Blog #4 Artist Statements & critiques

I love when people critique my work especially when it’s going to be graded, because they always find new things I didn't think about adding or changing. Today Corey read my art statement and told me to spend more time talking about the connection Sor Juana and I have, also to work on my last sentence making it sure that it ends strong and answers the so what question. As Corey told me what I need to change and improved I felt that my next draft was going to be a lot better.

“America’s first feminist” #1 (lupe)
“Silly, you men so very adept at wrongly faulting womankind, not seeing you're alone to blame for faults you plant in woman's mind. After you've won by urgent plea the right to tarnish her good name, you still expect her to behave, you that coaxed her into shame.” This two stanzas from my favorite poem, “Stubborn men”, were written by a brave nun in the 1660, when women didn’t have the chance to read and write, specially humiliate men. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was brave and intelligent enough, to do it all; this is why she is my icon of inspiration.

Through history I have read and heard about many women that have changed the world from Cleopatra, Rosie the Riveter, Indira Gandhi to Hillary Clinton they have all been feminist icons of strength, intelligence supporting the fact “We can do it”; but non of them influence me like Sor Juana did. I still remember the first time I saw her image printed in the cover of the book named Poems, Protest and a Dream it really got my attention seeing a nun sitting down in a library and with the word Protest. As I was reading “What happy mean could there be for the woman who catches your eye, if, unresponsive, she offends, yet whose complaisance you decry?” I felt ghost bumps I have never read something so strong against men from a woman. It was my mom who introduced me to Sor Juana. Since that day she became one of my biggest inspiration. To understand the admiration I have for her you need to understand who she was.

Sor Juana was born in 1649 when México was still part of Spain in the time when men dominated society, and a women’s highest achievement in life was to give birth. Sor Juana was a very determined and discipline person that always did the impossible to reach her goals. At the age of 3 she convinced a teacher to give her reading lessons, but when her mother found out she forced her to stop. But by the age of 6, Juana could read and write Sor Juana was not a typical child she abstained from eating cheese because she had heard that it slowed the learning process When she was 10 her aunt and uncle hired a "Latin scholar" for Juana, but after ten or eleven lessons, Juana surpassed what the scholar could teach her and continued learning by herself. When she was a teenager she met the Mexican governor, who protected her and allowed her to go to the university. In 1669, she entered the Convent where she could keep on learning and teaching other girls to never be manipulated by men that there is no intellectual difference.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz has been an inspiration for many Latin women to rebel against the Machista men. I have seen for generation women that have suffered and didn’t do any thing about it, because the guy made them feel like if they deserved it. Sor Juana has not only inspired me to never get manipulate by a anyone but also to speak that is on my mine if she had the courage to spill her beliefs feelings and pain in her poetry during that time then I can do it too. I really admire the determination and discipline that Sor Juana had to reach her goals. Nothing scared her from moment she had put in her mine that she was going to the university she knew she was going to reach it. This is the type of woman I want to be. Sor Juana together with my mom have given me enough courage to over come my fears, to do good in school so that one day I can become a social worker and help out other women and people to reach their goals and live better life, the same way Sor Juana has helped me.

“America’s first feminist” #2(mom)
“Silly, you men so very adept at wrongly faulting womankind, not seeing you're alone to blame for faults you plant in woman's mind. After you've won by urgent plea the right to tarnish her good name, you still expect her to behave, you that coaxed her into shame.” This are two stanzas from my favorite poem, “Stubborn men”, that was written by a brave nun in the 1660, when women didn’t have the chance to read and write, specially humiliate men. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was brave and intelligent enough, to do it all, this is why she is my icon of inspiration.

Through out history I have read and heard about many women that have changed the world from Cleopatra, Rosie the Riveter, Indira Gandhi to Hillary Clinton they have all been feminist icons of strength, and intelligence supporting the fact “We can do it”; but non of them influence me like Sor Juana did. I still remember the first time I saw her image printed in the cover of the book Poems, Protest and a Dream. It really got my attention seeing a nun sitting down in a library and with the word Protest as part of the title. I opened it and started to read, “What happy mean could there be for the woman who catches your eye, if, unresponsive, she offends, yet whose complaisance you decry?” I have never read something so strong against men from a woman perspective. It was my mom who introduced me to Sor Juana. Since that day she became one of my biggest inspiration. To understand the admiration I have for her you need to understand who she was.

Sor Juana was born in Mexico, 1649 in a time when men dominated society, and a women’s highest achievement in life was to give birth. Sor Juana was a very determined and discipline girl that always did the impossible to reach her goals. At the age of 3 she convinced a teacher to give her reading lessons, but when her mother found out she forced her to stop. But by the age of 6, Juana had thought her self to read and write. When she was 10 her aunt hired a "Latin scholar" for her, but after ten or eleven lessons, Juana surpassed what the scholar could teach her and continued learning by herself. When she was a teenager she met the Mexican governor, who protected her and allowed her to go to the university. In 1669, she entered the Convent where she could keep on learning, writing and teaching other girls to never be manipulated by men that there is no intellectual difference, she got in many problems for this with the other nun in the convent.

Even though I have never life through any type of physical abuses, I hate injustice, and same as Sor Juana, I want to find a way to help out the women that still to this day are being abused and oppressed by men and in other places by the same sexist (Machista) society. This is a problem not only affecting the women but their kids, and everything converts into a vicious cycle, that affects all of us. Sor Juana together with my mom have given me enough courage to over come my fears, to do good in school so that one day I can become a social worker and help people live better and healthy life, the same way Sor Juana has helped me. There are millions of cases of abused women all around the world and there a so many organizations that need our help to make a huge difference. One of the organizations I am planning to help is Amigos de las Mujeres de Juarez. This is an organization working towards ending crimes in Ciudad Juarez and providing support to the family members of the victims. Since 1993 more then 550 women have died ages 12-20 and 600 our missing. In Iraqi there is this under ground organization hidden from the government that helps sexual violence and domestic abuse victims called “underground railroad”. More then 72,000 women have become widows do to the war in Iraqi, and our left without male protection, therefore have become free for all. 75,000 Brazilian women are being forced to work as prostitutes in the European Union. Every 9 seconds a woman reports being abused in the United States.

“America’s first feminist”#3 (teacher)

“Silly, you men so very adept at wrongly faulting womankind, not seeing you're alone to blame for faults you plant in woman mind. After you've won by urgent plea the right to tarnish her good name, you still expect her to behave, you that coaxed her into shame.” This are two stanzas from my favorite poem, “Stubborn Men”, that was written by a brave nun in the 1660, when women did not have the chance to read and write, especially humiliate men. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was brave and intelligent enough to do it all, and therefore she is my icon of inspiration.

Through out history I have read and heard about many women that have changed the world from Cleopatra, Rosie the Riveter, Indira Gandhi to Hillary Clinton they have all been feminist icons of strength and intelligence supporting the fact “We can do it”; but non of them influence me like Sor Juana. I still remember the first time I saw her image printed in the cover of the book Poems, Protest and a Dream. It really got my attention seeing a nun sitting down in a library and with the word Protest as part of the title. I opened it and read, “What happy mean could there be for the woman who catches your eye, if, unresponsive, she offends, yet whose complaisance you decry?” I have never read something so strong against men from a woman’s perspective. It was my mom who introduced me to Sor Juana.

Sor Juana was born in Mexico, 1649 in a time when men dominated society, and a women’s highest achievement in life was to give birth. Sor Juana was a very determined and disciplined girl that always did the impossible to reach her goals. At the age of three she convinced a teacher to give her reading lessons, but when her mother found out she forced her to stop. But by the age of 6, Juana had taught herself to read and write. When she was ten her aunt hired a Latin scholar for her, but after ten or eleven lessons, Juana surpassed what the scholar could teach her and continued learning by herself. When she was a teenager she met the Mexican governor, who protected her and allowed her to go to the university. In 1669, she entered the convent where she could keep on learning and writing. She taught the other girls to not allow themselves to be manipulated by men because there is no intellectual difference.

Even though I have never lived through any type of physical abuses, I hate injustices, and just like Sor Juana, I want to find a way to help out the women that still to this day are being abused and oppressed by men and in other places by the same sexist (Machista) society. This is a problem not only affecting the women but their children, and everything converts into a vicious cycle, that affects all of us. Sor Juana together with my mom have given me enough courage to over come my fears, to do well in school so that one day I can become a social worker and help people live better and healthy live, the same way Sor Juana has helped me.

There are millions of cases of abused women all around the world and there are so many organizations that need our help to make a huge difference. One of the organizations I plan to help is Amigos de las Mujeres de Juarez. This is an organization that works towards ending crimes towards women in Ciudad Juarez and provides support to the family members of the victims. Since 1993 more then 550 women have died between the ages 12-20 and 600 are still missing.