been stripped by the plight of Chicanas/os and the political, economic, and social injustices that have historically oppressed this ethnic group that has continued to grow and evolve within contemporary times. For me, I endure a different form of struggle. I am half Caucasian and half Mexican, yet I physically resemble “white traits” from my pale skin to my blue eyes. In high school, I was not accepted as either “white” or “brown” for I was not “White enough” or “Mexican enough” for me to hang exclusively with either of these groups. Some believe that I have been fortunate because I physically look “white” and therefore have certain privileges. My Mexican grandmother has told me I am fortunate to have light skin for having dark skin is not as physically appealing as pale skin. There have been moments when Hispanics have looked at me and dubbed me as “white,” and at other times, Hispanics approach me speaking to me in Spanish, some how discerning my Mexican heritage. Throughout my life, I have struggled with the dual ethnicities that have created my own inner war.

Another important characteristic of mestiza consciousness that stuck out to me is the struggle that Chicanas have endured within society. La Chicana needs “to break down the subject-object duality that keeps her a prisoner” and reveal “in the flesh and through the images in her work” how the duality has “transcended” (102). Anzaldúa indicates that the “answer to the problem between the white race and the colored, between males and females, lies in healing the split” that is embedded in the “foundation of our lives, our culture, our languages, our thoughts” (102). Anzaldúa addresses an important ideology that has evolved into the dominant discourse and has long been considered acceptable in scripting the history of Anglo Americans and society. Anzaldúa argues that “a massive uprooting of dualistic thinking in the individual and collective consciousness is the beginning of a long struggle” yet it is a necessary struggle that needs to overcome the dominant discourse that has permeated society since the Spanish Conquest (102). Chicanos have evolved into an enlightened group for they have developed an awareness of their history, oppression, and have gradually increased their presence within the educational field. In order to uproot the dominant ideology, Chicanos need to create their own form of discourse and identity that is stripped of the Anglo influence, which is what you have encouraged within your own poetry. In Arise Chicano! you pretend to accept the status quo of being socially and economically exploited by the Anglo stating, “Perhaps someday I shall accustom myself/ to this” my hand held out/ in eternal supplication, being content with the left-overs of a greedy establishment” which effectively illustrates the absurd situation of Chicanos that needs to be addressed and no longer tolerated. In another poem, you provide inspiring words of rebellion:

Or—who knows?—perhaps tomorrow
I shall burst these shackles
And rising to my natural full height
Fling the final parting laugh
O gluttonous omnipotent alien white world.

Your words are inspiring for it encourages the Chicano to reconceptualize their own identity by rejecting the Anglo and rise to their full potential as an intelligent group with the last laugh.

Essentially, Ms. De Hoyos, I find your poetry to be beautiful, provocative, and inspiring for Chicanos. You encourage us to rise above our current situations, overthrow the shackles that have enslaved our minds to believe in the dominant ideologies of Anglos and the Catholic Church. You have inspired me to move beyond what I have been taught and transition towards understanding the history of Mexicans and Chicanos and employing my knowledge towards a field of benefit for Chicanos, the educational realm. Writing is a powerful tool that can create change, alter perspectives, and push beyond limited boundaries. Thank you for breaking down barriers for Chicano men and women.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Ellspermann