The End

At the onset of this course, I had a false perception of my life as being distinct from that of my family living in rural Mexico. Having been born in the U.S., I thought my life to be too tech driven, consumer oriented, and busy to compare with the life of my family in Mexico. However, reading and listening to the songs in our cancionero reminded me of those timeless values, sentiments, and experiences that we share--the underpinnings of Mexican culture.

The songs we sang were plain in structure, but rich in meaning. They used common letra and were accompanied by simple instrumentals. Their themes, however, were not so simple: love, death, betrayal. Learning traditional takes on these themes and applying them to contemporary life was the biggest takeaway from the course. Specifically, learning to be honest with my thoughts and emotions for the sake of relief, for the sake of solace, for the sake of love.

Tony helped us understand the context in which songs were written. We then engaged in the exciting process of creating a historical narrative and tracing it to 2015. I had great fun figuring out what things have changed, what has stayed the same, and what needs to change

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Towards the end of the semester, I discovered an affinity for gold. I started using gold spray-paint in all my projects. And every time I used it, I laid out the same tarp. By the end of the semester, the plain plastic tarp had acquired its own unique aesthetic, it was covered with the paint used to complete past projects. Like everyone one of us, it caries the markings of past inspiration. And for this reason, I have kept the tarp and framed it. Its construction was simple and organic, but the process was planned and time-consuming.