This picture was taken when I was 2 years old at Disneyland. This was the last time I went to Disneyland. I absolutely love this picture because I remember that lollipop so well. My mom keeps on complaining till this day about how much she spent on that lollipop $4.50. But in my case, it was worth it. That lollipop last me like 8 days, storing it in the freezer then retrieving it when ever I had an urge for something sweet. I choose this picture because it shows me at my best, happy and doing what I do best eating candy.

ARTIFACT #2

Culture

My culture is just one aspect of what my identity is. I am half Guatemalan and half Mexican. My mother is from Guatemala and my father is from Mexico. My culture involves many aspects when it comes to religion, food, traditions, custom, clothing and history. I relate and I am more Mayan than I am Aztec for various reasons.

My Symbols for Culture

My symbol that I chose to represent my Mexican culture is the book Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros. I love this book because when I read it instantly I can relate to every character in the book and replacing them with my family. The story that the family shares in the book is exactly the same that my father tells me of how Mexico was when he was a kid. Just every aspect of that book screams out my family.

My other symbol that I chose to represent my culture is the indigenous doll. This indigenous doll represents Guatemala for me, from the girl itself. She is an indigenous girl wearing the typical dress with the vibrant colors of red blue, yellow and green. I see in her what I see when I go to Guatemala. The flowers, the colors, the culture, the beauty.

Head:

My symbol for this is just a heart, which means to me hope, faith in myself, hard working and passion which are the elements I will need in order to make this goal come true.

Head: my thoughts vary, my ideas as well, but my goal will always stay in place. Right now I have my mind set up for the future. I hope to go to a university and major in child psychology and minor in law as well. Two very different topics. I hope to become some kind of child psychologist either working with children that are in the foster care system, or a school counselor from either elementary to high school student helping them at their time of crisis. I hope to do well in that career then once I have enough money I will send my husband (who will be an architect) to construct a community center aimed for under privileged kids. I will target the South Central community and any community that I know where kids have no good options or no other way to survive that "hood life". I grew up in this neighborhood were it used to be every weekend another kid around my block got shot up because he walked into the wrong neighborhood. With my center I want to get these kids off the street and into art, literature, and other activities that will prevent them from doing wrong. I want to give these kids hope that they are something and that they can become something great not only for them but for their family and community. I want to get people to sponsor my community center and bring about children that would never get the proper attention, and become the center of attention. While I'm doing that, I would also like to go to Guatemala as well, to learn Cliché the native language of the indigenous people from Guatemala and help them as well from poverty, and help them with the issues that they face every day, being discriminated against by other Guatemalans.

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Eyes: What I have seen throughout years of reading and observing is that I take a little bit out of everything in order to make me, me. Art is my passion even though I do like to create it in any form I can, I most like to observe it, enjoy and just think. Art is an expression of "thoughts" "feelings" and carelessness that words alone cannot describe. Books are my other passion. Books take me to a world were I wish I were at, a world of endless possibility, a world of hope. Books are my way to get lost from this obnoxious world. My eyes are they key that makes me unique in every way.

So what I chose is my room. My room is a reflection of who I am, what I've seen, what I read, and who I will always be. I am a colorful, intelligent, crafty, creative, old school mixed in with new school girl. I am Beatriz unique. I take in everything I see as beautiful and make it part of my life. And my room shows exactly that.

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My EARS:

Ears: My music is another great factor that plays a huge role of who I am. I listen to pretty much every thing,: punk, rap, psychobilly, ska, skacore, cumbia, underground rap, hip hop, metal, hair metal, Latin rock, alternative, classic, swing, old school music, R&B, reggae, blues, classic rock, grunge, jazz, Mexican ska, oldies, and other miscellaneous stuff.

ARTIFACT #3

SOCIAL ISSUES

THE REVOLT OF THE COCKROACH PEOPLE

MY EARS:

The only thing that I can put to symbolize this is music note. I chose music note because music drives me and I have no choice to what music I would prefer, just music.

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You learn about life from the toughest guy in the neighborhood. You smoke your first, at the age of ten you take your first hit, and you learn how to make your mark on the wall before you learn how to write. Your friends know you to be a vato loco a crazy guy, and they call you ‘ese’ or ‘vato’ or ‘man’. And when you prove you can take it, that you don’t cop out to nothing. There is no school for a vato loco. There is no job in sight. His only hope is for a quick score. Reads and ripple mixed with a bennie, and white and toke. And when your head is tight, you go down to the hang out and wait for the next score. Pg 90 The Revolt of The Cockroach People

Great words from the oh so infamous Oscar Zeta Acosta. He is talking about how a Cholo come about in the hood. Gangs are a very big issues around my neighborhood and my family. Gangs were a big problem in the 60’s and they are still. Gangs are sometimes the only hope or refuge that some kids have here in these dangerous neighborhood. Others don’t even have a chance at all they are born into that culture of violence and drugs. I seen 14, 13, even 12 year old kids getting shot at and killed by their rival gang. I see how gangs have transformed my cousin from a good decent kid to a dropout. And I have also seen how gangs, to some can be seen as an everyday thing and not be outrage by some of the idiotic things they do or fight about. Gangs can sometimes be a kid’s only choice in order for them to go on living the life they would want to live in these tough streets. Gangs can sometimes give these kids hope of family, love, and protection, but in reality these kids are nothing but another one of their soldiers ready to sacrifice at any given moment. Gangs can be just one of my big issues that concerns me in society but many other aspect come in place to make this a huge issue.