Welcome students and colleagues, friends and family, if you have made it this far, I encourage you to stay a bit longer and read about some of my work. The writings reflect many of the thoughts that I carry with me throughout the course of a day, evening, and often times, the dreams that take hold of me while I sleep. The verses represent the inner voice in me that speaks of the past, the present, and the future. Writing is my ultimate form of expression that allows me to reflect, inspire, get well, and grow. The energy that feeds my work, I pull from themes that correspond to Mesoamerica, my ancestral place of birth, and the area I study. References to symbols of the past, deities, and natural phenomenon, dominate certain pieces, and blend with current verses of life, love, and death. I have never taken a writing class... the only "style" that exhibits my work is the one that I create from my imagination, heart, and dreams.
I’m an avid builder and horticulturalist, and so I spend a lot of my time building things and growing different types of herbs and plant food. I do not identify as an artist nor do I make art for aesthetic purposes; my work solely materializes a ritual-ceremonial or utilitarian function. The craft of working with wood I learned from my father, by watching him design and build homes throughout much of my adolescent youth. I also learned how to work with stone by watching my uncles construct brick and rock landscapes, in the wealthy neighborhoods were they labored during much of the 1980s, when construction was booming. My paternal grandpa Juan was also a craftsman, hence why all his sons became builders of some sort, and so building has always been an integral part of my family’s trade history. I learned about plant cultivation from my abuelita Mercedes on my paternal side and my abuelito Severo on my maternal side. Much of the landscaping strategies that I learned from my grandparents came with them from Mexico when they migrated to Alta California, in the early 1960s, along with my parents. A lot of the building and planting strategies that my family has implored have been in use for over 3,000 years. It is my purpose to revitalize and sustain these ancestral practices through ceremony, household building, and plant cultivation.
My fascination with building and growing food is not only familial, but also physical-skeletal (see my Physical Anthropology 101 blog), and because so, I have an admiration for the morphology of the human hand. The hand is unlike any part of the body, and because we use our hands every day, we literally take them for granted, sometimes failing to notice their full potential use. Our hands are our first weapons of choice in an attack, yet they are the first part of the body that we extend when helping or consoling someone. With our hands, we build shelter, writer letters, prepare food, and unknowingly, make love. Our hand-digit coordination is unique because it is precise, well adapted for creating, and for using and making tools. Hand-digit use coordination has been a part of our human evolutionary past since we inhabited arboreal environments, way before we developed bipedalism. When combined with tool use, the creative use of the hands has the capability of decolonizing our minds and bodies.
My inquiry into the relationship between hand-bone morphology usage and social behavior remains in the early stages. Nonetheless, some preliminary findings I modeled in a recent paper where I discuss the role of the hands, and early human tool making, in the creation of spatial wellness. The paper is published in Vol. 3 No. 4 of the International Journal of Development and Sustainability.
Tomate
Jade
Flores
Y sonrisas
Besos
Tatuajes
Y acaricias
Coco
Papaya
Y alegrías
Tomate
Granada
Y compañía
Playas
Serpientes
Y harmonía
XochitlCoatl
Tú eres una flor y yo soy una serpiente…
Hay que ponerle XochitlCoatl
A nuestra semillita
A nuestra semillita
A Serpent Garden
Can I come in?
You may
What is it?
It’s a garden
What kind of garden?
A serpent garden
How does it work?
Close your eyes
Give me your hand
Feel here…
That’s earth
Plant this…
That’s recognition
Water here…
That’s knowledge
Cultivate this…
That’s wisdom
Eat this...
That’s life
Plow this...
That’s death
Eat this...
That’s life
Plow this...
That’s death
And leave something here…
That’s respect
That’s how it works
Do you like?
Will you remember?
Never forget
Enlightenment
Focus, Focus
Your fears will disappear
You’ll find that
middle ground
Dismissing all
desires
Enlightenment
Me hacen pensar...
Tus anteojos me alocan
y tus artículos me provocan.
Me hacen pensar…
Invítame a tu casa una vez más.
Invítame a tu casa una vez más.
Another Dream
It was like a feather blowing in the wind without a
care, a letter of reconciliation and apology, waiting to be recorded somehow…
somewhere…
Y Muchas Cosas Más
El amor es buscarte
El amor es agua
El amor es perderte
El amor es tierra
El amor es torcido
El amor es lluvia
El amor es besarte
El amor es noche
El amor es costumbre
El amor es fuego
El amor es traicionero
El amor es bello
El amor es hablarte
El amor es día
El amor es compañía
El amor es luz
El amor es entenderte
El amor es infiel
El amor es volver
El amor es vida
El amor es entregarte
El amor es morir
El amor es distancia
El amor es feo
El amor es quererte
El amor es siego
El amor es doloroso
El amor es oscuro
El amor es tenerte
El amor es viento
El amor es escribirte
El amor es cantar
El amor es soñarte
El amor es sol
El amor es olvidar
El amor es luna
El amor es escucharte
El amor es vino
El amor es conversar
El amor es bailar
El amor es amanecer
El amor es invitar
El amor es cocinarte
El amor es frio
El amor es imaginarte
El amor es darte
El amor es estudiarte
El amor es lento
El amor es perdonarte
El amor es creer
El amor es esperarte
El amor es llorar
El amor es dejarte
El amor es verde
El amor es pintarte
El amor es rencor
El amor es separarse
El amor es mentira
El amor es extrañarte
El amor es sangrar
El amor es sangrar
Y muchas cosas más…
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