After reading the stories written by the author’s Gloria Anzalodua and Mike Davis and the poem by Pat Mora, I was able to gain insight as to how the Hispanic culture has effected the structure America. In Pat Mora’s poem “La Migra” which stands for immigration police, the reader is able to view a perspective of possibly American border patrol officer and a female Mexican maid. Through out the poem the awkward tension can be felt as you read both parts. For instance, a segment of the Mora’s writing states, “I can touch you wherever…I want but don’t complain too much because I’ve got boots and kick ---if I have to”(Mora). This suggested that the border patrol officer resorted to means of sexual and physical abuse while Mexican natives were apprehended. Anther example from Mora’s Poem reads, “I know this desert…where to rest…where to drink”(Mora). It was obvious that the this statement suggested that the border patrol officer might have been physically dominate over the Mexicans, but when it came to survival and adaptation the Mexican’s ruled supreme.
In the story written by Gloria Anzalodua “Borderlands: La Frontera”, the author highlights on the frustrations and anger that the Mexican border has brought amongst the inhabitants of Mexico. For instance, Gloria states, “These numerous possibilities leave la mestiza floundering in uncharted seas. In perceiving conflicting information and points of view, she is subjected to a swamping of her psychological borders. She has discovered that she cant hold concepts or ideas in rigid boundaries. The borders and walls that are supposed to keep the undesirable ideas out are entrenched habits and patterns of behavior; these habits and patterns are the enemy with in. rigidity means death.” (Anzalodua pg101). This passage clearly shows how the views and ideas of the Mexican population were disregarded on the opposite sides of the borders. The passage also states that people were willing to risk death to expand their ideas pass the borders. Towards the end of this passage the author states that there is a possible way to end the conflict of races and sexes by focusing our attention towards the center of the problem which lies within each individual person on each sides of the borders.
In Mike Davis’s passage titled “Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the U.S. City”, the author states certain statics that provide information which suggest that the Hispanic cultures rapid population increase will place them as the most dominant race of people in the near future. For instance in the segment titled “Spicing the city” written by Davis, a chart diagram that displays the population increase of the Hispanic culture that will take place in multiple cities in the year 2025 that is pretty significant. Another story titled “Buscando America”, displays a chart showing the percentage of Hispanics inhabiting cities in the U.S. and South America in the year 1990. From this particular chart I was able to see the strength in numbers that Mexicans have in the cities of Los Angeles and Miami during this time period. On the site http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhmcensus1.html the Census bureau states, “The estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2008, making people of Hispanic origin the nations largest ethnic or race minority. Hispanics constituted 15% of the nations total population. In addition, there are approximately 4 million residents of Puerto Rico.” Predictions that Davis has made in his series of stories that were written by 1993 explaining the rapid growth of the Hispanic population has proven to be true. And the possibility of the white and black population of America becoming the minority may be true as well.

Comparison of Two Authors and Their Views of the American Frontier

Comparison of Two Authors and Their Views of the American Frontier:

Before I begin to give my personal opinion of the stories written by the authors Fredrick Jackson Turner and Patricia Limerick, I think I would only be fair if we did a little research on each author. This will be able to give us a general idea of what type of people they really were and why their writings show conflicted interest.

First lets take a look at Fredrick J. Turner the author of “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. Site www.bgsu.edu, created by Jeffrey B. Flagg states, ”Frederick Jackson Turner was born in Portage, Wisconsin, on November 14, 1861, the oldest of three children born to a family whose lineage could be traced back to English Puritans from the seventeenth century. After early work as a newspaper editor, Turner entered the University of Wisconsin in 1880” http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/turner/turner.html

During this time period technology that provided communication, transportation, and photographic imagery was very limited. These tools would have possibly given the people around this time period a different perspective of how to accept those of other cultures. For instance, in the third paragraph of Turners passage he writes, “In this advance, the frontier is the outer edge of the wave—the meeting point between savagery and civilization”(Turner pg#1). It seems as though the author is relating the unknown boundaries of the frontier territory to an area that should be feared by those whom have accepted and exercised the American standards of living.

Next lets observe the background of Patricia Nelson author of “Adventures of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century”. www.centerwest.org posts “Limerick was born and raised in Banning, California, and graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1972. She received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 1980, and from 1980 to 1984 she was an Assistant Professor of History at Harvard.” http://www.centerwest.org/about/patty/index.php#

Taking a stance against Fredrick J. Turners views of the American frontier nearly one hundred years later may have been a aspect that has greatly working in her favor. During this time period technology was available that could help close that gap of “ignorance”, and help to bring people from different backgrounds and cultures closer together. Bringing a different point of view which not only focuses on “White Americans” advancing towards the west and “Indian tribes” that stood in their way, but other races of people that inhabited these territories as well. For example Limerick writes, “the idea of the frontier runs almost entirely on an east-to-west track. Indeed, to most of it’s users, the term “frontier” has been a synonym for the American nation’s westward movement. Can such a term do justice to the prior presence of the Indian people, to the northward movement of Spanish-speaking people, or the eastward movement of Asians? The east-to-west movement of Anglo Americans and African Americans is enormously important, but so are these movements of other people.”(Limerick pg#495). The suggestion that the expansion of the American frontier not only took place amongst the “White Americans” opens a whole new avenue for discussion and history that needed to be exposed to the public during Turners time period.

5 Things about myself

• I have lived in Hamilton for 4 years
• I am 29 years of age
• I am currently employed at UPS
• I find automotive repair a great past time hobby
• I am an avid X box 360 gamer